We came home from the hospital

It was a long day today. After getting Connor back from NICU yesterday and with his sister Kaitlyn in our room - we finally got settled in. Only then did we realize that it was time to go home tonight. We started getting ready around supper time, but waited till the 8pm feeding before calling for the nurse to give us the discharge paperwork (which we promptly lost) Only then did we realize that Mom had to have 2 shots too!

Anyway - by 9:30pm we were in the car for a quiet ride home. I guess our precious babies love a car ride - as they were quiet as can be. The car seats were lovingly installed by Dad earlier in the week - so we knew our precious cargo would be safe all the way home.

Oops! We forgot it was Halloween. Poppa turned on the house lights to welcome us home. That was sure nice - but then the doorbell started ringing with trick or treaters. Uh-oh - no candy at our house - so OFF went the house lights.

We had a chance to put the babies in their bassinets for a little while, After one more quick feeding, the babies went upstairs to spend their first night in their crib together. Fortunately Nanna and Poppa took the 2 middle of the night feedings, so Mom was able to recover from her surgery and rest, while Dad caught up on some much needed sleep too.

A really perfect first night home!

Connor gets out of the NICU

Mom gives Connor his 8am and 11am feeding in the NICU. Then, Grandma holds you and loves you for 2 hours. Then Nanna and Poppa give you your 2pm feeding.

At 3pm, the Docs say you are ALL better and can come back from the 7th floor to our 5th floor room. I'm sure all that loving helped you get better. Amen!

Daddy goes and waits (not so patiently!) for you at the Nursery door until they release you to us. Finally - by 4pm on Thursday - Connor and Kate are together again. All is right in the world!

Connor goes to the NICU

On Tuesday morning, after being in transitional care for about 20+ hours, the Doctors finally decided that Connor should go to NICU for some extra monitoring. Mom and Dad are broken-hearted that their babies can't be in the room together with Mom and Dad - but we know you will be well cared for in NICU.

Kaitlyn is doing great and is able to stay with Mom in our room all day (except from 11pm til 6am when you go off to the nursery so Mom can rest and recover).

So many friends are coming to meet you and celebrate your birth! Both of you are all the talk of the nurses on the floor. Even at a hospital known for delivering so many babies (20,000 per year), none of the nurses can remember when twins weighed so much! You are so big!

Connor and Kaitlyn are here! 37 weeks, 1 day

At 11:15am Dr. Chris Bassil shows up and we get rolled in to Operating Room #5. All the nurses say we got the big room since we have twins!

11:35am and Connor James is born! Connor - you're 20 inches long and 7lbs 12 oz. The proud doc holds you up over the curtain for me to see you. You weren't quite wiped clean yet - so you dribbled blood on Mom's face (yet I couldn't be happier).

A moment later at 11:36am, Kaitlyn Jane - you were born. You are 19 inches long and 6lbs 15 oz. So precious and petite compared to your big brother. You too dribbled blood on me at first - but now I'm ready for it!

Dad stays with you both while they sew me back together. I can hear the doctors, nurses and technicians exclaiming how large you both are. Almost 15lbs of babies!

By 12:20 - they roll me back to post-op. That's when I hear that Connor - you are grunting when you breath and have to go to transitional care for a few hours to be monitored. Kaitlyn - you are all ready for the nursery - so you get separated from each other for the first time ever!

Mom and Dad couldn't be more proud of the most beautiful babies ever born (but, yes, we are biased!). Mostly - we are blessed!

It's almost time!

Today is the big day! It's a Monday and it's cold and windy. The high will only be 53 degrees today - cold for this time of year.

We have an 11:15am appointment to have a c-section. Mom takes her last shower for a few days and gets dressed. Daddy takes a last picture of Mom with her full tummy before we head off to Northside hospital.

We get to the hospital at 9:15am for the pre-op and paperwork. Fortunately - things go well and we get an epidural going quickly for Mom.

Baby Names - the final call

After going through over 150 names EACH for a boy and a girl, Hugh and I have finally narrowed the list down to several favorites. Yes, I had an Excel spreadsheet to track and sort it all... is anyone surprised???

We like the idea of naming the boy Hugh after Hugh's father, but then we don't know what we'd end up calling him (certainly not Huey). I'd like the names to kind of "match," but I've heard it's helpful if the names start with different letters (for monograms, school backpacks, etc). We like the name Katherine for a girl, but want her to be call Kate, not Kathy. We want name that are popular (so people can spell them), but not TOO popular. We want names that have an Irish heritage, but aren't TOO Irish. A lot of constraints!

Here's our final short list...

Connor James and Kaitlyn Jane
Hugh and Katherine
Joshua and Jenna
Lucas and Logan
Sean and Samantha
Colin and Courtney
Mason and Madelyn

We think we're going with Connor and Kaitlyn, but we'll wait to meet them in person tomorrow.

24 hour countdown begins - 37 weeks

It's 24 hours to go as I write this note. Hard to imagine that the pregnancy will be winding to a close and a 2 new lives will begin, as well as 2 lives will change forever.

Hugh and I couldn't be more thrilled and proud and happy and anxious - all at once.

The bags are packed for the hospital, the baby seats are installed in the car, the nursery is beautiful and ready. Now we just wait to meet our precious babies!

Ideas for baby names....

Cousins Emily and Olivia sent some suggested baby names today week which was really sweet. I especially like Alec and Jane, but the babies names have (mostly) already been picked. Here's what Emily and Olivia suggested....

Alec & Jane
Alec - Of English and Scottish descent. Diminutive of Alexander, meaning ʻdefenderʼ or ʻheroʼ. Jane - Of English descent. Feminine of John, meaning ʻgraciousʼ or ʻmercifulʼ.

Diana & Anthony (Di & Tony/Andy)
Diana - Derived from the Indo-European word meaning ʻheavenlyʼ or ʻdivineʼ. Anthony - Of Latin descent. English form of the Roman name ʻAntoniusʼ, meaning ʻworthy of praiseʼ.

Alison & Benjamin (Allie & Ben)
Alison - Of English and French descent. Related to Alice, meaning ʻnobleʼ. Benjamin - Of Hebrew origins. Pertaining to ʻson of the southʼ or ʻson of my right handʼ.

Sophia & Brian (Phia/Phi and Brian)
Sophia - Of Ancient Greek descent, pertaining to the word ʻwisdomʼ. Brian - From Celtic origins, meaning ʻstrong oneʼ.

Isabelle & Lucas (Izzy/Belle[s] & Luc)
Isabelle - A French name derived from the Hebrew ʻElizabethʼ. Meaning ʻGodʼs promiseʼ or (belle) ʻmost beautifulʼ. Lucas - A Greek name derived from ʻLukeʼ. Meaning ʻLuminousʼ or ʻWhiteʼ.

What's that buzzer Mommy???

Week 36 day 5

Last prenatal Doctors appointments today! We went to both the high risk doctors and the OB today. Both said the babies were doing great and they were glad that I was able to get a little more comfortable.

Both babies received an 8 out of 8 of the biophysical, although our little girl wanted to sleep through the exam, so the ultrasound technician woke her up by pressing a loud buzzer against my tummy. What a loud noise for all of us! But it worked and she woke right up and started showing off her breathing. Our little boy seems to be wide awake on his own (it was the morning after all - his favorite time of day).

3 more days to go!

False alarm!

Week 36, day 3

We had a Docs appointment yesterday. I was in quite a bit of pain with some contractions and round ligannet pain and swelling, so of course my blood pressure spiked to 150/85. They decided to roll me over to the hospital to be admitted for observation.

As an aside, the Hospital is Northside and they deliver 20,000 babies per year (3rd largest in the US). There is a tunnel that connects my Docs to the hospital, so it was easy to get there.

Anyway, once I got to the hospital, my blood pressure went right back to normal - of course. They put me on IV fluids to stop my "irritated" uterus - which was giving me some of the contraction pains. Mostly, I just hadn't slept well for many nights, so I just felt poorly. The best news was, though, that the twins were thriving and still moving around a practicing breathing. Amen!

My OB Dr. Wootten was ready to deliver the bambinos, but the perinatologist Dr. Feng really wanted to wait till 37 weeks - Monday. I told them if they could get me comfortable, I would try to wait till Monday. So, a little percocet, a little darvocet and ambien - and soon I was asleep and comfy.

They discharged me this am with Rx for sleep and pain meds - so now I'm on bed rest at home for 5 days. Not too bad. Can't wait to meet the little ones next week!

Week 35, Day 3

More pics at MFS again...

Week 34, Day 5

Lot's more pics from MFS...

Last day in the office

Week 34, day 2

I've been tele-commuting for the past week or so. I've got a great home office set up for me in our bedroom. I can keep my feet elevated while I work on the PC and have ready access to a printer/fax. With so many meetings that I can take via conference call - it's been working very well.

I had several goals to make before I started leave from my job at Home Depot. I had hoped to make it though all three of the baby showers, the Atlanta Children's Shelter annual Achiever's Dinner, my October update with my boss Carol and to gete the babies to 5 pounds each.

Well - today - we accomplished all of those goals. The showers were terrific (although I'm still writing thank you notes), the dinner was great (although speaking in front of group when I was so large was tough), the babies are now at least 5 lbs, and my update with Carol (in person) went great.

So - from now on - I'm just tele-commuting only. No more visits to the office. I'm so grateful to have Tom Sweeney to be my back up while I'm out. I know he'll do a terrific job and my team will step up and handle everything with incredible professionalism. All is good.

And now I can rest!

We're 5+ pounds - Nursery is ready

34 weeks and 2 days

We’re now starting 2-3 times per week doctor’s visits (glad I’ve got a flexible work schedule!)

We just got back from the Docs this morning.
The little boy is estimated at 5lbs 8 and the little girl at 5lbs. So – the little boy now weighs about the same as Noisey. Wow! They have grown a lot in the past few weeks. They also both received 8 out of 8 on their bio-physicals today.

Both babies are still breach, with their little heads about touching each other, but way high up in my ribs. Ouch.

They said if I went in to labor, they wouldn’t stop it and would go ahead and deliver the twins. Though they aren’t talking about inducing either – so we’re just in wait mode.

Hugh’s decided it’s time to get the baby seats set up in his car so we can be ready.

Life is good. Babies are healthy (although mom-to-be is about over it).

Thought you might like to see the nursery pictures. We've finally finished all of the murals. Very cute!




PS - Yes, I've now packed for the hospital! T-Minus 2 weeks and 6 days (or sooner!)

Week 33, Day 5

Went to MFS today - the babies are doing well, but we only got a picture of Baby A.