Twins: Two months old!!

I can’t believe how quickly two months has flown by! Our boys aren’t newborns anymore…they are 1/6 of a year old!! Someone please tell time to slow down! 

Here is what they’ve been up to the past month—

-You are both growing so fast! You’ve outgrown newborn diapers (according to weight), but we are still squeezing you into them since we have so many of them! You wear 0-3 month clothes, sometimes newborn pants still and you will need 3-6 month onesies soon (SAD!)

-You eat every three hours during the day and sleep great at night (at night you eat @ 10, 2 and 6)

-You are still swaddled every night and during naps…you just can’t handle having your arms out yet (we’ve tried…doesn’t go well!)

Calvin, Zachary and Miles in the car on the way to MN

-I took you on your first road trip (at 5 weeks old) to visit Grandma Tammy and Grandpa Brad with Aunt Angie, Cousin Lauren and Cousin Zachary. You did great in the car!

-We had to go back to the hospital at 6 weeks old for ultrasounds on your hips (since you were breech, twins, and Miles had low amniotic fluid). Turns old…Calvin is the one with hip dysplasia. We go back in a few weeks for another ultrasound to see what we have to do about it.

-You celebrated your first Easter up in Charles City (daddy’s first roadtrip with you and you did great!) We visited both sets of Great Grandparents and many great aunts and uncles. The Easter bunny forgot to come to our house, but luckily Grandma Tammy brought you some goodies.

Great Grandpa and Grandma Stewart

Great Grandpa Guthart and Calvin

Great Grandma Guthart and Miles

Uncle Steve, Addie and Calvin

-You met Aunt Jamie, Uncle Steve, and cousins—Carter, Austin and Addie for the first time over Easter weekend! We miss them so much already!

First time at Murphy's

-We’ve had two more baby showers (spoiled boys!)—one with the entire Van Horn clan and one at Daddy’s work.

-We met Uncle Jason out at Murphy’s Bar for the first time (8 weeks old) and stayed out a little past your bedtime

-You are starting to notice each other more, but I am pretty sure you think your brother is a play thing. I love when you accidentally hold hands or you think your brother is food and try to suck on his hand or shoulder.

-You both started smiling consistently around 7 weeks and I LOVE those smiles…they melt my heart!

-You are both starting to make some pretty sweet baby noises…love them!

-Occasionally mommy and daddy let you sleep on them, but not very often!

Miles snuggling with mom

Daddy snuggling with Calvin

Miles:

-You have so many funny facial expressions that make me laugh all day long.

-You are a sweet boy and love to cuddle

-You lost all of your dark newborn hair and now you are quickly growing soft, spiky, blonde hair.

-You love tummy time…it makes you really calm and relaxed…I am pretty sure you will be a tummy sleeper someday.

-You LOVE bath time and HATE getting out of the water.

-You are starting to get some big ol’ rolls on your legs…so cute!

-You make this really funny sucking noise on your hand when you are really hungry and it isn’t quite time to eat yet.

-You shake your head back and forth really fast when you are excited to eat (but we wish you would figure out that we can’t get the bottle in your mouth when your head is moving so fast)

-Halfway through your bottle you fall into a trance and stare off into space…you could totally win a staring contest!

-After you eat you always give us lots of sweet smiles J

-You have a crooked smile…just like your daddy

-You are such a funny, sweet, sassy little boy with lots of personality already!

Calvin:

-You are such a sweet boy and love to gaze into people’s eyes.

-You study everything so carefully.

-You crane your neck to find out what made a noise and can always find the TV in every room.

-You still have a really sad, quiet, pathetic nose cry. Your cry makes me smile…it is so cute and you just can’t seem to get any louder. You have me wrapped around your finger because I instantly want to pick you up since you hardly ever cry.

-You get nervous when I pick you up too quickly and often grab on to my shirt as if you think I am going to drop you (I promise I won’t ever drop you!)

-You are an extremely messy bottle drinker…I think you get too much in your mouth and then you can’t swallow it all. Silly boy!

-When you are finished eating and we try to give you more you give us this extremely disgusted look like we just waved a smelly fish under your nose. I guess that means you are done J

-You stick your tongue out when you smile and it is so stinkin’ cute…but so difficult to catch on camera.

-You don’t like the swing or bouncy seat…you would rather play on the floor and stretch out

-You HATE your carseat

-You don’t like to be bounced or rocked when you are being held and get really squirmy if people do it to you (most people automatically assume babies like to be bounced….but not you….you’d rather chill, sit and stare)

-You are such an easy-going, content, sweet baby!

Family picture

Van Horn Family

Brothers cuddling

We are so lucky to have TWO amazing, perfect, sweet little boys! Even though I don't want you to get any older....I AM looking forward to all the sweet memories we will make in the future!!  We love you both so much!  

Here are a few more pictures from today's photo shoots (yes...plural...it takes ALL DAY to get a good picture of these boys! One is happy in the morning...one isn't, etc.) 

Sweet Miles

Smiley boy today!

Mom...seriously...you are taking my picture AGAIN?

Happy boy

The next series of pictures crack me up. This shows the boys' personalities perfectly....Calvin is so chill and Miles can go from happy to mad in 10 seconds. Miles usually gives me lots of smiles every day, but today he just wasn't having it!   

The many faces of Miles.... 

content

Getting annoyed

I am getting mad!

Ok...now you've pushed me too far Mom!

No more pictures!

I'll smile for you, Mom!

BIRTH-day story!

I always thought I would be one of those bloggers who could stay “current” and up-to-date on my posts. But here I am…seven weeks later…finally putting that amazing BIRTHday to paper...or I mean...computer screen. I wanted to write this all down sooner so I didn't forget any detail of that wonderful day, but let’s just say I have been a little busy the past few weeks…so sorry for the delay!

Since both boys were breech (both their heads were in my ribs) we knew we were going to have a c-section. Originally, my c-section was scheduled for February 27^th, but our perinatologist (high-risk doctor) decided the boys should arrive a week earlier than scheduled because she believed there was a big difference in their size. Little A just wasn’t growing as much as they would like to see so they decided to take the boys at 37 weeks…which is full-term for twins!

(note: They thought Baby A was 5lbs. 1 oz. and he was actually 5lbs. 7oz at birth AND they thought Baby B was 6lbs. 12oz. but he was actually around 6lbs. 5oz. Big difference between what the perinatologist measured! The boys probably didn’t need to be born a week early after all. We don’t know for sure how much Calvin weighed because they messed up his weight at birth. We were told he was 6lbs @ birth, then 6lbs. 10oz. in the NICU and then 6lbs. 5oz. the day he was released. There is NO WAY his weight fluctuated that much. A little frustrating since now all his medical records say he was born at 6lbs...his weight gain since birth is now skewed).

MONDAY

We had to be at the hospital at 6:30AM for our c-section scheduled at 8:30. I was extremely nervous upon arrival to the hospital...but excited to meet our baby boys. Our nurse was wonderful and moved very quickly to get us ready for surgery. I got in my gown and Andrew in his fancy scrubs. She got my IV started, paperwork done and prepped us for what was to come. Then we just waited…and waited. Finally, around 8:45 we walked back to the operating room. Andrew had to wait outside the door while the anesthesiologist gave me the spinal block. There were about 15 people in the operating room prepping for our surgery. They were all calm, relaxed and having a good time. I, on the other hand, was extremely nervous and wanted the whole procedure over with!

I sat on the cold, hard table and had to lean over as far as I could (which is really difficult with a big ol’ belly in the way) while the anesthesiologist gave me the spinal block. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Bending over was the hardest part! Almost immediately I went numb from the chest down. Strange feeling! The nurse had to help lift my legs onto the table and then everyone jumped into action. The curtain was put up, my catheter was put in (painless) and they told Andrew he could come into the operating room.

Everything happened SO quickly. The actual cutting of my abdomen and pulling the babies out was a very weird feeling…something that is difficult to describe. It wasn’t painful…but there was tons of tugging and pulling. Within minutes I heard little Miles cry. What a wonderful sound! And then a minute later they pulled out his bigger “little” brother, Calvin. They whisked both babies away and Andrew went to go check them out. Soon, Andrew returned to show me Miles. Then, a few seconds later the NICU doctor came to tell me that Calvin was having some difficulty breathing and his head looked big so they were going to take him to the NICU. My heart sank…this NICU doctor didn’t know ANY of my ultrasound history which showed that Calvin might have fluid on his brain. How big was my baby's head?? Is there something wrong with him? Is he going to be okay? I just lay there…helpless.

Once the surgical team started sewing me back up I started to get queasy so they gave me some anti-nausea drugs to help. I was so nervous about throwing up during the surgery…but I didn’t! They wheeled me back to my hospital room to recover while Andrew went to go tell my parents the good news. The nurse checked me out to make sure everything was okay, but I knew something was wrong when she called for back-up. Apparently I was bleeding A LOT more than normal (sometimes this happens with twins because your uterus can’t contract back to normal as quickly). They wouldn’t let Andrew or my parents in the room so Andrew decided to run over to the NICU to check on Calvin while they got my bleeding under control. They hooked up some pitocin through my IV to get my uterus to contract and slow down the bleeding. Finally, after two bags of pitocin the bleeding was finally tamed.

I don’t remember a whole lot after this because I was exhausted and in and out of it. I remember Andrew wheeling Miles into our room after getting checked out by the pediatrician in the regular infant nursery. My parents were able to come in the room and then I was finally able to hold Miles—although I was nervous to hold him because I was so weak from the blood loss and c-section. Soon after he was born I tried breastfeeding, but Miles wouldn’t latch on since he was still a few weeks premature and still pretty tiny. We decided to try a bottle with him,but he didn’t take that either so eventually they had to put a tube in his nose to feed him (later that evening around 8:45 he finally decided to latch onto a bottle so Andrew was able to feed him).

Andrew took my parents and sister to go see Calvin in the NICU. Broke my heart that I couldn’t go see him too. Andrew had to update me on Calvin’s condition. Calvin was on oxygen since he was having difficulty breathing on his own and they were going to do an ultrasound of his brain to check for fluid. Poor Andrew was torn in so many different directions while dealing with Miles, Calvin and I in three different places. I can’t really remember what happened that afternoon, but I know later that evening I attempted to get out of bed so I could go see Calvin for the first time. They got me moved from the bed to a wheelchair, but once I was there I was too nauseous and sick for them to move me. I was heartbroken…I just wanted to see and touch my baby boy.

TUESDAY

Early on Tuesday morning I had a blood test done that revealed my hemoglobin was extremely low. I had less than half the amount of blood I was supposed to have in my body. The doctor asked me if I wanted a blood transfusion (Well…I don’t know…do I need a blood transfusion? I hate when doctors ask me questions like that! You are the expert!) He told me that I would feel much better, be less tired and have more energy in the next few weeks if I got a blood transfusion so I decided to go ahead and get one although I hated the idea of it.

That morning we also received a phone call from the NICU doctor telling us that Calvin did well overnight, but then this morning around 6AM he took a turn and started having troubles while breathing on the ventilator. They did a chest x-ray that revealed he had a pneumothorax. Since Calvin wasn’t breathing at birth (his lungs just weren’t developed enough since he was premature) they had to pump oxygen into his tiny body. Once he started breathing it was extremely fast and labored, causing his entire chest to retract when he gasped for air. The extra pressure on his lungs from oxygen being forced into his body (from the ventilator) caused the tiny air sacs in his lungs to burst and leak oxygen into the space between the lungs and chest (called a pneumothorax). He had to be put into a “bubble” (oxyhood) with 100% oxygen to equalize the pressure and get rid of the air pockets.

Around noon I was finally able to be wheeled up to the NICU to see Calvin for the first time. It was difficult to see his tiny body hooked up to so many machines and wires. He looked so tiny and fragile. Broke my heart that I couldn’t hold my little guy and soothe him. The only thing I could do is touch his little toes, talk to him and give him a pacifier for comfort. Every time I looked at him I would tear up because I just wanted to hold him and make everything better!

After spending a short amount of time with Calvin I had to head back to my room for my blood transfusion. They were going to give me two units of blood and it was going to take about two hours. About 15 minutes into the first bag of blood Andrew decides to go check on Calvin in the NICU. I was alone for the first time and of course had my first complication. I was just lying in bed and all of a sudden I started feeling a burning sensation in my arm. I thought it was just the tape pulling the hair off my arm or the cold blood going into my body too fast (which they warned me could sting if the flow was too fast), but then it started hurting more and more. Soon my arm was BURNING up and I started developing a huge lump on my arm.

The pain was SO bad…it hurt worse than having the c-section! I decided it was time to call the nurse. She came in and turned off the blood flow to my arm. Apparently the IV had slipped out of my vein and blood was pooling in my arm. OUCH! Then, of course we had to start an IV in my other arm (yuck) because the blood needs to be in my body within an hour of starting the procedure. The blood made me feel better almost instantly and my color returned to my face. I felt a lot more comfortable and had more strength to hold Miles.

WEDNESDAY

On Wednesday around 4:30PM we were called up to the NICU because Calvin was going to try taking his first bottle. Andrew and I hurried up there so we could be there with him. He was out of the oxyhood at this time and was finally breathing room air. And the ultrasound on his head turned out to be normal. He just has a big ol' noggin to hold his smart brain! This was the first time I was able to hold my baby boy. What a feeling!

THURSDAY

On Thursday we went to the NICU around noon so we could feed him his bottle again. It was difficult to see him this day because his IV was in his head (they kept having to move his IV to different locations…poor kid had it in both hands, both feet and head at different times).

Miles and I were to be released on Thursday, but the nurse told us to “stay as long as possible" until 11:59PM if we wanted to (we would get kicked out at midnight for insurance reasons). If we didn’t “checkout” until 11:59 then we would have a room to take a nap in, still get meals and pain medicine. We figured we may as well keep our room as long as possible since we were going to be spending time with Calvin in the NICU anyways and then we could go back and forth if we needed to rest or eat.

Finally around 6:30 that evening we decided to “checkout” of the hospital so we could take Miles to see his brother in the NICU (he couldn’t go up to the NICU until he was released from the hospital). It was so incredible to see the boys side by side. I had been waiting for this moment for DAYS! It was fun to finally take pictures of both of them together! We stayed in the NICU for a while and then decided around 9:30 it was time to take Miles home. It was so difficult to leave one child behind, but we knew he was in the right place. I didn’t feel comfortable having Calvin home with us yet.

We drove home with Miles in a snowstorm (one of the very few storms this mild winter). We made it a few blocks away from the hospital and we had to pull over and check to make sure he was still breathing J Must be a first time parent thing! He looked like such a peanut in his huge car seat…made me so nervous! Finally we made it home after the LONGEST car ride ever and settled in for the night.

FRIDAY

Miles did a great job sleeping. In fact…I am sure he would’ve slept through the night if we didn’t have to wake him up to eat every three hours. We got ready for the day and then around noon the NICU called and told us that they were going to release Calvin today and that we could come get him! WHAT? You said he would have to stay through the weekend and now you are sending him home today?? We aren’t ready yet! What if he stops breathing at home? We barely know how to feed him. I have barely held him!

We loaded up Miles and headed back to the hospital. We spent the afternoon there because it took us a while to get “trained” on all of Calvin’s procedures and finish up paperwork. He was finally released that night around 7PM. What a great feeling to have our whole family finally together!

note: Having a c-section wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Many people make it sound like the worst experience ever, but I didn’t think it was any worse than any other surgery. It’s a surgery….of course it is going to

hurt and of course you are going to be tired for a while (even a vaginal delivery would be painful and tiring!) A week after my surgery I almost felt back to 100% and didn't need pain meds anymore. Now…keep in mind…pain is relative! I carried twins for 8 ½ months and was pretty miserable near the end so not being pregnant was the best feeling ever (I could touch my toes again, put on shoes and sleep!). Also, I have had so many procedures and treatments over the past four years so I have a pretty high pain tolerance. Even with having a blood transfusion and lots of bleeding (I am still bleeding 7 weeks postpartum!)….it wasn’t that bad and totally worth it!

I would do it ALL over again in a heartbeat for these two little guys! It was the best BIRTH-day EVER!

These are a few of my favorite things....

These are a few of my favorite things.....baby things! I thought I would make a list of items we love in case you or someone you know is having a baby. Of course we have tons of things that we use everyday that are a necessity (blankets, burp cloths, white onesies, changing pad covers, crib sheets, etc.), but these are a few of our favorite unique things.

Click on the title of the product to read more about it

Summer Infant Babytouch Color Video Monitor

BEST INVENTION EVER! I don't know how I would live without the video monitor. Sad to say...but true! In fact...our charger broke so I had to live without it for a few days and it was the longest days EVER! We have two cameras....one pointing at each crib and the screen scans back and forth between the two cribs. The video monitor allows you to talk to the kids (or husband) at the push of a button. It also allows you to move the camera up, down, left and right and zoom in case your child moves around in the crib (or if I want to see what Andrew is doing in the nursery). Best purchase so far! This has saved me MANY trips to the nursery because I can just look at the monitor and "see" that the kids are okay...even though they are making an awful grunting noise!

Pearhead Wooden Memory Box

I love this cute memory box so I can store all my favorite baby things for the boys (I am sure they will appreciate this someday, right?? Maybe not...but I love it!) Right now it stores their ultrasound pictures, hospital bracelets, etc. And it has a cute spot for their picture and footprints!

Aden and Anais Muslin swaddle blankets

Best blankets EVER! They are SO lightweight and huge. We use these to swaddle the boys, in their carseats to cover them up from the sun and wind, on the ground, to prop bottles in mouths if needed, as a burp rag, etc. So many uses! We have about 8 of these and use (and wash) them constantly!

JJ Cole pacifier pod

Who knew this would be so handy? I have a pacifier pod attached to each babies car seat and I carry two pacifiers in each at all times (just in case we lose one or we drop one on the ground in public....ALWAYS carry two+) It is nice to have the pacifiers handy instead of searching through the diaper bag.

Sleep sheep on the go

The mini sheep is so much more functional than the Big sleep sheep (although the big one is really cute...we already have a sound machine in their room so we don't use the big sheep). BUT the mini sleep sheep and our mini giraffe get used on the boys' car seats so they can listen to white noise when we are out in public and it is their naptime.

Tiny Love crib book

Love this book/toy! It is one of the first toys your child will play with because let's face it....babies don't really "play" with toys when they are so little, but LOVE to look at bright colors. The boys love staring at this. It can even attach to their crib, but we just look at it on the ground during tummy time.

Homedics Sound Spa White noise machine

Best $20 spent! This white noise machine has been a lifesaver for us! We have the white noise cranked up super loud in their room so the boys don't wake up so easily to each other's noises, our noises, etc. I would rather listen to white noise through the baby monitor instead of music. I also use it as a signal so the boys know it is naptime/bedtime when I turn it on. I love that we can keep it on all night long (a lot of noise machines turn off after a certain amount of time). It also has heartbeat, ocean, rain, and lullaby sounds. Another favorite feature is the projector that projects cute little animals onto the ceiling...the boys love watching this when they aren't very tired, but it is still bed time....they drift off to sleep watching it!

Boppy Travel pillow

I haven't used this yet, but I just purchased it! I am super excited to use the travel boppy pillow! It folds up and zips in half so it will fit in the bottom of my stroller and also comes with a carrying strap. I like to get out of the house with the boys so this will be very handy when we need to feed in public. Now I can balance two babies on this pillow instead of having to bring several blankets (or a huge boppy pillow) with me every time we leave the house.

Gro-egg

Another great invention! Experts say that a nursery should be between 61-68 degrees to prevent SIDS. This little egg turns different colors to indicate nursery temperature. Blue is too cold, yellow is perfect, orange is warm and red is too hot. Since the weather has been nice recently our nursery has been TOO HOT (79 degrees!). We have our air conditioning on, but their room faces the west sun...so we just couldn't get that room cool enough for the boys to sleep in. We ended up having to switch the nursery and the guest room last weekend because I think this problem will continue this summer :( Thank goodness we had the Gro-egg!

Rock n Play sleeper

Our friends with twins let us borrow two of these from them. They are amazing! We have one upstairs and one downstairs. We really don't want the boys getting in the habit of sleeping in these, but sometimes when they wake up before the 3 hour mark (we feed them every three hours....four hours at night) then we can put them in this and they will usually sleep for another 30+ minutes until their brother wakes up. They are extremely portable (I took one to MN with me) and fold up nicely! They also rock a little bit so when Andrew and I are trying to eat dinner while we have an unhappy baby, we can put him in this and rock it with our foot and eat at the same time! Magic!