A little reminiscing…

I had planned to do this closer to the boys’ birthday but I'm not gonna lie…I'm bored out my skull and this is safer for my bank account and marriage then online shopping ;) I can’t believe that my boys are going to be 2 in less than 2 weeks. Where has the time gone really? So, in honor of my boys, I will write their birth story (more for me really and for use against them when they get older).

For those of you who know about Adam and I and our struggles with infertility (now we realize was due to Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) you would know that twins “do not run in our family.” They (and Evan) are Clomid/Metformin babies (thank god for modern medicine). I remember like it was yesterday getting a call from Mid Iowa Fertility to come in for an ultrasound because my HCG levels were so high and the nurse looking to Dr.Cooper and asking “is that what I think it is?” and his response “Yep there are two!” and Adam’s clever response “Two what?” Then I remember watching as his skin tone changed to a lovely shade of green and heard Dr. Cooper ask Adam if he needed a trash can. What a wiener! 

Anyway, those of you who were on this crazy journey with us know that our lives changed at our 20 week ultrasound when we discovered Braden’s “condition.” Those were some pretty scary months and ultrasounds quickly lost their appeal. We were tired of hearing all the things that were wrong with Baby B (Braden) and only getting pictures of Baby A (Jacob). That broke my heart that I had to ask for pictures of Braden…he’s in there too you know! Just because he is different didn’t make me want pictures of him any less to document his progress. I would also  feel bad watching Braden get the crap beat out of him by Jacob…knowing the boys now, I can now see that their personality was shining through very early! Jacob, the aggressor, and Braden, rolling with the punches, literally!

The first time the boys are seen clearly as two little gummy bears

   Jacob     Braden’s little legs

          Braden getting kicked in the face by Jacob

I remember around my 33 week appointment and being M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E! I had been sleeping upright in a nest of pillows on our couch from about week 14 on and begging to be put on bed rest (it hurt SO badly to walk!) and being told “you are doing great we are hoping you make it to 38 weeks!” GAG!  And then quickly being told during my stress test that “Baby A’s placenta is acting funny” (Great what more could go wrong…I had been so worried about Baby B that I had taken for granted that Baby A was just along for the ride and was smooth sailing) I was given prednisone shots 24 hrs apart and was given a tour of the Mercy NICU (just in case). Holy HELL did that steroid shot hurt! Anyway, I remember meeting Helen,one of the many amazing ladies up on the 4th floor, who gave us a quick tour and she said “it was nice meeting you but you are doing great so I’m sure we wont see you back here!” HA! Looking back on that now is kind of funny knowing now that we would see her in less than 24 hrs and for how long we stayed up there afterward! :)

These were taken 3 days before I went into labor…sexy I know!

 

Well it was Friday, January 29, 2010 and I had gotten my second steroid shot and could barely walk. Mind you, I was going on about 3 hrs of sleep because I had woken up to a horrendous amount of sharp pain thinking that Braden had flipped yet again! I was miserable all day at work with a low back ache and I’m almost certain I may have fallen asleep at my desk once (whoops). I went home and settled in with Adam and Evan and we ordered Dominos pizza and I ate myself stupid (probably not the smartest thing I could have done considering). Adam’s brother Ben and his fiancé at the time, Ann came down to Ames and wanted to take Adam out to the bar since they were in town so I told him to go since I was planning on going to bed at like 9 that night. Adam came back around midnight and had just laid down when I hobbled to the bathroom for my 1 of 12 midnight potty breaks. I had just stood up when I felt like I had gone to the bathroom again accidentally…looked down and saw blood. I silently freaked out and sat back down for my water to break seconds later. I then REALLY freaked and yelled for Adam who was annoyed that I woke him up…until I told him what had happened and then he IMMEDIATELY sobered up! I called my friend Nicole who was about 8 months pregnant herself and she rushed over to watch Evan and then we called both sets of parents and my mom and dad rushed to Ames from Waterloo to relieve Nicole.

I called Mercy and they told me to head to Mary Greeley first to make sure I didn’t deliver in the mini-van on I-35. By the time I got to MG it was 1 am and I was dilated to 3cm. They carted me off and sent me via ambulance down to Mercy. Mind you, I get car sick and here I was, tummy full of pizza and 2 babies, laying down, contracting 3 minutes apart, and bouncing all over the place on the stretcher…it was a LONG ride to DSM!  I passed the time by joking with the paramedics. He asked “Is it too warm in here?” to the attending nurse with me and I told them that they “should just take their pants off like me cause I thought it felt great!” he also asked if I wanted him to dim the lights and I told the nurse “Watch out! That’s exactly what got me into this predicament!” The paramedic said I won the award for best patient he’s ever had to transport! YAY me!

Anyway, by the time I got to Mercy it was about 3 am and they were prepping a room for me and THANKFULLY they gave me my spinal so I didn’t feel the need to push anymore! By 4:40 the boys were born. It was the start of many scary moments. There I lay and they said “Baby B is out” and what followed was DEAD.SILENCE. I was not prepared to NOT hear anything. I kept asking “whys he not crying? What’s going on?” and Adam just shook his head and said “I think they took the baby into another room” and then 1 minute later I heard what sounded like a baby Velociraptor and they brought Jacob over to us wrapped up, allowed me to see him and get a quick picture before they whisked him away too. I don’t remember too much past that other than I think I told Adam to leave me and follow the babies and make sure Baby B was OK. Baby “B” was 5 lbs 0 oz and 14 1/2” long. Baby “A” was 4 lbs 11 oz and was 17 and 3/4” long. Oddly enough, their combined weight was just 3 ounces shy of their big brother Evan’s birth weight!

   

At some point in recovery Adam came back and said they were both in their room in the NICU and he showed me some pictures he had taken. Then we set out for the daunting task of naming them. I wasn’t about to let Adam back up there without names for them.

If any of you were around for the naming of Evan you would know that it literally almost caused us to divorce because we could NOT agree on anything. I, of course, had great names picked out and all of Adam’s names sounded appropriate for a child who was born underneath the bleachers at a NASCAR event (no offense if your child was actually birthed this way) So, for the good of our marriage, we each had compiled two lists that we, conveniently, forgot (mind you the boys birth took us by surprise since they were 6 weeks early).  Braden was a name we both had on our lists so of course we chose that. We also decided it would be easiest to name Baby “B” this since Braden started with “B”. We are really clever…that and we were exhausted and needed a sure fire way NOT to forget our kid’s name.

We went back and forth for a 2nd name and I quickly shot down Dominic…not cause it’s a bad name, but because Adam said it was fitting since we had had Domino’s pizza that night. I refused to have our child named after what we had for supper that night! So we had agreed to disagree on just about everything before Adam finally said “What about Jacob…I don’t hate that name!” and there you have it! The boys were named!!! 

I’m not sure when this occurred, but the nurses wheeled me out of recovery and up to the 4th floor to see the boys before putting me in my room on Mother/Baby. (At least this is what I think happened…it’s all real fuzzy after the naming debacle). I remember seeing both boys in their isolettes and not being able to touch them so as to not shock their system. Maybe I was allowed to touch but I know I couldn’t rub them, I think I was maybe allowed to place my hand on their back for a short while (ladies maybe I’m dreaming this correct me if I’m wrong) and then its all a blur after that. Thank god for pictures right?

So, instead of trying to relive the blur of my 3 day stay which had quite a few ups and downs, I will let the pictures do the talking. During my stay we were given the “grim” diagnosis for Braden, he failed his attempt at extubation, and we went home not at all prepared to leave our two new babies in Des Moines as we went home to Ames. <sigh> I really don’t want to relive that emotional rollercoaster anytime soon. I will tell you that they really shouldn’t give a postpartum mother, who was just given the news that “her child may not live through the week,” official government documents to fill out. I felt rushed to fill out their birth certificates before discharge and in doing so, accidentally checked the box to have Jacob given up for adoption. WHOOPS! Thankfully the boys nurse, Kate, assured DHS that we loved BOTH the boys and were certain we wanted to keep BOTH of them. Sorry Jacob, mommy was under duress and didn’t read the fine print while filling out your birth certificate! I had no intentions on giving you up…no matter what I may say now…JUST KIDDING I would not trade you for the world!

Anyway its amazing to me that that was 2 years ago and look where we are now! There are no words really other than we are REALLY blessed! So in closing…here are some pics documenting the boys entry into our family!

Settling in to their room – NICU

   

Jacob David (Named after his Papa Boesen)…he was the tiniest baby we had ever held!

      

Braden James (named after his Great Grandpa Boesen)

      

Holding the boys together

       

Visitors and Evan meeting his little brother

                              

And last but not least…here is a pic from their 1st birthday! I can’t believe how much they have changed from birth to 1 year and now to year 2!  I’m so proud to be their mama and look forward to many MANY more birthdays to come!