Life Lately | Twins have arrived!

If you are following along on Instagram, or noticed the general lack of posting on the blog, you might have seen that we welcomed our precious twins at the start of the year!

Previous to that, around 32 weeks my sister hosted a beautiful baby shower for myself and the twins. We had so many people attend and shower us with so many generous gifts. I was set with everything I could possibly need for the babies at this point. I am so grateful for such an amazing sister who took on so much work putting together such a fabulous shower, all while pregnant herself.

As you can see from the photo, the bloat had seriously began to set in at this point…

Up until this point I had a very easy and comfortable pregnancy, especially seeing it was twins. I really didn’t start to show until about 20 weeks. Around this time is when I started to feel the babies move as well. This was my favorite part of pregnancy and I loved how reassuring it was. Relaxing at night, lying on the couch and feeling them roll around was absolutely glorious. The only problem I had throughout the pregnancy, apart from slight naseau and tiredness in the first trimester, was the high blood pressure I was consistently flirting with.

At 35 weeks I went in for my weekly appointment and knew I was most likely going to be admitted that day. I had a bag all packed and ready to go in my car, because my blood pressure had been off the charts the last few days. I was getting up into that 180/100 range, which was slightly scary. I was really hoping to hold out a little bit longer and let them cook a bit more, but that wasn’t going to happen. My doctor did a bunch of labs on me as soon as she saw how high my BP was. My protein in my urine came back extremely high as well, so it was time to pull these babies out!

They admitted me overnight to give me the steroid shot in hopes of maturing their lungs before their arrival. I was also on Magnesium to aid with my preeclampsia. Let me tell you, that Magnesium is no fun! It made me feel like crap overall and I ended up vomiting in the middle of the night from it. It didn’t help that a nurse had to come in and wake me up every hour on the hour to check my vitals. I don’t know how women go through natural labor after being on that for 24 hours?! I was completely exhausted and weak from it.

The next day I went into surgery for the c-section seeing our baby girl was still breach. There were 17 people in the operating room ready to take care of myself and our babies!

They did the spinal with no issues for the anesthesia, but once they started administering it, my blood pressure began plummeting. It got scary low and I was on the verge of passing out. I was freaking out a bit, because I absolutely hated that feeling of loosing control. I let them know right away when I was feeling off and they went to work adjusting the meds. They quickly got me back to a stable place and I felt a million times better.

I didn’t personally feel any tugging or pressure like so many describe. Instead I just waited for them to announce the arrival of each baby. Our baby boy Cooper (5lb 13oz / 19.5 inches) came out first and needed some assistance right away, so he was whisked away by one team. Our girl, Madelyn (4lb 9oz / 18.5 inches), was doing great though so dad got to cut her umbilical cord!

Cooper had to go on a c-pap machine the first night and also needed the bilirubin lights for a night. Apart from that, he did great. Madelyn didn’t have any issues. We stayed in the hospital for 6 days while they were monitored to ensure they didn’t have breathing issues and were able to learn how to feed well enough to be gaining weight.

The nice part about the hospital we stayed at, was they admit the mom to a room if her babies are still being monitored in the nursery.  This meant I could be in the hospital with them 24/7 in the comfort of my own room. In less than a week we got to head home as a family of four!

Once we got home, we got into a good routine after the first few days. My husband took a daily shift in the evening so I could catch 5 hours of sleep. Apart from that block of sleep, it is far and few between with two babies needing to be fed as well as pumping. As challenging as it can be to manage everything, I have been loving it for the most part. They are such sweet babies!

Once we got home they started eating great and were growing like crazy. Cooper is up to 10 pounds now and Maddy is about 8 1/2.

All was going really well until last week…

My husband came home from a short work trip with a bad cold. I immediately quarantined him to the basement and was watching the kids 24/7, not allowing him to come in contact with them.

Apparently it didn’t matter though and last week, Madelyn got the cold. It started out with a stuffy nose and then came the cough and sneeze. It got bad enough that I brought her in to get checked out seeing she was only 6 weeks. Turns out she has RSV and had to get admitted to the hospital for a few nights to monitor her oxygen levels, which were a bit low. 

When we got home, her baby brother who I hadn’t seen in a few days was looking pretty sick as well. He was so lethargic and just not himself. I called the hospital and described his symptoms and they suggested we bring him into the ER. So we had just gotten home hours ago, but we had to pack everyone back up and head back to the hospital an hour away. 

My husband thought I was being dramatic bringing him in and that it was totally unneccessary. Well it’s a good thing I don’t listen to him, because he ended up getting admitted as well with low oxygen. They next day chest xrays showed that he had developed some pneumonia which is crazy scary in little preemies like himself.

Thankfully our pediatrician was on top of it and was able to nip it in the bud. The pneumonia showed that it was resolving a couple days later on a subsequent chest xray.

This poor little guy has been poked and prodded so much, I am sure he can’t wait to get home and just get snuggles and love! It looks like we should be out of here in a day or two, so we are very much looking forward joining his Dad and sister with all the comforts of home.

My parents have been a tremendous help while we are down and out. They watched the babies when my husband was working and also made a trip up to the hospital to bring me some essentials. They are the best!

It seems like everyone I know has a child or is sick themselves with something or another. It is just a really icky time to have such fragile babies!

In the mean time, we just got our newborn photos back from the amazingly talented Michelle Nelson Photography in Morris, MN. We had her come to the hospital a few days after we gave birth to capture them as fresh as possible. We also did a studio session a week later. I love all the photos and how they captured how tiny and precious they were at this stage!

I already forgot just how tiny they were seeing they have almost doubled in size already. They had such little features and chicken legs, but are filling out beautifully as they grow.

I know I am biased, but I think they are pretty darn adorable!!!