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Thursday, October 30, 2008

Pretty in Pink

After church on Sunday, the girls posed for some cute dressy pictures....I love their smiles! They are becoming more and more photogenic. They actually smile at the camera now... Sadie on the left and Maegan on the right.





Saturday, October 25, 2008

Cereal, Peas, Pears...oh my!

The girls have begun to eat solids. With twins, that's just one more thing that takes double time to prepare and accomplish. They started eating rice cereal at 51/2 months and then we got the ok from the doctor at the 6 month appointment to begin eating veggies and fruits. It is an exciting, yet messy time. The girls are now eating solids three times a day after a nursing session. Sadie eats like a champ! She does really well at eating in general and enjoys trying new foods. Maegan on the other hand makes a face of concern when food enters her mouth. She soon remembers the taste and will begin eating her food normally. One thing she doesn't mind eating is pears!! They began eating in their boppy chairs on the floor and now they have graduated to booster/high chairs. This last week the girls were a little sick, so eating was not as easy as the weeks before.... they would spit it out or just refuse it all together. They were wasting my precious milk!!! oh well, this is a learning experience for all of us.... Here are some pictures of the girls during some of our feeding times.


Sadie

Maegan

Maegan

Sadie

Girls holding their own bottles!!

In their boosters!!

Sadie, The Pumpkin

Maegan, The Ghost

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Our story, part 2



I left off writing about finding out we were having twin girls!! Once again I was very shocked and terrified, but only for about a week... Aaron and I didn't tell our families right away because we wanted to wait and tell everyone at Christmas time, which was about two weeks away. We made a three picture, picture frame with Aaron and I, Stormie and Sunny(our beagles) and then the ultrasound picture with captions saying, "I'm a girl!" and "so am I". We gave a frame to Aaron's mom and to my mom. They opened the presents at the same time and everyone jumped for joy with excitement!! It was worth the wait!!




My pregnant belly at 5 1/2 months


My pregnancy was normal...nauseous during the first trimester, feeling good the second trimester and beginning to get miserable starting the third trimester.

Our first visit to the doctor was exciting because that's when we found out we were having twins. It was also a downer because he gave us the lowdown and risk of a twin pregnancy. I praise God for no complications and giving me the strength to make it 38 weeks. I had a scare at 28 weeks though. I was having way too many braxton hicks contractions one day after a long, long day at work. That night I was sitting in a prenatal class and kept feeling my uterus tighten up and get hard as a rock then let down about every 5 minutes. Of course I am freaking out because the teacher is telling the class that more than 5 in an hour should be checked out. So after the class, the teacher told me to go across the street to the hospital. I did and I stayed over night. I was so scared because our babies were only 2lbs each then. I knew they could not come into this world yet, they were way too small. The doctor said my uterus was irritated from doing too much and not drinking enough water. He didn't put me on bed rest, but at that moment I knew I needed to slow down. (doctors, or at least my doctor, will not put pregnant women on bed rest unless something serious happens ) Needless to say I ended up going back to the hospital the next night too... From then on I started drinking a gallon of water a day and the contractions eased off.


I was an elementary LIFE skills teacher, so the work was physical and we are on the floor a lot. There was also a lot of pushing, hitting, and behavior problems in our room that I had to be careful of. I stopped picking up kids, especially ones that were dead weight. My coworkers realized that I needed to slow down as well. I lasted 6 more weeks at work....




My pregnant belly the night before the babies were born


"Full term" for a twin pregnancy is 34-36 weeks. My plan all along was that if I could make it to 34 weeks (full term), then I would stop working and put myself on bed rest. I believed that if I stayed home, I could make it that much longer and, praise God, I did! I made it 4 more weeks. I enjoyed staying at home. I was able to enjoy being pregnant too! I laid around a lot and got bigger and bigger. Walking to the car and back was exhausting. Once I rested for a while, I thought I would do the laundry... wrong idea.... that meant I then had to take an hour nap from exhaustion. I couldn't turn over at night and boy, sleeping was miserable. I was going to the bathroom every hour and Aaron had to push me up out of bed. I was sleeping with every random pillow in the house. Couch pillows, pregnancy pillows, and decorative pillows. It was crazy!

The waiting game was harder for Aaron than for me. I was fearful of the pain and the unknown. With a twin pregnancy, you have to be prepared to give birth the babies early...32 weeks maybe. So every week that went by was a miracle. We thanked God along the way. At every doctor appointment we wondered if I would be dilated, but I never was. The waiting continued. Both girls were head down and so I felt God was allowing me to have a vaginal delivery.... I at least wanted to try. I felt the whole pregnancy my doctor was pushing for a c-section, but I never gave up on a vaginal delivery. I was also realistic in knowing that a c-section was a huge possibility and I was prepared. At the end we were going to the doctor every week and getting an ultrasound. The last appointment I was dilated to a 1cm, so the doctor decided to induce. He felt it was time since I was at 38 weeks and the babies were big and healthy. He also felt that the longer I waited, complications might arise. So the next morning I was induced at 7am.



Aaron and I in the nursery the morning of delivery

We arrived at the hospital at 6am, I was induced at 7am, contractions started about 4pm and at that time I received the epidural. I took a nap, along with Aaron and my dad and enjoyed the meds! The whole process was a lot longer than I thought it would be. The girls just didn't want to come out!! I felt bad because our families were waiting all day in the waiting room. Bless them!! Then at 8pm, I was pumped up, getting ready to watch American Idol when full blown contractions began. Even though I had an epidural, I felt the contractions because I had what they call a "hot spot". I had never heard of that, but it was a place in my body were the epidural was not working. I praised God for that later, because I was able to know when to push and was able to push harder. I told the nurse that I was in pain; that the epidural wasn't working, and she said I wasn't hurting...I couldn't believe it! She said if the pain was so bad, then I should be crying...but I didn't cry before when I got the epidural and the contractions were more painful then. That nurse made me very upset. She made me want to cry!!! The doctor checked me and I was ready to start pushing.... Huh, I wanted to slap that nurse!


"Baby B", Maegan and "Baby A", Sadie in their hospital bassinet


All twin deliveries are done in the operating room, even vaginal ones...just in case a c-section has to take place. So I was wheeled away to the operating room and spent the next 3 hours in there. I couldn't tell you what it looked like because for some odd reason my eyes were closed the whole time. I guess that is the way I dealt with the pain, or maybe it was because of the loads of medication I had pumped inside of me. (needless to say it still didn't take away the hot spot) Sadie was born at 9:51pm and Maegan was born two hours later at 11:46pm. I was able to hold Sadie just for a minute and then they took her to the incubator close by. The two hours in between births flew by and I had to go through labor all over again... yet faster. Most of the two hours was waiting on Maegan to turn. She was head down, but facing the wrong way. She was facing forward instead of facing back. She was content and didn't want to move, which explains her content spirit most of the time. I just can't believe the delivery was a success!! God is good!!!





Sadie Lynn


I had two motivators at the end to help me deliver Maegan. The first motivator was that at 11:30 Aaron told me that the doctor was going to give me three more pushes. If Maegan didn't come out, she would have to be delivered by c-section. Then the second motivator was knowing that it was almost midnight, and she would be delivered on a different day than her twin sister. God gave me strength and determination and both girls made it out healthy and beautiful!! We are so blessed to be able to talk about a success story. It breaks my heart and my prayers go out to those who have babies in the NICU for weeks and months. I pray for them and for their trust in God....All babies are precious in His sight!




Maegan Laverne

Being pregnant was such a joy! My mom thinks I am crazy for wanting to have more kids...definitely years away. I hope you get to enjoy knowing and loving Sadie and Maegan. They are precious, beautiful girls who make our lives so eventful! I hope you've enjoyed the modified version of our story.... keep in touch.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Our Story..Marriage, pregnancy and birth, part1




So many people don't know our story, so I am going to attempt to share of how Aaron and I got here.... with two baby girls. We met in a singles group at the church we both attended. We dated for 6 months before we got engaged and then 6 months later we were married on July 1st, 2006. Aaron and I just celebrated our 2 year anniversary and we had two babies to remind us how blessed we are. Our wedding day started out normal with excitement and lots to do, but by afternoon it began to rain. Long story short the plan for having a beautiful outdoor wedding at Heritage Park in Bryan was soon shattered and we had to relocate to the reception sight in downtown Bryan. How amazing God is, because in less than two hours we had everything we could have asked for in a wedding. Everything happened the way it was supposed to....

You know what they say about rain on your wedding day.... fertility. I remember people mentioning it, but I just laughed and giggled. Well we know the end to that story.... twin girls two years later!!

We went to Puerto Villarta on our Honeymoon. We dreaded the day we had to return to reality, but we did and our life together began. The next year on our anniversary, Aaron and I celebrated in Zihauatenjo/Ixtapa, Mexico. We spent a week in the tropical area, relaxed on seven different beaches and experienced many surprises there. (A bug infested bungalo and a military helicopter landing three times within a 100 feet from our hotel room.) Neadless to say, we were ready to come back from that trip! Even through those experiences we love Mexico.. the culture, food and charm.




A month later we celebrated my 27th birthday. Then one month later we found out I was pregnant... we were both very excited. Our plan was to wait a year after getting married to start a family and so far our plan was working! Soon God reveals his plan to us... One month after the test was positive, we found out we were expecting twins!! October 8th. It was clear as day! Two beautiful fetuses. God is good!! Excitement and shock took over (first thoughts were two of everything!!), but that was only the beginning. Twins do run in my family. My Granny is a twin, her grandmother was a twin and my dad has some twins on his side as well. When I was a kid I wanted twins-just like any child, but once I was older I never thought it would happen to me.



Then at week 20 we found out that they were two girls! That was harder for me. I wanted either two boys or a boy/girl.. not two girls. I didn't know how to handle two girls. Everybody around me has boys and that is what I was used to.. Now I can't imagine my life without these two girls. Girls rock!! I cried to sleep some nights, scared and prayerful that they would love each other and love me.






Monday, October 13, 2008

Sadie and Maegan



Wow! I can't believe I am writing on my own blog!! I have not been motivated to look into making a blog, but now my motivation is my beautiful twin girls. They have sparked an interest in me to share with everyone the adventures of being a twin mom and so friends and family can know them... it's incredible and utterly exhausting. Aaron and I are so blessed and I thank God everyday. Sometimes I forget how precious, healthy and amazing they are and I just want to get away... a break. Then I am away and five minutes doesn't go by until I feel something and two somebodies are missing. It's crazy being a mom... Never a break, but God gives me the strength everyday.

They are almost 6 months old, three more days and they will be celebrating their first half birthday. They grow too fast, but at the same time it gets more fun the more they grow. Our days are pretty routine based, for my sanity and theirs. I am still breastfeeding, but also supplementing with a bottle or two a day. They girls have been sleeping through the night since they were two months old. There was a little disturbance about 2 months ago when they got sick and it took a month to get back to sleeping well at night. During that time we began to transition them to sleeping unswaddled and in seperate beds. Suprisingly the girls slept wonderful unswaddled. We also started the cry it out method of sleeping and we are still working on that. It is so hard to hear them crying, but I know in the long run we will all be blessed for it. Today, both nap times went great.... I layed them down and within 10 minutes went to sleep and slept two hours each. Another milestone they have reached this week is turning over from back to front! It is really cool and they are doing it in there sleep. I think it is helping them sleep better too... The only problem is when they wake up, they wake up crying louder for help!

Well that's it for now..I can go on forever about what the babies are up to and learning everyday. Hopefully I will keep up with this blog and share with you the ins and outs of twinhood! Also to keep you updated on our family... Aaron, me, Sadie and Maegan!