Growing babies

I know I said I was letting Matt take over but I have some time so I will post an update.

The boys are doing great. We have had quite a few weight checks this week and both are about an ounce away from their birth weights. I am nursing both boys tandem and they love it. The hard part is keeping them awake long enough to get full. They are getting a bit more vocal when its time to eat but other than that, they sleep and look around. Next week is our 2 week well baby checks and their circumcisions...yikes. But, it will be good for me to have that over with.

We are surviving our nights of little sleep. The boys typically go about 3 hours between feedings, last night, they gave us all a 5 hour stretch (which meant about 3.5 hours of sleep at once!). Either Matt or my mom will get up with me, hand me the babies and change diapers when they fall asleep. Chessie gets up every time. A word of warning though. When you are sleep deprived...do not shop online. I ordered some wipes online and instead of ordering 2 packs, I ordered 12. Opps!

Tonight, Popi (my dad) and Mia come in. I can't wait! I know my mom is so excited to see them both. I know she misses them. I am so glad she is here though, its made the whole process so much easier on Matt and I. Her and I are so similar in how we "mother" so its great for the boys. She has a harder time letting them cry without picking them up...but of course, that is what grandmothers are for...spoiling their grand kids. I know the same thing will go for the Campbell's. We are so blessed to have such wonderful families!

The weather has finally started to cool off. Matt got us a window unit last week which is the only way we did not melt. I am really looking forward to getting back into the 70s!

Thank you to everyone for their sweet emails and phone calls. I will get back to everyone as soon as I can. Things really are not as crazy as we all thought we would be. They boys are still in "sleep mode" for most of the day so we get a pretty good amount of down time. Its just the exhaustion from lots of interrupted sleep that puts the breaks on anything else besides feeding, sleeping and eating.

I promise Matt will post tonight with some pictures and maybe some video.

Be back soon!

Fearfully & wonderfully made

Hello all! Matt has done such a wonderful job keeping up with the blog so I think I will keep him on full time:) But, I thought I would write a little something while I have time in between feedings.

1st of all, thank you to everyone for all your prayers, sweet messages and excitement for our baby boys. Nothing is ever certain in this life which makes things like c-sections and preemies a little scary. But, one thing that is certain, God has blessed us beyond our wildest dreams. Not just with the obvious...but with an unbelievably wonderful group of family and friends. We hate that we are on the other side of the country and can't share our babies with you in person. Some of you have been praying for them for almost 2 years now and should get a chance to hold the miracles that God created. Soon though, we promise. But, again, we can't say it enough, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Now on to the details. Matt has done a pretty great job and filling everyone in. Looking back on it now, everything went perfectly. I would not have changed a thing (well, I would have added another pound or two to little Evan). I have to admit that walking into that operating room Monday morning was the scariest moment I have ever experienced. I guess its all the unknown and the prospect that our babies lives were about to begin. Our Drs and the nursing staff were absolutely amazing. My husband was absolutely amazing. And what came of it all....absolutely amazing. I will never ever forget the sound of those two screams.

There was one thing that almost rivals the 1st site and sound of Evan and Alex...watching my husband fall in love with them. I knew he loved me...he knew he loved me...but he had no idea what he was in for with the boys. I am sure you can tell by his posts but he had his socks knocked off. He is such a good daddy...I am so thankful for him.

So, we are home now and settling into our new life. Both boys are doing great and its just so fun to watch them. They are both nursing like champs. I am tandem nursing and they will lay there, staring across at each other. We are still supplementing Evan with formula since he is smaller...once he gets a little stronger, I will feel better about nursing him exclusively. But, the important thing is that they are both growing and it feels so wonderful to be able to care for them ourselves without an entourage of nurses and Drs.

I cannot even explain how good it feels to be home. I am up and about pretty comfortably and off all my pain meds (except for one at night). I was brave enough yesterday to attempt the stairs and now I am up and down with no problem. It was heaven to sleep in my own bed. The boys are in their crib at night and doing very well. Someone is hungry about every 3 hours. If we are lucky, they both wake up at the same time. If not, we have to perform quite the dance in order to wake one up, they sleep like their daddy. But, they are doing a great job at staying roughly on the same schedule. I am not at the point where I can do this alone, someone has to get up with me to hand me babies...but I am hoping at some point, I will be able to manage.

Chessie took my absence a little hard. Its normal for Matt to be gone but not me. She wasn't all that interested with the babies at the beginning but its growing more and more excited about them now that she smells how good they smell. She licks them and sniffs them all over. I keep reassuring her that they will get more interesting as time goes on.

Mia and my dad are coming out at the end of the week. The Campbells are coming out the end of the month. We cannot wait to introduce the boys to the rest of the family. We are trying to plan a trip home for them to meet the extended family but we will let you know about that.

Thanks again for all your prayers. We are loving every second of our new family. Sometimes its hard to believe this is all happening. But then, someone pees across the room and I come back to earth:) We have a Dr. appt in a few hours so I will hop back on and post how that went.

We love you all. Thanks for sharing in our excitement.

Home!

The boys have finally made their grand entrance into the Campbell household! Just yesterday it looked like they would remain in the hospital at least through the weekend, but the wonderful news came mid-morning that both Evan and Alex were strong enough to be home. So, this proved to be the second coolest day, next to their birth day of course.

Evan has turned the corner and is starting to put weight on, which is such a relief. He still sleeps a lot but appears to be quite animated, although he rarely makes a peep. Alex is pretty laid back so far and has also slowed or stopped his weight loss. Both boys were able to meet the rest of their grandparents over Skype this afternoon, and watched their first soccer game on TV with daddy (Seattle tied Chicago 0-0).

Dana continues to amaze me with her strength and patience. She's certainly proven to be the toughest person I know as she silently suffers through the pain and discomfort. We are praying for a speedy recovery so she can enjoy every minute, but we are all just relieved to be home together as a family! Below are some homecoming pictures...

Evan and Nani

Evan

Homecoming is near!

Alex's grumpy face

Alex and Daddy- Kangaroo Care

Evan Kangaroo care

Alex

We're officially nearing the end of our hospital adventure! Our pediatrician expects us to head home with both boys by Friday or Saturday, which would be incredible and just in time for Evan and Alex to watch their first Seattle Sounders soccer match with dad. Dana has been so strong during her week long stay away from home and Chessie... both are looking forward to the reunion. Dana has been back on her feet for a couple days now and her surgical recovery is going quite well. God continues His blessings as we've seen such great improvement over the past couple days from Alex and Evan. Yesterday, the boys were reunited in Dana's room for a nice nap together! They both loved it! As you can see above, Evan was upset about his journey from the nursery, but was snoozing in seconds, curled up with his bro. They've each lost a bit of weight as expected, but are still looking healthy and strong. They're feeding wonderfully and prove to be quite hungry. Dana and I have started some "kangaroo care" (skin on skin) as seen in the above pictures, which is great for bonding. It's supposed to have a calming effect as well, but they're quite mellow anyway, so who knows! Milestone: I have changed my first diapers and Evan is feeding with no assistance! I'll post again when the boys have made it home.

Day 2!

Meeting Alex for the 1st time

Evan- monitors for body temp, heart and O2 levels

Nani meeting Evan

Daddy's 1st feeding with Alex

Holding Alex

Evan & Mommy

Hello, it's Matt again. I have to admit, a part of me wishes we could just repeat yesterday over and over again, although I know Dana wouldn't necessarily agree! Fortunately, I know I'll never forget the moment I heard their first beautiful cry, and we both greatly anticipate all that lies ahead. So, let me fill in some details...

After Dana's water broke at 1:15 am, we hopped into the already packed car and arrived at the hospital in record time with white knuckles. Luckily our doctor was on call that night, and based on how Dana was doing, they scheduled a 5am Cesarean. Although she faced a traumatic surgery, Dana was calm and collected to no one's surprise, and I'm sure I was wearing a goofy grin. Dana was amazing during the surgery and continues to shock me with such strength. Evan and Alex were welcomed shortly thereafter and have spent the last 2 days in the nursery in their warming beds. Despite a big difference in size, we have no real worries as they are both showing strong vitals. Dana and I have been lucky enough to hold and feed each boy and we look forward to when they'll move into our room. Hopefully soon! So to wrap up for today, Alex has officially moved out of his warming bed and successfully latched on. We're sure Evan will be right behind but he's looking stronger every minute. Cool stuff so far: Alex has really cute sneezes and I got a kick out of a big yawn from Evan this afternoon! More to follow!

Here at last!

Hi, its Matt. So here goes my first posting... We're nearly 24 hours since Dana woke me from an unsuspecting sleep with the only words that can truly jolt a husband out of his pregnancy fantasy world: "Matthew, wake up, my water just broke!" As I sit here typing and deleting, I can barely grasp the reality of the day. Truly miraculous. Everyone has their own way to describe it, which is fantastic, because I have absolutely no words that can do it for me. All I can do is thank God for the miracle of life and the mystery of this love I'm feeling. Of course, all my love and gratitude to my amazing wife for being the woman of my dreams and the mother of our boys. She endured a busy 9 months keeping them safe and has given this world the most incredible gifts imaginable. Finally, thank you to our friends and family who've supported us, loved us, and prayed for a safe pregnancy and healthy babies! Evan and Alex will be so loved.

Evan Carlson Campbell

Alexander Ryen Campbell

Shared suggestions...

I have been meaning to post this for a while. One of the things that I have loved and hated about being pregnant is the "suggestion". Some suggestions are awesome and I could not have survived this long without them. On the other hand, I have been given my fair share of "suggestions" from strangers that are just ridiculous (like the woman at the grocery store telling me I was insane for having 2 boys at a time. 1st, are you suggesting that I give one away? and 2nd, who the heck says something like that?). For anyone reading this blog who is pregnant, wanting to get pregnant, or knows someone who is, here are some things that have helped me though my pregnancy.

1. A great mattress. I know this is a big ticket item. When we moved here, we had a few extra bedrooms so we decided to upgrade our mattress and I am so thankful we did. When you get pregnant, all your joints begin to loosen and let me tell you, the hip pain at night can really take its toll. We got a bed that has the latex/memory foam and it has saved me.

2. Activity. I have tried to stay as active as possible for as long as possible and I think its really helped. Whatever you were doing before getting pregnant, you can do while you are pregnant (unless your Dr. says no, of course). But really, it makes a huge difference.

3. Belly support. A great friend (thanks Anne) recommended to me the Prenatal Cradle. Its a hideous looking contraption that resembles something your moving men would wear but let me tell you, it got me through the end of lacrosse season and has saved me so much back pain. If you are brave enough, google it. I got the adjustable version and I wear it every day.

4. Husband (this should be in the #1 spot). I have, hands down, the best husband in the world. I know, you have a great husband too :). He has completely taken over the vacuuming, almost all of the grocery shopping and always runs my errands with me. Our couch is about 15 feet away from the fridge. When I ask him to get me water, he always obliges. Probably because its more painful for him to watch me try and rock myself off the couch than actually get up and get it himself. Plus, he says things like "you don't even look pregnant from the back!"...which always makes a whale-of-a-pregnant-woman feel good! You have to have one of these, he is priceless.

Everything else you can read about in any pregnancy book. Undoubtedly, I will have more to add once the babies are here. If you have any suggestions to add, put them in the comment section and share the wealth!

Scheduled!

I made a mistake in my last post, my Dr appt was today, not tomorrow!

But, it was a good appt! We have a scheduled c-section date, August 4. So, if we don't go into natural labor in the next 3 weeks, that will be the boys birthday. Baby boy B is being very stubborn and continues to lay in the transverse position. During the u/s, he started to move but was heading into a breech position so that really doesn't help. I don't mind though, I just want them to come out in the safest way possible. Once I go into labor, she will quickly ultra sound me again to check position. We had another non-stress test to start out our day. The boys are doing great and I am starting to have contractions that came up on the monitor, even though I could not feel them. We got a little excited but the Dr. said they don't mean much. Our u/s showed 2 big healthy boys. Both gained a pound since the last time we saw them, 5 1/2lbs and 4lbs 10oz. Their growth is going to slow down now since we are getting to the end. I would love for them both to be up over the 5lb mark so we will see. Then we talked to the Dr. who seemed pleased with everything. She doesn't see any reason why we would need to induce earlier than 38 weeks. No one is showing any signs of stress.

So now...we wait. And we all know, waiting is the hardest part (thank you Tom Petty).

Still feeling good but getting anxious. We are so excited to meet our boys. Matt is trying to get home as early as possible from work so we can spend time together. We have been playing games in the evening instead of flipping on the TV. If I were more daring, I would take him up on his idea to go over to Seattle....but the possibility of going into labor on the ferry just isn't my idea of fun. So, we are just hanging out. I know Matt is getting a little stir crazy, as am I...but I just keep reminding us that these are our last few days/weeks of "us" time for a while.

We will keep the blog updated as much as possible. When things start rolling, we will have the grandmothers start the phone train. Depending on how things progress, I might be able to jump on the blog and let everyone know when we are headed to the hospital.

Love to you all!

35 week quick post

Another week down! And yikes, I think the boys went through a growth spurt these past 2 weeks!

(Chessie plopped herself in her normal "photo shoot" position except she was too tired and is laying down)

I am really feeling huge now. Still hanging in there and very little to complain about but I am starting to feel "ready" to get these boys out. It will be a good day when I can put on my own socks and shoes!

We have everything ready to go for the big day. We are all getting a little antsy for the excitement/chaos to begin! I try not to call my mom too much these days because I am sure she jumps a bit every time she sees me calling...probably the same when we call the Campbells!

Nothing new to report. Our NST this past week was fine. We have an ultra-sound, another NST and a Dr. appt on Wednesday. We will get another weigh in for the boys and be able to determine their positions, helping us with the decision of HOW they are going to arrive into the world. I am hoping they are both head down but we will just wait and see. I will post Wednesday with all that info.

Just a little note of congratulations to Ryen for getting into Vet School! We are all so proud of you even though I am sad you are so far away! I can't wait to see you at Christmas!

I am still hoping for one more week. After next Saturday, we will start walking until I go into labor:)

Be back on Wednesday!

34 weeks!

There are lots of goals to reach during a pregnancy and even more during a twin pregnancy. Hearing the heart beat for the 1st time greatly reduces your chance of miscarriage, getting to the 2nd trimester usually brings relief from nausea, 25 weeks and you have reached "viability", etc. For me, 34 weeks is the biggest milestone. As I have said before, it means I can deliver at my hospital here locally and our boys won't have to spend time in the NICU. We made it! I am still feeling pretty good although I am definitely slowing down. I am resting more, eating less (not much room in there anymore) and feeling a ton of movement. I think my belly is starting to drop, although I still have moments where they push up into my rib cage and I can't breathe...but I guess that is normal for any multiple pregnancy.

We had our 1st NST (non-stress test) this past week and the boys did great. No contractions, great heart rates and lots of movement. We have another one on thursday, hopefully the news is the same.

So from now on, when I go into labor, they will let me deliver. By now, baby A should be over 5 1/2 lbs and baby B should be close to 5lbs (we have another u/s next week to check weight). My goal is to make it to 36 weeks (not like I have much control but ya know...). The longer they bake, the healthier they will be and the better they will respond to things like feeding, etc. Matt has assembled the last of the baby items and all the laundry is done...it's just "sit and wait" now.

We hope everyone had a great 4th. We did! The fireworks show here was amazing and we had a great view from a hill behind our house. Chessie met a new friend this weekend. Friends of ours who just moved back to Seattle have a 14wk old german-short hair named Lucy. Her and Chessie are now best friends. We watched her for a little bit while her mom & dad were at a wedding.

They tired each other out!

Nothing else new to report. I will update once a week from now on. Thank you for all your continued prayers! 36 weeks is the new goal. If I make it that far, I will be praying for labor to start!! :) We are ready to meet our little boys!