Atalie & Grady: A Birth Story

Y'all.  We are tired around the Baum household.  I guess that's a good enough excuse for not keeping up with the blog!  Now that the twins are pushing two months old, I'm going to finally write about their birth.  Sheesh.

If you spent any time around me from September-December, you know I was extremely uncomfortable.  I was large, swollen and cranky.  Jarrod was sleeping elsewhere because I was sleeping with no less than seven pillows, and I needed to wake up several times a night to visit the potty.  Not to mention my elaborate attempts to roll over (Think: turtle trapped on its back).  Life was insane.  Pregnancy with the twins was completely different from what I experienced with Collin.  Jarrod never had to sleep somewhere else, and I only threw up all of about three times with Collin.  With the twins, I was still occasionally getting sick all the way up until the week before they were born, which was Thanksgiving.

On the Monday before Thanksgiving, we found ourselves at a normal doctor's appointment.  I was 37 weeks and measuring around 41 weeks with my belly.  My doctor was concerned because baby boy's heart rate was slower than it had been before.  The doctor was having a hard time getting a good read on both babies, so we found ourselves headed next door to the hospital for observation in Labor and Delivery.  They hooked me up to the monitors, and we waited.  Little boy's heart rate sounded great after further listening and both babies appeared to be doing just fine, so we got sent home.

Fast forward to Wednesday, the night before Thanksgiving.  My in-laws were in town, and we were prepping for a day of cooking and eating.  Of course, this meant I spent the day pretty much on my feet cleaning and working on food prep.  By that night, my feet/legs/back were killing me, and I was exhausted.  I started to try to remember when I had last felt the babies move and realized it seemed like it had been a very long time.  I tried my usual tricks: Laying on my left side and trying to relax, drinking some ice water, eating chocolate.  Finally, I took a bath hoping to make myself really relax and thinking that would lead to me feeling some movement.  Nothing seemed to be working and I was just getting more and more amp'd up, especially after the teeny-tiny worry we had experienced at Monday's appointment.  Around 8:30 pm I told Jarrod I wanted to go back up to the hospital so they could hook me back up to the monitor.  We hopped in the car, thanking God Jarrod's parents were in town and able to help care for Collin.  I don't know if he even realized we had left!

At the hospital, they quickly got me hooked up, and we heard both hearts just beating away.  It was definitely a comfort to hear the heart beats, but I still was not feeling the babies move so we just hung out for a bit.  Finally, they woke up.  Literally.  They had just been snoozing away.  The nurse said after they woke up she could tell a difference in the patterns, and they had definitely been asleep when we first came in.  Thanks for giving me a scare, kids!

I had to lay on my back for quite a while as we listened to both babies.  Because of how I was positioned, I started having more intense contractions (I had been having Braxton-Hicks for several weeks), and I think both Jarrod and I were hoping for an early arrival of the twins.  But no such luck.  Two scares in one week and we were sent back home.  However, this time we had an end date - December 3!  My poor doctor...he knew he had to throw me a bone.

Thanksgiving with Jarrod's parents, and behind the camera, I looked like this: 

Monday, December 1, we had my 38 week appointment as well as an ultrasound.  Both babies looked good and appeared to weigh 6+ pounds.  We saw some hair on little boy's head and that was about as detailed as the scan got because there was so little room neither baby was moving much.

Tuesday, December 2, my parents arrived.  I knew it would be my only chance, so I forced everyone to load up and go visit Harding to look at the lights on campus.  I was constantly burning up, so the cold air didn't bother me, but I'm told it was FREEZING :)

When we got back, my dad took this picture of us before we put Collin to bed.  Our last picture as a family of 3 and with my gigantic belly!

Wednesday, December 3, we arrived at the hospital EARLY.  My doctor had another patient's surgery scheduled first thing that morning, and I was "to follow".  We were told we would begin around 9:00 am, but I didn't go back to the OR until after 10:15 am.  Jarrod and I were both extremely anxious by that point, not to mention our families had just been hanging out in the waiting room.  AND oh, by the way, Jarrod had a pharmacy school test at 3:00 pm that afternoon.

My c-section was a lot more complicated than with Collin.  It took longer and felt more tense.  Turns out I had quite a bit of scarring from when I had Collin.  It was difficult for my doctor to get to the babies and meant I got to lay there and listen to him while he worked on me and discussed how best to go about things with whomever was assisting him.  Poor Jarrod was just sitting by my head, keeping me calm and probably freaking out a little his self.  I got snarky with the CRNA a couple of times and prayed a whole lot.

Finally!  At 11:13 am, Atalie Morgan was born.  She weighed 6 pounds 1 ounce and was 18 1/2 inches long.  In Hebrew, Atalie means God is Great.  It was our "girl" name when I was pregnant with Collin.  Morgan is Jarrod's grandfather's middle name, and Atalie shares it with several others on that side of the family :)

At 11:14 am Grady Cave followed.  I saw them carrying Atalie over to be cleaned up, and she was purple, goopy and screaming.  I don't really remember seeing Grady after they pulled him out.  Grady weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces and was 18 3/4 inches long.  Grady is my grandfather's name, and Cave is a family name on Jarrod's dad's side of the family, as well as the name his dad goes by.

The babies got cleaned up, and Jarrod got to attempt to juggle them both so I could see them before he and they had to head to the nursery.  Then it was more fun for me on the operating table as my doctor finished cleaning up scar tissue and closing my incision.  It was probably close to noon before I was taken back to my room for recovery.  During this time, no one was allowed in my room except the two recovery nurses monitoring and working on me.  I puked in the middle of having a perfectly nice conversation with them.  Jarrod said he paced outside the door and asked repeatedly if it was time for him to come inside yet. Right about the time that they did let him in, I started shaking uncontrollably.  Eventually, Jarrod, the babies and our parents got to come in and see me.  I got to officially meet our two little ones and inspect them closer!  I was holding one in each arm and shaking ridiculously while struggling to talk because my throat and mouth were so dry.  It was all just super glamorous.

Grady's hair (that appeared to be waving in the wind on the ultrasound just a few days prior) was much less impressive in person, but he was far and away beating Atalie in that category.  Poor sister has nothing but peach fuzz on her dome.

Around 2:30pm Jarrod left to go take his test at school and our parents had all left to go eat lunch/take a break from the hospital.  The babies went to the nursery and I got a few minutes of stillness.  Turns out, I don't respond to morphine, so this alone time was good for me to realize that I was still in a lot of pain.  My nurses were wonderful and immediately got in touch with my doctor to get me switched over to a different med.  My doctor came back a few hours later to check on me and didn't waste any time telling me how awful I looked.  "You look really tired..."  Thanks, buddy.  I'm exhausted.

The rest of our stay was spent with Jarrod leaving intermittently to go take tests.  The nurses saw him in sweats and scruffy faced in my room, and he would emerge clean-shaven, in a suit, with his white coat on - a regular Clark Kent.  If Clark Kent went to pharmacy school...

We were released from the hospital late Friday night.  Both babies had jaundice, and we dealt with this for the first week and a half of their lives.  Thankfully, they were not required to be readmitted or to have photo-therapy; they just got their feet and hands pricked a lot :(

My parents were a huge help to us the first week.  They helped with Collin, cooked, cleaned and helped with round-the-clock feedings in an attempt to flush the bilirubin from the babies' systems.  (When are you guys coming back?!)

When the babies were 9 days old, we had their newborn photo session.  Collin got pooped on, the photographer got peed on and we got amazing images like this one:

It's been a busy time for us since the twins were born.  We traveled to Texas for Christmas, and everyone survived the car ride there and back.  We spent a little time together at home before Jarrod went back to school a couple weeks ago, and I started back to work this week.  The twins are seven weeks old (as of yesterday), and we are working to adjust to a new normal at our house.  Collin loves his brother and sister, but he gets mad at his mommy and daddy for not being able to play with him or pay undivided amounts of attention to him.  I'm sure we'll be dealing with that adjustment for a while.  It's tough with twins.  It means that both Jarrod and myself have our hands full.  If Collin is yelling for help from somewhere in the house, or if a pot is boiling on the stove, or if the dog needs attention - we find ourselves juggling... A BABY.  It's the stuff sitcoms are made of :)

If you find yourself thinking of us, pray for rest.  We love these kids we've been blessed with, but we're struggling to find rest!

Here are some more pictures from the past several weeks!

The shot that wasn't to be but resulted in Collin getting pooped on and the photographer getting peed on!

They're already plotting against us.

Big brother loves "his babies"

Santa visited our house a few days early since we were headed to Texas.

Santa brought things for Cafe Collin, since someone is obsessed with Mommy's kitchen wares.

My life now...so amazing.

Weston taking a selfie with Aunt Nicki

Tinsley and Collin fishing at Mimi and PawPaw's house.  

My first day with the babies on my own while Jarrod was at school and Collin at daycare.  

Chubby Cheeks and Big Eyes

Bump Photos

Y'all.  I'm going to have two babies in a few weeks.  That means I will have THREE children.  I will have sons and a daughter.  It's mind boggling.  And SUPER FREAKING EXCITING!!!

We had a little impromptu photo session a couple of Saturdays ago.  I have been wanting to document this baby bump, but I didn't want to A. Shell out millions of dollars for a maternity session and B. Wasn't entirely sure what I wanted it to look like.  

I had a dear friend take photos of me and my belly when I was pregnant with Collin, and I am so thankful I did.  He has become obsessed with hearing all about when he was in my tummy, so it's been fun to show him photos as well.  However, I learned after those pictures that I'm not likely to display pictures of me with my bare, pregnant belly hanging out for all to observe.  So the night before we had our pictures taken, Jarrod perused Pinterest for some fully-covered ideas, which seemed great at the time.  Then.... we arrived at the park where we met the photographer, and we promptly forgot all the cute ideas we had seen on Pinterest. So, we winged it.  (Is that a word - winged??  Wung?  Wang?  Whatev.)

Remember the Friends episode where Monica and Chandler are going to have engagement photos taken, and Chandler can't smile?  I married that guy!  

My friends and I practiced with Jarrod for weeks before our engagement and wedding photos were taken. He just cannot fake smile to save his life.   

I probably elbowed him right before this shot to achieve that level of smile!

Well, poor Collin apparently inherited that trait.  I kept tapping him on the shoulder (all the while with my own fake smile plastered to my face) to make sure he was SMILING!  He said he was...  We have some work to do with him as well.

So anyway, here are some photos from our very last minute attempt at documenting this baby bump. 

Photo Credit to Amber Garner with Thousand Words Photography

Jarrod wants to make sure it's known that the shirt I chose to wear, isn't the most flattering and makes me look bigger than I really am.  I think it's nice of him to say so, but it's BS.  I have to receive assistance to get my shoes and pants off.  I can't pick things up if I drop them on the floor.  After these photos were taken, we jumped in the car and rushed to pull my wedding ring off before my finger died from lack of circulation.  
I. AM. THAT. BIG.

But it's ok, because there are two in there this time around, and I already love them each so much.  I forgive them for needing extra space.  Besides, where am I going to set my cereal bowl after this?  How will I drink from a juice box with no hands when this is all over?  What excuse will I have for eating a full-size bag of Doritos by myself or a dozen cookies?  Collin might stop saying hilarious things like, "Ohhhh, my tailbone!", or "I can't sit down on the floor because I'm too big."  (Things he has, of course, heard come from my mouth and then thinks appropriate to try on for size!)

Bump Update

I had a doctor's appointment on Monday, which also marked me reaching the 34 week mark.  We got to see these two little babies, and that never gets old!

Little girl was chilling with her head down and her cute, kissy lips puckered out.  Little boy, however, has somehow managed to flip completely over.  He is now head up, and he remained tucked into a ball during the ultrasound.  Once again, we couldn't get a good look at much of anything on him.  Although, we did get to see some peach fuzz hair on his head.

Collin had a good little bit of peach fuzz when he was born.  (Jarrod's first words to me were, "He has reddish-brown hair!"  We had joked the whole pregnancy that he would have red hair.)  But then all of his hair fell out, and he was bald for a good year and a half.  I haven't given much thought to the hair on these babies' heads because I'm just assuming they will be bald for a while as well!

Newborn Collin with his sweet, peach fuzz hair :)

They are both growing wonderfully!  Little girl weighs around 4lbs 7oz and little boy weighs around 4lbs 8oz.  This is right on track for 34 weeks.  I'm so thankful they continue to be within an ounce or two of each other and that one of them isn't hogging all the food!

We also got to hear their heart beats.  Little girl's is always slower than little boy's; her heart rate was 140 and his was 146.  I keep saying I have a feeling he is going to be my BOY-boy.

And the last bit of news from my appointment is that my belly is measuring 38 weeks.  Our doctor did a double-take and checked my chart before announcing, "That belly is measuring big today!"  Jarrod tried to convince him to give us an ETA, but he declined and just said with a smile that we're shooting for a c-section at 38 weeks.

So please be praying with us that these guys remain healthy and keep growing strong so that in the next few weeks we can bring them home with us!!  We are ready to meet them, ready to share this house with them and I'm ready for a little physical relief.  I'm still not sleeping well, and I feel like I've been training for a marathon.  My body is sore all over from carrying this extra weight.  I'm also starting to really retain fluid.  There aren't exactly any shoes that fit me at this time.  I was wearing Chacos at my doctor's appointment, and he laughed at me because the straps were pulled as loose as possible and were still leaving strap lines on my feet!

In other news...  We've been able to have some good, Fall fun these past few weeks.  We took Collin to the pumpkin patch, and he participated in his class's Halloween party at school.  He's getting SO big and has opinions on everything.

He's been requesting "spiky hair" when getting ready for school.  His hair is so fine, it's tough to make that work!  However, it IS adorable to see him running his hand through his hair trying to make sure it's still sticking up!!

Cookies we made for his Halloween Party.  

This preggo enjoyed quite a bit of leftover icing once they were completed!

This outfit was a birthday gift from his Aunt Jami, but he told everyone for a week before Halloween that he was going to be Iron Man, so I didn't argue with him.

Collin had a great time on our trip to the pumpkin patch, and it was neat to see him enjoying some of the things that he couldn't before because he was too little.  Instead of dragging him around the place, we practically chased him

Helping Daddy pick the perfect pumpkin.

Shooting the Corn Cannon

32 Weeks and Counting

Y'all.  We have officially made it to 32 weeks with these twinsies, my belly is measuring 35 weeks and my poor feet think they must belong to a very large, elderly woman.  My tailbone is also killing me.  I have ridiculous heartburn, and don't even get me started on these allergies that continue to plague me.  Regardless, Monday was my 32 week doctor appointment and these kids are doing well.  I can't ask for anything more than that!

LOOK @ my shadow.  That's how I feel!
Someone asked me Friday night if I was "holding them up".
Um, yes.  Yes, I am "holding them up", because when standing for a while, I literally feel like they are going to fall through my belly at any minute!

On Saturday, our sweet friends from Community Groups past and present hosted a shower for us.  It was a cozy event with ahhhhmazing food and fun fellowship.

Fellowship like this...Jon Madill with a few boys beneath and on top of him!

You know what's good about low turnout?  The pregnant lady gets to take home all the leftover sweets! Sunday evening when Jarrod came home from studying at the school, he found me on the couch watching TV with a bag of Hot Tamales.  An intervention was required.  Pouting ensued.

But really, how precious is this?!

In addition to the food, we received some great gifts.  Much needed diapers and other sweet presents.  Everyone has been so great to remember Collin, I think he's going to hope for more babies in the future just so he can receive presents as well!  He is now the proud owner of a few hand-knit hats to match the ones his baby brother has received.  He never wants to take them off!

 

He also received an awesome book full of "quiet activities".  He wanted to try a few out when we got home from the shower, so I let him open it up in the nursery while I was putting things away.  I left to go make lunch, and he was still at it.  At one point, Jarrod became so concerned about the lack of noise, he rushed into the nursery and found Collin peacefully stringing beads and sorting paperclips.  Shout-Out to Leigh Ooms for this magical gift!!

I'm also really excited about the homemade gift we have coming from our friends Jon and Gail Madill.  It involved some wood-burning and seeing just how OCD people can be when trying to "write" with a foreign utensil!  The Madills took it home to "finish", so I'm excited to see how it turns out.  Pictures to come soon :)

Thankful for these ladies and their friendship

Sunday afternoon we made a run to Target in Little Rock.  Ok, full disclosure...two Targets in Little Rock.  Sometimes one Target just is not enough!  However, I now feel better and more prepared with the "basics".  Carrying twins is overwhelming for a lot of reasons, but the biggest one for me has to be the fact that I have no idea how big they might be when they are born because I also have no idea when they might be born.  When people ask me what my due date is, I just look at them while trying to decide what to say!

My due date is December 15 (which is 40 weeks).  I'm scheduled for a c-section on December 8 (which is 39 weeks).  According to the experts, on average, twins are born at 35 weeks.  37 weeks is considered full-term for twins.  So provided that these guys stay put, we are looking at anywhere from the middle of November to the beginning of December.  

I only care that they are big enough to come home with us from the hospital and don't require a NICU stay.  Thus, the Hot Tamale binge...I'm doing my job to combat low birth weight!  (Too bad it can't work like that, huh?!)

And last but not least, in case you didn't catch it from the picture above, our babies have officially been named!  At least until one of us freaks out again and changes something...just kidding, Mom!  Sort of.

Atalie Morgan and Grady Cave.  More later on where these came from and what they mean!

Is it time to get nervous?

I had a doctor's appointment last Monday - my 30 week appointment and ultrasound.  Jarrod and I got to see these two little munchkins for the first time since we found out there were two instead of one.  

My first thought was that they looked so squished!  I felt bad for them, and Jarrod said he was feeling claustrophobic :)  I'm going to try not to take it so personally from now on when one of them is stuck in my ribs and it hurts to breathe!

Little girl was pretty cooperative this time but little boy wanted to stay bunched up in a ball.  The tech pushed down on my tummy a couple of times with the probe in an effort to get him to move, and he literally kicked the probe a few times without moving into a better position.  I keep saying he is going to be ornery!  He's typically very active, and I have been able to kind of grab a hold of his little feet a couple of times as of late. 

Both babies are head-down with their feet up at the top of my bump.  They are angled diagonally with their feet more on the left of my bump and heads sort of angled toward the bottom right of my belly.  Little girl presents first and little boy is up higher - which is probably why I feel him the most.  Little boy's heart rate was around 140 and little girl's was 133.  He weighed 3lbs 1oz and she weighed 2lbs 15oz, so they are pretty close in weight and spot on for where they should be at 30 weeks gestation.

Little girl

Little boy

I was 30 weeks last Monday (so 31 weeks today) and my belly was measuring 34 weeks.  (My wardrobe can attest to this.  I'm pretty much wearing the same three shirts these days!)  

Jarrod and I both breathed huge sighs of relief when leaving this last doctor's appointment!  Praising the Lord for healthy babies and no complications on my end, thus far.

With this appointment out of the way, I have been able to think about the next calendared item...my shower this coming weekend.  A few of our sweet friends from church are hosting a shower for us on Saturday, and it will be my only shower since we live so far away from our families and other friends in Texas.  We're excited to spend time with people and really celebrate this little boy and little girl who are finally starting to feel like a real presence in our family.

We've already received a lot of clothing - sizes are all over the place and since these babies will likely be pretty small, who knows if the things we have will line up seasonally.  I foresee lots of playing dress-up, and I'm okay with that!

We have car seats - in Texas!  Both sets of grandparents have been great and will help get these to us, but for now they're in Texas :)  We have one crib - Collin's old one, so we're on the hunt for another.  We also have a bassinet and a pack-n-play, so we will finagle some sort of sleeping situation for these two when they first come home!  
Oh, and we have this many diapers and wipes :)

1. I've clearly ignored all of those posts on Pinterest about stock-piling diapers in various sizes throughout your pregnancy..
2. It occurred to me when we were at the store this past weekend that we should probably start working on this!  Now you see why I asked if it's time to start getting nervous!!


Things we have an abundance of:
Anxiety, anticipation and allergies.

My allergies are off the charts.  Please pray for these to get better.  Not a lot of rest happening for me right now as a result.

Collin's level of anticipation is adorable.  A friend recently had her baby girl and when I told Collin, he immediately looked at my belly and asked if it was Thanksgiving yet!  ("Thanksgiving" is what we've given him to hold on to as a time frame for when he can expect his brother and sister.)

Both Jarrod and I are anxious.  Jarrod is super busy with school, and wonders how it will all ever work itself out.  I'm anxious about my level of discomfort (greatly exacerbated by these allergies).  I find myself thinking, "I have SO long to go", and then I look at the changing table with two packages of diapers and an unfinished nursery and think, "We ONLY have a little time left!"

I know it will all work itself out, and we are so fortunate to be anticipating the arrival of these babies.  This is just where we're at lately...


I haven't been very good at posting a lot of pictures, so here are a few...

Stretching out a t-shirt my co-worker sent me.  It's going in the drawer until after these babies get here!!

Um, compression socks...

Back at 26 weeks

Sitting on the floor in the kitchen before we moved, sharing some cookie-dough ice cream