A new normal.

It's time.

I'm going to blog again.

I hope so anyway.

I want to do lots of things right now though.  But mostly my day is spent nursing, changing, swaddling, soothing, holding new babies!  Let's have a little look-see at the progress we've made so far.

It feels minuscule  but I think it's actually huge.  We are doing this.  We are raising TWO more kids.

Last picture of me 37 weeks pregnant with TWINS.  On September 7th, we were scheduled for an induction.  We were supposed to show up at the hospital at 10am.  Around 8:30 that morning, I got a call from the Labor and Delivery ward saying that they were completely booked, and over crowded.  They couldn't have me come in in the morning anymore.  They hoped that later on that afternoon or evening they'd have more room for me.  Talk about a crushing blow.  I wasn't sure I could be pregnant a minute longer!  To get my mind off of the tragedy at hand, I told Darin we'd better go to a movie and out to lunch for the afternoon, or else we could sit at home and watch me cry all day long.  As we were getting ready to leave, I started feeling more and more "odd".  Like super crampy, and tons of lower back pain.  I called the hospital and they told me it sounded like it could be labor, so I should come in and get checked.    After we got checked in to a temporary triage room, the doctor came in and did her assessment.  She said I was 5 centimeters dilated and having contractions two minutes apart.  Apparently even if the hospital is over crowded, if you are in labor, they won't send you away!  We got checked in and got a room.  The doctor said we would be having babies later on that evening.  I think I went into shock.

Here we are in the room.  Hooked up to 102 different monitors.  This is me after my epidermal  and after my complete meltdown that labor was taking entirely too long, and that I didn't believe that I would have babies that day!  

 But then, all of the sudden, my labor progressed at an alarming pace.  Even with an epidural, nothing could mask the pain and pressure of a baby that is wanting to make it's way into the world.  I got wheeled into the operating room, where they deliver all twins, in the event that an emergency c-section became necessary.

This was the face I made after I had successfully pushed Eleanor out, and realized that I had to still push another baby out.  At that moment, I wanted to push pause, and just go home.  I did not think I had enough strength left in my body to get another baby out.  I was definitely in full on panic mode!

This is my face after Walter was born.  I have never known such instant relief as when I had pushed Walter out and no longer had 13+ pounds of baby inside of my rib cage.  I just sobbed and sobbed with joy that it was all over.  I had avoided a c-section.  I had pushed two healthy babies out of me.  We had avoided any sort of emergency medical situations.  It's was too much to be grateful for.

The New Twins!

Eleanor Anne Earnest

6 lbs 1 oz.  

Born at 8:31pm

Walter John Earenest

7 lbs 1 oz. 

Born at 8:36pm

First Family Photo

Thanks to Grandma Z. who had gotten to town the night before they were born, and helped keep the big kids entertained all day long while they waiting for the New Twins to arrive.  

 

Posing with Grandma Z. on their first night home.

The next series of photos is just to help me try to see that we are indeed making progress:

 

I'm out of time.

Eleanor and Walter are currently re-enacting the above photo.  That means I need to go.  I hope we can keep getting things documented.  Maybe I'll even get ambitious enough to go backwards and pick up a few of the activities we did before the babies were born.  Maybe!

Over-and-out.