More Pictures

For a while, I think the blog might just end up being a place for me to share pictures, as there's not much to say about newborns. They eat and sleep. They are SUPER cute though and already the apple of their daddy's eye. Of course mommy loves them too. It's amazing.

Oh, well how about a note about mommy's c-section. I'm doing amazingly well, I think. I'm up and down stairs plenty of times a day and really not even on my pain meds anymore. The nurses at the hospital commented about how well I was getting around before we were discharged, so that has just continued at home. I do suppose I need to be careful though so as not to have a relapse and head in the wrong direction.

below: Kaitlyn first then Nicole


below: Kaitlyn on the left and Nicole on the right.

New Pictures. How Cute!!!

above left to right: Daddy, Kaitlyn, Nicole
above: Daddy with Kaitlyn and Mommy with Nicole

above left to right: Nicole, Daddy, Kaitlyn

above: Great Grandma & Great Grandpa Blackhall with the girls. Wonder where Kaitlyn got her middle name? That's Kaitlyn's Grandma's maiden name obviously. Nicole's middle name of Roberts is the paternal Grandma's maiden name.

above: Time to leave the hospital and go home. Daddy has Nicole and Mommy has Kaitlyn.

below: In the Northside parking lot. Daddy has Kaitlyn and Mommy has Nicole.

FYI: They almost didn't let Kaitlyn leave in our car seat. Out seat is for infants 5lbs+, and she wasn't 5lbs. They had her take the car seat test though and she passed, so they let her leave. Nicole also had to take the test and also passed. If Kaitlyn hadn't passed, someone would have had to run out quickly and buy a baby bed for the car so we could get her home. Talk about a waste of money because I assume she'll be 5lbs soon.

At the dr yesterday, Kaitlyn is back up to her birth weight of 4lb 9oz. She was 4-7 when we left the hospital. She's not even on the weight charts. Nicole left the hospital at 5lb 6oz (lost 6 in the hosp as compared to K's only 2oz loss). She's up to 5lb 7oz now but that's still a ways off from her birth weight of 5lb 12oz. She's in the 3rd percentile for her weight.

We're Home

I'm typing 1 handed, as I'm holding a baby (so strange), so I'll also keep it short. We're doing well and love being parents. They're both so cute!!! Daisy is a spaz and Minnie is 'go with the flow' so far. We'll see how this goes all under 1 roof. :-)

More later.

Mommy and Kaitlyn catchin some Z's....

Daddy's FIRST DIAPER CHANGE!!!!!

Rubber gloves, nice....

Ewwwwwwwwww.......

(Nicole) Mommy with the girls! (Kaitlyn)

That's Kaitlyn with Daddy and Nicole with Mom.

First Pictures Continued

First Pictures Continued

First Pictures

THEY'VE ARRIVED!!!!!

Mike and Alyson Barbree welcomed two baby girls to their family this morning. Alyson had a scheduled c-section due to the fact that Baby A (Kaitlyn's) birth weight was on the low side. The doctors thought that it was time that she got more food. :-)

Kaitlyn Blackhall Barbree arrived first at 10:08 am. She weighed 4 pounds 9 ounces and measured 17 inches in length.

Nicole Roberts Barbree arrived next at 10:09 am. She weighed 5 pounds and 12 ounces and measured 20 inches in length.

Everyone is doing well and resting comfortably at Northside Hospital. They expect to be there through Monday morning/afternoon and welcome visitors. Mike and Alyson both have their cell phones with them.

Pictures will be posted on the blog when we get a chance to upload them. www.thebarbreetwins.blogspot.com

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, advice and encouragement over the past several months. We appreciate everything. Just send us a few more good luck wishes for survival when we get home. :-)

We're Off

We're heading to Northside in just a few minutes. Woo hoo. I actually slept pretty well. I had planned to take a Tylenol PM because I thought I'd be anxious and get no sleep, so I'm sure that helped. It's good that we got that 'one last night' of sleep. :-)

25 Hours and Some Change

It's 8:20 in the morning. By this time tomorrow, Mike and I will already be at Northside probably talking to a doctor or two about the procedure. Wow.

So, in just over 25 hours, the girls will be born and we'll finally be able to meet them. Yippie!!! I can't wait. I have so many questions: will they have hair, who will they look like, how tiny will Kaitlyn actually be, how big will Nicole actually be? Stay tuned...it will all be answered tomorrow.

Yeah!

Not Today

Baby A did better. She gained an estimated 10oz to bring her up to a whopping 4-14. :-) That's a good gain for her, but on a singleton scale, the doctors said that she's still only in the 12th percentile. WOW!!! For a twin, she's probably a bit higher, but they don't have an actual scale they use for twins. Anyway, the doctor said he'd still want her out by the end of this week though due to her being so small. So, it works out well that we were planning to have them this Friday anyway.

Baby B also did better. There's really no way to benefit one without the other of course. She gained 15oz and is now up to an estimated whopping 6-7!!!!! That would be a respectable weight for just one kid, so for a twin, I'm sure that's great.

The doctor said that his measurements tend to be a bit on the big side, so compared to what the software computes and what they actually weigh, he said they're probably a few oz less. However, by Friday, his measurements from today could be right on. So, I'm guessing that I'll probably have one just under 5lbs and another around 6 1/2.

Friday it is!!!! Unless I go into natural labor before then of course. :-) We'll keep you posted.

Reality

It's starting to set in. In one week, possibly sooner, I'm going to have these two tiny infants in my house (I hope they come home), and they're going to be mine. Mike and I will be responsible for two little lives. How strange? I walked into their nursery this morning to put something away, and I just stopped for a second and looked around and realized that this room isn't going to be empty for much longer. It's just really strange.

And I keep thinking about Baby A and how small she'll be. The doctors said they wouldn't guess that she'd even make it up to 5lbs, and everyone knows that babies lose a bit of weight before being discharged in the hospital for whatever reason. So, assuming she passes the car seat test and comes home, she'll likely be less than 5lbs. That's nothing. Wow! Will she break? Just kidding, but I can't even imagine how delicate she will be. Of course so will Baby B, but she's likely to be more like 6+lbs.

Lastly, if I make it until tomorrow, which is extremely probable, I hit 36 weeks which would mean no mandatory NICU. They would obviously still go if a concern was noted, but by tomorrow, it is no longer mandatory. Yeah!

U/S on Monday. Depending on how things look, we could be parents by Tuesday or even later that Monday afternoon. Or it might remain as Friday. Either way, it's less than a week away.

All Is Well

They didn't do any fetal measurements today, which is strange cause that was why I thought I was there, so I don't have any weights to share. They said that they don't do fetal measurements any more often than every 2 weeks because the software used to compute the weights obviously has a margin of error. So, if you measure too close together, sometimes you don't get an accurate picture because you might be seeing more of the margin of error as opposed to true growth.

So, I was there for fetal "well being." They wanted to check the blood flow through the placenta and umbilical cord. I knew that blood flow was another reason I was there, but like I said, I also thought Baby A's weight was of importance. Anyway, blood flow, heart rate, amniotic fluid, etc is looking good for both babies.

They do have me coming back for one more u/s on Monday morning. This time they will do fetal measurements as well as the well being checkup. It technically won't be two weeks since the last measurement, but whatever. If there's a concern at that appt, I could have the c-section that afternoon. If all is well, then we'll proceed on Friday as planned. I don't see any reason that things would change by Monday so it looks like it might be Friday. The doctors said the only thing to really evaluate based on Monday's appt would be if Baby A really just isn't gaining weight. Then it's a professional judgment about whether the twins would be better off coming out a few days earlier and possibly sacraficing a few more days of development in order to get proper nutrients through feedings.

A Big Day

Today is our two year anniversary. Yeah!!!! So, we've been hitched for a full two years now and will have only a few more days/weeks as a married couple. Beyond that, we're a "family." Wow, that's going to be a change. I don't know that parenthood has really set in yet. A lot is going to change and I guess you just have to experience it to know what it's all about.

In other news, Mike just left the house for his first day of work. Yeah again!!!! I made him a bagel, gave him a coke and sent him on his way to Buckhead. Let's hope he survives Atlanta traffic. Thank goodness it's summer at least. I think he'll find it a bit easier through late August.

Follow up ultrasound on Wed and then straight across the street to see my regular doctor and report those findings. Let's hope Baby A is doing better. I spent a lot of time laying down this weekend (BORING), so let's hope we see some results. If not, I bet they'll even move the c-section forward. Who knows though? Northside's rule on the NICU is 36 weeks, which I'll hit on June 16th. So, even if they see a problem on the 13th, I'm going to ask them if there would be any harm in waiting until I was a full 36 weeks just to help them avoid the NICU. One thing I don't see any way around though is the car seat test. I went back and checked my notes from one of the baby classes we took. They have to be 5lbs 8oz. If not, they have to pass three tests while sitting in a car seat to make sure it's safe to transport them home. Baby A definitley won't be 5-8, so even if she's in perfect health and her lungs, etc are working, there's a chance they wouldn't let us take her home if she can't do well in a car seat. Keep your fingers crossed because we definitely will be crossing that bridge.

Well, We Hit Our First Snag

Ultrasound and regular doctor appts were today. Baby A didn't gain enough weight. She only went from 3-10 to 4-4. Baby B on the other hand went from 3-14 to 5-8!!!!! That makes them 1 lb 4oz different though. I don't know that the difference in their two sizes was as important to the doctor so much as the fact that Baby A didn't gain very much in 3 weeks. This was supposed to be my last u/s. I now have another one in a week and he was saying that due to this, he would recommend delivery in two weeks. I told him the c-section was schedule for 2 weeks from tomorrow and he said that was perfect...just what he would have recommended.

The appt next week is to continue to monitor the placenta for Baby A. Obviously her weight is directly tied to the placenta. Strictly speaking, slow weight gain in itself isn't an extremely serious problem; however, when you're talking about the placenta, that also controls blood flow and oxygen to the baby. So, they want to make sure that this slowing weight gain isn't a sign of other problems as well. That's why I'll go back next week. He didn't give me too much cause for worry. Let's hope he's right.

Now, as for me. They've now restricted work. If I'm off my feet, then more of my blood, oxygen and nutrients can get to the placenta. I had to basically make a special request to be able to work from home with a laptop. My doctor asked why I was pushing so hard. He'd rather just pull me out of work all together. I guess he doesn't have a family with only one income, huh? Thank goodness that changes next week (remember Mike starts with TriMont on Monday). However, with new jobs, your first paycheck is usually delayed and we've got bills. So, I wanted my paycheck for a few more days. :-) Can you blame me? Working from home won't be bad at all either. There's actually several things that I'm doing right now that can easily be done from home without disruption to Post.

The Hospital Bag

Thanks for the advice. I did start packing yesterday. We've got most everything packed except for a few small things and most of our clothes. Just a few of the highlights:

1) The ALL IMPORTANT nail polish...what if I can't tell them apart at first? I've heard that many mothers of twins and multiples paint the toes on one kid. So, that has definitely been packed. :-)
2) The camera - it's not actually packed in the hospital bag. I put it in my purse yesterday so I have it where ever I am, just in case.
3) The video camera, fully charged, and its instructions.
4) VHS movies (for all the spare time we've been told we'll have at Northside, ha ha)
5) Snacks. Michelle told me that the food isn't always the best, and if you're hungry, you're hungry.
6) Soap and shampoo. Thanks Elizabeth. I had shampoo on my list, but I honestly don't think I would have assumed that I have to bring my own soap.
7) Two outfits per girl. In theory, I have one for pictures and one to go home in. Depending on what gets spit up on, we'll see what I end up with.

And there's more. So, the bag is in progress. If something happened quickly, I still have my list of everything that we didn't pack because we're still using it so we can grab it quickly.

The Ugly Irony

How many pregnant women (and fathers-to-be for that matter) have heard people tell them, "Get some sleep while you can," or something similar? Well, how unfair. I'm starting to sleep a bit worse, so this "get some sleep" crap doesn't work. I guess you should get sleep before month seven or so because after that, it's all downhill and you don't sleep for months, huh?

I'm making it sound worse than it is. It's really just getting up to use the restroom fairly often and the need to turn over in the night. I just can't do the left side for the whole night. I have to rotate, and rolling over is an ordeal. However, this Sunday, I started getting back pains too. Maybe it was just something in particular that I did on Sunday. Let's hope so. If these back pains are here to stay, I may now see why bedrest could be helpful. I used a heating pad and drugs (of course pregnancy approved) last night and it helped. We'll see how I do sitting at work all day and how my back feels tonight.

Oh, and we put the car seats in the cars yesterday. We're getting ready. Still need to pack my bag. I have a list of everything to include, but I don't want to really "pack" it yet because some of the clothes I'd want to take are things I'm still wearing. And for you moms out there, I'll gladly take any advice on things you wished you had packed. Just let me know.

Ultrasound and regular doctor this Thursday. I'll let you know how it goes. Two weeks and four days to go.