Finally. Finally.

Reid was able to come home yesterday after spending 10 days in the NICU. By sheer luck, my parents were up yesterday morning to watch our big boys so Josh and could actually go visit Reid together. (Our hospital was amazing and always allowed us to bring Luke with us when we visited Reid. I know that is not typical of all hospitals so we were very lucky they allowed us to do that.) During morning rounds, one of the doctors unexpectedly said that she felt like Reid was eating, breathing and maintaining his temperature well enough to go home that day as long as we brought him to our next doctors appointment for Luke on Monday so she could check them both out. Reid passed his car seat test required for NICU babies with flying colors and we were discharged to go home! It was such an amazing day.

It felt so sudden and nonchalant that they said we could take Reid home so we didn’t waste any time! We had one of our nurses snap a couple pictures, loaded them in their car seats and practically ran for the exit before anyone could change their minds.

The going home outfits I had bought them were 0-3 months and they were gigantic but I absolutely did not care. We worked hard for this moment!

We came home to some beautiful driveway art from my aunt and sister and a warm welcome by our wonderful neighbors. We brought them home on an unseasonably warm October day so we took them for their first mini walk lead by their proud big brothers of course.

Last night was our first night all home together and it went better than we expected. Obviously taking care of two babies is not easy but we managed to each get some chunks of sleep. The babies are only about 37 weeks gestation at this point so they are still pretty sleepy. We have to wake them to nurse every 2-3 hours and then they were more than ready to go back to sleep. I know this won’t last forever so we will take it while we can!

Knowing that we don’t have to run back and forth to the NICU anymore is a feeling I cannot even describe. I hope I can let a little of that stress go now and actually help my body start healing from my c-section. Josh has about a week left on his paternity leave and I am so grateful that he will be here to help get us adjusted before he has to head back to work.

Our greatest adventure begins now! Life with 4 boys 4 years and under! Wish us luck and excuse the blog silence as we settle in!

Last week we welcomed our two newest, beautiful blessings into the world.

We proudly introduce:

Luke Henry 6 lbs 6 ounces, 19.3 inches long

and

Reid Joshua 6 lbs 13 ounces, 20 inches long

Yep. That’s right. I am now the proud momma of FOUR beautiful boys. How wonderfully God has blessed us.

The boys were born at 35w5d when I went into labor and even though they were really good sized babies, they have had some complications typical of twins born prematurely.

Luke had to stay in the NICU for one additional night after I was released because he was struggling to maintain his temperature. Now he is home with us but he is having problems gaining weight which can be serious in premature babies. He is under the care of an amazing pediatrician and we are doing everything we can to keep him from being admitted back to the hospital.

Our sweet Reid is still in the NICU and having more complications than his brother. When they were born, he had trouble breathing and was immediately taken to the NICU. Thankfully, he has steadily improved and was taken off the ventilator the day after they were born. He is now working on weaning off all oxygen and learning to eat/breathe at the same time. We don’t know when he will be able to come home but we pray it is soon.

We would appreciate your prayers during this difficult time for our family. We are struggling to try to navigate this new path no one could really be prepared for! I am having a difficult recovery from an unplanned c-section while trying to balance being home with my two older boys who are searching for normalcy, one newborn at home and trying to be at the NICU as often as we possibly can with our other newborn.

We hope to all be at home together very soon and are overall so thankful for our new family of 6.

Thirty. Five. Weeks. I can’t even believe it. During one of my 8 trips to the bathroom last night (yes 8 is the real number- that is no exaggeration) I looked at the clock and saw it was just after midnight which officially meant we had made it to 35 weeks. It seems surreal.

So… remember how I was feeling pretty happy that both babies were in a good position for birth and also feeling pretty happy about the fact that we were so far along that that fact was unlikely to change. Guess what? At our ultrasound appointment this week, we found out that not one, but BOTH of our babies had flipped positions. Baby B (our presenting twin) is now breech and Baby A is head down. Which would be great if Baby A were first but as of now that is not the case. Can you even believe it?

We’re very blessed in that we found a wonderful doctor who is very against c-sections if there is any way to avoid it. Even she has said that if both babies stay where they currently are, she would advise delivering them by c-section. The chance of neurological damage by delivering the first twin breech is too high for her to be able to recommend that. Especially in our situation because according to ultrasound, Baby B is larger than Baby A. She even went as far to say as there is no doctor in our hospital that would consider attempting a natural delivery given these conditions either. It’s not like I disagree with her. Neurological damage is not something that I would mess around with given the choice either.

Sigh. I can’t even believe it. Unfortunately with twins, we can’t attempt to manually turn the babies (ECV) because it’s too dangerous. You better believe that I have attempted and will continue to attempt all natural methods of turning babies that she recommended to me including twisting my body into strange positions! You never know, right? If they managed to turn themselves at this late date, they could turn themselves back?

So while I work on that…. I’m also soaking up all the time I can with these crazies!

We’re trying to prepare them for life with two newborns but truthfully we probably aren’t prepared ourselves either! Savoring these last weeks as a family of 4. Their extreme and utter excitement at the prospect of these two monkeys joining our family is so sweet and makes me excited too! I’m glad that they are such good friends and love to play together. They will have each other when things are crazy those first few weeks!

For now though, we play and laugh and use my giant twin belly for it’s true purpose. A car garage of course.

When I was pregnant with both of my boys, I had an incredibly vivid dream that I had given birth and was holding my brand new baby. In my dream, Caleb was a fair skinned blond haired baby. Which he turned out to be. In my dream of Eli, he was a dark haired, darker skinned baby. Which he was. This week I had another incredibly vivid dream that I was holding our first twin who had the sweetest, fair skin. In my dream my doctor handed the baby to me and said “we didn’t expect this, but the first twin weighs 8 pounds 8 ounces” (!!!). I woke up before giving birth to our second baby and the first thing I thought was that I never asked if the baby was a boy or a girl! Pregnancy dreams are so crazy. I wonder if this one will prove partially true? I also continue to dream that we have boy/girl twins and name them Jack and Lily. (Neither name is on our list.)

We also had another ultrasound at our appointment this week to check on the monkeys. After being close in weight this whole time, they have started to get further apart. Twin B who is now presenting is around 5 1/2 pounds and Twin A is around 5. Our OB has now changed her guess and thinks we have one of each but I’m not so sure. The ultrasound went great otherwise. Everybody is happy and healthy in there! Seeing them move on the monitor is still amazing and I can’t believe they still think they have so much room to do that…

We are 32 weeks today! I am so, so grateful to be 32 weeks.

Unfortunately, today I have spent the majority of the day fighting off contractions and trying not to freak out over the feelings of intense pressure I have. Last night, we went to a minor league baseball game and while planning the evening I kind of forgot how pregnant I am. We had a walk a pretty long way to the stadium and sitting in those stadium seats for so long really did me in. Hopefully, my body is just making me pay for it today and I can rest and have these go away. Needless to say, we are going to be taking it easy the next 3 weekends and trying to have end of summer fun for the boys in situations where I can sit in a chair. I want to make it to 35 weeks SO badly for the babies- let’s be honest I’d rather make it to 37 but trying not to get too greedy in this moment.

This week I got a lot of their clothes and things washed and worked on their room more. I was folding and putting clothes away when all these contractions started this morning so you better believe they are still sitting in baskets for now. Priorities indeed.

When I was pregnant with Eli, I craved sweets toward the end like I never have in my life. This time around I am craving WATERMELON. Any time, anywhere. I honestly can not get enough. I’m hoping that the stores will continue to carry it even though we are nearing the end of watermelon season around here until these babies are born. I mean there are definitely worse things to crave right?

This weekend, we Josh just finished painting, redecorating, and rearranging our bedroom to make room for the babies to spend at least the first couple months in with us. I’m hoping that they will be able to sleep in the pack and play newborn level together but we are prepared with two rock and play sleepers just in case. Some how, some way we will need to attempt to get a bit of sleep because we have two other children. I think ‘sleep when the babies sleep’ is certainly a thing of the past. There is something about a newly organized bedroom that puts me in such a good mood!

Hoping and praying to be back for a 33 week update. (Please excuse the bathroom belly selfie- why doesn’t anyone else look so awkward when they do them?)

Given that as the days pass and I continue to get more and more uncomfortable, it’s so easy to try to wish these last 7 weeks away. I absolutely cannot wait to hold these babies and snuggle them on my chest. To nurse them and cuddle them and stare at their little tiny fingers and toes. And yet again, wonder at the miracle of life and the awesome power of God. However, it’s definitely not time yet and I’m going to do everything in my power to keep these monkeys baking as long as I can.

When they are born, I will absolutely miss feeling their kicks and having them all to myself. I probably will also miss how quiet they are now (if we are being honest!) and how easy it is to keep them safe and secure! However I’ll admit that carrying twins while working outside the home and caring for two other children is another beast. At 31 weeks there are definitely a multitude of things I absolutely will not miss. So I made a little countdown list.

5) I have about 8 articles of clothing that fit. And four of them are my husbands clothing. Almost all of my maternity pants cut off my circulation and/or leave me with even less room than normal to breathe. I’ve left my normal wardrobe of maternity shirts behind (unless I want the bottom of my belly to stick out which is really attractive at this point believe me) and have had to scout out two super stretchy ones I found at Target. Thank you Target for saving my life.

30 weeks gone. Holy bananas. We are so close and yet so far it feels like! I keep telling Josh that I feel like my beloved Cubbies and I are both in the hunt for October this year. I would love to still have these babies in my tummy in October- while they are still playing baseball. 😉

29 weeks gone… 7 or 8 left to go. We hope.

We did it. We took the plunge and are now a minivan family. We used to have a Ford Escape and when we thought we would need to have three car seats in it, we thought it may be tight but we could do it. However, four car seats is a game changer. Our oldest kiddos aren’t at a point right now where I feel comfortable letting them buckle themselves into their car seats safely so getting a large SUV where it would be difficult for a parent to climb back and buckle them was out of the question. So… mini van it is.

We’ve been putting off looking for one for months because I didn’t really want to to deal. To be honest, a big part of me was sad to be trading in our Escape. It was the first new car Josh or I had ever had and the first thing we ever worked hard to pay off. I felt like such an adult when we paid off that car loan ourselves!

Everyone told me that when we got our mini van that I would LOVE it immediately. And I mean… it’s fine. I like it. I’m pretty sure when we have two more children to put in it then I will totally get why large families love them. Right now, getting a minivan is he coolest thing that our boys think they have ever experienced. They love that they have their own air conditioning vents and that the doors open and close with the push of a button. Our van came with built in sun shades which just delights my mommy heart so I don’t ever have to hear whining about ‘the sun is in my eyeesss’ anymore.

Regardless of my reservations, I’m absolutely pumped that this is the last big purchase we needed for the babies (the BIGGEST one) and that we can actually now drive home from the hospital together. It’s the little things right?