Saturday, January 26, 2008

Life with Twins!

The twins are now a week old and they just keep getting sweeter and cuter by the minute! They have brought the sweetest spirit in to our home and we have loved having babies to hold and smother in kisses. The most amazing sight is looking in the crib and seeing two precious babies snuggled up together sound asleep! They are the best little babies!

Mark's prediction of Karlee being the sassy one is turning out to be completely wrong. Karlee is so sweet and dainty and even tempered. She is very alert and awake more than Nicholas and never fusses...yet! She is the perfect little nurser and just a dream! Nicholas, on the other hand, is ALL BOY ! He certainly lets you know when he is hungry and he needs a little more love to get him to sleep sometimes. He also is good at pooping right after we've just barely changed him and if you're not careful, you'll get squirted from both ends! Mark talked about Nick having a rough start from the beginning in our last post. Well, it gets worse. The pediatrician and our lactation consultant noticed right away that his little frenum underneath his tongue was attached right at the tip making it hard for him to nurse. We were referred to an ENT to have it clipped, but Mark decided that he could do it. After a little research and a trip to his dental office for some surgical scissors, he performed the procedure on our kitchen counter. My mom held little Nicholas down. I couldn't do it, I was crying too hard! Mark made the quick clip and it was over. There was no bleeding and as soon as I took him in my arms, he settled right down. It's helped a little with the nursing but I have what my lactation consultant refers to as a "Wimpy White Boy" who can't latch on and only snacks and sleeps. I don't know about this nursing thing and I might end up pumping my life away!

We definitely have our hands full but we're getting our routine down. It takes all of us! It has been so WONDERFUL having my mom here to help! We couldn't do this without her. She has been an amazing support and runs circles around me cleaning up my house, keeping the laundry up, burping and rocking babies, entertaining Macy and reminding me to rest! We've decided we're never ever going to let her go! We'll savor these next three weeks with her!

Thank you for all of your sweet comments! It has been so fun to hear from so many of you! We have the greatest friends and appreciate all of your support! We love and miss you all!

Our Beautiful Babies!

Friday, January 18, 2008

They're Here!! Welcome Karlee and Nicholas!

Karlee Darlene Swensen

Nicholas Mark Swensen

Already best little friends

They finally made their arrival, and not a day too soon! We made it all the way to our scheduled Cesarean the morning of January 17, 2008. Karlee came first at 8:09 A.M. and weighed in at 6 lbs. 5 oz. Nicholas came 2 minutes later at 8:11 A.M. and weighed in at 7 lbs. 3 oz. That's a whopping 13.5 lbs. of baby!! Everything went absolutely perfectly and Lindsey was amazing. I am so proud of her. I don't think anyone was more relieved than I was when it was clear that everyone was healthy and safe. Both babies are just perfect. Lindsey is recovering well, although she is very sore today. She should be discharged either Saturday night or Sunday morning.

Karlee showed that she might be a sassy one as she was kicking and screaming her little guts out for the first hour of life, while Nicholas was just kicking back. She loves to be held and has the sweetest little spirit about her. Poor little Nicholas has had a rough first 24 hours. He came out with the cord wrapped twice around his neck and tied in a knot (Thank goodness we went Cesarean...). We couldn't see him for the better part of yesterday because his respiratory rate was too high. Because of that, they tube fed him once and reported that he was NOT happy about that. And to finish it all off, this morning he was circumcised! Talk about a rough start! I'm positive he's thinking, "What in the hell happened here? Send me back!!" (Forgive me, I couldn't resist that little swear!) He's taking it all like the little champ that he is. I am so grateful to have a little boy to throw a ball with and to have a little back up at home when it's me against all those girls!

Macy loves her baby sister and baby brother, and while it will be interesting to see what happens when the twins are home, she has done amazingly well with them. It is so cute to hear her say their names. We're working on which baby is which and we'll need to work on the correct use of the pronouns "he" and "she." In her prayers last night at bedtime, she asked a blessing on "Mommy and Babies" and right after her prayer asked if we could go see them. She is such a sweetheart and will be such a great big sister.

We are so grateful to have Lindsey's mom here for the next month or so. We are REALLY going to need the help!! You should see our house...two of everything, tons of diapers, and our sweet mini-van has three car seats in it. We are a bona fide three ring circus now...a family of five!! We are so grateful to all of our friends and family all across the country for your thoughts and prayers. We will post more pictures over the next few weeks.