A Day in the Life...

Monday (June 27, 2011) morning I started contracting every few minutes and figured maybe we should go to the hospital instead of work.  Dilated to a six, throwing up, coughing, and carrying the world's biggest headache, I'm glad the awesome nurses and docs at UVRMC acted quickly.  It was around 8:00 a.m. when we got there and I had an epidural shortly after.  By 11:00ish I was dilated to an eight and by 11:45 to a 10.  They wheeled me into the OR (notice Tim's cute garb) and I started coughing like crazy.  The doctor told me to stop coughing because the baby would slide right out; I laughed until he told me he was serious.  A half-a-push later (no kidding), one baby was out.  The other baby was flipped so the doc began pushing on my stomach to try to turn her, when all of the sudden he said, "Oh, there's her feet!" and just pulled her out breech.  Three minutes between the two births.  Crazy!

Dakota was born at 11:55 a.m. on June 27, 2011.  She weighed 5.5 and is 16.5 inches long.  She did great from birth!  No problems with breathing, blood sugar, body temperature regulation, or anything.  She is a tiny mirror image of Copper, who also had lots of black, curly hair.  

This is Micah. She was born at 11:58 on June 27, 2011 and weighed 4.10, and is 16.5 inches long.  She has lots of hair, light colored and a little curly.  My mom says I looked just like that too.  After I got a short glimpse, they took her to NICU because she was breathing really fast.  Her blood sugar was also low.  She was put on a CPAP in order to provide pressure to expand her lungs. She was off the CPAP within a day and has stayed in the NICU to monitor oxygen levels, blood sugar, and body temperature regulation.  She's done really well since and we're hoping she comes home in a day or two!

Copper is finally back to her happy, smiley self, thank goodness!  So yea(!) for Tim taking yesterday off to celebrate one (probable) last weekend with just the three of us.  It was an all-Copper-attention day and a lot of fun.  I'm so lucky to have Tim and Copper!  We started off by trying out Copper's new bike trailer she got for Christmas.  She LOVED it!  Even I biked. Only once around the block, but once was enough- and I only toted myself! Then we went to Highland's splashpad/river and let Copper swim.  She also loved this.  And, if this is what I look like to the world, I am sorry and there will be no more pregnant pictures! Afterward it was time for chocolate frozen yogurt.  This picture was taken when she first started eating; you should have seen her about five minutes later! This is what I did while she splashed/played.  I made markers to tell which bottle belongs to which baby, and then soft little anklets to tell them ...

A month ago during an ultrasound, Baby B was trailing at 2.9 lbs.  Baby A, the hog of nutrients, was 3.4 and expected to stay the bigger, more dominant baby. We sort of felt bad for the smaller baby until this week.  Apparently she can hold her own, now weighing 4.13... over two pounds in four weeks!  Baby A gained exactly one pound, which makes total baby weight over nine pounds.  No wonder my back hurts all the time!  And they'll keep growing, duh, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to fall over every time I try to stand up and walk.  I guess the bigger they are at birth the better?

No snoring, wheezing, or gasping for breath!  And breathing through her nose for the first time in months! Plus, it's cute she fell asleep by the window waiting for Tim to get home from church.  With every passing car she'd say, "Ti?"

1.  I was 33 weeks yesterday. 2.  I am ready to be done. 3.  I don't like any of the doctors I see except the perinatologist. 4.  I can now tell there are two babies in there.  Usually because when they get hiccups they get them at the same time but in different rhythms. 5.  We are each naming one baby.  No I am not taking veto power and figure he has just as much right to name one as I do. 6.  Tim is not telling his name until birth. 7.  So far they have no middle names.  Hoping they just come to us. 8.  When Copper lays on my stomach and they kick her she smiles and probably doesn't know what to think. 9.  I have three shirts that fit me and really only one pair of pants.  So I look the same most every day of the week. 10.  I crocheted around and embroidered names on the blankets they'll have at the hospital. 11.  I have unbelievable friends and family who have given us a ton of really great stuff....

For Copper's birthday we got her a tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy, and tubes in her ears.  What was supposed to be a few hours in same day surgery was actually overnight in the hospital.  She's pretty miserable and it was absolutely NO FUN at all!  Sad way to spend her birthday, but we're hoping it clears up a lot of problems.  The doc said her tonsils were so enlarged there was hardly any airway and that we should see remarkable differences in her sleeping and eating patterns.  Even if she's still picky we're okay witih that.  What's hard is the days and days she'll go without eating anything (besides gallons of milk). Before we even started she got a glimpse of nurses and docs in their garb and freaked out... All of this b/c of the nightgown.  They hadn't even taken her away yet! Finally home.  Still looks miserable.  Sad!!

Copper turns TWO(!) this Wednesday.  We celebrated today and, though oblivious that it was all for her, she had a fantastic time.  She was spoiled with a bike, a coupe car, sand for her sandbox, sand toys, a musical guitar, and a cute backpack.  What a lucky family we are to have her.  Some of her latest: * Saying "Ow!!" * Calling Tim by his name instead of dad * Pulling her shirt up and scratching her belly (there's a chance she watches me do this frequently) * Initiating nighttime prayer and books, then asking for bed. Cute except when we remind her about brushing her teeth, the end of the world has come.