2nd Month

On July 4th the whole family loaded up in the minivan and spent the afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa's dock on Lake Chickamauga with the PFS team. David and I were able to enjoy the wave runners and great food while Ethan and Andrew enjoyed the shade and behaved like perfect angels. It was such a pleasant day with the temperature being in the 80's and a breeze that we stayed for over 5 hours.

David and I both have laptops now and noticed that we had the same picture on our desktops. Andrew joined us for an early morning email check at the dining room table.

The boys look tiny in their car seats but are growing rapidly. At their one month check up they had both grown two inches and added two pounds.

We visited Dr. Brown, the doctor who delivered them, so he could have a picture for his baby wall. He has been a great doctor.

1st Month

Aunt Lisa stayed with us for a couple weeks and gave me much needed help. She helped by making sure I had food and that bottles were ready to go. She even gave up sleep to help with a couple feedings each night. Thank you again Aunt Lisa. Andrew and Ethan miss you!

Ethan loves to pose and takes great pictures. He looks so tiny in the boppy pillow. They are wearing preemie clothes and diapers.

Andrew is harder to take a picture of because he is often grunting with gas or yawning. The boys are fraternal twins and you can really see the difference in their head shape. Almost every facial feature is different from each other.

Week 1

The grandmas are so proud.

Since the boys are so small they can fit in all sort of places that just make you go awww...
The laundry basket is one of the best ways to carry them up or downstairs and it makes a great bed while downstairs.

David's shoe boxes, size 13, are a great fit. I guess we didn't need to buy the crib. :) They wear preemie diapers and clothing though the clothes seem quite large.

We left the hospital late on Friday afternoon. This is our first day out of the hospital. The boys are six days old. The first night was quite a wake up call. Literally! I panicked thinking that I would never sleep again. We had to feed them every three hours and it took about an hour to accomplish feeding and diaper changes so we could sleep in two hour stretches.

Delivery Day

Monday, May 21 was my first day on maternity leave. I had a doctors appointment to check my blood pressure and to monitor the babies heart rates. The doctor surprised us by sending me directly to the hospital to deliver since I was now diagnosed as preeclamptic. I had schedule to have my hair done the next day and wanted to pick out a pediatrician that week. However, those things are minor when there is a health concern. I was 34 weeks and 5 days, only 9 days short of our goal delivery date at 36 weeks.

David drove me to the hospital in his truck. It seemed strange to walk in feeling great, no labor for me. We arrived about 4pm and I was prepped for a c-section that was pushed back until 8:30pm.

Andrew Lee, baby A, (on right) was born at 9:29 and weighed in at 5 pounds 2 ounces. Ethan Thomas, baby B, (on left) followed 2 minutes later and weighed in at 4 pounds 7 ounces. Both received high apgar scores and went to the nursery to have all the normal tests and measurements done while both sets of grandparents watched through the window and took lots of pictures. During the hospital stay the boys shared a bassinet unless they were being held by all the loving family and friends.

Pregnancy

After many years David and I succeeded in becoming pregnant in October 2006 with the help of IVF. We discovered that we were expecting multiples. How many was the big question. The answer seemed to change with each doctors scan during the first trimester. We went from three to four (two fraternal and two identical) and then finally down to fraternal twins.

I loved being pregnant and felt quite well except for swelling during the third trimester. One of the benefit of multiples is that we had an ultrasound at least every month and toward the end it was every other week. We already have a photo album full of just scans of baby A and baby B.

We enjoyed reading from a daily journal book that explained what was developing each day from brain and spine all the way to finger and toe prints. The pregnancy ended at 34 weeks and 5 days because I was diagnosed with preeclampsia. The babies weren't in any danger so Dr. Brown decided Monday, May 21, 2007 that I was to go directly from his office to the hospital.
More pictures and stories to come soon.