FINALLY!!!

 Miles (Left) and Jaxon (Right)

Elliot holding his youngest brother Miles for the first time.

 He likes him!

I am sure we will have many more pictures and posts to share, but here is a start!  In short, we went in on Sunday evening 12/19/10 about 7:30 and they were both born about 11:30 pm.  Jaxon was born first weighing 6.0 lbs and 19.75 inches, then Miles next at 6 lbs 3 oz and 21 inches.  They were both taken to the NICU for four hours to be observed, then were found to be doing great and were released from the NICU and sent to our room.  Jaxon has actually been shuttled back and forth to the NICU because he kept having struggles breathing, and is now up there for the night.  Doc says he has a small pneumothorax which they are trying to treat with 100% oxygen in a tent.  They will check him again tomorrow morning and hopefully things will have improved so he can breathe a little easier.  Miles has been a champ and has been down here with us the whole time.  Elliot has actually seen both kids, but only was able to hold Miles.  I am not sure Elliot knows what to make of the situation, but he did say that we needed to sing to them when they started crying.  So far he has been a good big brother.  Thanks so much to our awesome neighbors (the Rushtons), for watching Elliot and taking him in at the drop of a hat yesterday so we could run in here to the hospital.  Chelsea is recovering well from her C-section, although she is still heavily medicated so who knows how she will do when she can't have the narcotics...hopefully well.  Interesting note, does anyone remember or know what else happened on Sunday, December 19th exactly six years ago?  We will both be posting pictures on facebook and this blog, so check in later if you would like to know/see more!

Fun at the museum

I'm not sure why I'm so anxious to get these babies here. If they weren't twins I'd still have 4 weeks to go. Sheesh! But alas, the wait continues.

Yesterday was a great day though. I had a MD apt. NO CHANGES...lovely. We took Elliot to the Childrens museum. Even though I've taken myself off bedrest....J.R. still had to push me around in a wheelchair due to my lack of stamina and lung space and all the other pains that come along with carrying so much extra weight. I can't wait till walking from point A to B doesn't make me want to cry from hip, back, pelvic etc pain. WOW, there I go again...complain, complain.

It was great watching Elliot play and spending time with J.R. That could potentially be our last fun outing as a family of 3. Crazy! Trips like that will never be so easy.

Elliot is obsessed with Santa. I don't blame him, he is pretty neat! He also loved the little reindeer lady at the entrance. It took him forever to get brave enough to approach her, but was more than happy to take a picture. He loved her blinking nose.

So happy for the season. The excitement in kids eyes. The opportunity to teach about why giving gifts is a tradition. The pondering of Jesus' birth and the anticipation of my own birth experience. I feel so blessed and loved! What a wonderful season!

Things are looking up

It's amazing how one day I can feel totally helpless, depressed and out of control and then....the sun comes up the next day.

That's exactly how this weekend was. On Friday I thought I was going crazy...literally. Then when my MD rounded on Saturday and told me I might get to go home, all of a sudden I felt in control again.  My brain had been constantly fighting between wanting to have the babies early just to get me out of the hospital and be with Elliot vs. keeping the babies in longer for their own good.  I must be nuts actually letting my brain think I'd sacrifice my own kids wellness with my selfishness of wanting a change in scenery. WOW! What a rollercoaster of emotions.

But now I am home and although I'm still sitting on a couch all day at least I'm in control of my actions. No more needing permission to shower, eat dinner on the couch rather then in my hospital bed, taking rides in a wheelchair just to see life beyond my hospital door...etc.... I get to make my own choices and it's awesome!

To make our day home from the hospital that much more awesome we closed the deal on our new van!! A 07' Honda Odyssey. It may have a lot of miles on it, but it's got all the sweet features you could want. J.R. was great and wheeling and dealing for a good deal too so we feel like we scored on the price tag too.  I hate shopping for a new car so this was a HUGE relief to have done before the babies got here and we were desperate.

Elliot get home tomorrow. Contractions are still minimal. I got almost all my christmas shopping done (thanks to the internet).  I'm not on any side-effect filled meds. I don't have to sit on a monitor 2 + times a day. I just get to relax and wait patiently for these babies to decide when their ready to join us. And I know it's in huge part due to all the prayers, thoughts and love that has been sent from so many people. I feel so blessed! Thank you so much!

LIFE IS GOOD AGAIN!

My reason for lonesomeness....

SO STINKING CUTE! Miss you Elliot! LOVE YOU!

So full of feeling

Feeling sappy
Feeling blessed
Feeling loved
Feeling watched over
Feeling worried
Feeling peace
Feeling movement
Feeling grateful
Feeling reflective
Feeling urgency
Feeling innadequate
Feeling empowered
Feeling missed
Feeling intensely loved by a family that is bound together for eternity!

It's amazing how close I've felt to my dad this past week. I have such a strong feeling that he is with me and that he has had his hand in making this experience so smooth, wonderful and unstressful.
Love you dad. Stay close. This road isn't over yet. 3

A Sunny Monday Morning

Good News: Babies are still cooking! I talked to my MD this AM. She said she wanted to discontinue the Mag on Thursday and let my body labor when it was ready. She rarely keeps twin moms on Mag longer then 34 weeks...especially with mine measuring so big. So what does that mean??

We could have these babies this weekend!

In the meantime I am keeping busy with christmas shopping online, blog stalking old friends, movie watching, listening to christmas music, napping and listening to the babies heart beats several times a day.

Here's a peak into my view from my hospital bed and J.R.'s view standing over head....

Hospital Stay Day 3. (33wks)

Beware: a lot of journaling

11.24.10: That morning I had about 7 contratctions in 1 hour, which is the max I'm allowed before we make changes....well, since I have been on the Turb pump for a solid 5 weeks I had increased my dose so much over time that I had reached my maximum daily dose....what next?MAG! At my usual MD apt. later this day my cervix had shortened again to 2.01 (which is pretty short) so my doctor said it's time to be admitted. They wheeled me over to the hospital striaght from her office. As the night went on my contractions continued even as we continued to increase the mag dose. At first the mag wasn't so bad, then slowly the effects crept in. It felt like I was on fire and burning from the inside out. Yikes!

11.25.10: By about 2 am we had reached a max dose with the mag and my contractions were still breaking through every 2-4 minutes. I was dilated to a 1.5 and about 90% effaced. Since both babies are breech my MD was worried about letting me labor too long and having a complication like a prolapsed chord or a foot sneaking out and then end in an emergency c-section. So, since she had several other patients laboring right then she decided to give me 2 more hours and if nothing changed we would be headed to the OR to deliver these babies. 4 hours later when she finally made it back to my room my contractions had slowed and my cervix was unchanged so....WE WAIT! I pretty much passed out, only waking to puke or pee (thank you Mag) for the rest of the night. All along the boys had been doing wonderful. Heartrates steady and no signs of issues at all. GOOD JOB boys! Way to hang in there.  Thanksgiving was more of the same...watching the babies, watching the contractions and trying to wean down the Mag dose I was on and try to wake me from the dead. J.R. enjoyed the free Thanksgiving meal in the cafeteria and I enjoyed a graham cracker and chocolate milk which I managed to keep down. 
Although this Thanksgiving was not ideal we still had so much to be thankful for! We are so blessed! Healthy Big boys that are hanging in there and doing great. Wonderful doctors and nurses to keep us safe and healthy and help us make good educated decisions. Wonderful friends, family and neighbors who have been  praying so hard for our benefit. A Heavenly Father watching over us and keeping us calm. My own father here by our side watching things progress and helping to lead us to the right decisions.

11.26.10: 1am woke up to the nurse asking if I've been feeling contractions. I said no, but apparently had 7 contrations in the last hour and the MD order to give me phenergan and Nubain to try to get me to relax and hopefully get the contractions to do the same. Early that night I had taken benedryl to help me sleep and if you don't know me I react to medications in extreme ways. The tiniest dose effects me in enormous ways. You can imagine what all those drugs did...Knocked Me Out! A few hours later I woke up with the nurse trying to strap baby monitors on me. The meds had calmed the contrations, but they also started effecting the babies. Their heart rates decreased with decels occasionally so they threw an oxygen mask on me and continued monitoring the babies the rest of the evening. I was so out of it I could hardly understand what was going on. By morning the babies had stabilized, I was comming out of my "coma" and my contractions were back down to about 4 per hour. They did an ultrasound on the babies just to be sure they were okay (protocol, I guess) and they are. Baby A measured 6 lbs 5 oz and baby B measured 4lbs 15 oz. Not sure how close those measurements are to reality, but either way we know they're big for their age so that is GREAT!!
The rest of today was spent sleeping off the remaining drugs from the night before and watching a movie with J.R.  Thank heavens J.R. had this entire weekend off. Yet another blessing sent straight from heaven. He doesn't have to go back to work till Monday. HOORAY! 
Elliot is still in Utah with Grandma and loving every second. We Skyped with the family last night and Elliot was on just long enough to say a quick hello then off he went to have more FUN FUN FUN with his great cousins. He's not lonesome at all. I started getting lonesome for him Tuesday night when I was laying in bed alone because J.R. was on call. It was weird thinking that everyone in our family was sleeping in a different place that night. I didn't like that feeling so I got lonely. Now that I'm hospital bound I'm so glad he's with my mom. I would be a wreck trying to figure out what to do with him if he were here. BLESSINGS, BLESSINGS, BLESSINGS EVERYWHERE!

The plan: continue to slowly wean me off the magnesium sulfate and transfer me back to the Terbutaline pump. Being able to go home will be another question?? Everything is still kinda up in the air. We'll just take it day by day and keep marinating this boys till their ready.  Pretty sure I'll be here at least till Monday. I'm hoping to keep the boys in till at least next Thursday when I'll be 34 weeks and both my mom and Elliot will be back in Indiana. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers! We have the best support group ever! Hugs back to everyone!

32 weeks and still counting

Lay down, lay down, lay down....that's pretty much my thoughts all day. It's so hard to stay down when I can think of a million things to do. Thankfully we moved our computer downstairs and I'm consumed with digital scrapbooking. So fun!

My  mom came out last week and spent the week cleaning my house, keeping us fed and putting up our christmas tree.  My house looks and smells wonderful and our spirits are again lifted. Moms are amazing at working their motherly magic! She left last Thursday with an extra piece of luggage by the name of ELLIOT! He was so excited to go. Every day he asked when he was going to "get on the plane with grandma and mommy stays here."

He's been gone for 4 days and he's not one bit homesick....mom and dad on the other hand...well that's another story....Actually we're doing great. My stress and guilt level is way down now that I know he's loving his life and not watching 14 movies a day.  1 1/2 weeks to go till Elliot gets back and hopefully these babies stay cozy inside that long  too.

Twin boys update: They are measuring 4 lbs 8 oz each via ultrasound. I've had to increase my contraction stopping medication quite a bit this week. I've almost maxed out on the medicine I can have per day so hopefully the contractions calm down. I wasn't sure I'd even make it to Thanksgiving and now here we are....so many blessings!

Speaking of blessings...the amount of support, love, meals and encouragement we have received from neighbors, ward members and friends is beyond anything we could have asked for.

WE ARE SO BLESSED!

New day New Costume

A scary dragon 

(the red on his chin is supposed to be a tongue, but it turned out looking more like blood. 

Oops. We were in a hurry and didn't have time to fix it.)

The Trick or Treating Crew: Alexa, Elliot, Sarah

Once again, very dirty tub water

This was a very strange halloween. I (obviously) couldn't take him out to go trick or treating and J.R. happened to be on call and got called in to a case that was supposed to only be a couple hours and turned into a 6 hour case. SO...thank heavens for awesome neighbors who offered to let him tag along.

He had a great time. Got tons of candy and came home exhausted!  What a fun night. 

How strange not to live in Utah and have to be trick or treating on a Sunday.  

Baby shower Day! 29 weeks and 2 days

Mostly for my mom. She's been begging for a belly picture.  Huge, I know! :)

Shower guests

Today was so fun!
To start the day Elliot slept till 11am, which ment I pretty much did too. (Lazy, I know). Then my awesome friend Debbie put together a shower to celebrate the babies. It was really fun. The games were fun, the food was great, her house was decorated so cute and I got spoiled. Thanks everyone for coming. I had a great time!

Prehalloween FUN

A Tiger for "dress like an animal day" at school

Spiderman in the tub. The water was completely red after we were through.

This is a boy of many different faces.

He was a make-shift tiger for school. We were forced to work with what we had at home due to my inability to leave the house. Any Sun Valley Carolers out there recognize the "TIGER TAIL"???  Turned out pretty cute and he LOVED the face paining.

For the ward party he was deciding between spiderman, dragon or a pirate. I showed him how we could paint his face of all three and he finally chose spiderman.

Tomorrow we'll hit a few of our close neighbors just to let him feel like he's trick or treating....I wonder what he'll choose for tomorrow?? Stay tuned.

(we have a picture of J.R. when he was about Elliot's age with his face painted like spiderman. As soon as I can find it I will post it. They look like twins!)

random thoughts

Pretty much where you'll find us every day. I love cuddling my boy!

Lovin' my hairdo.
When you've got no where to go, who really cares what your hair looks like right?

J.R. and Elliot are out at a ward halloween party. I'm stuck at home trying not to think of all the fun they're having. I painted Elliot's face like Spiderman....he was so excited to trick or treat "just like on Little Einsteins." He is hilarious and so opinionated. It's awesome!

I decided to put on Jekyll and Hyde in honor of the halloween weekend. I'll bury my mind in my digital scrapbooking now so I can feel like I accomplished something today.

The babies are kicking like crazy. Is it weird that I have conversations with them when we're alone? J.R. thinks I'm a goof, but it keeps me focused on what I'm working toward.

More fun halloween stuff tomorrow, plus a baby shower organized by my sweet neighbor. So excited to talk to adults and get excited for these babies!

Pics to come.....

Day 10 - Mostly journal stuff

10 days down.

I was so unconvinced last week when all this bed rest and medicine stuff was started that I was not the best at following the bed rest rules. Unfortunately that meant for a very rough early Sunday morning. I woke up around 3am with contraction after contraction and lots of pain. I jumped on my monitor and sure enough I had 6 hard contractions in just 30 minutes. The nurse that keeps track of my monitor called right away and we spent the morning adjusting my meds on my pump and remonitoring often. Things finally settled down by 8 or 9am and I got some rest. Although I didn't have as many consistent contractions, the rest of the day was just rough. Lots of small and large tightening. I think I took all the stress from my belly out on my back and neck because I was in so much pain in my back later in the day. Needless to say, I was humbled and so grateful I had the meds available otherwise I probably would have ended up in the hospital that night on Mag.

After that I was much more strict about my bedrest.  Pretty much didn't move Monday or Tuesday.

Wednesday I had an apt. Apparently all those contractions on Sunday caused problems and started shortening and thinning out my cervix. I'm almost to 50% effaced now. My doctor was about to admit me to the hospital right then due to my history and how much I had changed in just one week. Of course, (thank you Turb and hormones) I burst into tears imagining being put in the hospital that day without a husband to help. I convinced her to let me wait just 2 more days and try to get things in order before she admitted me. She agreed and we set up an apt for Friday.

Friday came and I was ready for her to tell me she needed to admit me to the hospital, but thankfully my cervix was unchanged so she agreed to let me go home and wait one more week.  HOORAY! I'd much rather be at home on the couch then in a hospital away from Elliot and J.R.

So the new plan....NST every monday. Cervical check every Wednesday. It's a week by week game now I guess. My mom has a standby ticket just waiting for the call to come. I have an emergency bag packed for the hospital and my bum is stuck to the recliner.

I can't believe the emotions I felt when my doctor told me how serious this really was. Flashbacks of Landon and Lydia are constantly on my mind. I've gained a new appreciation for the constant and frequent monitoring I've been under and I don't think you'll ever hear me complain about my Turb pump again.  I good humbling is what I needed and that's just what I got.  Each day these boys are still in my belly is a gift from Heavenly Father.

We are blessed!
Here's to an uneventful week!!!!!!


ps: Thanks everyone for your comments of love and encouragement!  Love you back!

DAY 1 of my new life

I knew it would happen sooner or later.....I'm officially on bed rest. Ugh! Not only that but I'm hooked up to a Terbutaline pump that is constantly giving my small and sometimes large doses of the drug. Not too big a deal except when I get the big doses of the drug I feel like I'm about to leap out of my own skin. My heart rate shoots through the roof and I feel like I can't breathe. My hands and pretty much whole body feels like it's convulsing. What a weird sensation. Not cool.  Supposedly the side effects are going to be less obvious to me as my body gets used to the drug. Let's hope so.

I also get to (look at my trying to be positive :) monitor my contractions twice a day and send them into a company who keeps track of what they're doing.  Kick counts are also involved here. Also, trying to keep Elliot from touching buttons while the strip is running seems to be a bit of a challenge. So many fun buttons and lights, it's simply irresistible for a 3 year old.

Movies and board games on the floor is how we spent our first day down. Not too bad so far. I'm trying to look at the bright side and keep my eye on the 36 week goal. That's only 9 weeks away. I CAN DO IT!

BTW: there wasn't anything that really trigger the need for all this. I was just generally not feeling well for a couple days and my MD decided to jump the gun. I guess it's better safe then sorry. I'd much rather be home doing all this then in the hospital I guess... so there, yet another blessing to be counted :)

Hooray for safe healthy babies! These pictures really helped put it into perspective for me. It was definitely a  tender mercy sent straight from Heavenly Father (and probably some help from my dad) that helped me survive hard news and a beginning to a new situation.

Here's to motherhood and all the sacrifices that are SO WORTH IT!!

ps: thanks to all who have already been so kind to offer help, support and prayers. I have an army of amazing people surrounding me and I know I couldn't stay sane with out your support! LOVE YOU ALL!

Baby A: I have a feeling is going to be the head strong type personality. He was very stubborn and refused to move his arms for a photo. The last one was the closest we could get to a face shot. He's generally more rough when he's active and more active in general compared to his brother. He's on bottom so he's probably just trying to kick his brother out of his way. :)

Baby B: Much more cooperative. I have a feeling he'll be more like Elliot. A little more gentle. He's on top so I can feel more distinct movements from him because of it. His are the ones you can see just looking at the top of my belly.

So fun to pick up on their personalities when I haven't even met them. I'm so anxious to get them here in my arms. Preferably fat and healthy!

Kelsey's Cow Farm

J.R. had Saturday off so we mapped our day to get as much done as possible. We shopped for recliners/rocking chairs & found one that we love - looked briefly into a new car, but I HATE car shopping so that didn't last long - then ended the day with FUN at a farm.

We learned how cows are milked, played on a hay bale playground, "swam" in a corn filled sand box, walked through a corn maze, went on a tractor hay ride and ate really good grilled cheese sandwiches and chocolate milk shakes. We had a great time, I only wish we would have got there sooner. It would have been more fun for Elliot in the day time.

What a great day to spend with dad!

Goofing off

Met up with J.R. for lunch the other day. We love any chance we get to see daddy....since it's usually not that often.

Love you J.R!!!    Keep up the hard work. It will be worth is eventually!

Our Busy September

Amidst J.R.'s crazy schedule this month, we did manage to do some really fun things.

Fist: Getting anxious for Halloween mixed with bordom = Halloween cookies in September

Second: Apple picking at Anderson Orchard. The apples were really picked over and it was a hot day, but we managed to still have a great time. We also were so excited to have my best high school buddy, Bergen visit for a couple weeks. Lots of reminiscing happened and I was reminded once again how TERRIBLE my memory is. Love you BERG!

Third: IUPUI Regatta. Even though J.R. didn't end up getting to actually race in the canoe we still got to enjoy the rest of the festivities. Elliot's favorite part was getting his face painted like a tiger!

Fun, Fun! Memories, Memories!

The Vintage Pearl Giveaway

http://thevintagepearl.blogspot.com/

Cute cute stuff!

The neatest lady I know

This month we said good bye to one of my greatest heros. This woman did more in her life then I could ever imagine one woman accomplishing. She raised 6 awesome son's and 1 amazing daughter. She was the ultimate BEST mother and grandmother ever. When I was younger we spent every summer in Utah and while my mom was busy with PVP grandma slipped in as our mom. We learned songs, lessons, and how to be positive and ENJOY life. She was always telling us to keep practicing the piano and to let our hair grow out long :)  I felt especially lucky because I got to have her same middle name. Betty June - Chelsea June.

Just days before she passed we were emailing back and forth. Me asking advice about raising twin boys and surviving residency - her replying by telling me to lay down and get off my feet and telling J.R. to nod his head then do what he thinks is best at work. She was an amazing writer with quiet humor filling the pages. She was my best resource for advice and love that only a grandma could offer.

I wasn't ready for her to go, but have a very strong testimony that she was needed on the other side and that it won't be long till I'll get to tell her how much I love her in person.

I hope I can be just like her when I grow up. I want to have her same love for life, love for ALL her kids ( 7 kids, 48 grandkids, and over 110 great-grandkids). That's a lot of people to keep track of and pray for, but I have no doubt she took time to think about each of us individually.

I hope her legacy can live on through her memories and strong testimony of the only true gospel on earth.

I love you bushel and a peck!

Summer fun

Just a hint into the fun summer we have had this year. So sad to see it end, but so excited for the fall and new arrivals coming this winter!

Baby Bumps

Erin is due in October with baby boy #4
I'm due in January with baby boys #3 & #4
Sharli is due in March with baby girl #3

So fun to be pregnant with my sisters. Imagine the complaints and silent understanding that is going on. Love it. :)

Golf day with Dad

J.R. took Elliot to the golf course for his first 9 holes. Elliot had a great time! He had so much fun that he peed his pants 4 times in the 2 hours they were gone. OOPS! 

I think we definitely have pro material on our hands! If not pro, for sure SERIOUS CUTENESS!