The birth of the brothers.

I did a post about Audrey's birth in case she is interested when she gets older, so I feel like I should do one for the brothers too. Here it is.

Other than the timing of the brothers birth, it was perfect. And even the timing wasn't so bad, but it sure would have been nice if they could have waited two more days to come out.

I woke up to roll over at about 3 am on January 13 and felt a little tug and some wetness. My first thought was crap please don't be my water breaking, I really want to make it to 37 weeks. I was 36 weeks 5 days. I got up and turned on a light to see a big enough wet spot to confirm that my water had indeed broken. Well shoot.

Now we had to decide if we wanted to wait a little bit before going to the hospital. I called our doula and we talked a bit and I decided my gut was saying head to the hospital now. I am a pretty big believer in following my instincts when it comes to birth so we had our plan. We were not even a little bit ready to go though. We had not packed anything or installed the car seats. We hadn't even gotten the car seats out. So, before we left we took our time packing a bag and getting ready to go. We stopped on the way for breakfast, best decision ever. I think we got to the hospital sometime around 5 am or so. By that time regular contractions had started, woo hoo.

Our doula met us at the hospital and we got set to labor. An ultrasound confirmed both babies were still head down, so we were still good to go with our plans for a vaginal birth. We talked with the on call doctor and all got on the same page about our preferences for labor and delivery. I would get an epidural, though I would wait until labor was well established (they really, really, really wanted me to get one just in case) in exchange for immediate skin to skin with both babies and delayed cord clamping. Everything in life is a compromise, birth included.

It just so happened that it was the day that the resident doctors had a lecture in the morning, which means the on call doctor for our practice needed to call the office to send an additional doctor because they always have two doctors at twin births. She said she would try to get our primary doctor who was very familiar with and supportive of our birth plans. Woo hoo again.

By about 2 pm I was starting to feel pretty ready to push some babies out. Turns out I probably should have indicated this sooner, because with twins there is a lot of crap they have to do before you get to actually push the babies out. In large part because the babies are born in the operating room just in case. So by the time everyone was suited up and I got moved to the OR baby A was really ready to come out. And he did come out after a minimal amount of pushing. He was born right onto my chest and I got to spend some good time with him skin to skin before we cut his cord and got ready for baby B.

Both my labors have been the same in that I have contractions 2 to 3 minutes apart the whole time. There is no rest. Well, of course after baby A came out everything slowed way down. So, they broke baby B's water and things started moving again. Everyone said "OK baby B should come real quick now." Well, he should have but he had his arm up by his head so it was hard to push him out. And it hurt a lot. But he did come out 40 minutes after his brother. He was born straight to my stomach because he had a super short cord, he couldn't reach my chest.

Baby A, Kai Vincent.

Baby A, Kai Vincent.

Baby A, Kai Vincent.

Kai and Dad.

Baby B, Soren Edward.

Baby B, Soren Edward.

We achieved our goal brothers, vaginal twin birth!

I got to spend some time with both babies before Kai was taken away to the nursery because he was born before 37 weeks. Apparently policy is that babies born before 37 weeks have to be taken to the nursery an hour after they are born to have some tests done. It sure would have been nice if someone had mentioned that before they were whisking them away, but it all ended up OK.

Their birth truly was everything I wanted. It could not have gone better. We got to have our doctor and she was absolutely wonderful. She even kept some of the extra people out of the delivery room so that is was as calm and peaceful as possible. I am not sure I could have been happier with how the actual birth experience went. I think credit for that goes to JT, our doula, our doctor, and I suppose me. So thank you to all of those people for helping us to have the best birth possible.

Dr. Halvorson actually delivered Audrey as well. And as you may recall her birth also went pretty much exactly as we hoped. Thank you Dr. Halvorson for helping us have wonderful birth experiences for all of our children!

The brothers are here!

Well, the brothers actually got here 3 and a half weeks ago but I have been a bit busy since then. So, here is their introductory post.

Kai Vincent and Soren Edward were born on January, 13th. Their names are Scandinavian like their mama.

Kai is the oldest and was 5 pounds 1 ounce. Soren was born 40 minutes later and was 6 pounds. We will talk more about how far apart they were born when I write a post about their birth.
 

The little stinkers were born at 36 weeks 5 days. 37 weeks is considered full term. I was really, really hoping to make it to that 37 week mark. But alas Kai had different plans. But it was OK both boys were/are healthy and happy.

Life is finally beginning to settle down a bit at this point. But it has been a crazy blur of sleep deprivation and babies.  I apparently am incapable of making babies who come out working, so when we left the hospital we were on a feeding regime that involved nursing, feeding pumped milk, and pumping for each feeding. Which is normal for later pre-term guys like these, but still. So. Much. Work. To top it off Soren did not want to eat as much as the Dr thought he should and was slow to gain weight. So on top of the other stress we had to go to weight checks at the doctor's office several times a week.

Soren, I want you to know this was a hard, HARD time. Mom was a bit of a wreck and dad was equally stressed as he was tasked with trying to get you to eat. Seriously, pretty awful buddy. But mom has some great friends in the breastfeeding community and we were able to get some really good advice and just when the doctor gave us a "he must gain weight by Monday or..." you gained 3 ounces and have not slowed down since. Thanks dude, I'm not sure how much more we could have taken. We know they are still gaining weight well because I weigh them in a pie pan on the kitchen scale a couple times a week. Mom life.

Other than that hiccup the boys are doing great. They both already nurse better than Audrey did at this point so good work there little men.

Audrey is starting to adjust to her brothers. She really likes to help and make them feel better if they are crying, but she also misses being the center of attention. She is adjusting more each day and it is so sweet to see her with them. My sweetest girl.

Doots: the second year.

Audrey turned two about a month and a half ago so I am now, finally getting around to a post about her second year. I did year one as a letter to her so that will be the plan for year two as well.

Dear Audrey,

Your second year has been a great one. You continue to be a happy, healthy child. In fact, most of the time you are easy. This makes me think year three will be a bit more of a challenge, but that is OK. We love you to pieces and know growing up is tough on little girls.

This year was filled with all sorts of fun things. You discovered a love for going to the gym with mom and dad, love your rocking chair, enjoyed lots of time in the snow, decided where you will go to college, had a sick day here and there, found your love for cousins and babas, got a new kitten, continued loving playgrounds, water, and bubbles, rode a camel, went on your first bike ride, and found out you will be a big sister to not one but two brothers. Whew, that is quite a year little lady.

Right now you are a daddy's girl to the extreme. If daddy is around you rarely want anything to do with mom. All things considered, this is probably a good time for you to feel this way as the brothers will be coming very soon. It just makes mommy savor every cuddle and hug that much more!

You amaze your dad and I every single day. You are incredibly verbal and have quite an expansive vocabulary, in fact you pretty much never stop talking. Ever. You can do chunky puzzles and you also are really starting to get into pretend play.

You love to play with your dollhouse and play pretend with your stuffed animals. Giraffe is your favorite "baby." You love to change his diaper, put him down for naps, take him for rides in the stroller, and cuddle him. It. Is. Adorable. My favorite examples are you taking Giraffe to your room putting him down for a nap on the diaper bed, covering him with a blanket, kissing him, and saying "goodnight, I love you." And then closing the door, just like when we put you down for a nap. You also have appeared from your room with Giraffe in your stroller, covered with a blanket saying you are going for a walk and Giraffe needs to stay warm. I just can't even, you melt mommy.

You my dear are a little lady of varied interests. You love to play pretend and care for things but you also are wild for diggers, trains, trucks, and buses. One of your favorite games is "superman" which is you counting to three and jumping off the couch. You also love "fixing" your bike and helping with anything and everything, which includes dishes, painting, and cleaning up. Your favorite shows right now are Doc McStuffins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Sesame Street.

Of course you are not perfect and do have some challenging quirks. You are two so sometimes listening is a challenge. You always want a phone or pod pod which leads to a lot of meltdowns. Sometimes you refuse to get in your car seat without a lot of negotiation, and you never want help until you are ready to ask, and frankly we don't always have time to wait until you are ready to ask because you are also persistent. Sometimes we just need to zip your coat and leave the house now, my darling daughter. Food, of course, is sometimes a battle as well. No two year old understands you have to eat your dinner to get a cookie, but oh my goodness have we had some meltdowns over eating two more bites. You will figure it out someday little lady. Really, what is starting to show up in your personality is a bit of a stubborn streak, unfortunately for you my dear, you get that from mom which means I am just as stubborn. Sorry about your luck.

I cannot wait to see how you are with your little brothers. I know there will be some challenges in adjusting to new siblings, but I think you will be great with them overall. I am so excited to continue to watch you develop and grow miss Audrey. You amaze your dad and me on a weekly basis and we love you to the moon and back.

Happy second year sweet angel baby.

Christmas season is tradition season.

We don't have a lot of traditions in our little family yet. A few for birthdays and really just one for Christmas.

Every year since we have been married we go to Tannenbaum Farms to cut down a Christmas tree. Usually we go the weekend after Thanksgiving because we are always out of town Thanksgiving weekend. Which means the trees are already a bit picked over, but that just adds to the fun.

This year we bundled Audrey up in fleece lined tights, pants, three shirts, a coat, hat, mittens, and boots. She seemed to be pretty toasty, also it was pretty warm and the ground was dry. You may recall that we did not do so well in this department last year. Yay for learning lessons.

Audrey enjoyed the wagon ride out to the tree fields. She didn't stop talking the whole way. She also really enjoyed Ollie the reindeer. We got to watch him eat an apple which she thought was pretty much the coolest thing ever. "He picks it up and eats it." "Look it mama, he picks it up!" We visited Ollie twice, before we cut our tree and after while waiting for the wagon back. The second visit she sat down right next to the pen and said "I'm going to sit here and watch." Animal lover that one.

The main event, of course, was picking and cutting a tree. We had to walk for what seemed like forever to me, but was in reality a very short distance, to get to the cutting fields. But I made it both ways. Victory!

We let Audrey help pick our little tree. She found one she liked that was just the right size for our smallish living room.

She even helped dad cut it down.

 

Which means she talked to him, poked him, and stood over him the whole time he was cutting.

  

 

He did manage to avoid having the tree fall on her so I think everyone won in the cutting department.

She also enjoyed holding the saw, though she was not so good at holding the handle.

After we got done with the tree we stopped in to see Santa. Audrey was not at all interested in talking to or approaching him until she saw he had candy. Good lesson there. Strangers are totally cool if they give you candy. Either way I got a quick picture of her Santa interaction and we called our day of tradition a success.

 

Audrey also helped put the ornaments on the tree. She loves the ornaments. She loves to point at them and say "look it, a star, look it Olaf, look it a monkey!" etc. etc. So far she has been really good about looking with her eyes, and Lincoln hasn't even climbed the tree once. We'll see how long that lasts.

Quick twin update: everything looks great! Both boys were around 4 pounds at our ultrasound two weeks ago and my body is holding up pretty darn well. We were even given the go ahead to go enjoy Christmas with my family as long as nothing changes for me between now and then. Thank you boys for your "concordant growth," as they say, and thank you body for holding up so far. Less than 2 months to go!

And then we ate Elmo cake.

I am not a big birthday party kind of mom. Sorry Audrey. When you start asking we will talk. In the meantime we celebrate with family at Thanksgiving because we are already with family, and it is close enough to her birthday. Simple, simple family, a little food, a fun cake, and the minimum amount of presents possible.

To me a birthday equals you get whatever dinner you want and mom will make you whatever super fun cake you want. This year Audrey could not decide between chicken nuggets and fries and pizza, so I let her have chicken nuggets for lunch and pizza for dinner, so spoiled I know. She knew what she wanted for her cake though, ELMO!

I grew up with these two traditions and I loved them, so I want to keep them going for my kids. Even if it means decorating an Elmo cake while 30 weeks pregnant with twins. Thank you mom for making the cakes and frosting, that was a big help. I did shape and decorate Elmo though.

And thank you Baba Nancy for taking care of all the other party stuff, because as mentioned above, just not my thing.

Because we do not have Audrey's birthday party on her birthday she got her birthday meal and a cupcake on her actual birthday.

She had to wait for her Elmo cake. She was really excited for it though, she had been talking about her Elmo cake for weeks before her birthday.

She doesn't look so excited while we are singing her happy birthday. Perhaps because she hates it when we sing. I was impressed that she did not hold up her hand and yell "Stop! No, mama no singing!" Which is what she normally does if JT or I dare sing near her.

But you can see how happy she was when she got to start eating Elmo.

She was even happier later when we let her keep grabbing handfuls of cake from the table all afternoon. Her party her rules.

Lots of wonderful gifts were opened after the cake was eaten and Audrey was a happy little two year old. Bedtime could have been easier, but it was worth it for the joy she got from eating all that cake. Love you so much little dooter.

I will get a two year update done soon Ms. Audrey, I promise.

Aunts are fun

This post is so late.

A month ago aunt Jen came to visit and we had a super fun day the Children's Museum in Grand Rapids.

It was the first time we have gone to a Children's Museum or Science Museum when Audrey has been big enough to really enjoy all of the different things. We pretty much had to drag her out of there.

She loved the bubble table.

The bank was a favorite. She really liked the drive through window, but the ATM was the best part of the bank.  She loved putting money in and taking it out.

 She also liked riding in the car with daddy, though she didn't really want to drive. Weirdo.

There were a ton of other really fun things. We had a super fun time, next time we will plan a longer trip.

Not only did Audrey really enjoy the Children's Museum, she also really enjoyed spending time with her aunt Jen. Every time we were crossing the street or walking in a parking lot she chose to hold Jen's hand rather than mom or dad's. She also chose to have Jen read her stories before nap. Basically she chose Jen for everything possible.

The best of buds. Unfortunately I failed to get any pictures. Next time.