Time to take the babies home!

(now the fun really begins)

Well, babies are coming home today! A night of worry has proved to be nothing. We cannot say how much our hearts go out to any parent with a child in a NICU. One night with ours in the NICU for a mild common issue nearly killed us.

Spit happens!

Well, it happened. Roxanne and I went to the nursery to feed Anastasia (she is still under the lights) and she ate like a champion... Until she made this strange coughing sound. All of a sudden Roxannes robe (and Anastasia) are covered in baby formula/spit. Rather a shocking moment I must say. She did a good job of it.

I guess she was full.

Stress

Having babies is a wonderful thing. However, there are so many things that can go wrong, every single test is an ordeal.

The other day, we had to do a hearing test. It took about 20 minutes to do it. The whole time my brain runs through every single possible thing that might be wrong. It tears you up. When the machine finally goes ding and they tell you the test is finished and they passed... Whew, what a relief! Now when the other twin goes for the test, you go nuts again. And even worse, you compare the status so far (of a test you know NOTHING about) of the other baby who took the test. Talk about a dumb way to drive yourself crazy.

Then there are the other tests. Anastasia has been looking a little coloured so they took a new test this morning and they are a little concerned about the possibility of Jaundice. So she has to spend the night under a special bank of lights to help out her liver function. Something being possibly wrong with your baby is the most terrible thing a person can go through. I hear the doctor tell us that it is common and nothing to worry about... But it still tears your heart out.

Trust

They love us completely
They trust us completely
They depend on us completely

Now all we have to do is prove we are worthy of that love trust and dependance.


Anastasia and I

Contented baby

This picture of Christopher was taken by Roxanne just after feeding him. She looked down and was struck by the content look on his face.

Thats a beautiful baby! 

Day 2.

Well, here is a lovely little shot of the two of them together. The awake looking one is Anastasia, she is perplexing us with her non desire to feed. Nothing to worry about so far, but terribly perplexing.

Her brother (Mr. Sleepyhead) Is doing a good job of being a little grumpy today. But hey, it has been a hard two days.

The hard part is trying to get them to do all the things we THINK they should do. Meeting up with schedules that we percieve to be important seems to be the most difficult demon to handle. We just have to remember that they know what to do and will figure it all out.

(and where the heck do i find somebody to cut one week old hair!)

**BTW, for family members that want to see a bigger version of these pictures, just click on them.

Lessons we can learn

Well, it is 1 in the morning, they are about 12 hours old... What have I learned so far?

1. Trust the nurses, they know of what they speak
2. Despite the fragile nature of their appearance, Babies are actually reasonably tough
3. All that reading we did in the last nine months is now virtually useless! Read more about when they show up!
4. It will be many years until I have children that will turn to the camera AND open their eyes at the same time! No matter how nicely I ask.
   

Lets see what I learn tomorrow.

Anastasia

Isn't she a beautiful little Girl?

Christopher

Here is a picture of our handsome little boy.



Who can tell if i have already changed a diaper? 

What a day

Well, they are about 4 hours old. They are beautiful, they are precious, and they are my responsibility. I got pretty choked up in the Operating Room when they were born. It really is a miracle this life thing. Suddenly everything I see in life is a little different. Right now is a very precious time... They are sleeping, have not yet soiled a diaper, can't walk or talk... Talk about an open canvas.

Priority one... Don't screw them up!

Mama and Christopher

Mama and anastasia

Christopher Donald 6 pounds 1 ounce 20 Inches

Anastasia Rose 5 pounds 12 ounces 20 inches

The Waiting is over!

After some definite nervousness and scary possibilities over the last week, things got much better. Blood pressure went back down, Swelling reduced, and weight gain stopped. Even after that, we made the decision yesterday to schedule the C section for Wednesday the 26th of October.

The unfortunate part was that they are both still breech. The funny part was that two weeks ago, the babies were set with the boy to the right and in a frank breech position (folded like a taco) and the girl was normal on the left and higher up. As of yesterday, she was breech in the lower right position and he was breech in the upper left position. They totally switched. We had thought there was no way they would have room to do that at this point in time.

So look to this space tomorrow around 1 PM for pictures of our new arrivals.

What a difference a few hours makes

Well, we went to the hospital for the NST today (picture below) and everything did not go as smoothly as we would have liked.

Blood pressure was a little high... SO lets take blood! Blood levels are OK, but a little high... Lets let you sit around for a while! We get out of there and off to the doctors office. The Doctor feels that the risk of Pre-eclempsia is a little high, so he leaves it up to us to have a C section today. (Babies are not cooperating and getting into position)

WHAT THE HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!! Talk about something we were not prepared for. After much discussion and back and forth, we are going to take it day by day. Hopefully we can hold off for 2 weeks, but we will see.

We figured out what caused the high blood pressure though... The Niners traded Tim Rattay to Tampa! That is what must have gotten Roxanne so riled up. Lets hope the tests on Saturday go smoother.

One thing about pregnancy is the amount of time you spend having tests done. We have had this NST test done so many times i think i can operate the machine myself!

Moving forward

Well, another week closer. This weekend we had fun buying baby supplies. Or should I say returning baby supplies! We had yet another trip to babiesRus to get a changing pad for our IKEA changing table. As well, we picked up some covers for it and a protector for the rear car seats under the infant car seats...

Who woulda thunk that the IKEA table would be different that the standard size of seemingly every changing pad out there? Well, I guess many people would not be surprised. I am sure that IKEA has a pad that fits. Likely with some unpronounceable Swedish name. So, back to bRu to return said pad and covers. Luckily, we found another store locally that has a pad that is the size we need... Of course it is double the freakin price! But it is nicer, so it works out.

Then I thought I would take out the car seats and put the new underpad in. It says it is a standard size and will fit SUV's... They lie! About 4 inches too narrow. So into bRu again. Now I am trying to find another underpad.

Why can't these things just fit?

Getting Started.

Well, here we go. I figured that with the upcoming birth of my children, this was as good a time as any to dive into the "blogosphere" Honestly, I am not sure of the point of all this, but who knows, maybe it will be something I can use to amuse my parents of me and my wife's experiences as we wade through parenthood (and many diapers)

My name is Chris Gillespie, I live in the Bay area and am married to a wonderful woman named Roxanne. Right now we are about 8 months pregnant and are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our twins. We have one boy and one girl on the way. I will hold off on their names until they are born. (Who knows, we may change our minds)

It is interesting all the things you start to think about with babies on the way, everything from what will they grow up to be, to what am I going to do the first time one of them pukes on me. (I will be able to answer the second question in the next few months)

I am planning on making this available to family members and to add pictures as we go along. I hope that anybody who reads it has fun and that in years to come, my children cannot use it as evidence against me.