Life as a family of five

Bayla and Harper have been home nearly 3 weeks now, and we're settling into life as a family of 5 + dog. The girls are doing so, so well-- as of a week and a half ago, Bayla weighed nearly 7 lbs, and Harper was at 7 lbs, 3 oz. I'm sure Harper's topping 8 lbs, and Bayla is probably well past 7. They're eating pretty well, and up until the past few days, they've been extremely laid-back. My due date was May 27, and as we'd heard, they did start to wake up and cry more.

We're feeding them every 3 hrs, so we head off a lot of the hunger-related screaming. If they're crying, it's usually because they need some love, and after a little holding, they're better. I do not expect this good luck to last. I remember late, difficult nights with infant Brady, so I'm bracing myself for that times 2.

Speaking of Brady, he is mostly a very sweet, very caring big brother. When we first brought them home, he was so interested in their "funny faces" and "little handses and footses." The novelty has worn off, and like any good 3 year old, he tests his limits around them. "Can I throw this ball near them? What about a head butt? What if I poke their eyes? What if I scream as loudly as I can around them?" It's exasperating. Throw in a week and a half at home because daycare was closed, and you have some exhausted, frustrated parents. He also has some very sweet moments, like last night, when he insisted on getting on the play mat with them and just lying there, and tonight when he offered Bayla his bath after he was done. After all, "There are lots of toys for her to play with." He's getting plenty of attention (both good and bad), but this is a huge life change. It's hard to go from being the center of the universe to one of 3 suns. We're trying to be patient, but that wears pretty thin after 1.5 hours of trying to get him to go into and stay in his room at bedtime.

We're also getting out more. Brady's full social calendar (I'm not even kidding) has seen Mommy or Daddy taking him to a birthday party nearly every weekend. It's nice alone time with him, and it gives the other parent a break and a chance to focus on the girls. We've made a few family excursions, but we're trying to keep the girls from being around too many people (and related germs). We take walks around the neighborhood a lot, which is great for everyone.

Mostly, this is an amazing, miraculous experience. Sometimes we'll all be sitting on the bed, or hanging out in the den, or going somewhere in the car, and I'll think, "Holy s@#t, we have 3 kids!" It's a lot to take in, but we're unbelievably fortunate to have 3 beautiful, healthy children. '

Sure, we're exhausted, but the night nurse, our neighbors, and some family and wonderful friends are helping us as much as they're able (Bonnie took a week off and came up here to help-- we miss her!!), and it makes such a difference. When Brady was born, I refused almost all help-- I wanted to do it on my own, my way. I won't be making that mistake again. It takes a village, that's for sure. And we appreciate it more than those helping will ever know.

So that's a lot for now. All is well, although tiring. I'll do my very best to get on here more often with anecdotes and updates about the Slemons family. I'm also going to do my best to figure out how the hell to add photos so you can see the progress and my beautiful kids. :)

More updates soon!

More about the girls

It's been 2.5 weeks since our girls were born, and as predicted, the journey has continued. Bayla and Harper have breathed on their own since birth, and they're perfectly healthy. They're still in the hospital because they were born too early for their suck, swallow, and breathe reflex to have been developed, and they're having to learn to eat. But as of today, they're each taking four bottles on their own and even breastfeeding sometimes, so we're expecting them home in the next week or so.

Bayla and Harper are marvelous to look at. Sometimes when we're at the hospital, I just look back and forth from bassinet to bassinet, amazed that Shawn and I have created these two perfect babies. Bayla's head is a little smooshed and her neck is very tight because her sister was taking up so much room in utero, but it will even out in the next year. Their good health is more than we could have hoped for, and we are just so, so grateful for these girls. I'm sure there will be challenges here and there because they are preemies, but for now, we're just on cloud 9.

I've gotten a taste of how exhausting it is to run a household and go back and forth to the hospital everyday, and I can't tell you how impressed I am with my husband. He did an amazing job during the 3 months I was out of commission. Brady is happy to have Mommy home, and Mommy is beyond happy to be home. I can't tell you how unbelievable that first shower at home was, and how great it is to sleep next to my husband, down the hall from my son every single night.

Now that my incision is healing well and I'm feeling more like my old self and can do more, the house is getting back in order. I'm happy to say that we're all ready for the girls to come home and get settled. The house is messy, but I think that's just how it's going to be for the next 20 years. Oh, well!

So now we're focused on getting Bayla and Harper home, and getting Brady adjusted to truly being a big brother. He hasn't even met the girls yet because NICU doesn't allow children younger than 14, so it's going to be interesting. I can't wait to have the entire family together. I get teary thinking about it.

So anyway, that's all that's going on. Sorry for the disjointed post, but I haven't even had a chance to process all the emotions and thoughts, much less articulate them! We'll do better about updating the blog and keeping everyone in the loop. Continued thanks for everyone's love, support, thoughts, and prayers. More updates soon!

Introducing Bayla and Harper Slemons

They're here! Bayla Celia and Harper Jordan Slemons were born Thursday, April 15. Here's their information:

Bayla Celia Slemons: Born at 1:18 p.m., 4 lbs 13 oz., 16 in. long
Harper Jordan Slemons: Born at 1:19 p.m., 4 lbs 12 oz, 17 3/4 in. long

Both girls are doing incredibly well. They haven't needed any breathing help, and they're learning to take bottles and regulate their temps. We don't know when they'll come home, but the average NICU stay for 34-weekers is about 2 weeks. I might get to go home tomorrow (Sunday).

We are so grateful and relieved that they've been born healthy. We couldn't be more thrilled. We can't wait to introduce them to everyone!

More info soon, and I'm going to figure out how to add photos!

The end of the road, the beginning of an adventure

Here I sit in the hospital room I've been in for the last 11 weeks, knowing that in 2 days I'll have 2 more children. I thought life was complete with an amazing husband, sweet son, supportive family, the best friends anyone could ever hope for, and a meaningful job, but I'm realizing that these girls are really going to round it out. Every life has ups and downs-- I had my biggest down when I lost my mother nearly 6 years ago-- and I guess all you can do is hope and pray that you have more ups than downs. 11.5 weeks ago we were terrified we'd experience another huge down, but here we are. Who knows why? I certainly don't, and I'm not especially inclined to ask. I'm just grateful and hopeful.

I'm also anxious and nervous. Having twins is no walk in the park, and because they'll be preemies, a lot can be wrong. Having major surgery is scary. Trying to fit back into my old life is going to be a hard transition. Affording 3 kids is challenging. Making sure Brady, Shawn, and even the dog get as much as me as I can give is daunting. But it will all be okay, because it has to be. These girls are meant to be ours, and we're going to do our very best to raise happy, healthy, loving children.

I've spent so much time focusing on NOT focusing that I'm experiencing a huge wave of emotions: relief, terror, happiness, excitement. Mostly, I'm ready to get back to my life, know what we're up against, and move forward. It's going to be quite a ride.

The next time you hear from me on the blog, you'll know the girls' names and statistics, and I'll figure out how to add photos so you can see the little faces we've been so excited to see. So more updates soon!

Old wives' tales

We are in the final countdown. Six days to go until we meet our girls...if they wait that long.

So a big rainstorm blew threw Atlanta yesterday, and it poured for a while. Have you ever heard the old wives' tale that women go into labor during a storm? Ask any nurse and they'll tell you it's true, and I can just about corroborate it. When the weather turned yesterday, I started to bleed and contract. I went on the monitors for about 2 hours, and the babies were fine the whole time. But during that 2 hours, the weather cleared, and things smoothed out for me and have been fine ever since. You can correlate the rain going away with my contractions stopping-- and I'm not kidding. It wasn't nearly as scary as the last time I bled, mostly because they're in a much safer place. And probably because I am READY to get the hell out of here. (My water broke 11 weeks ago today.)

But I had an ultrasound this morning and everything looked great. Because I am so close to delivering, any strange goings-on will almost certainly result in me delivering these babies. Strange goings-on could include more bleeding, bad monitoring sessions, etc. I'd like to hold out til Thursday, but we shall see.

I'm not sleeping well, and I'm starting to get very nervous about the surgery and what's in store for the girls. But Shawn and I are SO ready to know what the next stage will be like, and how the girls are doing. We fully expect them to be in the NICU for awhile, but no one knows how long that will be, and they won't even know when they're born. We'll be continuing to play everything by ear, but at least we'll know what we're dealing with. And of course, we'll get to hold and love our baby girls.

So I have one more ultrasound on Tuesday, which is also my last day of work before maternity leave, then it will be go time. More updates soon!

The real countdown is on

Today I'm 32 weeks, 5 days! And we only have 9 days to go until we meet our girls. Only 9 days! To break it down for you the way I'm thinking about it, that means, at the time I'm writing this, I have:
-2 more ultrasounds
-13 more baby and contraction monitoring sessions
-31 more insulin shots
-30 more finger pokes
-About 12 more nights away from my husband, son, and dog (assuming all goes well)

It's exciting! I'm just so so ready to be back to my life. I asked Brady if I can give him baths, read him books, and tuck him in for night night, and he said, "No. Daddy does that." Ouch. But we'll reconnect, I'll bribe him with ice cream, and all will be well. Then his sisters will come home... ;)

We had another ultrasound today, and everything looked great. Baby A had a decent amount of fluid, so that was good news. Baby B is doing fantastic as always. Interestingly, Baby B seems to be everywhere at once-- she's head down, she kinda curves around the middle of my belly, and her legs and feet are on my left side, above her sister. When she gets going, my entire abdomen just goes completely nuts. Baby A is much more reserved. It will be incredibly interesting to see if they retain these personalities. I bet they will, and if so, let me just say this: we are in so much trouble!

But anyway, that's all the news. Tomorrow we'll be counting down from 8 days. More updates soon!

Another week down

It's now been 10 weeks since Baby A's membrane ruptured. Let me repeat that: 10 weeks. Seems like both yesterday and a lifetime ago. I miss being at home with my boys more and more each day, and I'm just glad I don't have that much longer til we can start our family life together again.

We had another ultrasound this morning, and everything looked wonderful. Babies are practicing their breathing, kicking around, and appear otherwise healthy. I'm now 32 weeks, 1 day, so my feeling is that this can really happen any time...any time now... It would be wonderful to make it to 34 weeks-- really wonderful-- but I know the girls would be in such a great place now, and it's extremely freeing. Plus, I'm getting really uncomfortable, and it's no fun to roll myself out of bed every time I need to get up.

Everything is in countdown mode now, and I'm looking forward to April 15 like you wouldn't believe. Oh-- if you have any night nurse recommendations, please let me know. This is actually happening, so we need to start interviewing night nurses so we can actually get some sleep the first couple months these girls are home.

So all is well, and we have another ultrasound Tuesday. More updates soon!