Going Home Soon

Busy day today. We slept from about 2am-8am today! Well, I did. The boys slept in the nursery last night and stayed there for 2 feedings. That gave us over 6 hours. Holly was still awaken a couple times by the RN so they could get her blood pressure. She still got to sleep way more than normal this week.

This morning peeps were in and out of the room. Birth certificate stuff, billing, nurses checking on holly and a staff photographer. The photos were fun. Got some good ones of the boys in their Raider onesies and on their Raider baby blankets. They seemed kind of pricey though...we'll decide later if we get them or not.

Few more pics of Uncle Vick and Aunti Melissa from last night and the boys this morning. Same PHOTO ALBUM link. Only a few pics uploaded, they start at #62.

We got one more feeding to do and then we start checking outta here!

Baby Pics and Video

Momma and boys are doing as well as can be expected. Boys are great. Momma is recovering nicely and feeling really good considering. Here are some more baby pictures: Kodak Gallery Album

And here is a vid of momma's growing belly and the boys. Started taking pics of momma back in June. She wasn't growing very fast that early, so we were taking pics about once a week or as often as we remembered. Later on we tried to take pics daily, but around the holidays ended up taking them only once a week or less. At the end is some vid of the boys right after being born and getting cleaned up and weighed. Enjoy!

We Got Baby Pics!!

Psych! We got baby pics, just not THE baby pics. Those boys are still camping out in momma's belly and seem to have buckled down for the winter. Still looking like Tuesday is THE day for the real pics.

For now though...kinda wonder what they will look like.

Full Term!!

Last Tuesday was week 37 for Holly and the boys and they are now considered full term.

Congratulations — your baby is full term! This means that if your baby arrives now, his lungs should be fully mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb, even though your due date is still three weeks away.

Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if your baby's hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

We got some vid earlier this week of the boys kickin' around inside the womb. Hope you enjoy the footage!

Pregger Photos

Yeah, sorry. I know I said the photos were coming right up and I didn't do it. Wanted to do some editing on them and started, but just ran out of time. Here they are: Kodak Gallery Photo Album

Holly is still doing great. She is hurting a lot, but she is handling it really well. The 2nd half of the photos, we had walked around a bit and she was struggling to put a smile on, but she really wanted to get the photos. 1 WEEK TO GO!

Week And A Half To Go

Holly entered her 36th week on Tuesday...

Babies are gaining about an ounce a day. They now weigh around 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon...okay?) and are more than 18 1/2 inches long. They're shedding most of the downy hair that covered their bodies, as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that protected their skin during their nine-month amniotic bath. Next week, the babies will be considered full-term. Most likely they are in a head-down position, but if not, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an external cephalic version, where she'll try to turn your baby by manipulating her from the outside of your belly.

We had a appointment with her doc on Tuesday as well. Everyone is happy and healthy. The boys seem to happy and don't want to be disturbed. Doc said she wanted to induce by Holly's 38th week and we agreed. So the boys will definitely be here by the 27th!! Week and a half to go. No worries about the boys being head down, they have both been head down for at least a couple of months now. Hopefully no one decides to practice their cartwheels this next week.

Oh and on Monday we went to the pond/lake thing in our 'hood and took some preggers shots of Holly and her bulbous belly. I should have those posted manana.

Week 35 and Counting...

"Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight."

Multiply that times 2! Even more crowded and one big giant heavy belly. Holly's belly is measuring the size of a woman in her 42nd week of pregnancy. Everything is going great and we are hoping the boys come any time now. Getting a mass e-mail ready to send for when the day comes.

These are pics and video from our practice run through at the hospital. Check out the blog back in November for our night at the hospital.

This is a vid the monitor monitoring the babies' heartbeats and Holly's contractions. She had like 4 thing-a-ma-jigs hooked up to her belly:

Seriously??

Why do the batteries in smoke detectors always run out in the middle of the night? About 2AM yesterday Holly woke me up because a T-800 was wondering around the house. When I finally ruled out an invasion of sophisticated futuristic robots rummaging through the house for Sarah Conner, we then had to determine which smoke detector needed a new battery. We figured out it wasn't the downstairs alarm...so it had to be one of the 2 upstairs. Of course, now the alarm thought it had given us enough warning of the battery loss and decided not to beep anymore. I know it was just plotting and waiting for us to fall asleep before beeping again. I figured since the beep didn't wake me up, it had to be the one furthest from us. So I swapped out that battery and fell back asleep.

Frank 1, Smoke Alarm 0.

Oh yeah, and Holly is now in her 32nd week. Woop-woop! Just want to make it through week 34 and then the boys can come as soon as they want!

Babies, Snow and Puppy...in that order!

Okay, lots to catch up so I'm going to let it all out. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. Buttercup is marry' Humperdinck in a little less than half an hour. I love that movie. Okay, for reals now...

Monday we had a sonogram and the boys are doing great. They are practicing breathing which is supposed to be a very good sign. They both are weighing in at about 4lbs! Jeremy is facing Holly's back and we still can't get good pics of him. Got a few more of Jordan though. We are in week 31 now!

Tuesday...we had some rain/sleet at night and about 11:45pm we noticed it was snowing! Not just snow, but big giant flakes. It was a nice little blizzard. Of course it didn't build up on the ground much and most of it was gone by noon today.

Today...brought home a 6 weekish old shepherd mix puppy from the Austin Humane Society. I've been volunteering there since October, I will have more for you on that a bit later. Gotta head out to into the arctic winds for my first 4v4 flag football game! BRRRrrr

Week 29

Howdy folks! We spent the last night of week 28 and the first day of week 29 over at the hospital. Everything is cool, but Holly was having a lot of contractions, she had 8 in an hour and that was all it took for them to tell us to go in. The cool thing is that our hospital just opened a new wing for women and everything is brand spanking new. We were the first peeps to be admitted and stay in room 4. Woohoo! We left home around 10:30pm and headed to the hospital. Was going to stop for gas, but figured I should probably wait until we head back home.

At the hospital, they took us to the old wing and there was a little chaos there. The new wing had literally just opened and they were still moving stuff between the new and old wings. They finally sent us over to the new wing and it is SNAZZY! Everyone was super cool, it was like they just started their shift and they were all on the top of their game and very nice. It was funny to watch them all trying to find stuff since they were all in the new rooms for the first time and things are all in different places. They hooked up 3 monitors to Holly's jelly-belly. One for each dude and one to monitor the contractions. Holly wasn't making it up...she was having a lot of contractions. Everything checked out fine though and they said a lot of women with small bellies who all of a sudden bust out cause of twins just experience a lot of contractions. We just gotta make sure there is no back pain with it or any other pain.

This post is getting long so I will wrap it up. Kids and mom checked out fine. I found out the new furniture isn't really nice for lying down and long-term rest. We got our picture taken on the way out because we were the first peeps to be discharged from the new wing. I forgot to fill up the truck on the way home at 2:30 in the AM. Note to self: keep the truck filled up and ready to go. Last night was a good dry run.

Week 29:
Babies are growing rapidly now. This week he weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is getting bigger to accommodate his growing brain — which is busy developing billions of neurons. Every day, about 200 milligrams of calcium is deposited in the baby's skeleton, which is now hardening. With this rapid growth, it's no surprise that the kids' nutritional needs reach their peak during this trimester.

28 Weeks Later

It has been 28 weeks since the Rage virus first spread throughout Britan. NATO forces have been repopulating...oh, sorry. Wrong 28 Weeks Later. 28 weeks later and we have had 2 baby showers (both Raider themed, cool eh?), the kiddos weigh over 2 lbs, have eye lashes and are blinking and...they have names!! No more Baby A and Baby B for these dudes.

It is our pleasure to introduce Jeremy Alan (Baby A) and Jordan Andres (Baby B). They have some awesome clothes, toys, shoes, fancy stink fighting diaper disposal can things, TONS of Raider paraphernalia and more! We were blessed with TWO baby showers and our friends and family went out of their way to make our "Raider" showers amazing. Just this weekend we got our cribs, mattresses and car seats...2 of each. With the awesome gift cards from Westside Church of Christ (EPT) and more gift cards from friends, we barely spent a couple hundred for those big ticket items.

Here are pics from the showers. This first set are my pics from my mom, sister and nieces who stayed with us during the first shower weekend. [PHOTO ALBUM 1]
This one is from the same weekend, pics my sista took. [PHOTO ALBUM 2]
This one is from the second baby shower, pics that Michelle and Ray took. [PHOTO ALBUM 3]

Holly seems to get bigger every day. Jeremy and Jordan are kickin' and punchin' and it is great to see it and feel it. Sometimes they'll kick and it will make Holly's leg kick. Pretty hilarious to see. Now I just gotta get Holly to put down the Mario Kart so we can start organizing the babies' room.

Baby Room and Birthing Class

First thing is first...we finally worked on the baby room this weekend! Woop woop! Check out the beginning of the transformation from regular bedroom to baby room [ PHOTO ALBUM ]. It is going to be a football field with blue sky. We hope.

So that was Saturday...today, it was off to birthing class at the hospital! I was personally dreading 3.5 hours of "HEE HEE HEE WHOOO", but when you're a dork with a dork wife, its a pretty funny class. I had to finally stop making comments to Holly under my breath cause she ruined it by laughing too loud and getting people's attention. Then we started the breathing techniques...still funny, but we were getting through it. Until teach told us to face each other. Very bad idea. We basically spent the whole time hunched over trying not to laugh out loud. Finally teach said, "laughter is very good," and we lost it. So did a couple other couples, so we weren't the only ones. Plus teach said it was good, so I think we got an A+.

Another birthing class next monday night. I can't wait!!

6th Month Sonogram

Yesterday Holly had another sonogram. The boys are looking great. They are 1lb. 4oz. now and were very active during the sonogram punchin' and kickin' each other. Made it hard for the sono-lady to get some good shots, but she got all the measurements she needed and got us 6 pics. Here is the photo album with all 6 pics, the last one is in 3-D. It isn't very clear, but she said next month when they are bigger, we should be able to get a good 3-D view.

Holly started week 23 today! Here is the low down on where she is at according to BabyCenter.com:

Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With their sense of movement well developed by now, your babies can feel you dance. And now that they are more than 11 inches long and weigh just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), you may be able to see them squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in their lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your babies' increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing them for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze them when they hear them outside the womb.

Oh, and we can already see their movement on Holly's belly! Especially the kicks and karate chops. Her stomach will jump and we see a tiny little bump stretch out her skin. Her belly is getting big and it is tight! There is hardly any room in there for those guys.

Video of the Sep. 15th Sonogram

Last week I posted the picks of our sonogram from a couple weeks back. We also got a DVD that had video from the sonogram. The DVD itself is at least 20 minutes long. Most of it would be boring if you are not the parents...so I tried to cut as much of it out as I could. Still about 5 minutes long. Tried to add some annotations to the video to make it just a wee-bit more interesting.

If you have any quotes for Baby A or Baby B, let me know the time in the video and I'll be happy to add some more in!

September 15th Sonogram Pics

We got these last Monday...12 pics! They also gave us a DVD with video of the sonogram. I gotta work on that and edit it down, its really long and could get boring if you're not the parents. The twins are doing great and so is mama. Baby B is 10 ounces and A is 9.5 ounces. They are squirmin' around and kickin' each other in the head. In the video you can see it...Baby B tries to stick his foot in his brothers mouth.

We are approaching the end of the 19th week and Tuesday is the start of the 20th and final week of the 5th month. The twin's "sensory development is exploding!" Their brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that they may be able to hear our voices now. I'm going to have to be careful what I say now during the Raiders games.

Check out the PHOTO ALBUM for the latest sonogram pics. The latest pics are at the beginning.

From Blobs to Babies

Today we start the 15th week:

Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (our sono lady said each A and B both weighed 4 ounces!). He's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. His legs are growing longer than his arms now, and he can move all of his joints and limbs. Although his eyelids are still fused shut, he can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, he's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but he is forming taste buds.

We had a sonogram yesterday and the twins have been upgraded from Blob status to Baby status. They look completely human now...especially between the legs. It was obvious...we have TWO BOYS! Baby A is on the left with his head down and Baby B is on the right with his head up. Baby A looked like he was throwing a fit with his head thrown back and his back arched. Sono lady thought he was gonna be trouble cause he wasn't allowing her to get the measurements she wanted. When she panned up, turns out Baby B was kicking A in the head and A was just trying to get away. Without further delay...heres the slide show of old and current sonogram pics. For you guys who wanted printouts, you can order from kodakgallery.com HERE, or just click on the slide show to get the full sized pics and print them out for yourself.

189 Days to Go!

189 days to go if we go full term, but the twins should be vacating the premises a few weeks early. We are almost through the first trimester. Lets recap the last few weeks.

Week 11: babies' fists starting to open and close; tooth buds forming under the gums; bones are hardening; they are kicking and stretching.

Week 12: most dramatic developments this week...reflexes; fingers will soon begin to open and close; toes will curl; eye muscles will clench; mouth will make sucking movements; intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now; kidneys will begin excreting urine into the bladder; nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in their brains, synapses are forming furiously; face finally looks unquestionably human: eyes have moved from the sides to the front of the head, and ears are right where they should be; from crown to rump, baby-to-be is just over two inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.

Week 13 (current): Fingerprints have formed on babies' tiny fingertips; veins and organs are clearly visible through the still-thin skin; body is starting to catch up with the head — which makes up just a third of the body size now. If we're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. The blobs are almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

So thats where we are. On Tuesday we had our first appointment with our OB/GYN. Our doc was very nice and Holly really liked her, so I did too. Dr.Hansard (our fertility specialist) hand picked her, so we were expecting one of the best. We got to listen to the blob's (I guess they are human looking like now and no longer blobs) heartbeats. They were beating strong and fast! One was 160 bpm and the other was 155 bpm.

Holly's belly is getting bulbous. I talked to Holly today and stopped her in the bedroom for an interview. I was able to ask her how she was doing and she replied, "Much better than last week." She is not as nauseous or tired as last week. She is still only eating maybe 5 bites, but she did great at lunch today eating a lot of her waffles from Kerby Lane. She still can't eat meat...gotta find a way for her to get her iron. Mama Karen suggested spinach.

Oh, she still has psycho dreams. Last weird ones had to do with me wanting to divorce her and ending the marriage on a high note! Latest one had me trying to convince her it was a good idea for her to work at a brothel to bring in some extra cash. They do make a lot of money.

Thats it for now...will try to get a Holly picture this week.

Okie Showers and Fishin'

Spent last weekend in Oklahoma visiting with my mommy and sister, Mari. The occasion was Mari's baby shower. Girl is HUGE! Hope she pops soon. Here she is with Holly...Holly is about 7 months behind Mari here. So the shower was okay...I just ate food and got suckered into taking pictures. Holly won the first 2 games, Baby Bingo and a raffle for bringing a bag of diapers. Heres the photo album for the shower.

On Sunday Roy took us back to our favorite fishing hole in Guthrie, OK. I snagged about 3 Croppie and big Catfish which gave me a great fight. Holly and Roy each reeled in another Croppie. At the end of the day, Roy was bringing in a baited line they leave anchored to land. I thought it was stuck on something, Roy was sure we landed something huge. We had to take the row boat out and trace the line...got right over where it was stuck. I'm 100% sure its stuck on a tree root or something. We both start pulling up on the line and SPLISH SPLASH!!! A giant carp comes flailing out at us, I'm pretty sure it's aiming for my jugular and looking for blood. We get it into the boat, which I thought was a bad idea, but we were able to get it on land. Sucker was...ah man, can't remember now but I'm sure it was 35 1/2 inches. Roy guessed about 30 lbs. and I'm sure he wasn't too far off. Heres the rest of our Oklahoma trip pictures and fishing.

Houston, We've Got a Fetus

Last Tuesday was week 10 and we now officially have 2 fetuses...err, 2 fetus...2 feti? HA. Just looked it up and Wikipedia says fetuses and sometimes feti is the plural. Wikipedia is the only place I've found feti, so I'm pretty sure its just fetuses. Any who...we got two of thems.

So here is whats happening during week 10:

Babies are the size of a kumquat — little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce. They've completed the most critical portion of development. This is the beginning of the fetal period when the tissues and organs rapidly grow and mature.

They are swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy. They've got tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.

Baby's limbs can bend now. Hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over the heart, and the feet may be long enough to meet in front of the body. The spine outline is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from the spinal cord. Baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches.

We are in Edmond, Oklahoma right now for my sister's (Mari) baby shower. She is due August 6th, but she looks like shes over due. Here is what Holly and Mari look like right now :D

Pinto Beans to Green Olives

Had our 2nd sonogram this morning. Last week the kiddos were about the size of pinto beans. Now they are about the size of a medium green olive at 23.9 mm and 23.3 mm. Baby A was almost a mm smaller then baby B 2 weeks ago, but now he/she is bigger...we got a little competition brewing. We found out that the labels A and B actually mean something. Baby A is the one closer to the cervix and will be the first baby to pop out.

In the last week, week 8, the following was underway:

Eyelid folds and ears are forming. Baby's eyes are still very wide apart on the sides of his/her head, but will eventually center themselves out. The tip of the nose is actually present at this time as well. The tubes that lead from the throat to lungs are branching and the baby's torso is getting longer and beginning to straighten out. Just a few weeks ago, baby's arms were tiny buds. Now the elbows are actually present and the arms and legs extend forward and have grown longer. Fingers and toes are becoming visible also. The tiny person is protected by the amniotic sac, filled with fluid. Inside, the child swims and moves gracefully. The arms and legs have lengthened, and fingers can be seen. The toes will develop in the next few days. The umbilical cord contains 3 blood vessels which link your baby's system to yours. The big one supplies your baby with blood which is rich in oxygen. The two smaller blood vessels return blood to the placenta. This blood is low in oxygen, and full of waste materials. At birth, umbilical cord can be two to four feet long.

Week 9 begins tomorrow and heres what will be going on this week:

Although the baby is still very small, it is beginning to look more like a human being. Your baby's back is straightening out and the tail is shrinking. In proportion to the rest of his body, the head is large and remains curved forwards onto the chest. The head is erect and the neck is developing well. Even though your baby's eyes are well developed, they are covered by a membrane lid. The eyes will not begin to open and close for quite some time still. Your baby will begin to make tiny movements as the muscles start to develop. You will not be able to feel any of these early movements, but you might be able to see them during an ultrasound. The arms and hands are progressing faster than the legs and feet at this point. By this time of your baby's development, the hands have defined finger ridges and the tissue between them will die off to leave separate fingers. It is impossible to distinguish a male from a female at this time because external genitalia look very similar at this point.
Your blood system will change during pregnancy and blood volume will increase by 50%. The increase in blood is important to meet the demands of your growing uterus. Blood volumes will begin to increase during the first trimester and will continue to rise throughout the entire pregnancy. The increase in plasma can cause anemia, which will cause you to feel tired or weak.

Introducing the more human looking twins: