It's Our Due Date!

It's February 6th, our official "due date" and yet here the boys are 5 weeks old. 

At one time, we prayed the boys would be home from the hospital by this time, but we never guessed they would have been home for over a month by now.  We are beyond blessed and truly in love. We are so behind on sharing updates, especially their birth story and what our hospital experience was like (both were amazing by the way), but we promise to share as soon as we have a little more time to sit down and put it all into words. Here is a post about the week leading up to their birth. 

This is a little snapshot of what the boys have been up to.

Weights
Archer:   5lb 15.5oz (4lb 3oz at birth)
Andrew: 5lb 11.5oz (4lb 4oz at birth)
Alden:    7lb 7.5oz (5lb 3oz at birth)

Lengths
Archer: 18inches (16.5 at birth)
Andrew: 18.5 inches (17.5 at birth)
Alden:    20inches (18 at birth)

Food
Archer and Andrew: 75ml (2.5oz) of half breastmilk and half high calorie formula
Alden: 90 ml (3oz) of breastmilk
The boys eat the above amounts every 3 hours (1, 4, 7, and 10). The boys (and the caregivers) are very excited to try eating every 4 hours at night very soon! Mom is currently still pumping and bottle feeding because the doc wants to know exactly how much they are getting (and when they were very tiny breastfeeding was a little too much work). Since we have been using a mix of high calorie formula as well, we have over 450 ounces of breastmilk frozen (pray the power doesn't go out), so we are ready and waiting for the go ahead from the doc to go all breastmilk for the little boys and any growth spurts that lie ahead.

Diapers
We go through a minimum of 24 a day (a diaper change at every feeding x3 boys). Then we usually go through a few extra (or 10 extra when the boys decide to poop just a little bit every 30 min or an hour. Luckily, they are starting to become a little more regular).

Activities
So far, they have only been to the doctor (3 times for weigh-ins and then their one month well visit) and to have their pictures made. We are all looking forward to warmer weather and the prospect of getting out of the house very soon. The boys love to have brother time after they eat and to listen to dad read/tell stories. They also like to FaceTime some of our favorite peeps like Caleb and Lauren, the Gage's, and grandparents. They are not too sure about baths and tummy time just yet, but both are starting to growing on them. They also don't love having their diaper changed (Alden was the first one to pee on mommy).

Personalities
The boys are all very different, which is a lot of fun.
 

Archer is the most high maintenance right now. He loves to suck and to be held, so he often needs his pacifier (thanks Aunt Cortney for his froggy paci) or some attention and rocking. He is the most animated and funniest of the group by far. He makes lots of "old man" noises, which he has since the hospital and looks at you like he has stories to tell. He loves to be swaddled TIGHT, at which dad is thankfully an expert. 
Nicknames - Old Sport, Wild Man, Monster Mouth

Andrew loves to be on his side or belly after feedings or before he is swaddled and put to bed on his back. He will often lay awake for 30 minutes to an hour just looking around. He is very inquisitive and sweet. When he does cry, it is very loud and while the other two will work up to a cry, Andrew will scream out out of nowhere (we call them his night terrors). Andrew also poots a lot and you would swear he was a full grown human the way they smell and sound.
Nicknames - Peanut, Cutie

Alden: Alden is our most content, probably because he is the biggest, so the least like a preemie. He loves to be close to his brothers. We often put him in the middle, so he can see both of them at once. He will just stare at them and is most in tune to when another one cries. He has a really strong grip, and like his brothers, loves to hold onto your fingers when your feeding him.
Nicknames - Biscuit, Chunker, Hoss

Visitors (so far)
Baba (Barbie), Pops (Steve), Grandma (Tracy), Grandpa (Scott), GG (Kip), Papa (Martin), Paula, David, Morgan, Matt, Amanda, John Bryan, Antonis, Grandmother (Joyce), Pam, Jodi, Elizabeth, Jeremiah, Jackson, Celia, & Kylie (our amazing night nurse who was our nurse for three days in the hospital and comes once or twice a week so we can sleep).

What We've Been Up To During Our Third Trimester

The day they came home from the hospital! 

They stayed in their seats for a few minutes, so Wrigley could sniff them.

We love to eat! 

 

Archer flailing his arms during a feeding. Eating can be exasperating!

 

Double Boppy (aka the Twin Z Pillow) to help us feed two at a time or a baby and a dog!

Passed out with the bottle!

24 hours in a day, 24 bottles for 3 babies.

We love to play! 

Getting ready to FaceTime some friends!

One day Archer and Andrew had to go to the doc without Alden, 

so they pretended to be twins, which prompted dad to make this...

Dad can palm Alden's head!

We got a new car and went on a walk with Mom and Wrigley!

Baba can hold all of us at once (but not for long)!

We love it when dad tell us stories.

 

We like our baby videos.

We love brother time!

 Except when we don't! 

 

We go to the doctor!

 Alden

 Archer

Andrew

We love visitors!

Grandpa Scott

Jackson, Celia, and Elizabeth (Archer's godmother)

Grandmother Joyce (four generations)

 And of course, we love to sleep!

 

Our One Month Photos

Newborn Photos

When the boys were three weeks old, we had amazing photos made by Monica Parkkonen Photography. Here are some of our favorites.

  

 

 

Last Post Before the Boys Arrive

We're writing this form the hospital.... (or I guess I should edit it to say we wrote this from the hospital while waiting on a bed in the operating room. I am now posting it as the boys are 18 days old. Not bad if I do say so myself.)

 

On Tuesday, December 30, we had back-to-back appointments at MFM and then the OB. Me, mom, and Jay went to MFM first for a biological scan where they check all their vitals. Again, they were looking for several things - movement, fluid in their placenta (i.e., room to grow?), practicing breathing, organs, heartbeats, and the flow of blood from their umbilical cord. Everything looked good except the flow of blood from their umbilical cord to their bodies.  Even though this had improved at our last appointment, it looked like it did on our December 18 appointment where most of the bloodflow was towards their heads (a sign of distress and self-preservation).  The doc said it was about time to call it, but that even without this distress, it was about time anyhow.

 

 

When we got to the OB we had to wait forever. The days between holidays are crazy at any doc and they had two women go into labor at the office that morning.  The good news at the OB's office is that I had no protein in my urine and blood pressure was 118/78.  I don't know enough about preeclampsia to know if it commonly goes away (I don't think it does), but I feel so blessed that things calmed down for me and the boys.  When we met with Dr. MacClanehan, she said she didn't want us having the boys over the holiday, but that she didn't want to wait until next week either. She left to check the schedule for Friday. She came back to tell us that our little ones would arrive on Friday, January 2 at 2:30.  She said there were already some procedures scheduled for the morning, and she wanted us to have plenty of time/hands on deck for the procedure.

 

Checking out at MFM. One of the last few bump pics!

 

We left feeling a little dazed to say the least. We had a birthday!  We got on the phone and called all the parents and everyone started making plans - Jay's mom flew up, my poor dad gave up his trip to New Orleans and college football playoff tickets (but lets not talk about that).

 

Mom and I went home and made (I did the sitting parts and she did the standing parts) a ton of gluten free meals to freeze: gumbo, baked ziti, chicken and sun dried tomato pasta, bar-b-que, Mexican casserole, cilantro-lime chicken, chicken and quinoa casserole, and meatloaf.

 

 

We had a few other things to distract us from the waiting, including lots of calls and messages to and from loved ones. Jay and I celebrated NYE at Ruth's Chris. We had a giftcard that Kip gave me from graduation that we had never used and we figured what better time for a fancy night out. We made it home just in time to eat our dessert, watch the ball drop, and for me to go straight to bed. On New Year's Day, we did some chores and last minute errands. Then that night Kip, Matt, Dad, and Tracy came over for the Alabama game. We had bar-b-que, greens, peas, and cornbread. We were up late again for the game, but figured that was ok since it would help us sleep in on Friday. I wanted to sleep as late as possible since my C Section is scheduled for 2:30 and I can't eat beforehand.

 

 

Fast forward to this morning. Jay and I are at the hospital. We have checked in just got to our bed in the OR prep area. This morning we packed up a million bags and tried to settle Wrigley in as best we can. We even made it here 10 minutes early.  I feel very blessed (and also a little proud) that we walked in the hospital door this morning at exactly 35 weeks without bed rest or any hospital time.

 

Outside the hospital! No pressure!

 

Say a prayer for our sweet baby birds.