Sunday, August 7, 2011

falling off the face of the earth (a birth story)

It's been a long time since I've visited "blog land". You may know that since I wrote last I birthed twin boys. Tiny babies have a way of taking over your world but nothing compares to tiny twin babies taking over your world. It's a mess but it's beautiful. And then there is the Little One. Who is no longer the Little One but the Big One. I guess she will go by E now. Luckily she is in love with her brothers...ahem "brudders". She doesn't seem to think that they can get too many kisses or hugs from her. Anyway I thought I would share my adventurous birth story. My husband wrote it and I am editing out places & names. Just to be safe. So here it is... 

if you do not want to read a story about childbirth then please stop here

The Birth of Two



“Dada, wake up.”  “Dada, Buzz Lightyear.” “Dada, hug you.”  That’s pretty much my daily wake-up call. This morning was no different, except that shortly after E came in Kristen said, “Hon I just talked to Emily they think I am starting labor and we need to go in and try and stop it…”


…and that was how my morning started.


In August, Kristen had been feeling “off” and we thought she might be pregnant, 6 pregnancy tests later we found out we were right. It was exciting our second child was on the way. It was exciting but scary. I had just finished working for the Census Bureau and was now for all intents and purposes, out of work, I had also just enrolled at Some College to get my EMT certification, and so money was tight.  So began the chaotic task of enrolling Kristen for health care and the search for a midwife.


When we had E the search for a midwife had been easy because our criteria had been she had to work out of a birthing center, and in the Some Town area this narrowed it down to one choice.  This time we had a plethora of choices. We found at least 8 Birth centers in our general area, many of them with more than one Midwife.  Our Financial situation eventually narrowed it down to three, and we began interviewing.  We eventually settled on one in Another Town in Another State, which was about 50 minutes away from us.


And so began our pregnancy routine, once a month to Another Town. Everything seemed to be going fine. Kristen measured right, weighed right, and felt right. The baby’s heart beat was very good.  Kristen began to feel it moving much earlier than she had with E but figured it was because she knew what to look for this time.  Our first Sonogram was scheduled for December 2nd about 19 weeks into Kristen’s term.  We arrived excited knowing the we might be about to find out if we were going to have another little girl, or our first boy.  Kristen got on the bed, I moved to be able to see the screen, and the sonographer, got all his stuff ready.  He put the gel on Kristen’s belly and started the sonogram…


...Something was Very wrong!  I had seen a sonogram before a time or two; I had a general idea of what it should look like on the screen.  I was looking at two circles, unconnected, and side by side.  “That is not what a baby looks like.” I thought. “It’s almost like those are two heads.” I continued to silently think to myself.  The Sonographer looked at my wife and said “Are you in a good mood?” And then I KNEW!  It was not a baby it was babies.  We were having twins.




I had always thought twins came from the female, meaning if the female has twins in her family it is possible for her to have twins.  My dad is a twin, but all that means is I can pass on the twin gene to my daughters, Kristen had no twins in here family… Or so we thought. Turns out we were wrong.  Needless to say that day we spent most of our time in shock, the car ride home was one of our quietest rides ever.  The Mid-wife had told us we couldn’t deliver twins at her center as she was not authorized for that.  We felt our birth-plan was shot.


After the shock wore off the excitement began to build. We picked names the one on the left and in position to be born first was to be named D T, and the one on the right, F O. D Means Full of Goodness or Man of Prayer.  F means Fair Warrior or Small Brave One.  Their Middle names we took from Family. O means Peace. T was a different matter we like the name, but didn’t really like the meaning, all the name books say T simply means twin, accurate but kind of boring, so I did a small hermeneutical study on the word Thomas (oh well you might as well know his middle name..this would be too hard to edit) in the bible. I knew Thomas was a Hebrew name and so I began looking at the Hebrew root words it came from, there seem to be two that it could be, most scholars assume it is the Hebrew word for twin as the only time we see the name is for the Apostle Thomas who was a twin; but looking into Hebrew names that didn’t make since to me. Most Hebrew names seem to be associated with an action or inheritance of some sort, not simply with a state of being.  They didn’t name their babies’ the word for sleep simply because they slept.  So I looked at the other word and found it meant Honesty, Integrity and innocence. This seemed to fit much better, both with what I knew of names and what I saw in the character of the Thomas of the Bible. All that to say Thomas means Honesty, integrity, and innocence.


We found a midwife, Molly, that would deliver twins, and so we went and interviewed her.  There was an immediate connection, and everything felt right.  She did not take Medicaid, but she did give a substantial discount to those who were on it, even more so if we would use her daughter Emily.  We decided to use Emily. Kristen felt at home at their center, it was just a comfortable place to be.  They were brilliant in their care of Kristen. Everything was going great, they had told Kristen to increase her protein intake and we had.  Our first sonogram had shown that the boys where just a little bit small, by the time our second sonogram occurred under the care of Emily and Molly, they were exactly on target.


At 31 weeks Kristen’s body began getting ready for Labor, she was slightly dilated and had lost some mucus, she was told to stay off her feet whenever she could and do no more than small walks. By 32 everything seemed back to normal other than the fact Fin was now inline to come first.  33 weeks was the same.  At 34 weeks she started losing more mucus in very small amount. Then March 21st came.



The night before we had been going through the boy’s clothes setting aside the ones we wanted to bring to the birthing center with us, and talking about everything we wanted to have packed ahead of time, just so we would be ready in the coming weeks.  When I woke up the next morning everything changed.  E woke me like she usually does, but Kristen was already up. Kristen told me we needed to go and so we gathered everything up. Dropped E off with dad and headed out with every intention of being home that afternoon.  We did bring some clothes, the boys clothes, and other stuff, ”Just in case”, but neither of us thought we would really need it.  Kristen’s contractions began getting pretty regular in the car on the way to the Center. When we got there Emily and Molly took her and checked her out, she was dilated 5.5 cm, they were pretty sure they weren’t going to be able to stop her labor at the center.  They were able to slow it and check the position of the first baby, F; he was in a frank breech position, meaning he was butt first.  They thought it best we go to the Hospital, but only due to the fact that boys born before 36 weeks often have lung development issues. We left for the Hospital to go to the Doctor they had recommended, Dr. Cummings.


Kristen’s Contractions began to get longer, and I began to drive faster, I half hoped a cop would pull me over and then escort us around all the slow trucks.  By the time we got to a certain interstate I was pretty sure we weren’t going to stop this labor, when we passed the Speedway, where NASCAR races I remember thing they might hire me if they saw me driving now. We made it safe and sound to the Hospital about 2:00pm. Kristen was admitted, and I had to fill out all the admission paperwork, running from Kristen’s bed to the front desk and back.


Both Emily and Molly had come with us to the hospital and they were a tremendous help to Kristen and I. Doctor Cummings got there and said that they were indeed coming today and it was time to go to the OR.  We were in the OR as a precaution due to their age. (Actually they only deliver twin babies in the OR just in case.) Kristen was outstanding and at 3:02 she vaginally delivered without any drugs a breeched little boy.  F Cried almost immediately and I cut the cord, however I was suddenly torn my boy was with strangers crying, and my wife was still in labor.  At her last pregnancy we had both held E within seconds after she was born. This time I could see him, but hadn’t even touched him yet. Kristen could hear him crying and was worried about him as well but another baby was on its way.


D had a Prolapsed Cord, which with almost any other Doctor, and almost any other patient would usually result in a C-section. Doctor Cummings is an amazing Doctor, and Kristen is even more amazing.  The Doctor had to move the cord out of the way and around D’s head before he came out… there is only one way to do that without creating a surgical opening, and Kristen did so well, and stayed as calm as possible under the circumstances.  Then the water broke (I'm pretty sure the water broke before he moved the cord...just sayin') and D came out head first, it was 3:12, only nine minutes since F and it felt like seconds or hours. F had had a little trouble breathing and was given oxygen and so they took him to the NICU, I was able to hold D and show him to Kristen, then he too was taken to the NICU.


D never needed help breathing, and F was breathing on his own almost as soon as he got into the NICU, nether got breathing tubes.  Kristen was soon relaxing in bed, and around 5:30 she got her first look at both our sons.  Their blood sugar was low, and as they were unable to eat enough at this point they were still in the NICU. As of this writing they are still in the NICU, but the only thing we are waiting on for them to get out is to be able to eat.


And so our family of three has gone to a family of five, and I love those little boys who I have only know in the flesh for less than 48 hours, just as much as the rest of my family.




 The NICU is it's own story but for tonight I will end here.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

tally's kale salad

At Christmas time my lovely sister in law Tally came in town to visit and made us this delicious salad. It's actually based off of  this Martha Stewart recipe. This is one of the best salads I've had in a while. I had forgotten just how good it was until I made it the other day to take to a meeting at my birthing center.

It's an amazingly flavorful salad especially considering how simple the ingredients are. 


The Salad

the juice of 1 lemon
1tbs lemon zest
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
8 cups shredded kale (ribs removed)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds
coarse salt 
freshly ground black pepper

Mix the lemon, zest, and olive oil to make a dressing.
Toss kale with dressing to coat.
Add 1/2 cup good Parmesan cheese and the sunflower seeds.
Season well with salt and pepper and toss well.


Kale is high in antioxidants, fiber, calcium, vitamins a, b, c, & k, and has one of the highest protein content found in veggies. It's also a good source of iron. Anyone can benefit from the great nutritional content in kale but if you are pregnant then I highly recommend it.

Monday, January 24, 2011

free art {and a winner!}

First of all I want to thank all of you who entered my first giveaway and welcome all of my new followers. 
Today is the only day that I have ever really wished that I could be Oprah. That you would all show up to see who won and I would say "surprise! everyone who entered gets a gift card! and now let's all hop on a plane and go to Australia!" Wouldn't that be nice?
So I thought...what can I "give" to my readers
and then I remembered all of the beautiful free printable art on the web
(that I have been meaning to use myself).

The first place that I would like to introduce you to is Indie Fixx... home of the free art project.

wouldn't these be lovely in a nursery?
and these are the prints that I am thinking about using in the Little One's room.

and they have lovely things for adults too.

all of these prints are on this page on indie fixx

The Graphics FairyVintage Printable - Bringing Public Domain to the Public
if you prefer something a little more vintage then the graphics fairy and vintage printable are for you

i really like these vintage coffee & tea prints for a kitchen

and how lovely are these botanic prints
{pink flower, butterflies, hyacinth, lilypads}
and there are eggs and feathers for all of the bird lovers out there
and word art if that's your thing.
{fruit of the spirit, eat dinner, keep calm, easy peasy}

and most of these blogs have even more art to choose from. you could spend an afternoon picking out free art for your house!

and before i forget i had better announce the winner for the $25 csn stores giveaway....

And A Great Big Thanks to Everyone who entered!

Monday, January 17, 2011

brown paper packages tied up with string {a csn stores giveaway} NOW CLOSED

Giveaway Closed

Giveaways are some of my favorite things....
I was very excited to be contacted by CSN to host this giveaway.
CSN is comprised of over 200 online stores, where you can find everything from modern duvet covers to Le Creuset cookware!  And they are giving one of my very lucky readers a $25 gift code that you can use in any of their 200+ stores!

To give you an idea of the vast merchandise CSN stores carry I thought I would show you my favorite things under $25.


7) sparrow brag book 8) flower tea light candle holder 9) mini art card
10) ceramic bird 11) ceramic accent plate 12) mercury glass votive


13) dog collar 14) eco lunchbox 15) preschool stacking ring
16) sushi play set 17) dumbbells 18) nfl controller faceplate

And of course there are plenty of big things that you could put your gift card towards too. CSN has furniture, lighting, and even kitchen sinks!



This giveaway is open to residents of U.S. and Canada however
there may be international shipping charges in the case of Canadian addresses (CSN only ships to the US and Canada).

Giveaway Closed
 Three easy ways to enter:
  1. Click the Facebook "Like" button & comment telling me that you did
  2. Click the "retweet" button & comment telling me that you did
  3. Subscribe or follow my blog & comment telling me that you did
You may enter all 3 different ways just make sure that you leave a separate comment for each entry .
Make sure to leave your email address for each entry.
Winner will be selected by a random number generator.
The winner will have 72 hrs to respond before I draw a new winner.
Giveaway will close on (Saturday) January 22 at 7pm central time.

Be sure to check back on Monday (Jan 24th) when I will be announcing a winner!



listen on : online sweepstakes  & mom giveaways

Monday, January 3, 2011

the candy cake {and a second birthday!}


 At the end of December the Little One turned 2. 
I made her birthday cake last year with the decorating expertise of my sister-inlaw Mandy.
But this year Mandy didn't come up for Christmas so I was on my own.
Decorating cakes is not something that I excel at , but I still wanted it to look nice. I found this cake on a few different blogs and read about how incredibly easy it was.

Basically if you suck at icing then this cake is for you. The icing doesn't have to be smooth or look nice. It can even have crumbs in it (although I must be getting better because I didn't have that problem).

All you do is whip up a cake. Your favorite recipe or even a box from the store. (I totally used a box!) I recommend a white or yellow cake (I used a fudge swirl)...just because there is already so much chocolate.

Then you get some icing. You could buy a tub of icing from the store, but making icing is so easy and will really make your cake taste a lot better. I thought about using the "secret family icing recipe" that I always use (because it's so amazingly good), but was concerned that since it is so light and fluffy it would not hold up the candy very well. And I wanted to use chocolate so if any icing showed through the candy it wouldn't be noticable. I then decided to use:

(I knew I couldn't go wrong with one of her recipes and I was right!
Here is the doubled version...which should be more than enough )

1 cup butter, softened
16 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup unsweeted cocoa powder
2 lb confectioner's sugar (yikes, i know!)
2 tsp vanilla
2-6 tbs milk (i did not use any milk)

Cream the butter and cheese in your mixer. (Heaven help you if you don't have a mixer.)
Add the cocoa and vanilla and mix well.
Add the sugar in small batches and blend until well combined. Be sure to scrape down the sides as you go!
If the icing is too sticky (which it shouldn't be if you are making this cake) add 1 tbs milk at a time until it's the consistency that you want.
 

Then you frost your cooled cake while not worrying too much about how it looks.

Then you take 4 large packages of Kit Kats (5 if you buy the king sized)
and break them into two bar sections. And stand them around the outside of your cake...Making sure that they are well stuck down to your icing.

Then you take a bag of M&M's and spread the desired amount over the top.

I actually mixed a bag of regular M&Ms and Valentine's M&Ms so there would be plenty of pink in the mix.

And then I took a piece of ribbon and wrapped it around the bottom of the kit kats' and glued it down on the ends with some left over icing.

 It absolutely could not have been easier and it was a big hit!

And the Little One had a fabulous second birthday. When her daddy prayed with her that night she thanked God for her birthday. And then said "again".  Her daddy told her "next year", she said "ok", and went to sleep.


I'm sure that you are thinking that it must be a blue moon or something because I haven't been posting many blogs lately.  Between finding out that we are pregnant again, our computer dying twice, and then finding out that we are actually having twins... well I've been just a bit pre-occupied.
But I'm still here and will get to posting when I can.

Hope that everyone is having a wonderful New Year!