It's Mattie...or Sammy...or...

Not sure what her final name will be, but here's a pic of mom and dad's adorable new dog. She won't replace Reggie, but its good to have a dog on the farm again. Now if they would only stop changing her name.

Look at those paws...so cute!

D-Day

What a sad day today was...circumcision day! I felt so bad for the boys. We went to meet our new pediatrician yesterday, Dr. McIntee, he was awesome. He wanted to circ the boys right away so today was the day. They both did extrememly well, and if you can imagine this, Brody was the one that came back to the room crying.

The rest of yesterday's appointment went pretty good too. The nurse came in to ask a few questions before I met Dr. McIntee. Our conversation went a little like this.

Nurse: "What are the boys eating?"
Me: "Expressed breast milk."
Nurse: "Both of them?"
Me (perplexed): "Yes."
Nurse: " Well, how many ounces a day are you getting?"
Me: "About 60."
Nurse: "WOW!! You're a cow."

Okay, so I know she didn't mean anything by it except that she was impressed with my production, but come on. Not really the right thing to say to someone, regardless. Much less a woman who just gave birth to twins and is very sensitive about her weight. On a brighter note, Aidan weighed in at 7 pounds, 4 ounces yesterday and Brody was at 7 pounds, 11 ounces. Both were measuring 20 inches long.

Both boys just wanted to be held after we get home from the appointment. Its a good thing we can improvise somewhat.

Josh told me that Brody just needed a little "snuggle time". That he underwent a major life change today.

We're 1 Month Old!!!

We're 1 Month Old Today!!!

I'm so sorry that I've been terrible at updating the blog lately, but anyone that's been to our house to help over night will tell you that I definitely have my hands full. Trying to get rest has been my number two priority behind taking care and loving my boys. They are getting so big I cannot even believe it. Last Monday when we went to the doctor Aidan was 5 pounds, 2 ounces and Brody was 5 pounds, 11 ounces. I am sure they're even bigger now. I am feeling a lot better too. My hematoma went down in size tremendously, so no procedure was necessary. That was the good news we were looking for.
Anyways, I cannot believe a month ago I had these beautiful boys, it sure has gone fast. We've experienced their first bath in their big boy baths and they're now in their own carseats. We still have yet to get out in the stroller or for a walk, but we're hoping to soon. There's not much else to report, but I'll try to stay better at keeping this updated...with pictures at least. Here's a few...I can't wait to get our new camera!!!

I think that Brody is working on a poop again!!Hey Big Head...get off my stomach!
Brody cannot believe that #4 retired from the Packers...so disappointing!
Aidan is distraught too!

Aidan hanging out in his boppy.
I think he looks as chunky as a 5 pound, 11 ounce baby can look.
Kaitlyn and Kole came to visit me and the boys! Miss you guys!!
The boys napping in a boppy on papa's lap.

Brody is good at hiding his stuff in the bath.
Aidan's not as shy.
Aidan looks a little scared...

The Chaos Begins

I have a feeling this is going to be a long one. We were discharged on Friday, March 21st. Aidan was sent home with a Biliblanket because his jaundice levels were above 13. Talk about a pain in the butt. The little glow-worm had to basically be plugged into the wall. It was nuts. When we finally got home at 5:30 mom and I had to run to Target for a breast pump and another pack 'n play so Brody wouldn't look at the light radiating from Aidan's back.

Saturday the nurse came out to check Aidan's Bilirubin levels. They were down to 12 so we were able to take him off the blanket. What a relief!!! Today brought on a whole new set of emotions with breast feeding. I was so sore and in tears. I just didn't know if I could handle two babies and breast feeding. It was definitely weighing on me. I remember staring at the clock dreading feeding time because I knew how bad it was going to hurt. :o( I decided to tough it out though, even though the process of two takes so much time, but I knew this is something I wanted so I kept at it (although I don't know how much longer it will last).

Easter Sunday came and went without even knowing it pretty much. Mom did make us a great dinner of ham and twice baked potatoes (my favorite) and a Jell-O cake for dessert. We used a nipple shield today with some of the feedings and that helped tremendously. Here's a picture of the boys on Easter.


Monday was the day of the boys' first bath. That was a treat. Mom and I sure learned out lesson. I decided to feed Brody after his bath before we woke Aidan since he was wide awake. Well, the little one decided to leave me a nice present in his towel, so I guess today marked the day of bath number 1 and 2. :o) I know for next time to put a diaper on right away. Little Aidan just peed in his water - nice! It was quite the experience.

Tuesday we went to the doctor to have the boys weighed and check their jaundice levels again. Much to our surprise, Aidan had dropped down to 4 pounds from his 4 pound, 9 ounce discharge weight. His jaundice levels were up to 18. Brody was down just one ounce to 4 pounds, 12 ounces and his jaundice level was up to 17. The doctor had us take them off breast milk for 24 hours and formula feed them until we took them in to be checked the next day.

Wednesday both of the boys jaundice levels were down by a point and the doctor okayed them to go back to the boob! YEAH!! So excited that the bottles didn't screw them up and they were able to keep feeding somewhat efficiently. After we got home from the doctor Grandma Hodgson left and later that night we got more great help from Grandma Kathy.

Things were looking up, or so we thought. On Thursday morning at 4:30 am Kathy had to take me to the emergency room. After 4 hours there, many tests and quite the scare we found out that I was bleeding internally outside of my uterus and creating a good size hematoma near my uterus and bladder flap. I had to head up to Wausau to Aspirus to see my doctor who just happened to be on vacation. It turns out that this isn't to critical, but unlike most hematomas the doctor doesn't think this will absorb back into my body because of the large size. I will have another ultrasound in a week (now tomorrow) to see if it has gone down in size at all. If not, I will have it removed with a catheter next week.

Due to two interuptions of breast feeding the boys are having troubles latching again. We will keep working on it to see how it goes. The first week at home was pretty crazy, but I love the little peanuts to death. It sure is true what they say that you don't know how much you can love until you have children. Here are some more pics from the week.

Scharts came to visit too - she's going to be a natural, don't you think?

Sweet dreams!
Grandma Kathy and Josh with the boys

Daddy at work!

One big happy family!
Andrea and Chase came up to help with the youth toureny and see the boys
Mom checking out her two bundles of joy!

Aidan looking cute!

Brody in the swing that he likes every once in a while.
Brody appears to be thinking about something big...
Aidan fast asleep after some good eats!

Hospital Stay

We had lots of great visitors in the hospital! Thanks to everyone who came to visit and see our beautiful boys. They got lots of snuggle time with our great friends. Here are some pictures from the rest of our hospital stay.

Jordan & Brody

Hoota & Brody

Angie & Brody

Shak & Kraemer (Godmother) with Aidan

Godfather Chad with Aidan

Daddy does "double duty"

A little family time...can you tell who has who?

Maverick and Goose in their carseats on discharge day...don't ask me why getting them in their carseats and "harnessed" in reminds me of Top Gun...they look so tiny in there.

Birth Day

So I'm trying to get caught up on some posting, so here goes. On Monday March 17th, I went in for a non-stress test to make sure the babies were still doing okay and were going to hold out until Thursday. Apparently they decided they wanted to have a fun birthday to celebrate in the future. I had had a rough night on Sunday and was up most of the night with cramping so I was definitely concerned. Tina (walked with Josh in Granger's wedding) was my nurse. She was awesome!!! I was so glad to have her there with me. After being hooked up to the monitors for a while they had Lynn come over and check me. I was 3 cm dialated and in the early stages of labor. Lynn wanted to talk to Dr. AJ who was planning on performing the c-section. The doctors strongly recommended a c-section since Brody was breeched. They didn't want me trying to care for twin preemies and recovering from a vaginal birth and a c-section. They thought it was too risky to try a vaginal birth so I took their advice. He wanted to do it this afternoon. I called Josh and told him he was going to be a daddy this afternoon and should try to get off of work.

The c-section was planned for 3:30 pm, but they had an emergency so we got put on hold for about an hour. I went into the operating room around 4:45 for the spinal. That was the scariest part since Josh couldn't be in there with me. It didn't go in very smoothly and I ended up having pain in my right leg - I thought for sure I wasn't going to be able to walk again - being over dramatic. They pulled it out and tried again. This time it went in better and before I knew it I couldn't feel anything from the boobs down and my hubby was by my side. It didn't take long to get the babies out, Aidan was born at 5:11 pm and Brody at 5:12. I was able to see them both before they wheeled them and Josh off to the NICU. The scariest part was yet to come. The doctors kept saying that my blood pressure was going down and I was losing a lot of blood. It was pretty scary because I was in there by myself, but I was glad Josh was there with the babies. A day later Lynn (midwife who assisted with the c-section) told me they would have had to do an emergency c-section anyways, if this made me feel any better. She knew I really wanted a natural birth.

After I got into my room all the proud grandparents were waiting. Brody came into our room hungry about an hour later and at 9:00 that night I was able to finally get wheeled into the NICU to see Aidan. He ended up staying in there until Wednesday afternoon on an IV, oxygen and C-Pap. I wish he was in my room from the start, but I was thrilled for him to get out as soon as he did.

Seeing Aidan for the first time!

The Grandma's checking out Brody.

The Proud Dads!!

Brody with his Godfather Jordan.