I've been sick! Waaahhh....

Geneva - Enjoying a moment without her feeding tube in her nose. Smiling with delight at it being gone.

and I haven't gotten to visit and hold my babies for over a week. I'm feeling better now and I'm hoping that I stay better enough to go see them tomorrow night or Wednesday for the day!

They are doing so great. They are taking 6 bottle feedings now out of 8 feedings a day. They are off of caffeine (to help with apnea) and are gaining weight every day! Mason weighs 5lb even now and Geneva weighs 5lb 2oz. :o)

Mason - trying to get his thumb into his mouth!

Their nurses are just amazing and one in particular sends me pictures to help me through having to stay home and not be with my babies. I have posted the two latest pics. I think my babies look amazing!

*Mason and Geneva's Birth Story* ~may be slightly graphic~

Some of this you may have heard or read about already but I think it's important to the whole story to include it in this part of the story. Let me say that I had been praying for a natural birth, even knowing that having a C-section was a very real possibility. I even talked about doing it completely natural with no pain meds or epidurals. During all the more painful contractions though, I had started thinking this wouldn't be possible because I couldn't see an end in sight and I wasn't sure how long I could do that without any "help"!

Geneva - 11/24/11

Mason - 11/24/11

I came home from the hospital after 7 weeks on bedrest, Mon, November 7th. I was home for 6 uneventful days, till the evening of Sunday, November 13th. At 31 weeks along and around 8:25pm, contractions just started up out of the blue and they were 5 minutes apart and intense. I timed them for 25 minutes and when I'd had 5 in that time, I called the doctor. He told me to go right to our local Labor and Delivery, which I did, they hooked me up to the Contraction monitor and heartrate monitors for the babies (who were both sounding fabulous) and started me on Magnesium Sulfate right away to stop the contractions, but that didn't help a lot and the contractions were getting quite painful, so they gave me Fentanyl. That didn't work and just made me a little drowsy, so they gave me a double dose of Stadol so I could get through the ambulance ride to transfer me to the big hospital with the NICU an hour away. Funny thing is, it made me hallucinate (LOL, I was seeing all the nurses, Dewayne, my Dr. and the EMT's as cardboard people) but it didn't take away the pain of the contractions. I rode in the ambulance and Dewayne drove home to grab some things for me and met me at the hospital.  Once I arrived at the big hospital a little after midnight on Monday, November 14th, there were 2 doctors, 1 nurse and a myriad of machines and monitors waiting for me. Since I was still contracting and they were getting even more painful, my nurse helped me with breathing through them. They upped the Magnesium Sulfate and gave me a 3rd steriod injection (I got the series of 2 the first time I was admitted to the hospital) for the babies lungs. After an ultrasound by the perinatologist to check babies positions, estimate their weights and check my cervical length, the OB doctor on call did a vaginal exam and found softening but no dilation. Contractions petered out around 3:30am and we were able to sleep for awhile. Dewayne left at 6am to head home and sleep a little before he went into work for a bit. Later that day, they moved me out of Labor and Delivery back to the Prenatal Unit, because labor wasn't eminient anymore. I had an uneventful afternoon Monday and the next day, everything was nice and calm! Until around 9pm when I started having contractions again, that is!! They were more intense and painful but they were kind of sporadic and weren't showing up when the nurses did my monitoring that evening and I thought that they weren't too bad, so they just told me to keep track of them. I called them again around 11 and they told me they'd be in to check on me at midnight and I was still contracting. So back on the monitor I went. The contractions still weren't showing up and didn't seem to be getting worse or closer together, so the nurses gave me an Ambien and I slept for a solid 2 1/2 hours. Contractions woke me up around 2:30am and I waited till 3:30 to call my nurses again. They came in and put me back on the monitor (and also listened to the babies heart beats for 5 minutes.) Babies were doing great, tolerating the contractions well. By that time, the contractions were starting to get closer together and more painful again. So they called the on call Dr. and he had them put me on the Magnesium Sulfate again and my IV site started swelling so they had to switch the IV site to the other arm. By now it's around 5:30am and contractions are showing no signs of stopping. I'd been using the bathroom every hour through out the night and the pressure down there was pretty intense. I still didn't think a whole lot was going on....I thought I was just "having contractions" again and that they would stop. I asked one of the nurses call Dewayne to tell him I was having contractions and we'd call if anything really started happening. Remember, we live an hour away from the hospital. It's about 6 now and things are starting to look like they may keep going and the Mag isn't stopping the contractions. Nurses are going in and out of my room at a regular rate. All of this time, I haven't asked for pain meds or even thought that I was going into labor. I am now at 31 weeks and 3 days. At 6:27am, all of the sudden, I felt the need to PUSH and that my water might have broken....I told my nurse frantically that I did and that she needed to call Dewayne NOW!!! Then I got strict orders to puff and not to push.....I still had my cerclage in (the stitch to keep my cervix closed) and if the babies were born with that in, my cervix could be ripped badly. My nurse checked me and felt Mason's head was right there. The next thing I knew, I was being wheeled out of my room on my bed as fast as they could down to the OR, next to the NICU. All the while, when I'd get a contraction, I'd be puffing instead of pushing and then my body would just take over and start to push. This happened three times total, while "flying" through the halls of the hospital and just as I was wheeled into the OR at 6:36am, my body took over and bore down hard and Mason popped out of me onto the bed behind me under the covers. I told the nurses (the dr. wasn't there yet.) "I had a baby, he came out, he was born!" and the OR nurse pulled up the blanket and there he was, crying! She clamped and cut his cord. Then she passed him through the window to the nurse waiting in the NICU. They then transferred me to the OR table and got my feet up in stirrups. The on call Dr. for the Prenatal Unit still hadn't arrived so they called a Dr. who was in the on call room next door to the OR (as it turns out, he was my Dr. for my whole pg with Brighton but didn't deliver him, he was off the weekend Brighton was born) and he came in just after Mason was born. He slowly broke Geneva's bag of waters and helped her ease down into the birth canal. Then he told me to gently push and out popped my little girl at 6:49am. He held her up so I could see her and then clamped and cut her cord and she was passed through the window to the nurse in the NICU. The rest was easy, placentas came right out with one more push, I was then put on a pictocin drip to help minimize bleeding and shrink my uterus, sedated and given local anaesthetic, so they could check my cervix for tearing (and repair it if it was necessary) from the cerclage (which Mason popped) and stitch up the first degree tear in my perineum. My cervix had no damage at all and they were able to just take the popped cerclage out. :o) Whew!! The nurse popped her head through the window periodically to give me updates on the babies and the NICU dr. came in later to tell me the babies were doing great and breathing on their own. Mason weighed 3lbs 14oz and was 16 1/2 inches long and Geneva weighed 3lbs 11oz and was 17 inches long. They are in the NICU and will most likely be able to come home before the New Year. They both got their IV's out and they both no longer need the hi-flow air and oxygen tubes in their noses. They are being tube-fed over an ounce of my pumped milk every 3 hours now and we are doing "non-nutritive" sucking so they can "practice" for breastfeeding!! They also get caffeine to help with keeping their breathing steady. I'm so proud of my babies and love them so very much. Brighton is excited his baby brother and baby sister are born but won't be able to meet them till they come home from the NICU! He does get to see pictures though. It was an amazing labor and delivery, considering I only KNEW I was in labor 22 minutes before it was all over!! Now I'd say my active labor was around 3 hours long! :o) I GOT my COMPLETELY natural birth! I am so thankful that my prayers were answered. The doctors and nurses (My nurses were phenomenal. I just LOVE them all, they are amazing and caring women!) took such good care of me while I was there for the first time - 7 weeks - then the second time - 2 days - and now the doctors and nurses in the NICU are taking good care of my babies. Praise the Lord!! God is so Good.....all the time! :o) A couple of my nurses told me that God allowed me to go into labor without me realizing it because if we had "known" sooner, I would have ended up with a C-section because that is what a few of the regular on call doctors prefer! AND I would have told my nurses sooner that I was in labor if I had realized it. I always told them when I felt off or if anything out of the ordinary happened!!

Announcing the birth..................

 of Mason NormanRoy and Geneva MaryRuth Kern! They arrived into this world on Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 6:36am and 6:49am. Mason weighed 3lb 14oz and was 16 1/2 inches long. Geneva weighed 3lb 11oz and was 17 inches long. They are both in the NICU but are breathing on their own and are doing great. They just need to grow and grow so they can come home before the New Year. Thank you, Jesus, for these two new, beautiful blessings!

Back in the hospital..................

So, my brief respite from hospital life only lasted 6 days! Ah, well, I did get those 6 days and I am thankful for that. I am back in the hospital on bedrest. Contractions started up out of the blue, 5 minutes apart and painful. Called the Dr. almost right away and he sent me directly to the local L&D. They then transferred me to the hospital with the "big guns" by ambulance, after they got me started on Mag, Terbutaline and painkillers! LOL!! They gave me Fentanol and that made me dizzy but didn't help too much with the pain, so then they gave me a double dose of Stadol and that made me hallucinate (everything and everyone was cardboard and I was seeing things that weren't there) and I could still feel the pain from the contractions!! Crazy!

So, at 31 weeks and 2 days along, I'm back in the hospital. The dr. says I need to stay here till 36 weeks now but that doesn't seem too long (after putting in a 7 week stint already)! It's only 4 weeks and 6 days..till the Monday after the Sunday that I will 36 weeks along on!

Latest belly pic........AND the latest news..............

Dewayne has faithfully been taking my picture every Sunday when he and Brighton have been visiting me. 

Here is the 30 weeks with Twins shot from Sunday, November 6th.

The latest news is that after 7 weeks of bedrest in the hospital, I am now at HOME!! Still on bedrest, but so thankful to be home!! PRAISE THE LORD! I have numerous Dr. appts in the next few weeks, but it's so wonderful to be home again, that I'm just not thinking about that right now. I am savoring the feel of laying in my own bed, hearing my son playing out in the livingroom, tolerating the dog wanting to spend every second laying at my feet or on my legs on the bed. I would normally just kick the dog off the bed and tell her to go somewhere else! Ha ha. I'm just so happy to be home. :o)

Bedrest @ 22 weeks~

Took a trip into the L&D OB Triage on Saturday for contractions. I got shots to stop them & sent home to RELAX! I am now on strict bed rest. I have to stay down & can only get up for very short (time & distance) bathroom trips. Prayers are appreciated. I am 22 weeks along. Brighton, 2 1/2 yrs old, is with Grandma right now. I have a niece flying up to help out on Tuesday evening! YAY, so thankful for that!

21 weeks with twins........

Time is flying by and I am already 21 weeks along.  I am having contractions if I indulge in any physical activity. So, I am being very careful to rest regularly and I am trying to eat well and drink alot of water. At my last Dr.'s appt, I had gained 12 1/2 pounds. A little scary but I'm eating so much that I don't think I can possibly eat any more!

Twins are exciting and we had an ultrasound on Aug. 22nd.  It was a Level II and very detailed. They did measurements of everything they can see in there. I was 19 weeks 3 days along and the babies were measuring 19 weeks 6 days. They weighed approx. 10 oz. each and we all look good! We are having a boy AND a girl!! So excited!

Baby Boy

Baby Girl

Me.....21 weeks!

Belly and Ultrasound pics.

Ultrasound taken June 16, 2011

Today - 10 weeks

Wednesday, June 14 - 9 weeks 5 days

The latest news!!

Still no pictures, since I haven't gotten a photobucket or flickr account yet.  :o)  However, to let you know what has been going on lately, here are some news tidbits! 

On May 4th, I got a positive pregnancy test!! YAY!! So exciting.  I had been having symptoms of pregnancy for over a week and knew it was still too early to test, but then I decided to just go ahead with it.

On May 5th, I went into the dr. to get an official confirmation.  That test was also positive.  We figured that my due date was Jan. 16, 2012.

On May 19th, I had my first prenatal appt.  We then changed my due date to Jan. 15th.

On May 20th, I volunteered to help with training for an ultrasound tech for a local pregnancy center.  I was 6 weeks along that day.  I was seeing two sacs but thought I was seeing mirror till the end and the two techs asked me if I knew what I was seeing and then I knew I had really been seeing two.  :o)  Wow!!  But we weren't able to see heartbeats and they told me to call my dr. on Monday!!

On May 23rd, I talked to my dr.'s office and they said to go in for a regular ultrasound.

On May 25th, I went in for the "real" ultrasound and we got to see the two gestational sacs with the yolk sacs and inside two little heartbeats!

Tomorrow, June 10th, I will be 9 weeks along.  My next prenatal appt is in a couple weeks! Can't wait to discuss TWINS with my doctor!

Technical difficulties...

Sorry that I haven't been posting.  I was going to try to catch up on my posts and tell you all about what has been happening since October 2010~ However, I love posting pictures to illustrate my posts and because they are all just on my computer and not on a web album, Blogger won't let me upload them here.  So, when I get that all figured out, then I can start posting again!! LOL!!  See you around!

18 month pics....October 2010

Brighton was 18 months old in October. I gave him a haircut and did a photo shoot to mark the occasion.

Well, I tried to upload some pics but they never showed up. I'll try again soon!

*added photos - 1/24/11

Time.....

sometimes it just gets away from you and before you know it, it is next year and wow.......