:: we LOVE dad::

Thought I'd share our Valentines day crafting with everyone.  We aren't big celebrators of the big V-day in this house, but this year I thought it would be fun to surprise Chase with something from Sean & Scott.  You would think it would be easy getting a footprint of a baby, but I learned it IS NOT!!!  We ruined several pieces of paper before getting any decent prints, but I will admit I am in love with the finished product!

**Thanks to Pinterest for the idea **

Favorite Room in the House :)

Finally some pictures of the nursery!  I didn't want something that was too baby-ish, so I thought the squares would be fun and different and would last through the younger years of Sean & Scott's life!  The squares weren't that hard to do.  I considered them easier than painting one whole wall one color!  The hardest part was deciding what color went where and trying not to end up with the same colors touching.  I may be in love with the finished product!  This room definitely makes getting up in the middle of the night a little easier!

Up to Date.... FINALLY!

Wow!!  Having 2 babies is insane, and I think that might even be an understatement!!  Our sweet boys have been home with us now for almost 3 months!!  I can't even believe how fast the time has gone by.  I'll be honest, the first month is just a blur of events caused by lack of sleep!

This is mostly for me and my record keeping so I'm going to start from the beginning.

Sept. 30, 2011::  Sean & Scott are born!!  Sean weighed 3.7lb,s was 16 inches, and a head circ. of 11.4 inches.  Scott weighed 3.11lbs, was 16.5 inches, and had a head circ. of 11.8 inches.  They spent 5 weeks in the NICU.  During that time they each spent time on oxygen and were given a dose of caffeine to keep their hearts beating when they would forget to breathe.  Each of them struggled with apnea up to the day they came home.  They were on feeding tubes for the first 3 or 4 weeks and then were weaned to nipple from a bottle.  Those 5 weeks are now a blur.  I can barely remember them being so tiny and looking at them in their isolettes and longing to just hold and snuggle them.  I remember being so excited when they got moved into an open crib and got to be next to each other and wear little clothes!!  It was the best feeling being able to give them their baths and change their clothes!  Scary, but I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Gary Scott Phillips

Bradford Sean Phillips

They loved snuggling together

These were my favorite outfits.  I can't wait until they are older and I can pull them out to show them how tiny they were!

One night while we were in the NICU visiting, one of the nurses mentioned that our boys could be coming home within the next week!  We were so excited!  It was amazing the progress they had made in those few weeks!  I was told that the Dr. would be contacting us on Friday to let us know when we would be able to go have a sleep over and bring Sean & Scott home.  On Saturday morning we had not heard anything so I called the hospital to see when we should expect to have them home.  I was told that we could come stay over with them that night!  Wow!!  We were so not prepared!  Chase and I cleaned like crazy people and went to the hospital at 5:00pm.  The boys were coming home with heart and lung monitors and would still be on caffeine, so we had to have a little lesson on how to use the monitors.  I'm pretty sure neither of us slept a wink that night!!  It was a surreal experience and I was a little bit panicked!  We had gotten comfortable with the routine in the NICU and to be given full control and access to our babies was like being handed a chinese puzzle!!  It was strange being able to hold them as long as we wanted and able to do things our own way because there wasn't a nurse by our sides!

Going Home!

Nov. 6, 2011::  Our babies came home!!  Sean weighed 4.11 lbs, was 17.3 inches and had a head circ. of 13.2 inches.  Scott weighed 5.3 lbs, was 18.9 inches and had a head circ. of 12.8 inches.  When we got the boys home, Chase and I just looked at each other and nervously asked "What do we do now?!"  Luckily my mom was on her way down to stay with us for a week to help get adjusted!  Thank goodness for her!  Chase and I just stared at Sean & Scott for hours.  It was so hard to believe that they were actually home, and they were ours, and no one was going to be checking on them and us to make sure we were doing everything right.

Let me just summarize the next few weeks.  Change babies, feed babies, snuggle babies, REPEAT (every 3 hours)!!!  When they got home they were still only eating about 60 cc's which is about 2 ounces.  By the 3rd week home we were feeding them 3-4 ounces!  They were improving so quickly!  Having my mom here was a lifesaver!  We would rotate through the feedings at night so that someone would get some extra sleep.  My mom stayed 2 weeks with us.  I cried the day she left for home!  It meant I was on my own!  Chase was going back to work the next day so I'd be flying solo with 2 babies!  The first day was exhausting, frustrating, exciting, and frightening all at the same time!  I'm happy to report - - - WE SURVIVED!!  I found that I enjoyed being with them by myself.  I had found my routine three days in.  I look back and wonder how I'm still alive.  It was hard to find the time to eat or have any time to myself.  Somehow, it all worked out!

This was our lunch most days!

We had our first pediatricians visit 4 days after the boys were home.  That was quite the event getting everything ready to go out!  The dr. was impressed with their improvement and we were scheduled to come back in one week.  At the next appointment the dr. couldn't believe the rapid weight gain each boy had!  It was a good feeling!  The caffeine was dropped 2 weeks after being home with no alarms on the monitors!  I was very happy about this, I hated the effects it had on my babies!  And by the end of the month we had said good-bye to the monitors also!  That was probably the best part, they were now more mobile.  We were sort of stuck to the living room with the monitors because they had to be plugged in and were a pain to have to carry around.  So we moved the boys into their crib!  It was a great feeling.  And they love their room! 

completely zonked!

 

 

 

We did a photo shoot about a week or so after the boys had been home.  It was a lot of work!!  I applaud the photographers who create amazing photos with babies!!  It's no easy task!  But we got some great photos and I will treasure them forever!  Here are some of my favorites!

Dec. 6, 2011::  2 month doctors checkup.  Sean weighed 7.5lbs, was 20 inches, and had a head circ. of 14.4 inches!!  He had gained 4 lbs in a month, and grown about 3 inches!!  Scott weighed 7.14lbs, was 21 inches, and had a head circ. of 14.4 inches!!  He had gained about 3 lbs in a month, and grown about 3 inches!!  It was a proud day!  The were doing so great!  They both ate about 4-5 ounces at every feeding and still ate about every 3 hours.  Still not on the charts for height or weight, but they were rising on their own charts!  Both boys developed reflux pretty bad.  Feeding them was a nightmare, they would just scream unless they were sucking on the bottle.  It was bad for about 2 weeks and we finally went to the doctor.  They are now on Prevacid which has been a complete lifesaver.  They are now happy to eat and be burped!!  By the end of December we had experienced an almost full night of sleep!!  It was exciting!  The boys sleep pretty good, but every once in a while they throw us off and wake up every 3 hours.  I think it's just to keep us on our toes, no slacking!!

I'm going to end this post here.  Hopefully I'll continue soon, since Sean & Scott are 4 months old now!!  I promise to get pictures of the nursery too.  It's my favorite room!

::Changes:: {in the blink of an eye}

Bradford Sean Phillips:

31 weeks & 6 days

Born 9/30/2011 @ 7:41 pm

3 lbs 7 oz   16 inches

Gary Scott Phillips:

31 weeks & 6 days

Born 9/30/2011 @ 7:42 pm

3 lbs 11 oz  16.5 inches

What a ride this has been!  We knew our boys would come early but we didn't know it would be this early!!  We had just been to our doctors appointment on Wed. (Sept 28) and everything checked out great!  I had a NST done and had a few contractions but apparently nothing to be worried about because the doctor just said be sure and take it easy.  Well I took it easy, but Thursday night I started having contractions.  I didn't think much of them because I've contracted through this whole pregnancy thanks to my rapid growth!  So I thought they would go away eventually, but these were different than the others.  It was like one huge contraction that didn't ever go away.  The night was awful, I sat in the bathtub hoping that would help, I tried to ignore them and sleep, but nothing was helping.  So Friday morning I called the Dr.'s office and talked with a nurse.  They didn't have any openings so she told me to go up to Labor & Delivery and have them do a NST to watch the babies.

Again I didn't think much of this cause it wouldn't be the first time we got sent to the hospital for that.  So at about 10:00 am I went up and told Chase.  We took our time getting ready!!  I showered and everything!  On our way out we both stopped and wondered if maybe we should pack a bag or something but both decided it would probably be just like last time and we'd get sent home in an hour!!  I did at least grab my own pillow!  And that's where our adventure begins!

Admitted at 12:00 we got in our room and I got hooked up to the monitors and the boys were doing good.  They were moving and kicking and having a party I think.  I, on the other hand, was having contractions that were pretty strong (I had no idea they were THE REAL DEAL!!).  The nurse checked me and I was already dilated to a 4!!  So the rush began.  I was pumped full of all kinds of medications to slow the contractions and steroids for the babies lungs.  I didn't get any pain meds because they had to be able to tell if the contractions were getting stronger.  They were!  The shots I got to slow the contractions had side effects like an energy drink x 100.  My heart rate at one point was 125!!  I had the sweats and shakes! After about an hour things seemed to ease up.  I finally got some morphine which just took the edge off.  I was still able to feel each contraction.  It was unlike anything I'd ever felt before.

When the morphine started to wear off things progressed more.  They tried the shots to slow me down again, but there wasn't enough time to let them kick in.  The contractions were horrific by then and were very close together.  The deciding factor though was when Sean's heart-rate started dropping with each contraction.  He was showing distress, so around 7:30 pm I was off to the OR for a c-section!  I guess the nurse was worried that with as small as the babies were and me being dilated to a 5 at that point meant that they could come out any time.  I was lucky that there was time to do a spinal block instead of having to be put completely under.  That was kind of scary.  Here I was with full swing labor contractions trying to lean forward and not move!!  It all worked out good though and before I knew it I couldn't feel my legs or stomach!  The whole surgery only took about 20 min.  Chase even got brave and watched them break my 2nd water and pull Scott out.  It was the strangest feeling to be able to feel the tugging and pressure but not have any pain associated with it.  Once the 2nd baby was out I felt a huge relief.

They had 2 teams of nurses ready for the boys.  I got to see each of them for just a second before they were rushed out to NICU.  I'm so thankful for all of the nurses and doctors that were there and ready to take care of them.  It was an overwhelming feeling when I was wheeled into my room, knowing I couldn't see my boys until the spinal block wore off.  At about 2:00 am I was finally able to feel my legs and stand, so they let us go into NICU and see our babies.  Talk about emotional!!  There they were!!  So perfect and beautiful!  The tubes and wires made my heart ache for them.  Luckily they didn't stay on them long.  Our boys are fighters!!  Sean had to be on a ventilator for the first 2 days.  It wasn't breathing for him, but would kick in when he would forget to keep breathing!!  Neither of them had to be on straight oxygen which is amazing.  By day 3 they were both completely off the oxygen.  Scott was able to be off his IV's sooner than Sean.  He was eating and digesting like a champ!  As of Wednesday the 5th Sean was off his IV and eating and digesting his food.  They are both getting increased feedings right now.  So far only Sean has had to be under the Bili-lights and was only there for a day.

We feel so lucky to have such strong baby boys.  They are improving by the day and we can only hope that the progress continues.  We don't know when to expect them to come home.  Maybe 4-6 weeks?  But we are so thankful for all of the amazing nurses that are taking care of them right now.  I have no doubt they are getting the best care possible.  I love our time there visiting and holding our babies.  They are such sweet little spirits.  I never want to leave them, but I have the comfort of knowing they are being loved and watched over.

We will keep you all updated as the time goes on.  Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers.  I know they are working!!

<::Twenty Seven::>

September 21 I celebrated my 27th birthday.  I had prepared myself for it to suck!  I was put on strict bed-rest the week before, so I was ready to enjoy the couch for my big day!  I had my 31 week appointment that afternoon and I got released from the strict part and was just advised to take it easy!  That was the first great news, and we got a great ultrasound picture of the babe who had been hiding through each appointment...  the day was looking up!

I spent the day resting thanks to some contractions that were coming and going.  Chase worked later than normal that night.  So I wasn't expecting anything!!  But he came through with some great surprises!  He got me a cake complete with candles!  And got me some great gifts!  He bought me the book "The Help" (I highly suggest this to all!  It was a great read.), he also got me the Adele cd (love, love, love it!), and he got me one of those amazing pregnancy pillows (not just a body pillow, it's 100 times better!!).

It was a perfect night!  Probably one of my most memorable birthdays yet.  Thank you Chase for making me feel so special and loved!  I love you.

::Chase's Summer Love::

These last two summers Chase has been learning to kayak with his brothers.  He really enjoys it, but hasn't gotten to into it yet due to the lack of owning his own kayak.  Who knew those things were so expensive!!!  Anyway, this summer he really hasn't gotten to get on the river much (thanks to these two darling boys growing inside me)!

I had no idea kayaking was such a popular sport!!  Did you know there are "parks" for people to go play in and learn new tricks without hitting the major rapids?!  Ogden has a few neat places for this.  Chase was able to get out the other day and play in a little waterfall that is just behind the new Wal-Mart off 21st in Ogden.  He conquered his first ever "river roll" and managed to figure out how to "surf" the wave.  Everyone makes these things look super easy, but apparently it takes a bit of skill to do it.  So I got to be the proud wife for the afternoon!!
Here is some video footage from the day.

 First "River Roll"

I hope our boys get his love for water instead of my slight fear of it!!

{shadow play}

Today was a fun day!!  Chase and I worked on the basement bedroom together!  We primed all the walls and ceiling this morning and painted the ceiling this afternoon.  Can't wait to get the walls painted tomorrow and Tuesday!!  It's a lot more work doing it 7 months pregnant...  but it's going to be worth it!  While we were cleaning up tonight the sun was shining in the window and made a perfect spot for shadows on the back wall.  Here is a favorite we captured!

I'm thinking this could be something fun to do with maternity photos!!  Definitely will keep it in mind!