The Boys are Here!

Our twin boys arrived on February 24 at 32 weeks and 5 days.

 This is Ryan Robert. He was Baby A in the womb and was born first at 1:58pm.  He weighed 4 pounds 4 ounces and is 17.25 inches long.

 This is Spencer Lee (baby B). He was born at 1:59pm and weighed 4 pounds even. He's a full inch shorter than Ryan- 16.25 inches.

Both babies are really doing well. They didn't require any oxygen and have been breathing on their own since birth. Their sucking reflex is formed, but they have feeding tubes (those tubes you see going in their noses) to help them with eating. They take some of their food through the tube and some through a bottle. They are in incubators now to help regulate their temperatures, but hopefully they will be out of those in a week or so. 

We can hold them twice a day and help feed them. Too much holding is over-stimulating, so they sleep a lot inside the dark incubators for them to feel like they are still in the womb.

It's amazing how fully formed they look. They are little, but all of their features and are so perfectly formed.

They resemble each other, but at this point, they don't really look alike. Ryan has much darker hair. Spencer looks more like Eli did at birth. It will be interesting to see how that changes as their looks change.

Welcome to the world sweet boys. We love you both so much!

32 Weeks

Today is a big milestone for the babies. When this whole bedrest/contractions ordeal started, I wasn't quite 27 weeks along. The doctor really wanted us to make it to the 32 week mark- the timeframe when long term lung complications are far less frequent. So here we are- 32 weeks and still going! We'd love to get a few more weeks, but every day we get is a gift and is an opportunity for the babies to get stronger and bigger. Today is day 38 of bedrest- boy was yesterday hard just laying around when it was 70 degrees outside. Plus, two of our close friends- Dave and Christine and Sean and Michele delivered their babies this week. It was disappointing not to be able to visit them in the hospital.

Here is my almost 32 week belly picture, taken right after my appointment on Thursday in a rare vertical moment.

Update on the twinkies

Here's the latest from my appointment today. My cervix measurements are the same (yay!) but they can tell I am having contractions- they could see my cervix shorten and go back while I was there today. The doctor doubled the dosage of my medicine and decided to hold off on another round of steroid shots for the babies this week.

She still thinks there is a good chance we'll make it another 2 weeks- that will put me 2 days shy of 34 weeks. It's crazy- 2 weeks seems so close and yet when we look at it one day at a time, it seems kind of far away. The babies are still breech and moving like crazy.

I have an appointment with my regular OB on Monday, so I'll get out twice next week.

The Big Prank

As if bedrest wasn't enough, the Big Prank reared it's ugly head again. The Big Prank is a joke between my friend Renee and I. It's like a combination of Murphy's Law and the saying "when it rains, it pours."

Our home computer totally skitzed out a couple days ago. I'm using my work computer now, but a girl on bedrest needs to be able to scour the internet now and then. I mean, it gets lonely here during the work days with no one to talk to.

This prank also falls under "disrupted entertainment." The projection bulb in our TV burnt out today. Normally it wouldn't be a big deal. I mean, we have a few televisions. But when the only TV on the main floor of the house goes, it's a bit unfortunate for the bedrest patient. And it's perfect timing to spend $100 bucks on a replacement. Really...perfect timing.

Our child has mastered the art of potty manipulation. We've all been up before 6am for awhile  because we hear "Daddy, I have to go potty." It's early enough that we're sound asleep and late enough that Eli is up and ready to start his day afterwards. So that's ok. At least he's waking up to go. Here's the rough part- and I'm writing this on behalf of Kevin. Eli goes to the potty before bed, but he keeps calling for Kevin to take him over and over again. Last night, it was an hour long process. My immediate thoughts were... don't keep taking him. He's obviously gone and doesn't need to go. Kevin went back in to take him over, and the kid went every time. Not a lot, but enough. Even today at naptime, he went to the potty before and Kevin came downstairs. I heard Eli saying he needed to go a few minutes later, but Kevin and I weren't sure what to do. He went back in and Eli was already wet. For the next hour on the monitor, I kept hearing random calls of "Gotta go potty." The kid can squeeze out pee like nobody's business.

This one is all Kevin too. He and his friend Brian have been working on repairing the plumbing, carpeting, insulation, and drywall in the basement. I mentioned that our basement flooded a couple weeks ago, right?
He wanted to get all the drywall done last night and discovered that the last piece was 1/2 inch too short. Of course it was, big prank, of course it was.

**This list is a work in progress. Be sure to check for additions to the Big Prank list. :)

Today's Appointment

I thoroughly enjoyed my weekly outing today. The appointment went really well- we had the lady I don't like again, but she was better today. They actually did a growth test today (I thought it was going to be next week), and the babies are growing great. Baby A is measuring 3 pounds 10 ounces and had a heartbeat of 156. Baby B is measuring 3 pounds 10 ounces too and had a heartbeat of 149. Both are still breech, and their heads are right up against each other. My cervix hasn't gotten any worse.

The doctor thinks the medicine is working really well and she seemed very pleased with how everything looked. I asked her what our goal was in terms of weeks. She said that once we hit 32 weeks (9 days from today), the risk of long term problems goes way down. 34 weeks is really good and 36 weeks is pretty much ideal. While it's still one day at a time, it's great to know we're getting closer and closer to 32 weeks. Kevin thinks I'll go the full 36 weeks because that will fall right in line with the NCAA Tournament.

So the bedrest continues... 4 weeks and counting...

One of a kind son

Eli comes up with some random things to say and the randomness often makes them pretty funny. Here are some things that have come out of his mouth recently.

• Totally out of the blue "I love my vacuums. Red vacuum, yay-yo vacuum, orange vacuum, white vacuum. White vacuum is very, very big and very, very tired. It's sleeping downstairs." 
• While playing in his kitche, I hear him say "I have a very good idea."
• He called our cat "kitty cat" one day. I said, "What is our cat's name?" He answered, "Gracie Stephen Kim."
• While watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, the characters needed help solving a problem. Eli looked at me and said "They need mousekatool! Oh Toodles!"
• While practicing letter on the computer, we got to a part where the letters are inside of shapes. I asked what shape the one letter was in and he said diamond.. Then he said, "Dat not a diamond, dat a rhombus."
• He crawled into bed with us one morning. We were barely awake, but he was wide awake. He reached over and grabbed my glasses off the nightstand and put them on my face while saying, "Here your glasses Mommy."
• When asked what his name is, you'll get one of the following responses: Eli Stephen Kim, Pete, Nemo Stephen Kim, or Elmo Stephen Kim.
• He has a really good memory and goes off on weird tangents. Yesterday Eli and I had a discussion about him sled riding in Milton. Then he said "I shovel da snow." Then "da snow blower is loud." Then "da leaf blower is loud." Then "I help Pop."
• He grabbed a plastic bowl from his kitchen  and his Mickey Mouse dominoes. He dumped in the dominoes. I asked what he was doing and de said, "It's dom-do soup. I put in cinnamon" as he pretended to sprinkle cinnamon on top.
• He likes to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star all by himself and he knows every word. 
• He will randomly come flying over to me and hide his face saying " I scay-erd" (scared dragged out to about 3 syllables). He gets "scared" of really random things- the lion on poster next to the letter L, the cat when she makes a skitso move, or just random things like that.  
• When he gets a bath, sometimes there is fuzz from his socks stuck to his feet that will come off in the water. If it's dark blue, black, or brown fuzz, he thinks the floating fuzzies are bugs and wants them out of the water immediately.

Potty Training

So potty training is going well. Eli even woke up dry again this morning. We're still hit or miss on the nighttime part and also the #2 part. But he's doing a great job going pee pee in the potty and is very proud that he doesn't wear diapers anymore. In fact, when he came home yesterday, he ran over to me (on the couch), he stated unprompted "I don't wear diapers. I wear big boy pants." And he talks often about how proud he is of himself. We're very proud of him too.

** By the way, all the pictures from the previous couple posts were taken during the main training days. Our son does wear pants. :)

Eli and Mommy's Craft

On Friday night, Eli and I did a craft together. He's been really into letters lately, and we've been spending a lot of time with letter sounds. He has known the uppercase letters well for a bit, but now he's really getting a good handle on the "little" letters too. Our carft was making an octopus out of the letter O. We traced Eli's hands for the legs (and then folded back the thumbs). Eli did the gluing and Mommy did the cutting and writing).





the finished product

  



Naptime Funny

My mom took a picture of Eli on Friday during his nap. The big boy undies and book on his face were just too much.

On a side note, you can see the new upholstered headboard that Kevin made and the dark blue stripes on the one wall that replaced that light green ones.

Snow Fun

Eli got to enjoy some fun in the snow during his trip to Milton in January.

Accomplishments

Even with the momma out of commission, we're getting things done at the Kim household. I've been able to do a few things, and Kevin and my mom have done a ton. I'm so glad to get some things checked off the list before the twins come.

• I input all of my addresses into a database so that I can quickly print off labels for baby annoucements.
• I completed our 2010 family photo album online and ordered it (and it's already arrived). It was incredibly time consuming because I waited until the year was over to even start, but I'm so glad to have it done before the twinkies arrive.
• This one is all my mom- she helped me clean out every drawer in the master bedroom- every single one- even the 4 desk drawers. It feels great to have that all done and I got rid of a bunch of stuff. She would bring me pile after pile to go through and I would sort, toss, and then tell her where to put it. There was quite a bit to file. So I'm happy to report that the piles are gone and everything looks great. Who doesn't love spring cleaning in February?
• Kevin installed a closet organizer in the twins' closet. It looks great and now I just need to get some baskets for the shelves.
• Eli's potty-training. My mom is working very hard this week with Eli on potty training. I really wanted to at least get him day trained before the babies arrived. Today is day #4. He's done really well. I'll probably do a separate post so that I can put in more detail (to reference later when we do this again!) But I will say that he woke up dry 2 nights in a row and is really, really proud of himself. I will also say that he hasn't pooped in 4 days, so we're not there yet!
• I've decided on nursery colors (I still reserve the right to change my mind until the last minute) and have some ideas for what I want to do with accessories. It's kind of dangerous to have a lot of time to surf the internet for ideas. I've bookmarked approximately 85 things in the past three weeks! I still need to order a few things that I'll need for the babies right away...thank goodness for Amazon.com.
• My mom washed and put away all of the newborn clothes and then bought the extras that I needed.
• I've also been able to put in 45 hours each week for work.

Good news and a bad sonographer

Our appointment today was horrible, but the outcome was good. The sonographer was not my favorite- we had her once before and she was a little weird. She checked the babies' heartbeats (one was 141 and one was 147) and positions- both breech again. She checked my cervix and the fluid levels around the babies. She took one 4D picture of baby A. Then very abruptly, she got up and announced that she had to go have the doctor take a look at the picture and that the doctor would be in to see us. She was acting weird, and Kevin asked if something was wrong. Her reply? I'm just a sonographer, not a doctor. And off she went.

First rule in a high risk maternal fetal medicine office: Don't act weird. That was enough to freak us out- me more so than Kevin. It's hard to not let your mind wander and be tempted to worry.

Second rule in a high risk maternal fetal medicine office: Don't say the doctor will be in shortly and then make us wait 30 minutes. I think I developed an ulcer.

After all that, everything was fine. Nothing was wrong with any of the pictures or with the babies or with my cervix. My cervix measurements were actually a little better than last week, so that's good. The doctor is pleased with this new medicine and the side effects aren't as bad as the last medicine. So the plan is to keep everything the same and come back next Thursday again. The next full growth scan of the babies is scheduled for the following week.

So... yay! I've come to terms with the fact that there is a 99.99% chance that I will not be sitting up at all until these babies come. But at least I have my weekly outing to look forward to.