Tuesday, June 17, 2008

TYLER & TYSON ARE FINALLY HERE!!

I am just going to warn you now, this is going to be a long post with every bloody detail so feel free to skip ahead and look at pictures.
Wednesday June 11th (exactly 38 weeks pregnant) we went to Banner Desert to be induced at 10am (we tried super hard to get them to come Sunday or Monday because my sister left for her mission on Tuesday and we wanted her to see them before she left but hey, seeing them at 18 months is practically the same thing). I checked into the hospital dilated to a 5-6 so we thought for sure this would be a fast process. After they finally got me all checked in and in my gown in my labor and delivery room it was 11:30am and they started me on my penicillin drip (I have Group B Strep so I have to have 2 doses of penicillin 4 hours apart so I don't pass it on to my kids). During my 4 hours of wasted time there I was able to eat delicious chicken broth with smashed up saltines in there to pretend they were noodles, yummy. After eating that I walked with Jared to the cafeteria and waited outside the doors and got laughed at by the passer-byers who found it funny that I couldn't eat but that my spouse was in there getting food while I stood outside like a fat chump. After lunch we went to get another ultrasound done to double check that the boys were both head down and they were - woo hoo!
At 3:45pm my nurse came in to give me my second dose of penicillin and to get me started on pitocin. She also asked if I wanted an epidural and I said "no, but I would like to know the last possible moment I can have one in case I change my mind." Originally my dr told me that because I was having twins I would have to have an epidural because of the risks involved with twins and the possibility of an emergency c-section, they didn't want to have to knock me out completely but because the pregnancy had gone so well and because the boys had been head down for a couple of weeks he told me I didn't have to have an epidural if I didn't want to (I didn't have one with Emma but I did with Elias).

At 5:10pm my dr came in and checked me and I was dilated to a 7 and he broke baby A's bag of water - oh to be young again and have the feeling of peeing my pants. He up'ed my pitocin drip from 2 to 6 mL/hr and then said he would be back later to check on me. My nurse checked the monitor and decided I was having enough contractions that I didn't need to have it so high so she lowered it to 4 mL/hr and went to go get Jared some scrubs to change into because twins are delivered in an operating room for safety reasons. They have so many nurses in the room to help the mother, the babies and the dr; plus they have an ultrasound tech there to check on baby B after the first one comes out, not to mention an anesthesiologist waiting in case the mother needs an emergency c-section and if she's super lucky she gets to have medical students in there to watch as well - it's just like a big old party in the operating room. Jared was bored and needed to get out for a bit so he left to check on the car and when he came back it was 5:35pm. At 5:33pm I had my first contraction that made me think twice about an epidural, then at 5:35pm I had my second contraction and then at 5:37pm I had my third contraction and told Jared he needed to call the nurse or the dr in the room right away and either give me an epidural or I was going to push these kids out now.

Jared called the nurse and she came in and saw my face and knew it was serious and started to get her gloves on when my dr came back in to check on me and she told him that I wanted to be checked and either given an epidural or I wanted to push the kids out. So he got one glove on and checked me and said, "ya this baby is coming out now, we are going to deliver".
nurse: "don't we have to go to the operating room?"
dr: "are there any rules that say we have to?"
nurse: "you tell me, you're the dr"
dr: "no, this baby is coming now!"
The nurse became frazzled and she tried calling all the appropriate people to come in to my room and do what they needed to do (no exaggeration, about 10 nurses came in) and as the dr was asking her for certain things she responded all nervously, "I am off my game right now, I am not prepared for this!" The dr sat down on the edge of my bed and before he could finish putting his other glove on (literally it was hanging off his hand) I let him know that I was going to push now and 3 pushes later Tyler Everett was out at 5:46pm weighing 6lbs 2oz and 19 inches long. Don't you just love that feeling after you push a baby out that the pain is all over with and you can finally relax a little bit? I sure do and I enjoyed it for about 30 seconds before it occurred to me that it wasn't over yet and I am pretty sure that I let people know out loud that I didn't want to do this again. While we waited to get Tyson out I asked Jared for some ice chips, bless his heart, it's his one responsibility and he just couldn't get it quite right, he kept putting too many in my mouth and I had to spit them out :) After a minute or two the dr said, "call anesthesiology" and I thought to myself, "oh crap something is wrong they might be doing a c-section". Then the dr had the ultrasound tech hurry and place the ultrasound in certain spots on my stomach because Baby B decided he no longer wanted to come out head first or feet first, he wanted to come out back first. The dr was frantically trying to turn him around to avoid me having a c-section. He shoved (not softly either) his five fingers up inside me and was holding Baby B's bag of water against him and turning his body while his other hand was on top of my stomach pushing the baby's head from the outside to turn it as well. We are so lucky to have an experienced dr, even the nurses were saying that if it wasn't for him, the other doctors would have sent me straight in for a c-section but my dr, my hero, turned him and 9 minutes later, 5:55pm, we welcomed Tyson Steven (middle name after my dr and his greatness) into the world weighing 5lbs 11oz and 19 1/4 inches long. After he was out the anesthesiologist showed up and let us know he was ready to take me and that the room was ready, thank heavens he wasn't needed. Slowly some of the nurses started leaving the room and the rest of them were taking care of the boys, me and helping the dr. Just then I started having what I swore were more contractions because it was extremely painful and I thought, "oh my gosh there is another freaking kid in there and I don't have another car seat or anything for a third child!" I told the dr about the pains I was having and he said, "oh its just the placenta detaching from the uterine wall". I actually had to push that thing out as if it were another kid and then he had the nerve to show it to me and explain all the dirty details about it to me like the membranes that separated the boys, the sac that each of them were in, etc. Can I just say that it was kinda cool but really at this point, I couldn't give a crap. At about 6:15pm my labor and delivery nurse said to me, "did you make a joke about how cute your toes were during delivery?" and I said, "yes, I was trying to distract myself from the pain". She began to laugh and so did my dr but then his laugh was followed by, "distract yourself now with something", and that's when the stitching began. If you have ever watched yourself be stitched up, the thread isn't red, that's the color of your blood on it. When you are squeezing your legs and tensing up from the immense pain you are in, I find it silly to listen to your dr when he says, "relax your legs".
Finally it was all over and my parents came to the hospital with Emma and Elias to see the boys and then Jared's mom came. We finally got to leave our big spacious labor and delivery room and head over to our closet, I mean recovery room, at about 12am. The nurses aide came in and took the babies' vitals along with mine and we told her that we wanted the babies to go to the cottage for the night and she said sure. My nurse came in and did her thing and then the aide came back and said that there was no more room in the cottage and she was sorry but the babies would have to sleep with us tonight. Lucky for us our nurse had twins herself and knew what we were in for so she personally took our boys for us and kept them with her all night so we could try and get some rest. We lucked out because our 3 main nurses the entire time we were at the hospital all had twins so they were extra kind to us and hooked us up with tons of stuff. All in all, it was a our best experience yet at Banner Desert and contrary to popular belief, when having twins...THE SECOND ONE DOESN'T JUST FALL OUT BECAUSE THE FIRST ONE PAVED THE WAY!!! To answer a lot of questions that have been asked...
- No, they are not identical. Tyler has a bigger nose and has thicker hair that lays down and Tyson's nose is obviously smaller and has thinner hair that tends to stick up (that's how I tell them apart and it only took me 3 days. I know, bad mom).
- In the womb Tyson photographed better and he still does now.
- Tyler is the bigger eater of the two and pretty much dictates when the 2 of them are going to eat. When one wants to eat, we wake the other one up to eat as well, to keep them on the same schedule.
- They are excellent babies so far and pretty much just sleep the day and night away except for when they eat (every ~4 hours).
- Of course Emma loves them but surprisingly, so does Elias. He probably loves them a little too much, first thing he does when he gets out of bed is run into our room to check on the babies and he is always checking on them, giving them kisses, rubbing them, laying his head on them and pinching their noses so they can't breathe. He is quite cute with them.
All of the pictures from the hospital:

TOOTH FAIRY VS SANTA CLAUS

It has finally happened. Emma is 6 years and 3 months old and has lost her first tooth! HALLELUJAH!!! The drama can finally end now. In kindergarten Emma was constantly coming home sad because kids in her class kept losing teeth and getting their name up on some tooth chart and Emma never made the tooth chart (I guess that's what happens when you don't get your first tooth until you are 11 months old). She wrote the tooth fairy a note telling her she lost her tooth but that she really lost it and couldn't find it but luckily she was able to find it. She was so excited to go to bed that night and leave it under her pillow. At 5:45am she came running into our room because the tooth fairy had come and left her a dollar (let me just tell you that when Santa Claus comes she doesn't wake up until 7amish so I guess Tooth Fairy beats Santa Claus). That night she left the tooth fairy a "thank you" note, how cute is she :)

Monday, June 9, 2008

FABULOUS!

Emma was so stinking cute at her recital, we couldn't have been more proud of her. She walked out there like she owned the place and had the biggest smile on her face and shook her hips like nobody's business. For the last number of the recital all the dancers got to go on stage and bow and rock out, and boy did she rock out. It was hard to believe that her smile was even bigger this time around and she just busted out her own dance moves right there on stage, in front and in the middle. She is now asking when her next recital is going to be because she knows she will be in 3 dances instead of just 1. Thank you to everyone who came out to support Emma, we really appreciate it and especially since you had to pay money to do it. (There is a video of her dancing under the video section - it is from the dress rehearsal so its not as good as the actual recital was.)
Uncle Bryant, Emma and Uncle Jacob
Dancing Queen
It's not in focus but you can still see how excited Emma was about the finale

NOT FOR WEAK STOMACHS!

Well Jared and I made it to everything we wanted to make it to before we had these boys. My parents have gone and come back from their 10 day cruise, we were able to see Emma dance at her recital and we made it to Ashley's farewell and setting apart so now we are ready to get these boys out!

This is my last fat post update so for those of you who have been asking for this picture - enjoy and for those of you who have a weak stomach or just think fat, streched marked bellies are ugly...stop looking now :) I am 37 weeks and 6 days along and I have gained 42 pounds and my stomach is now measuring 14 1/2 inches - I measured twice because it seemed odd that it has shrunk from 2 weeks ago but my guess is it's because my belly has dropped since I measure the same part everytime.
We marked where Baby A (Tyler) and Baby B (Tyson) are located since everyone keeps asking.
Don't I have the cutest ready to give birth sausage link toes ever! Now if these don't excite my doctor I am not sure what will :)

Thursday, May 29, 2008

GOODBYE KINDERGARTEN!

Goodbye classroom!
Goodbye Teach!
You can find me at the beach...
Or in the park or at the pool
Or any place that isn’t school.

Hallelujah school is over just in time to sit around and be lazy for 2 weeks before the babies come. We can't believe it's over already, we totally remember all the drama from the first day of school and I am sure all you loyal fans of my blog remember it too :) ha ha. Ms. Mackuse and Emma

Chayla, Emma and Jade. Her friends in her class.

My sister-in-law has requested that I update my fatikusness so here it is, me and all my glory! Old boyfriends; count your blessings that you aren't married to me :) I am 36 weeks (full term for twins) and I have gained 39 pounds and my belly is 15 inches fatter.
So Emma just said to me, "mom, I hope you don't die early, don't you?"
my response: "ya"
Emma: "cause sometimes fat people die early you know!" ...I wonder what she is hinting at :)

Friday, May 23, 2008

"HERE MR. JENSEN!"

I've always thought teachers were under-paid and under-appreciated and now I know I am totally right! Chandler Schools participates in a program called Junior Achievement; it's comprised of parent volunteers going into the classroom for the whole day and teaching a series of lessons including several activities. Most of it is prepared for us ahead of time and the teacher stays in the room to discipline kids if needed. This allows the teacher work on end-of-the-year stuff. I have to say Jared did a great job. He did everything and all I had to do was read the stories and help get their attention so he could tell them something while they worked on their activities. Emma of course was in heaven having her parents in the room and teaching her class. Lunch time...here's a good question for ya...why did we have to pay $3 for this lunch and Emma only had to pay $2 for it when we got the same nasty nacho cheese, bag of chips, fake chocolate tasting chocolate chip cookie, carrots (that have probably been sitting out all week) and juice. I avoided the milk because I remember back in elementary school when sometimes it would be green at the bottom - yuck. My favorite part of the whole day was when Jared was telling the kids what he did for a living and I told him to ask a little girl what her mom does because she also works at Intel and her reply to Jared was, "um, my mom makes lists so she can help me with my pink birthday party on saturday and it's going to be really fun" (and then a bunch of other ramblings which I cant remember).

Friday, May 16, 2008

FAMILY UPDATE!

I am sorry I havent posted in a while, nothing exciting going on over here I guess. So here is a family update on each of us.

Jared: I am so proud of him. He has worked so hard and he is finally finished. He beat Mario Kart on Nintendo Wii, Congratulations honey, I couldn't be more proud. (that is a picture of his character in the middle and I hope you can tell I am being sarcastic).

Carol: Our family has been blessed tremedously with the upcoming arrival of our twins. We had a few friends loan us things like; a swing, crib, infant carrier, twin newborn boy clothes, etc and then on top of that my ward gave me a shower and my prettiest cousins gave me a shower so we are so truly grateful for all the things we have recieved to help ease the upcoming arrival of our boys. Thank you everyone for everything from car seats, to diapers and wipes, worlds smallest flip flops, bean bag chairs, clothes, blankets, toys, everything!!! I have to say we were amazed at all the diapers we recieved so we decided to add it up...drum roll please...4,150 diapers!

Life is pretty boring over here for me these days. I am going to 3 doctors appointments a week now. 1 regular check-up, 1 ultrasound and 1 non-stress test and can I just say that they are not allowed to be on the same day so that they can monitor the babies more often and 2 of the appointments are at Desert Sam and I live in Chandler, not so fun. Here is the most hideous picture ever at my last non-stress test appointment but I thought I would share with you all how thrilling it is to be hooked up for an hour or so each week (Jen Hess and Shelby, I am sorry you had to do this more than I did, I can only imagine you poor things.) I have gained 34 pounds and 12 1/2 inches in my big 'ol belly.

Emma: She had her Kindergarten Spring Assembly, thank you Uncle RJ and Aunt Jen for going and watching her. Here is a picture from it, I will have Jared post a video clip this weekend from the assembly its only worth watching the boy behind Emma pick his nose, classic. Other than that, Emma is just keeping busy with school, dance, her friends and playing with her brother. Here is a sneak peek at her recital costume.

Elias: We love him more and more each day, especially now that he is finally done being sick, done with ear infections and sleeping through the night again and going down for naps like the good old days, can I get a Hallelujah and a Amen please!

Tyler: He now weighs 4lbs 10oz and the ultrasound tech was super kind enough to tell us that his head has most of his weight and it is very round...my response, yikes and ouch! I have no picture of him for this week because as usual, he was uncooperative.

Tyson: He now weighs 4lbs 7oz and most of his weight is also in his head but his head is more oblong shaped, easier to come out, man I love this kid. Here is his latest picture, sorry the quality isnt that good from scanning it in but his eyes are open and he is mid yawn.