All Dressed Up and nowhere to go...

I couldn't resist dressing Lilly and Peter on their first Sunday... not planning to take them to church for a while   but that doesn't mean we can't pull out a few cute newborn outfits.  Lilly's not sure how she feels about the headband, Peter is filling out nicely and actually fits in his outfit.

 Katelyn insisted that Lilly wear shoes, these were the smallest shoes we have and they are still ridiculously large on her.  unfortunately if she has her mother's feet finding shoes that fit will be a perpetual problem although shoes that are too big will not be the issue...

 Grant and Katelyn Love feeding Peter and Lilly... Yes Grant did put on his own tie, how could you tell? 

...Just because they look good.... Silly faces and all.

This is what Lilly looked like seconds before she threw up all over me, I'm pretty sure more milk came out of that girl then we put in... needless to say I took my second shower for the day soon after this picture was taken.

One Week

 It seems like we've had Peter and Lilly for much longer then a week, and yet the calendar shows otherwise. a lot has happened since they joined our family ...

 The day after getting home from the hospital, Grandma Net came,  She and I trade off waking up for the night time feedings, Cameron and I feed them around midnight and then my mom feeds them around 3 am,  and then Cameron or I will feed them at 6am.  it works well. and so far I haven't felt that overwhelming sense of exhaustion that generally comes with newborns.

 Katelyn and Dallin love to care for the babies after school, and are always a bit disappointed if Lilly and Peter are still sleeping when they get off the bus.  (i'm not sure why I don't have a picture of Dallin)

 Lilly and Peter went on their first outing. On Tuesday they had their first doctor's and WIC appointments.  then just for good measure we took them on a walk to the park that's just down the road.

 They slept through most of these experiences.

Grant has decided to be super helpful, He loves to hold and feed the babies.  He especially loves burping Peter... call it a boy thing.

Peter has figured out how to escape from a few of his outfits...  he has also decided that this eating thing isn't so bad, and is starting to eat more then Lilly.

Lilly is still drowning in most of her outfits. She is a content little girl.

I am still working on how to feed these little guys at the same time, thankfully i still have over a week to perfect it.  Mom and I have been trying to finish those projects I never finished, it's pretty slow going... but that's okay because right now we have more important things to take care of.

Going Home

 As is often the case when leaving the hospital after childbirth we spent the morning waiting... and waiting... and waiting.  Cameron went to go help Becky with our other children so I waited alone with Peter and Lilly.

After lunch, I heard familiar voices in the hall and in skipped Katelyn, Dallin and Grant, followed closely by Cameron and Aunt Becky.  I guess Cameron decided we needed an escort... or maybe he was hoping that having three kids running around the hospital would encourage whoever was in charge of our discharge to speed things up a bit.  In any case it was great to spend some time together,  The kids convinced Cameron to turn on Despicable Me and get them Popsicles from the freezer full of food for the patients 

 Aunt Becky was thrilled to see Peter and Lilly again.

 At last it was time to go,  I love how teeny tiny new babies look in their car seats. Last night our nurse had to do a car seat trial with Lilly and Peter because they are technically preemies.  I'm not sure what was all involved but I do know they had to sit in their car seat for a hour and a half, and our nurse thankfully did it in the middle of the night keeping them until after their next feeding and bringing them back sound asleep at 3 am.  she was wonderful.  and it was great to get some uninterrupted sleep.

mother of 5

my heart is so full of gratitude right now.  it's amazing to think that not too long ago I was certain we wouldn't be able to have any more children and now I have two tiny little people to love and care for.  I absolutely love these two sweet little babies.  it's amazing how quickly they make their way into your life and into your heart. I love holding snuggling and feeding them. not being able to nurse, I think Cameron has enjoyed helping out with the feeding too.

It feels great to not be pregnant right now.  I don't remember feeling such a big difference with my other babies.  Right after Lilly and Peter were born I remember looking down at my stomach and being surprised that it had shrunk so much.  I'm sure I still look 6 or 7 months pregnant but it's way better then looking 11 or 12 months pregnant.  I love being able to do small things without too much effort... like picking things up off the floor for example. I've been sore.. but i think that's expected.  I've been surprised at how strong my contractions still are as my body tries to shrink my uterus back to a normal size.  

 so far I haven't felt too overwhelmed having twins but I've been in the hospital with Cameron by my side, nurses changing diapers, house keeping cleaning messes and food services bringing meals... I'm thinking once I get home things will be a little different...

Peter makes the most adorable funny faces,  he looks a bit like a shrunken old man, but a cute shrunken old man with an adorable double chin.

Lilly has a cute little round face, she too resembles a cute little old man and can pull so pretty funny faces.  she is beautiful. 

Visitors

First to visit was this trio and their positively saintly Aunt Becky, who should probably get an award for everything she has done the past few days.   Katelyn and Dallin were especially excited to see the babies.  Grant was content to cuddle Little Ruff Ruff. 

 Katelyn insisted on holding her sister first, I think someone is a bit excited to not be the only girl in the family anymore.

 Dallin Loves babies and enjoyed taking turns holding each of the babies.  He is such a wonderful brother, I know he will be a big help as the twins grow.

 Grant was happy to hold Little Ruff Ruff and eat potato chips.  I think this has been a bit hard for him. hopefully we will all adjust quickly.

Aunt Becky has been a life saver these past few days.  I'm sure it hasn't been easy to go from young single adult life to taking care of three small excited children but she has done it with grace.  I am so grateful that she was here and was willing to step up to the plate when we needed her. Thank you Becky!

Caroline and Rebecca came to visit Sunday morning before church.  it was so nice to visit and chat and feel somewhat normal for a while.  

 Randi stopped by Sunday evening.  She is amazing!  not only did she have a baby less then a week ago but on her way over she stopped by my house and delivered flowers and cinnamon rolls... I haven't quite figured out how she does it.

Lilly Anne Smith

Lilly Loves to eat.  she started out at a lower birth weight then Peter but she is quickly catching up to him,  she is the one who reminds us every 3 hours that it's time to eat.  she is a wiggler,  it's fun to watch her sleep. she kicks and jabs even in her sleep... which explains why I felt her move so much more then Peter when i was pregnant.  She looks like all of our kids combined and yet none of them.  We sure love her and are so blessed to have her join our family.  

Peter Cameron Smith

Peter is a sweet baby. He looks a lot like Dallin did when he was a baby but he has the same hair as Grant did.  So far he's pretty mellow and not too interested in food yet. Like most newborns he is one sleepy boy.  he loves to be cuddled and swaddled.  and we love having him in our family.

Babies!

we are stuck in the hospital for an extra day and so I thought it would be a good time to update the blog, because I know when we get home life will be a bit on the crazy side.

The birth story.

I was laying in bed early Friday morning, not sleeping, but noticing a few mild contractions and I knew there was a good chance these babies would be coming sooner rather then later,  because I never feel contractions until the day I go into labor My first thought was, I need to  clean my bathroom, I didn't want to come home to a messy bathroom. so in the morning, when all the normal people were awake I got busy cleaning the house, my sister was a great help and we finished in record time.   I spent the rest of the day running errands and trying to finish the bumpers for the baby crib... they never got completely finished.  

 around 8:30pm contractions began coming 5 minutes apart, we decided to go to the hospital early to avoid having my water break at the nurses station like last time.  
the only problem was no one believed I was in labor,  they humored me by checking me in and having me wait in a triage room while they checked on the other women there who were clearly in pain,  waiting, I'm sure to see when real labor would start or at least to see a grimace on my face.
while we waited my contractions grew stronger, coming every minute and lasting 20-30 seconds.  we were assigned a brand new intern.  she checked my cervix and without much confidence declared I was dilated 4 and a half centimeters.  she then left to get an ultra sound machine to check and see if the babies were still head down.  when she came back she studied the images for a long time. after a while I asked if everything was okay.  she looked up and said it looks like they are both head down but I'm going to get another opinion.  not being able to see the images myself, I looked over at Cameron, he nodded, confirming that they were indeed head down... sometimes it helps to be married to a radiologist...
Before long I was admitted.
 we walked down to the labor and delivery rooms and got me hooked up to some fluid and penicillin.  within minutes of getting settled my contractions all but stopped. a few hours and a handful of contractions later the resident doctor came in to check my cervix and determined I was dilated to 5 centimeters.  we discussed our options,  I was clearly not progressing much, but I was dilated to a 5, so we could go home and wait for labor to kick in again or we could stay until morning and reevaluate the situation then.   knowing my body I was sure I wouldn't get past the front door before full labor would begin again and then we would have to go through the hassle of being admitted and hooked up to fluids all over again.  so we settled in for the night.

Cameron seemed to sleep relatively well but with 3 monitors strapped to my stomach, 2 babies kicking, the few, yet hard contractions and medical personal checking on me it was a rough night.
in the morning they checked my cervix again, not much change, and we discussed options, they could induce me or we could go home.  my babies were 36 weeks and 5 days, technically preterm, but I was dilated to a 5 and would likely have them within the day. so we decided to stay and be induced.
they started the pitcion around 7am and we waited.  My contraction were weak at best.  after a few hours Dr Fothergill suggested I get an epidural and then he would break my water, hoping that would speed things up a bit, I'm not sure if it did because after getting my epidural I couldn't feel anything, nothing at all.   At noon Dr Fothergill checked my cervix and determined I was nearly dilated to a 9.
30 minutes later they rolled my bed to the operating room where a dozen medical personal joined us.  They  transfered me to the operating table. there is a hospital policy that twins have to be delivered in the O.R. just in case an emergency c-section was needed. it wasn't.  two pushes later at 12:48pm our little boy was born 5 pounds 13 ounces. we waited a few minutes for our little girl to get in position and she was born 8 minutes later.  she made her entrance by peeing all over Dr. Fothergill then she too was whisked across the room to be cleaned, checked and measured, 5 pounds 9 ounces.
I didn't get to see either baby until we were back in the labor and delivery room to recover a while before being transferred to a recovery room.  The delivery went much smoother then I feared. we are so blessed to have these two beautiful babies join our family.