2 months...

Wyatt on the left, Jude on the right and the opposite below




Acrobats
Wyatt after a long day.
Jude snuggling with Luke

Feedings

After trying a few different ways to feed the babies we finally have mastered the art. I pump and we can feed the bottles to the boys at the same time. Sometimes we have to wake up one of them so that they will be on the same schedule but for the most part they are pretty in sync. During the day when I am on my own I put the babies in their bouncy seats to feed them. At night we have the Boppy's in the crib that they do not sleep in and we plop them in there. Barbara snuck in one morning to snap an in action photo. Please excuse the numerous pajama and make up less photos.
I now have a stool facing the crib and it has saved me. I used to almost pass out from exhaustion during those night feedings but now I can at least rest my legs and not to jinx myself or anything but these babies are only waking up once or twice per night these days. They are pure angel babies.

Grandma Owen's visit

Dave's mom came out to visit and since she is the photographer of the family we have lots of great pictures from her. It is so fun to have the Grandmas come out to meet their grandsons for the first time, help out and entertain Luke all day long. Dave loved watching the March madness games with his mom and I loved having her home all day with me to keep everyone calm and happy!

1 month...

Included lots of sleeping, cuddling, pumping, many delicious meals brought in and a 2 week visit from Grandma Linda.Just after their first visit to the zoo. They loved being all bundled.

What is better than a sleeping baby? Three sleeping babies.
Wyatt's first bath. (He loved it about as much as I love giving those first baths).

Jude's first bath. He looks traumatized.



Grandma Linda and Jude. Thanks for coming out and taking such good care of all of us! I am always amazed at ow much my mom can get done in a single day.

I have to say that things have gone a ton better than I ever anticipated. The first two weeks Dave had vacation time and was able to stay home with us. It was like the greatest vacation ever. Seriously! We just couldn't stop laughing and smiling at our little guys. We were on cloud nine. Everything those boys do makes us giggle. I don't know if it is just easier the second time around or that it is just hilarious to watch two squirmy newborns but we had a great time being all together as a family.
There are so many things about the newborn stage that I had forgotten. Like how it feels like they sleep all day and are up all night, the fun newborn smell, all of the cute baby burps and toots, how hard that first night home is and the crazy dreams. The first night home included getting up 1000 times to pop in binkies, our fire alarm going off because of a bottle nipple burning in the dishwasher and every time that we got up with the kids I had to ask Dave how many more babies were in still in the crib even though we were holding both of them. I kept thinking we had like 20 babies. It sort of felt like it. But we got into a rhythm and things are going well. These boys are amazing and I can't believe that we have three of them all of a sudden.

Baby stats

WYATT
Birth
weight 6 lbs 11 oz
length 19 1/4 inches

1 month
weight 9 lbs (28%)
length 21 1/2 inches (47%)
head 36.5 cm (17%)

2 months
weight 11 lbs 2.5 oz (36%)
length 23 inches (52%)
head 33.8 (24%)


JUDE
Birth
weight 7 lbs 3 oz
length 19 1/2 inches

1 month
weight 9lbs 10.5 oz (44%)
length 21 1/2 (47%)
head 36.9 cm (22%)

2 months
weight 11 lbs 11.5 oz
length 23 1/4 (63%)
head 39 cm (27%)

2 . 12 . 11

Birth Day

Birth day was such a special day. We all woke up at 6 am to call the hospital to make sure that we could come on in and we were denied again...the rooms were full.

Luckily they called us back at 9 am and told us to hurry in and be there no later than 9:30 so we finished getting ready, took Luke over to our neighbors house (which was such a comfort to know that he was in excellent hands) and drove to the hospital. It takes us exactly 3 minutes to get to the hospital so we were 5 minutes early. Again, no rooms were ready so there was more waiting involved. It took a while to get everything all settled in and the pitocine going. Lots of popsicles and HGTV later I got the epidural put in (Dave called one of the top dog anesthesiologists and she came in on her day off). All of the sudden I was at a 7 and my replacement doctor came in to go over all of our options.

Baby B (Jude) had flipped and was now breech. We discussed the fun of forceps and so on. Dr. Botti was all for a vaginal birth and I was all for that as well. He was all business and was so laid back. I found out later that he delivered the Gosselin sextuplets (Yes! My obsession continues).

Before I was ready I was dilated to a 10. I was shaking all day. From both the drugs and nerves. I have never been so nervous in my life. I was scared about delivering two, the pain, the unexpected complications that could happen and if the little babies were going to be healthy. I was totally dreading the delivery.

Next I was getting wheeled into the OR in case we needed to do a c-section at the last second. By this time I was in a lot of pain. My epidural was not working on the lower right side of my body and oh the pain! I couldn't even imagine how much pain I would be in without any epidural. But it ended up being a good thing because this time around I could actually push and focus and not have my legs flopping off of the table like they did with Luke. I could definitely feel the pain but I was able to push little Wyatt out in about 15 minutes.

He reminded me a lot of Luke when he came out just a smaller version. He was perfect and healthy and so handsome. After he was born I kept saying over and over that I couldn't do it again. Okay maybe I was yelling it. I was sooo exhausted and nervous about this second delivery and had been for the past 9 months. All I can remember about this moment was pain and thirst. But little did I know that Jude was my little hero and as soon as the put the ultrasound machine on we saw that he had flipped again and was head down. Best news! We waited for me to catch my breath, calm down and with the next contraction he came out. That was one of the best moments of my life! Boys were looking good and Dave said that I did a double fist pump and said "I feel so much better!" I really did feel instantly better after they both came out.

Jude did great but because he was a little blue he just needed a little puff of oxygen and was looking pink in no time. Jude was fun to see because to this day I have no clue who he looks like. Just his own cute self I guess. It was also a big surprise that he was the bigger of the two since the second twin is generally smaller and has more complications.

But I was able to hold the little guys right after delivery and I was in heaven. Everything ended up working out so perfectly and I still cannot believe how blessed we are to have these boys come here safe and sound and healthy.

Wyatt and Jude
Bored big brother
Jude up close and Wyatt in the back with Luke
This is how the boys sleep at night. The doctors kept saying to not have them sleep next to each other because one could pull a blanket on top of the other ones face and so on but we decided that this method would be safe enough. It reminds me of how the grandparents sleep on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Hi my name is Jude and I have super squishy lips!
The boyzzz. Luke's stick wasn't making me mad at all or wacking the babies in the face ever. I never knew that the older child would be the hardest part about having new babies. But he gets better everyday and he loves his little bros, he does some pretty cute baby talk as well.

Videos of the Babes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsCnlw-g3U4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fuum6OrnYc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfUZ0SmYxhQ

clever comments to follow...

The Twins Are Finally Here...

Wyatt Browning Owen- 6 lbs 11 oz, 19 inches

Jude Vranes Owen- 7 lbs 3 oz, 19 1/2 inches

Week 38

Still going...

Apparently I am like the energizer bunny when I am pregnant. Nobody ever wants to come out on their own but maybe I should take it as a compliment that all of my boys like to stay cozy in my belly for a long time. Things seem to be going fine and my doctor set the induction date for this Saturday the 12th. Feels like forever away for some reason. Dave's sister is having her baby boy on Wednesday so I am really excited for these cousins to all be born the same week.

Every week I show up to another appointment my doctor laughs and tells me that I shot down all of his credibility. He has been saying that I won't make it another week for the past month. Last week I was dilated to a 4 and fully effaced. Both babies are head down again which is great. The only bad part is that my doctor has left me to go to a conference in California for the week but he scheduled me with another "white haired colleague" that has delivered many twins and if the second baby does flip he won't hesitate to reach up, grab a foot and pull the little guy out. I am scared, but excited, but scared, but excited. I love the crazy hormones that come with those last few weeks of pregnancy!




On another note I just found these pictures of Luke on his first day of preschool. You can tell that he was a little nervous (and he actually had a stomach ache all morning) in the first pic right before school. The second picture was after school. He picked the pose all on his own. I think he was feeling pretty cool for being a big school kid. He has loved school and the first thing that he said when I picked him up on that first day was "preschool is awesome" while doing a huge fist pump!