Wednesday, April 13, 2016

The Twins' Arrival

My due date wasn't until January 16.  However, I was to have a scheduled csection on December 30.  The twins were both breech, one butt down and one sideways.  However on Dec 20th I started leaking fluid and went to the hospital.





After everything was checked and monitored the doctors determined it wasn't amniotic fluid and released me after a couple of hours to make sure.  I was like these babies are about to come.  I was still randomly leaking the days afterwards until my water finally broke at on Dec. 23 at 2am.

I had never had a csection and was completely terrified.  I could not control the shaking.  The nurse was trying to ease my nerves.  Andre was holding my hand and telling not to worry and that God got this.  I was still scared.


At 4:17am, Cameron made his entry into the world and Cason was next at 4:18am. They weighed in at 6lbs 9 oz and 7lbs.  And that's a month early folks!!





We got home around 8pm Christmas night. That first night was a rough one!  I was practically dying from csection pain and trying to care for twins and nurse them.  My mom and sister stayed with us during the week to help and went back home on the weekends when Andre was home.



They are not criers until its getting close to eat or sleep. Otherwise, they are fairly happy and content.



It has been fun and scary and completely tiring these past couple of months, but I've had a lot of help from the kids too.  The newness of the twins has pretty much worn off to the teenager so he's MIA now.  He is just waiting for them to fight each other.  Figures.  Cate is like the second mama of the house and Caleb pretty much believes he can parent better than I can.




This pic was taken after I spoke at a women's conference on a woman and her finances.  I had my sister come to watch the twins and I only left out of the pulpit once!!


 
The twins are 4 months now and are babbling up a storm, eating their hands all the time and more and more alert everyday.  They keep trying to sit up on their own and both have rolled over.  Cason rolled over first from belly to back.  Then Cameron rolled over a few weeks later from back to belly.  

We have really been blessed with these beautiful little boys and they have really got us spoiled!!  Any twin mamas here?  How wild is gonna get?!

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

My Twin Pregnancy

Yes!  You read that right!  We had twins!  We planned one and got two!  Regardless of the fact that twins run on both sides of the family, we never expected them.  However, Andre did joke the entire time in the beginning that it was twins.  He was completely shocked, though, when it was.  When we found out we were pregnant, I bought 3 baby items and wrapped them up.  I gave one to each of the kids as a present to unwrap to announce the pregnancy.  However, when the ultrasound tech looked at me and said, "and here's baby B."  We were in a whole other ball game.
 
I had just announced to them the pregnancy at around 7 weeks.  Then about a week or two later, I was making another announcement. 

My husband loves softball and occasionally plays so I thought this was the perfect announcement for him. 
I announced the twins to the kids by setting the table for dinner and giving everybody two of everything.  Of course, they thought I was crazy.  Then, they were excited when we told them.
 

I had mostly a fairly "easy" pregnancy.  I've been blessed to have not had morning sickness with any of my pregnancies and didn't get it this time around either.
9 weeks 2 days
I already had a mommy tummy, but these babies were on the up and out!  I was showing very early.  I was also trying to get back into shape prior to the pregnancy so I continued to do so throughout.  I was running/walking almost daily up until 3 months preggers.  However, I began to spot which scared us all because we were at the 3 month mark where miscarriage was a little less likely.

13w 4 days
At the thought of miscarriage, I cried a lot.  I begin to stress over it and was constantly worrying.  Then I came to the point where I had to say that I was just going to trust God and quit stressing so much.  I wasn't helping the situation anyway.  Thankfully, after about 2 -21/2 weeks it subsided.

17 weeks 5 days
 
We were all extra excited this pregnancy being that there were going to be two little people being added. 

19weeks 2 days
 
Even though I couldn't run anymore during the pregnancy, the doctor did say that I could walk.  After being in the clear, I walked as much as I could.  I wasn't sure how big I was going to get, but I knew it would be kind of huge (from searching google).  So I tried to walk as much as I could before I couldn't anymore.  I ate pretty healthy for the most part.  My cravings were like zucchini, grilled chicken, shrimp, pear fruit cups, apple juice, Reese's, Chick fil=a lemonade and fruit snacks.  It was kind of pointless to buy them for the kids because I would eat the whole box before they were out of school.

Gender Reveal - Since Cate was the only girl, of course, she wanted sisters.  She had been praying for sisters.  My husband also wanted girls.  He claims they are easier to deal with...that is until that tween attitude has been coming out of Cate lately. lol  Caleb wanted a boy and girl because everyone would be happy.  I did too. Aj wanted guessed it would be two brothers.  Since AJ had a football game the day we found out, we made these signs to hold up after his game so he would know he was right.  Two more boys would be making their appearance soon.  Cate was devastated, but came around.  She has been claiming that she is the princess and 100 percent acts just like it. 
 

22w 5 days
I was getting bigger by the day and most people assumed that I would be put on bedrest soon.  However, I managed to stick it out.  No bedrest.  I was sleeping half the day anyway or about to appear on "Nesting Gone Wild."  I needed everything!!! The whole house needed everything and everybody had better leave me alone! lol

 
24w 6days
I didn't really buy any maternity clothes this pregnancy.  I managed to have a few pieces left over from being pregnant with Caleb that I actually had set aside to give away.  I'm glad I didn't!  I made some of my clothes work like this stretchy dress, I bought $3 clearance tanks from Walmart and wore workout pants most of the time.  I did have a bellaband that I wore over jeans when I wanted to attempt to look put together.  It also came in handy when all my shirts became too short and I needed the band to cover my stomach.

 
25-33w
Eating crunchy peanut butter on a spoon was always a thing with me and it didn't stop during pregnancy.  Look how big belly is up there.  When I was home, my stomach was always hanging out. I just always walked around with my shirt up for some reason.  I guess I was just fascinated with my growing belly.  Every week I thought it couldn't get any bigger, it did.  During week 28, I had to take a round of steroid shots in case I went into labor early.  They stung.   I was also advised just to take it easy, but walk some.  We didn't want to do anything that would put us in labor early.  I also started swelling a lot during these weeks.  I was swollen in my feet all the way to my knees.  I was still swollen two months after delivery. 
 
34w
 
I really had to thank God for each day and each week that we made it and didn't go into labor early.  Everyone would approach my huge self and say I know you're ready aren't you.  I heard "you poor thang" or "bless your heart" more times than I could count.  I'd say no.  My primary concern was not my comfort.  I wanted these babies to be born healthy, to be able to breathe on their own and not have to need NICU.  We prayed over these babies daily.  Nonetheless, we were all surprised at how far I was making it, even the doctors. 

11 days before delivery
 
That is the biggest belly I ever did see.  We managed to make it all the way to 36 weeks 2 days.  God was definitely watching over these babies.

Gosh this was a long post!  Stay tuned, the next one is all about babies, who have just woken up as I publish this.






Friday, April 1, 2016

A Wild RIde

 
Why, hello there!  It's been such a looonnng time since I've taken a break from blogging. To be honest, in between the wild ride of life, I've missed it.  There has been so much going on and it's been such a busy and exciting...and chaotic time in our lives.  I can't wait to share it all with you!
 
 
So much has happened.  The kids are like tiny adults now, and have been faithfully obsessed with soccer.  Yes, I've become a soccer mom now.  I'm kind of very slowly writing my first book and I do mean slowly!  I'm excited about it though.  I've somehow managed to wind up in the role of a speaker.  I am so not the 'stand in front of the crowd and talk' kind of person.  I've spoken at two womens' conferences at churches on the topic of  "A Woman and Finances."  I was terrified.  However, with God's grace, I managed. I'm still a stay at home mom.  However, there have been two new additions to our family!  Hence, the very slowly writing the book part. I'll have to gush all about it in a separate post.  So excited to be back with you guys and fill you in on all the Cuddles, Kisses and Chaos!