Weekend Recap

Jen and I had a triple team babysitting crew come over on Saturday so we could go out for our anniversary. Nothing special, we just went to Chili's for dinner. We were gone for about an hour and a half. We got home and there were no issues which was good. People probably think we're big whiners when they come over cuz the twins are always sleeping. They are deceiving little buggers. They love the night life. Although it's getting a little better I think. They don't quite cry as much as they did. (They still cry a lot though) It's hard to believe they are going on three weeks old. Time flies by so fast. We did make some progress though, we can definitely tell the two apart. Braxtyn's head got a little out of whack going from the delivery since he was head down. Elliot's is more normal looking for now. I'm sure Braxtyn's head will even out eventually. I'll leave this post with some pics of the last week.

I believe this is Elliott in the foreground and Braxtyn in the back ground.

Happy Anniversary Jen

It's our 5 year anniversary. Time has been flying by. I can't believe it's been 5 years. I tried to think of something funny for the blog and all I could come up with was digging up the old Brother and Sisters video from our wedding. Enjoy!!

Some Sleep.. for me

I stayed up last night and watched the Twins on TV since they are playing Oakland. It's the only televised game on TV while I'm here in CA. So I took care of the twins while Jen was sleeping. I fed them both around 10:30 and they were sleeping so I brought them into our room and went to bed. I woke up around 5am to feed Braxtyn thinking we had a good night. Jen was just going to bed so I figured she had just fed Elliott and was going back to bed. On my way to work at 8:30am I asked her if she enjoyed her sleep. To which she replied "What sleep?!?" I was taken back by the comment and I asked where that came from. She said she was up all night with Elliott. Apparently he woke up around 11 and didn't get to bed until 5am, just before Braxtyn woke up. Man, we just can't win, when one sleeps the other is up. I'll have to take the shift tonight or this weekend.

Big Loss

I found out today that the project I was scheduled to work on when I get back to MN in June was lost today. Northrop won the BAMS contract. I guess it wasn't that big of a shocker but it's kind of a bummer because I was going to get in on a project from the start and hopefully see it though. Well it's on to trying to find another project to work on. I wouldn't mind working another off site rotation but I think Jen has had enough of the off sites and she's ready to get back to MN, and after having these twins for a week we could probably use some help from the family too.

Sleeping Better

Well Elliott has slept through most of the night for two nights in a row. He seems to have switched schedules a bit as he is staying awake longer during the day and just taking everything in. Braxtyn on the other hand stayed up almost the entire night two nights ago. The only way he'd sleep is if Jen or I were holding him. So I broke down and put him on my chest and slept. Last night though he woke up twice for feeding and went to sleep on his own. That was great. Hopefully we'll get more night like last night. I know I'm feeling refreshed after getting 6+ hours of uninterrupted sleep. We've taken the suggestion of making it as light as posible during the day and not trying to be quiet. Seems to be working. Although it's tough to say after two nights.

A Few Pics

Training Hayley for Night Duty

Elliott as Zoolander

Their first bath

Zonked

Over Night Marathon and an ER Visit

We had another long overnight struggle of trying to catch some sleep in between Braxtyn and Elliott's feedings. Neither of the babies would cooperate and sleep at the same time. They also didn't seem to get enough during their feedings. As soon as we thought they had enough and they were content, sleeping in our arms they'd wake up and start whimpering for more. I was trying to run some tests for work as well during the night so it was crazy busy. Hayley also didn't help matters waking up a couple times.

Anyway, about 7am, after we thought we were ahead of the battle with both babies sleeping soundly, Jen had a clot dislodge and she started bleeding really bad. She called the hospital and they had her on hold forever, but eventually they told her to get to the ER ASAP. They also said if she felt faint at all to pull over and call 911. After hearing this I immediately had scatter brain. I was trying to figure out what to do with the kids, what to do with my lab session, and wondering who to call to watch the kids or if I should stay home and have someone run Jen to the hospital. Our project at work is pressed to get done and lab time is super tight so I didn't want my session to run over and waste anyone else's time. But immediately that became the lowest priority. Next was trying to figure out who to call. I tried Ali, who lives in our apartment complex, but she didn't answer. Then I thought about calling other moms in our apartment but I figured they all had kids that were sleeping and they'd probably have a hard time getting here. So I called Chad and he was fortunately on his way to work so he was able to swing over. I was still trying to decide if he should run her to the ER or if I should watch the kids. He doesn't have kids or any experience taking care of kids so I was nervous that all the kids would wake up at once and overwhelm him. But since the twins have been sleeping through the morning like clockwork I decided to run Jen in.

We got to the ER and we had to give our information at three different desks. The last desk we got to there was absolutely no urgency at all. My head was spinning with thoughts of "My wife is bleeding to death and you guys are picking your arses!! Get your lazy butts over here and take care of this" We finally get to give them our information and pay our co-pay and we end up waiting in the waiting room for another 25 minutes. Apparently the lady on the phone made this sound a lot more serious then what it was. I don't know I guess. I just hope I don't have to rely on that hospital to save my life. The doctor examined Jen and she had an ultra sound to check for any signs of missed afterbirth and blood work done to make sure she had enough oxygen and what not to make it through. She had to wait 2-3 hours for her ultra sound and blood work so I went home to check on the kids and Jen caught some ZZZZ's in the exam room. Thankfully Jens bleeding got a lot better. She had to monitor it close for the next 4 hours and if it didn't reside we were to head back to the hospital for a blood transfusion.

I'm thinking all the times Jen got up and down from the rocking chair and bed must have caused the bleeding. Darn kids. Today we're trying to keep them awake from 6pm until 9ish. I gave them both sponge baths when they were about to fall asleep to shock their systems. That actually work pretty well. We're off to bed, hopefully we get a few hours of sleep.

Up All Night Sleep All Day

Anyone have any ideas on how to switch the twins schedule to a day schedule? The twins are great sleepers, sleeping 8-10 hours during the day. We were up a good 6 hours last night. Every time we thought they were ready to put them down they'd wake up a few minutes later. Oh well. Here's some pics.

Weekend Recap - What was sleep again?

Needless to say the twins did not pick up Hayley's demeanor so far.  They have however developed very powerful lungs and they are making themselves known to this world.  We have been getting about 2-3 hours of sleep a night.  With Jens mom here we've been tag teaming between the twins and Hayley.  The twins are spending about 7-10 hours sleeping during the day and at night they'll pretty much only sleep if we're holding them.  Hopefully it'll get better in the following days.  Hayley has been handling it pretty well.  She's woke up a few times when the twins are screaming but so far it hasn't been to bad.  

Anyway, here's a quick video from the hospital.  Enjoy!! 

The first 24 hours

Although the doctors and nurses deliver babies for a living the room seemed like organized chaos. The room was small and there were 2 doctors delivering the babies, one nurse for each baby, one nurse for each doctor, an anesthesiologists, and a pediatrician was called in during the delivery of Elliott since he was being delivered breach. Everything was normal with Braxtyn. I was a pretty anxious because I wasn't sure how developed his lungs were. The two doctors working on the delivery were getting phone calls every couple minutes to attend to another birth so there was some tension with them trying to get done as soon as possible. When Braxtyn was born it took him a while to cry and the crying wasn't that loud. (As compared to the incredible pipes on Hayley when she was born. When Hayley screamed she made me wonder what the heck I was getting into, I'll go insane if I have to listen to that.) So for the for few minutes after Braxtyn was born I was watching him close as the nurse was working on him.

In the mean time I was missing what seemed like panic going on trying to deliver Elliott. One doctor was using the ultra sound trying to determine where he was. As soon they realized he was breach they started the breach extraction before the birth canal shrunk. While one doctor was pulling on Elliott's legs the other was pushing hard on Jens stomach, guiding Elliott out. That was kind surreal in itself. At this point the doctors are working in panic mode and the world has stopped around us. With all the trouble they were having, Jen and I were thinking "Why are we going through this, why didn't we do the C-Section?" The pediatrician came into the room and asked why he was there. One of the nurses said "because they're doing breach extraction" to which he replied with a facial expression of "Why the hell are they doing a breach extraction and risking the babies life?" He saw me looking at him and just kind of calmly walked to the other side of the room and put on his gloves. So now the panic mode in me is through the roof. I turned back to the action and I started praying hard and the constant argument in my head about whether God intervenes with our lives while we're on earth was gone. At this point Jens doctor, who is pushing on her stomach is barking orders to the other doctor on positioning and which way to pull. This went on for what seemed like forever but eventually the nurses started cheering and the doctor showed Jen and I the baby.

The panic in both Jen and I was not gone yet as Elliot hadn't taken a breath and his color was a darker red then Braxtyn's was. He wasn't crying and to me he looked like he was struggling. But the pediatrician took a look at him while the nurse was cleaning him and he started to leave. I asked him if everything was OK. He smiled and said we have two very healthy babies. I was relieved after that. Elliot then started crying so I pulled out my camera and started taking pictures.




Lost in my pictures taking and checking out the twins was the two doctors still working on Jen. I'll leave the gross out but she was losing a lot of blood and it looked like the doctors were struggling to get it under control. But they were a lot more calm then when they were trying to get Braxtyn out so I didn't think much of it. Jen was shivering uncontrollably. The doctors got everything under control and we headed back to the delivery room to wait for a recovery room. Jen got to hold both babies on the way back to the room as well which was awesome.





Everything was good waiting for a recovery room. The nurse gave the babies a bath and their first shot. Which they didn't cry much. I called family to spread the word the world is getting more trouble makers. Jen and I waited up for the new room but it was taking a long time so after an hour or so we tried sleeping only to have the nurse come and and tell us they were ready to move us. On the way to the new room we set off an alarm because the babies got to close to an elevator and the hospital was shut down until our information was verified. That was interesting, they attach electronic monitors to the babies and if they get close to an exit a hospital lock down gets enacted and nobody is allowed in or out.

After getting settled in our new room the babies took turns crying and needless to say I wished I would've slept in the delivery room waiting to move cuz I was soo tired. We finally broke down and gave them formula and that put the twins to sleep for the next 12 hours which let Jen and I catch up on sleep.

Jen got a surprise as her mom flew in from MN. Ali and Hayley picked her up at the airport. After Ali, Ryan and Hayley showed to visit Jens mom walked in a few minutes later. Jen was so surprised she almost cried. It was pretty cool. So that pretty much wrapped up the day. Later I went home to watch Hayley over night and I let Grandma stay with Jen and the twins.

Babies are in

Jen woke me up around 9 to call the nurse. After a quick doctors visit we were off to the operating room in case Jen needed an emergency c-section. Baby A was born at 10:06 pm, he was 7.14lbs. Baby B was born 11 minutes later via breach extration. Names are Braxtyn Avery and Elliott Lyn.

Still slow going

I just got back from having supper with Chad and Hayley. Jen requested an epidural before I left and its in and working. Her needed pain relief is a good sign that the contractions are getting stronger. Nobody is estimating a time though so I'm guessing we still have a while.

Slow Going

It's slow going. Jens contractions a not increasing in frequency. The nurse has been increasing the pitosin levels every half hour. I'm thinking another 7 hours. We're both trying to take a quick nap.

so it has begun

The doctor has finished her exam and Jen had a second thought about a c-section but she ultimately decided on a natural birth. Baby a is head down and baby b is breach so there is a slight risk baby b might be taken c-section. We'll see.

I'm off to grab some lunch.

At the hospital

We dropped Hayley off and we are at the hospital waiting for the doctor. This is my first post from my new iPhone. The iPhone is awesome!!!

Heading to the Hospital

Jen called the hospital and they said to be in around 8:30am. We have 4 different friends set up to take shifts watching Hayley. Hopefully she's alright today and tonight. We've really never had anyone watch her overnight except her grandma.

Happy B-Day Eric - AKA The Duck Commander

Date Set

Jen went to the doctor today and the big day has been set for Wednesday. Thank goodness cuz if a date wasn't set Jen was ready to throw down. Her legs and feet are about twice the size of mine. I've had to help her get socks on and it's a chore. She's been wearing most of my cloths lately. With that being said after the twins are born sleep is going to be a luxury.

Feeding Ducks

Next Assignment

Work in my home state of MN has been pretty slow as of late. So slow in fact I was told to find work else where. The only position I could find that seemed remotely interesting was in Taiwan. So I've accepted a position there for the next 6 months. It could get extended up to a year depending on the workload. We'll see I guess. It's going to be weird raising kids in a different country, especially one where nobody speaks English. But it's going to be great opportunity to see another culture and learn a new language.

[Update] - April Fools!! I pulled a Ben this year.