Monday, November 16th 2009 - Cooper and Kale Arrive

*The baby boys are now 2 weeks old and my lack of sleep is starting to distort my memory. I figured I had better start recording what I can about the twins birth before I lose some of the details.

After being told we couldn't come into the hospital on my scheduled induction day and dealt with that disappointment, we were ready and waiting by the phone for any new information from the hospital all weekend. Saturday and Sunday Riley and I woke up super early, showered, dressed, and ate breakfast and stared at the phone, willing it to ring. My sister-in-law who is a nurse on the birthing floor kept calling with little updates. Finally we decided it could be a long wait and so Sunday night Riley drove to my parents to pick up Kendle and Morgan so my mom wouldn't have to take another unnecessary day off of work the following day.

Early the next morning I was having a dream I was talking to my sister-in-law on the phone, when I drowsily awoke to the real phone ringing on my night stand. It was my sister-in-law telling us to eat some breakfast and come into the hospital as soon as we could. YAY! I looked at the clock - it was 6:30 am. My adrenaline started pumping trying to think of everything we needed to do. This whole pregnancy had been one big lesson in expecting the unexpected for me. My mom drove up to be with the kids and we headed out the door by 7:30.

Before we left Riley took some pictures of me in all of my 37 week pregnancy hugeness:

I will just comment that there are no shirts big enough to substantially cover a belly like this. I could never have imagined my stomach could get that big and I could still walk. It was like having my own built in coffee table - I could set my books, drinks, and remote on it. Ha.

After we arrived at the hospital and got checked in and situated in our room the doctor broke my water and the adventure began. I was already dilated about a five or six so that was great news as well. Then they had someone from the lab come up and take my blood. After she was done, she put a cotton swab on my arm and commented on what a good bleeder I was since the blood was taking a while to stop flowing. I looked at Riley and had a horrible sinking feeling in my stomach. I've had trouble with my platelets being low in the past with both births of my other children. [Basically that means if they are too low, you're blood may not be able to clot and excessive bleeding can occur. In other words, the anesthesiologist would not administer an epidural unless my levels were higher.] In Kendle's case that resulted in my not being able to have an epidural ( if you are ever about to give birth to a ten pound baby, trust me that is NOT the news you want to hear), and with Morgan they barely let me have one because I was borderline. They were also concerned if I had to have an emergency c-section that I might need a blood transfusion. So they took my blood about four more times, one of the head pathologists tested my blood himself, I talked to the anesthesiologist about five times, they were having meetings about me and I was starting to have contractions and be in some pain. They did not want to give me anything to speed up the contractions more at this point until I could receive some pain releif.

Just when I thought things were looking kind of bleak, the anesthesiologist came back in and let me know the good news that they were going to go ahead and let me have one. The process of getting it in my back was a nightmare. It took about four times, one of which he scraped my spine. To say the least - it was horrible. I do not cry easily, but for whatever reason it was not easy to get it in and just as I had finally came around to the idea of bringing these babies into the world naturally, he was able to insert it correctly and it wasn't a second too soon. After that, the relief spread through me and my contractions started speeding up on their own without anything else needed. The pain of getting that thing in was totally worth it.

A little while later my parents came to sit with us at the hospital. It was nice and relaxing and my mom kept track of my contractions from the monitor by my bed. I kept joking that I wanted to have these babies before dinner time because I was starving and my stomach kept growling. I hadn't eaten anything since 7:00 that morning. About 5:00, my parents left for a little while to go grab a quick dinner and right after they left I started feeling some strong pressure. After the nurse checked me out she let us know we were ready to rock and roll. My nurse was awesome and with the hilarious comments of Doctor A. and the help of many other staff (when I say many, I mean it looked there was a party going on in our room) they started preparing the room for the birth of our boys. As they began to set up the two different beds for the babies and turning on the heat lamps and arranging the supplies, it finally hit me that I was about to deliver TWO babies. It had not seemed real to me during the entire pregnancy, I mean I knew it in my heart, but my mind had not fully comprehended and wrapped itself around the fact that it was really going to happen - and it would be happening now.

Doctor A. asked me which names we had for each baby. He wanted to make sure that they were given the right names as they were delivered. Cooper had always been the baby that was head down and right in the position to be born first. He was ready. It did not take long and they were holding him up for me to see his little face. I couldn't believe how big he looked. Neither could everyone else in the room. He looked so healthy and good. Then it was time for Kale to make his way into the world. Doctor A. had to help move him over so he was in a better position, Cooper had been taking up most of his room. Kale, who we are now coming to think of as Mr. Laidback, came out with his little legs crossed like a frog and his eyes open looking at us like "hey, what took so long?" Again, I was amazed at how healthy and good he looked. Perfect little round head, chubby cheeks, little arms flapping around. Almost 16 pounds of pure baby love had just come from my tired body and I felt like the proudest mom alive.

Because they were twins and born a few weeks early they had to do a little more to them than most normal babies. Kale had to have his breathing jump started a bit after he was born and Cooper was having a bit of trouble with some rapid breathing as well. It felt like a really long time before they finally let me hold both of them. That is a feeling I can't even begin to describe. I looked down at the two little faces that I had been thinking and dreaming about for months and just melted. It doesn't get much better than that. This is what happiness looks like:

*Fun Fact: Doctor A. told us they were the biggest twins he has ever delivered.*

My parents were gone for half an hour and this is what they came back to:

Cooper had to be in the NICU for a day because of some rapid breathing and low blood sugar and then he was released back to our room. I am glad for that reason that we had to wait until Monday to come to the hospital. I am so thankful for all of the staff that took such good care of us while we were there. We truly live in a remarkable time with the technology and medical care we have access to.

So Monday the 16th was a good day. We arrived at the hospital by 7:50 am, and met our baby boys for the first time by 5:30 pm and 5:45 respectively. I'm so thankful for these precious little boys and for a strong body that was able to carry them safely and deliver them soundly. We have so much to be thankful for this year.

Quick Update

Riley's surgery on Friday morning went pretty well as far as we can tell. He was really sick Friday, we think it was a combination of the anesthesia wearing off and the pain pills. So Friday was not good, but by Saturday afternoon he was feeling a bit better and able to relax a little. He is getting used to using crutches and I'm trying to put some padding around the tops so he doesn't get so sore. Those things are painful! Yow, I tried them out for a bit and my armpits still hurt. During surgery they drilled some holes in his ankle around where the bone had become dead to improve circulation and repaired and cleaned up some scar tissue and cartilage. We will find out more at his appointment in two weeks how things are coming along. His doctor did not give him an air cast or anything, they just bandaged it up and then wrapped it. She did not want to give Riley any temptation to try and put pressure on that foot I think. :) No pressure on that foot for six weeks - I told Riley his ankle is going to be worth it's weight in gold after this so he better not do anything to jeopardize it. HA!
*Thursday after work, he brought me home a dozen gorgeous red roses. Maybe he thought it was some extra insurance he would be recieving some good care post-surgery. He's been very appreciative of my help, I know it's hard to rely on other people.

My mom was great enough to come pick up the children Saturday afternoon and kept them until last night for us. My parents brought the kids home just in time for bed last night. It was so nice, having the house quiet so Riley could rest and not having to worry about Morgan jumping on him or whacking him with a toy. And the kids always have fun with grandma and grandpa. Morgan was so excited to leave on Saturday, he climbed in my mom's car while we were putting car seats and bags in and would not get out. He barely noticed me waving goodbye. They had some adventures down at the park - playing in the leaves, throwing rocks in the water,they saw a beaver, they even got to meet Mr. and Mrs. Claus. Yep, that's right. They met Santa Claus and his wife. I'll write more about that tomorrow.

Thank you to everyone who has helped us the last few days with watching kids, food, and called or emailed to check on Riley. I feel so blessed to have so many people in our lives who care.

Well, we made it this far

I've been biding my time. I knew it could happen any day. Just waiting for that moment when we would have to make that fateful trip to the ER. Well, I'm happy to say we were lucky enough to have made it five years without such an event. Our lucky streak ended Saturday night at my sister's volleyball game when a horrifying scream cut through the noise of the crowd. I look down to see blood gushing down Kendle's face and see the horrible expression she had. I'm sure a lot of you other mom's have had this same experience (Debbie). I went into panic mode. I swear when that adrenaline kicks in, it's like super-hero mom takes over, running down the bleachers to swoop her up and carry her out of the gym, except for my brain turned to mush and all I could think about was the blood coming out of her head. We couldn't really get a good look at the wound because of the blood. So with grandma Tovey driving, off we sped for the hospital (on senior parent night to boot, sorry mom). After waiting FOREVER we finally were taken into the little curtained partitioned areas to wait for the doctor and that was the first time we had some bright lighting to get a good look at it. Yikes! We think what happened was that she had been playing under the bleachers (ya, I'm the worst mom not even keeping on eye on my kid at the game) and she tripped and fell against one of the metal bars which must have had a bolt or screw sticking out of it and it went through her temple making kind of a jagged round hole. The doctor was pretty shocked and asked how it happened, and I felt even more guilty that I really didn't know because I wasn't watching her. He said he'd have to stitch her up, so the nurse cleaned it all out, the doctor numbed it up with a couple of shots (which was the worst part to watch) and Kendle just gripped my hand and I felt so bad watching the little tears slip down her face as she tried to be so brave and quiet. I held her little hand as the doctor put her stitches in and I knew she was scared and I had to just keep reassuring her everything would be alright. It is the worst feeling to watch your child be in pain and be scared. But true to Kendle's character, she was the bravest little girl I've ever seen. She didn't scream, or fight, or make a fuss and kept everyone entertained with her curiosity about everything medical and asked lots of questions since she wants to be a doctor some day.


















My mother had been promising Kendle that we would go get her a milkshake after her stitches were done, so we left the hospital and drove through McDonald's to get a shake. We didn't get back to my parents' house until about eleven at night and my dad had been watching Morgan for the last three hours or so for me. I decided we should just stay the night since I was too exhausted to make the drive home. The next morning we got up early and made our way back to Pasco so we could hurry and get ready for church. Kendle took a four hour nap yesterday afternoon after we got home. What a weekend.



So I'm hoping we don't have any more accidents for a while, but that's not very likely.

I also forgot to mention it's my brother Richard's birthday today! How old are you Rich? I've lost count!!! Happy Birthday to a great brother!