Hospital and Delivery

Last pregnancy picture. I actually just got asked, "When are you due?" It was really sad especially because in  two weeks I have lost 30 out of the 50 I gained. I was feeling pretty good about that until I got asked when I was due. I wanted to show this girl this picture and tell her that was only two weeks ago, so give me a break!

I went to my drs appointment on Wednesday the 23rd and I was dilated to a 6 and my water had broken (I was 36 weeks and 2 days). I went home to meet Jake and we arrived at the hospital at 4pm. Since I was positive for strep B I had to just hang around for hours while they got the second dose of antibiotics in (obviously this did no good since Lily got strep B anyway). I watched a couple episodes of Castle and sent out a few texts. I finally got an epidural and around 10 pm they gave me pitocin. I honestly had no pain up until then. But I was progressing SO slowly. I think after about 6 hours I had gotten past a 6 but it wasn't going to happen soon enough so they started the pitocin and I got the epidural at that time. They wanted me to get an epidural in case they had to do an emergency c-section. (I just read that 75% of twins are delivered by c-section). The nurse came in at about 11:45 to check my progression and I was at a 10. They wheeled me to the OR (again just in case I needed a c-section) and Jake put on scrubs. We were watching the clock at 11:59 to see if they would be born on different days, but we just missed it!!

Lily was born at 12:04. Her first apgar was great (8 or 9), but after a couple minutes I heard the nurse in a total panic say, "She's not breathing!" They rushed her to another room where they got her oxygen. I, of course started to panic, but I still had another baby to deliver! Luckily, Jake was able to step away and look through the window and they gave him a thumbs up. I really wasn't worried that something terrible was going to happen but I wanted to make sure she was okay. Dean came on one or two pushes as well at 12:11. I was so surprised that he was smaller since he always measured bigger in my ultrasounds. I guess those really aren't that accurate. They let me hold Dean first, and then I got to hold Lily for about 1 minute before they took her somewhere to make sure she was okay. I guess they gave her oxygen but she started breathing on her own so they didn't need to take her to the NICU for that reason. I didn't get to see her again for several hours. I tried to nurse Dean but honestly he had no idea how to eat. They say this is common with preemie babies. He is getting a ton better now, but the doctor want me to keep pumping and supplementing with bottles till they both gain a good amount of weight. 

This is Dean. 

Lily right after she stopped breathing. 

I am pretty sure this is me holding Dean for the first time. 

Jake looks great in scrubs :) I think he is holding Dean. 

I held Lily for the first time after I held Dean. Then they took her away so fast!! They asked me so many times what her name was. (Jake got the final decision for the boy name and I got the final decision for the girl). I kept telling them I didn't know because I hadn't even seen her!! Finally I just started saying Lily so they wouldn't ask me and it stuck :) 

Dean with a healthy cry. 

Finally together!! This only lasted about an hour. They were separated almost our entire hospital visit. So I am glad we were able to snap a picture while we could. 

One happy big sister, and one happy big brother (at least he appears to be :) 

Lily in the NICU. I guess since I wasn't sure when my water broke and since I couldn't take penicillin because of a supposed allergy Lily got an infection. They tested her white blood count and it was 34000 (I think) and then it went up to 37000. They started antibiotics right away so she never had any signs of infection beyond the elevated levels of white blood cells. Al, did I get that right? Does that make sense? 

Snuggling with Lily in the NICU. I think I asked too many questions and was pretty worried about her at first. I think I asked what was the worst that could happen and the doctor so matter-of-factly said, "Oh she could get meningitis." So every time I went to the NICU to see her I asked the nurse if she had it. After a few days I stopped worrying :)

I got released from the Hospital on Saturday (we stayed almost 3 full days). But then Dean didn't pass his car seat test so he didn't get released till Sunday morning. Honestly that was kind of nice because I left the babies in the different nurseries they were in and slept (at the parent hotel) for the first time in 3 days! I finally felt like I was going to survive. 

Lily wasn't supposed to get released until Saturday, but on Tuesday I found out that she was done on Thursday. I was so happy :) Dean and I stayed at the parent hotel. They gave me a rolling crib for Dean and every three hours I went in to feed the babies. It was pretty exhausting but nice because I didn't have to worry about anything but feeding and snuggling the babies and getting rest. But it was so nice to finally get home from the hospital!! 

28 1/2 Weeks

I wasn't going to post this but I saw a picture of a friend at 29 weeks and realized that, yes, I am definitely sticking out there!

And just in case you missed it, there are two babies in there :) A boy and a girl due Feb 18th.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

2011 has been a wonderful year for our family and we have felt truly blessed since being out here in Indiana while Jake goes to Purdue for an MBA. Here are some of the highlights for our family this last year:

Thanksgiving

 In March, Jake got to visit China as part of a study abroad program between Purdue and Tsinghua University where he spent two weeks in Beijing learning about doing business in China. Half way through the program I was able to join him (while my mom babysat Hannah and Eli) and together we toured Beijing and got to see the Great Wall, Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. Afterward, we spent a few more days and flew down to Hong Kong where I got to revisit my mission and several of my mission friends, investigators, and members. It was a wonderful experience and I am so grateful we got to go!

Beijing

 Over the summer, Jake got an internship working for Emerson Electric in their Climate Technologies division in Sidney Ohio. His job was "Innovation Analyst," which he loved because it meant he was able to learn a lot about innovation and new product development. At the end of the summer, Jake got an offer for a full-time position after he graduates (May of 2012) from Emerson based out of Sidney. We were really excited and felt very fortunate to get the offer, especially given the economy, and decided to accept it and we plan to move out there next June when Jake starts.

While Jake has been busy with school, we have had fun touring around Indiana and making new friends from church and in the MBA program. We have tried to make the most of the short time we have left in Indiana. We have been to Krannert sponsored tailgates and Cultural festivals, we went to the Covered Bridge Festival, and the Dicken's Festival. As well as site seeing in Chicago and Indianapolis.

Indianapolis Children's Museum

Hannah, who turned 5 in August, has been doing well in our at home pre-school and is excited to start kindergarten next year. She started piano lessons this year and had her first recital a couple weeks ago. Her favorite song to play is Book of Mormon Stories which she memorized for the recital. She has continued to do gymnastics and is moving up through the levels.

Hannah's Piano Recital

 Eli, who will be 2 on January 3rd, is starting to say a lot of words but his favorite words are still "Truck" and "Muck" (which is milk). He also started gymnastics this year and although isn't quite as enthusiastic as Hannah was, he will participate as long as there is another boy attending the class :).

Eli's Gymnastics

Though we miss all our family and friends in Utah, we feel truly blessed to be here in Indiana and are so grateful for the experiences we've had over the last year. We miss you all and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Halloween 2011

Update

From 2011-09-30 (by Eye-Fi)

These are the kids watching Baby Einstein.

If you didn't already hear on facebook, we are moving to Ohio (north of Dayton) next June. Jake will be working with Emerson Electric. We are so excited. It is a great company and a great opportunity!

I know it is short but that is all you get :P

Later that Night...

That night we went to another market similar to the silk market. It was fun and I bought a great teal blue 'D&G' purse for $15. Someone told Jake that everyone goes home wishing they had bought more...and yes we did too!

We met up with these people that Jake knows from BYU. They live in Beijing now. The store off to the right was a DVD store. We bought about 15 Blue Rays for Hannah. The best part is they have English, Cantonese and Mandarin. I have looked for Disney movies in Chinese for such a long time and have never been able to find them. It was fun watching Tinkerbell in Cantonese. Hannah is so cute, she said, "First I want to watch them in English then in Chinese so I will know what they are saying." She does like watching them in Chinese but I am not sure if it is really helping her learn anything.

I know...we probably look like weird tourists but how could I not take a picture of this??

The GREAT WALL!

Going to the Great Wall was seriously one of the coolest things I have ever done. It was so hard to believe I was really there. You can see that there were many hills. The Great Wall extended through every hill you could see; it is so incredibly long. The landscape was so pretty, with all the trees and hills.























I was standing on the Wall talking to Jake and these women were staring at me. It seemed like everyone was staring at me. So I started talking to them (yep, in Mandarin...oh my goodness that was so fun to 'discover' I can speak Mandarin). I have never seen so much excitement. They said, "Can we take pictures with you?" And every single one had to be in a picture with me. Apparently they are from a different part of China and had never seen a foreigner in person, let alone one who would talk to them. It probably would get annoying if you lived there but I thought it was so funny. I mean how often do you feel like a celebrity?





Can you believe I have been to 2 of the 7 new wonders of the world and I am only 29? Okay I

Summer Palace

This is where the Emperors would go in the summer. I was able to go with Jake and his school group. We had a very long winded tour guide who was really nice but it was very cold!

These trees were so cool.

Some of Jake's classmates. I liked getting to know some of the other MBA students.
A Buddist temple. They told us we could not take pictures inside the temple since it was a sacred place. But there was a little store set up selling souvenirs and one of the other students commented that its too sacred for pictures but not to sacred to sell stuff. He said it not me!
Another of my favorite pictures from the trip.

This palace was right on a lake.

That night we went to the Silk Market. It was a place where they have lots of fake brand name US things. I didn't buy much but Jake went there quite a few times before we got there. Lets just say Jake only wears 'Armani' now. I actually really like his fake Armani shirts! He also had a suit tailor made before I got there. I wish there had been enough time and I would have had them do a pencil skirt or something.

I really packed the days in Beijing. I didn't have much time and I didn't want to miss anything big!