Sunday, February 22, 2009

1 Week Old

Brighton and Landon turned 1 week old yesterday.  It is a great milestone for these little ones. The story of this past week is rooted in their birth.  Both kids were born healthy and didn't need to go to NICU or SCU.  With those blessings, they still had issues with Jaundice and had to be on the bili-lights.  Landon lost 10% of his weight in the first 48 hours and caused concern combined with other factors (high bili levels, not eating well, low temp).  Landon has already started gaining weight, which is a big deal given his starting weight and how much he lost in the first 48 hours.  He was born at 5 lbs. 7 oz. and lost a total of 10 oz., since then he has gained 4 oz.  Brighton has been doing great.  She is a quiet baby thus far and rarely cries.  

They have a follow-up appointment with the doctor tomorrow and we hope they continue to trend to the positive. 

This weekend we had a friend come to the house and take newborn pictures.  We are looking forward to seeing the end results.  Thanks to Katie for her efforts.

Dad is doing well, despite the general lack of sleep.  So far, we have been blessed by having them on the same feed/wake/sleep cycle.  It makes taking care of the two manageable. Dad cannot seem to take a nap, even though the situation has presented.   Instead choosing to play with Nick or Carter, update FB, uploading the nearly 500 pictures taken this past week, or running a errand or two.

Mom is amazing!  She is up and around with a great outlook on this adventure (I'll let her reveal as much about her recovery as she wants).  She is caring the load when it comes to the babies.  Dad does all he can, but Mom does have the food.  It is amazing to watch her at 3 AM. She ogles at them although she is so sleepy.  

Nick and Carter are still excited about their babies siblings.   We thought we might see jealously issues with Carter, but we haven't seem much yet.  It might be reduced because Grandma Smith is helping out so much.

Speaking personally, I cannot imagine going through these initial weeks without help.  Grandma allows Zann to focus on the babies, me to focus on Zann and Grandma does everything else.  What a blessing. 

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

A New Chapter Begins...


Well, it happened at 37 weeks 4 days, Saturday morning. Zann had just fixed the whole family a great big breakfast. We were joking over breakfast about Valentine's Day babies. Turns out the joke was on us. Zann's water broke at 10:20 am on February 14, 2009, Valentine's Day. Good thing Grandma Smith was already here waiting to get the show on the road. I called the doctor who said we would be having babies today. I also called Ashlynn who got approval from the hospital to be with us in the O.R. Kimberly, one of Zann's friends, was also called as she was going to be one of the nurses helping.
I grabbed the bags, told Nick and Carter that it was time for the babies to come out and got the stuff in the car. Only one thing was missing....Zann! She decided to shower, do her hair and make-up. We got into the car about an hour later and got to the St. John's Mercy by 12 PM. It was a great experience when we got there. There were so many of Zann's former co-workers and friends working that they really made us feel welcome. The reception was unprecedented. By the time we got there, Ashlynn had called them (she also works at St. John's in L&D), the doctor had called L&D, and Kimberly the other Nurse had called. It seemed like they were waiting for us and already had things rolling for us.
Zann was admitted by 1 PM and we were waiting for a C-section time. We thought, we might have to wait a few hours because of the big breakfast. We were surprised to find out that we had a 2 PM time for the O.R. WHAT! That was only an hour away. So much for waiting.
Zann as a L&D nurse has seen countless c-section deliveries. I could only wonder what she was thinking laying horizontal this time. I have to say, it was certainly a relaxing experience, which absolutely surprised me. I could not believe how relaxed we both were.

We welcomed Brighton Zoe into the world at 2:22 PM and Landon Crew was born within the same minute. Still Brighton was born first, so the only girl to the Erb Klan will always have that to her advantage. Brighton weighed in at 5lbs 14oz 18.75" long. Landon weighed in at 5lbs 7oz and 18.5" long. Zann had a great experience by my account. The surgical team was a well oiled team that made the atmosphere truly relaxing.


With Grandma Smith at home with Nick and Carter, it has allowed me to be with Zann constantly. It has been great have this experience with her. My work has been great too. I have been able to arrange a couple of weeks off to enjoy the experience and have hands on.

Brighton and Landon are now 72 hours old. Both were put on Bili-lights today (jaundice), Landon has lost 10% of his weight so far, and given his birth weight, is a moderate concern, but neither has been in the NICU, or Special Care Unit--for twins this is very good. We've had to alter our plans to breast-feed exclusively due to these issues, but we are hoping this will be temporary.

Their Bili-lights give the room a great U/V glow. :)

We have had a peaceful experience all in all. There are moments of chaos, but they pass. The babies are still sleeping most of the time, but we think that they will start to wake-up tonight or tomorrow.

Monday, February 2, 2009

36 Weeks!

Holy smokes. I'm 36 weeks pregnant. Dr. H will not stop these babies from coming out now. What an exciting and frightening thought.

I had more monitoring done at the Perinatal Center today. Wasn't I just there? These weekly appointments are coming really fast. I can't believe we will be holding both babies so soon!

Janet at the PNC asked about the babies movement during the week. I have been a little concerned that I was not feeling baby B move as much as baby A. I could mess with him and then he'd move, but for the most part he was just taking it easy. Or so I thought...the babies were both definitely moving. Of course on the monitor they were crazy active. They both had heart rates in the high 160's and they had accelerations at the same time. A quick peak at the ultrasound showed why. The babies are lying head to head both in my left upper quadrant. My girl (baby A) is still breech with her legs and feet in my lower right quadrant and her arms/hands around my belly button area. My boy (baby B) is transverse with his legs coming around the right side of my abdomen with his feet kicking her feet and his arms/hands in punching distance of her hands. So, all the moving and kicking that I've been feeling has been both babies kicking each other. The slight movement I've felt higher (which I thought was the boy) was actually the twins punching each other. Nice. I'm in for some trouble when these two get here.

I saw Dr. H at the office after my monitoring. My fluid levels are great (around 20), I'm measuring 45 weeks (44 a week ago) and he's happy with how everything is progressing. My BP was borderline, but not a surprise. The best part of the exam is that I lost 5 lbs in one week! So, the crazy 6 lb weight gain last week was a fluke. It had to have been a bunch of water retention. So, I'm still on track with my weight gain goal.

Only 5 more days until Mom flies in from Florida. I figure if I go into labor in the next day or two I'll at least just be getting out of the hospital about the time she will arrive. Yay! I really didn't want to mess up Great Granmother's 90th Birthday party and it looks like at this point Mom will not have to fly in early, so she will definitely be at the party. Phew.

Daddy is out with Carter this afternoon for some special one-on-one time while Mama is hanging out at the house waiting for the UPS guy. It's eerily quiet around here. I am going to relish in the silence for as long as I have it. It won't be long before this peaceful bliss turns into a whirl of baby sounds and smells and activity.