Happy 4th Birthday Ingrid & Helen!

Ingrid and Helen were 4 years old on March 3rd...and very excited about it. To celebrate their birthday, we took a trip to the Mall of America with the grandmas, mom & dad, and of course baby sisters. We ate lunch at Johnny Rockets soda fountain and had cake with candles and all! Nora and Stella turned 2 weeks old on the same day!

Ingrid said her favorite part was the rides!

Helen said her favorite part was the cake!

After lunch, Ingrid and Helen went on the rides at Nickelodeon Universe and had a great time (until Ingrid's new princess-birthday crown broke while she was on one of the rides!)

Nora and Stella celebrated by sleeping the entire time we were there! Mom appreciated that!

Bath Time!

Nora's first bath

Stella's first bath

The babies tolerated thier first bath rather well...in fact they almost enjoyed it!

Visiting hours on Sunday from 3 - 6. If you'd like to visit and haven't found the chance yet, please just give me a call!

A Few Days Later

One week certainly flies by... Tuesday is Nora and Stella's one week birthday! And despite be a veteran twin mom, I can honestly say that this is completely different than what I expected!

Stella & Nora

Ingrid

When we brought Ingrid & Helen home from the hospital, we really don't remember anything except feeding them, diapering them and trying every trick we knew, read about, heard about or googled to try to get them to fall asleep. And then by the time they were finally asleep, it was within 30 minutes of the hospital-prescribed time to wake them up and start it all over again! Both babies and mom and dad were so exhausted. It only took a few days home before we decided that waking healthy 7 pound babies in the middle of the night isn't productive - whether the pediatrician liked it or not! At the time I was told 'oh babies are just fussy'. But I'm starting to believe there must have been something else wrong that we overlooked because people kept reassuring us that babies are just naturally fussy.

So now here we are, expecting more of the same. Instead of babies that we can't get to fall asleep, we now have babies that we can't get to wake up! I think that the hospital staff may have learned that sleep also has some value to newborn health too. They were also a little jaundiced in the hospital, so that contributes so sleepiness I guess. However, we had a home care nurse here yesterday and she said she isn't worried about the jaundice. Tomorrow they have their 1 week follow up appointment and so far they seem to be eating, sleeping and pooping by the book. They do seem to stay awake for us for about 2 hours at some point during the day (and occasionally during the night).

As for Ingrid and Helen - they are the happiest and proudest big sisters! They LOVE to hold their baby sisters and pat their soft heads of hair. Though they have been feeling a little cabin fever. Ingrid asked me the other day "Mom, can we go to a place today?" So Sunday we took our first family outing to McDonalds!

Ingrid is so concerned, anytime a baby cries she lets mom and dad know "Baby is crying!" and she will either try to offer a nuk, or find one of the baby bottles. Helen is just a loving little mommy who LOVES to cuddle the babies...note her sincere proud-sister smile in the photos! (this smirk reminds me a little of her grandpa!)

Doting sister, Helen

Welcome Home Nora & Stella!

Nora Linda & Stella Grace made their arrival at 8:20 and 8:23 PM on February 17! Nora head first, and Stella feet first! Mom's first comment when she saw them..."They're identical! And they look just like their big sisters!"

Nora Linda Pone : 6 lbs, 7 oz. & 19 inches

Stella Grace Pone: 6 lbs, 10 oz. & 19 inches

So far, babies are very sleepy most of the time - a 'far cry' from what we can remember of their big sisters' arrival! But that is sure to change...

If you would like to visit, please come Saturday or Sunday between noon and 3. This will help us keep the mayhem around here to a minimum!

The time has come (whether the babes like it or not!)

So prednisone doubled my platelet levels and I check in to the hospital tomorrow at 7:30 am. Whether those cozy little kids like it or not, their womb will soon be remodeled into a much smaller state!!! I am being induced in hopes of vaginal deliver. Hopefully I will have 2 beautiful babes in time to enjoy dinner...what do you think the chances of that are?

One note: I have been advised that the prednisone will depress the babies' immune system, so we will probably wish to keep visitors to a minimum at first. Will talk to the docs more abou this.

Thoughts and prayers much appreciated!

Nancy

A fun night in the hospital...

And still no babies!!!
Anyway, here's the long story...as short as I can make it (and my big belly picture...as small as I can imagine it!):

I had a blood test at the doctor Thursday afternoon and my platelet count came back really low – 61 – still safe for birth, but not for epidural. She sent me to the hospital right away and after re-testing, monitoring me for 2 hours, answering 100 questions (including ones about my religious beliefs and if I'm in a 'safe environment' at home), filling out 5 forms (despite already having done the preadmission booklet!) they finally admitted me to a room - about midnight. Then it took precisely 5 more pokes before getting an IV started in my swollen hands and by 2am they gave me Cervadil to soften my cervix of steel. This also gave me 5-10 minute contractions all night - though not painful, they were quite strong. After dozing for 4 minute increments over 4 hours, I ‘woke up’, there was a new perinatologist on call who consulted with my doctor and suddenly called off the whole game. I was quite relived actually - my low clotting factor meant that I could not have an epidural...and nothing screams fun about starting a drug-free, induced labor from a 0 dilated/effaced cervix after a night of no sleep.

The new perinatoligist on call for the day, Diana Danalenko, thought my platelet count was too low to be gestational-related and wanted to treat it for a few days and see if we could get it up. At that point, my care was transferred to the perinatologist specialist group (Minnesota Perinatal Physicians) and my normal family prac doc who was going to deliver me and delivered the girls can no longer attend my delivery (unless she does it on her own time). And I can’t have an epidural, even if I need a C section, I would need to go under general. Anyway, my doc was ok with a no epidural labor because she saw me through my last labor where I went all the way to transition before getting the ep. and she thought I'd be fine, but the specialist got freaked out by that and wants to try and get my levels up. Kinda tweaks me off a bit, since the monitoring nurse was the one who suggested to my doctor to start inducing right away - my doc told me she originally planned waiting a day till the nurse said 'what are you waiting for? It won't get better!". Funny since I specifically asked that nurse why they would want to induce labor before trying some way to get my counts up, and she said that there really is no treatment for it. Argh!

So for now I am on Prednisone (the treatment the nurse didn't know about), and tomorrow (Monday) I go have blood drawn and if my levels are up they may induce me, and if my levels are down, they may induce me (to get it over before they go down more)! And if my levels are level…they might wait and see if they go up for as long as 2 weeks! In fact, they may wait as long as my due date! Just think, March 1st...if things happened just so, my second twins could share a birthday with my first twins on March 3rd! They would NEVER understand that most kids have their OWN birthday...which for them may be a good thing.

If I do have the babies soon, we will probably ask visitors to refrain for a few weeks as the babies immune systems will be compromised from the Prednisone. Sorry...I'll talk to the ped. about it more in the hospital, but it is still yucky flu and cold season!

I'll keep you posted if anything happens in the next few days!

Nancy

Ok, 1 1/2 years later. So I haven't kept up on my blogging, but with 2 more babies on the way, I am renewing my commitment as it will be better than trying to email several people everyday. Yes, if you don't know me, that's right - twins again. We thought one more would be a peice of cake. What do we know. Maybe 2 more can still be a peice of cake...ya think?

We have been in our new home for a year now and been preparing for another set of twins for the last 6. No, we're not ready yet...I don't think anything could have prepared us for that! I am due February 28, but will 'likely' have them a few weeks before that. (Last time I had twins, the 'few weeks early' was one week early). So for now, we are digging through boxes looking for baby supplies, clothes etc. Not to mention that Mike is still trying to get some staining done that we haven't gotten finished since we moved in!

Ingrid & Helen are excited that there are babies in mommies belly. They say the funniest things! When I layed down one night to snuggle wiht Ingrid, she said 'Mommy your belly is getting so big to push me out of bed! I will hold on tight" as she snuggled up and grabbed my shirt.

They've also affectionately named thier little sisters 'Ellie' and 'Jo'. I don't know yet if those names will hold...Mike and I will have to decide if we can choose better!

As for me, well, I can't complain. Today it is now my 34th week, and also the about the time that if I go into labor, they won't try to stop me. My back hasn't been killing me, no belly rash yet, no consistant swelling. Not that I'm very comfy with an approximately 12 pound belly. My hospital bag is half packed. The crib is half up. You get the idea.