Babies, Babies, Babies

Wow what a March! Let me start with my last belly pic. This was at 36.5 weeks pregnant.


I went into labor at 2:30AM March 8th. It was daylight savings time also. I waited until 4:30 to make sure I was actually having contractions. By 4:30 I could definitley tell it was happening. My sister Tina came over to stay with Broc and Kyrah and Dennis and I went to the hospital. The nurse checked me and I was 2 centimeters dialated and the monitors showed my contractions (I could have told them I was having contractions - didn't need the monitors!). At 6 AM the nurse called the doctor and told him my situation. She came back in the room and announced it was baby day! I was scheduled for a c-section at 8AM.

The c-section went fine. I received a spinal epidural so I didn't feel anything from my belly down. It was a very odd way to deliver a baby. I did feel diconected from the process and hated not seeing what was going on. Broden Worth Kreitler was born at 9:03 and Raya Mary Ann Kreitler was born at 9:07. Broden came out very easy but Raya squirmed up in my tummy so it took the doctor 4 minutes to get her out - apparently that is a long time in c-section time. Here is a picture of Broden when he was born.



Raya had trouble when she was born. Her breathing was extremely labored. The hospital staff put her under an oxygen hood to help her breath. After an hour they decided she needed additional care. By 4pm she was taken via Arch helicopter to Cardinal Glennon. She was given a does of servantant to help her lungs mature. Her offical diganoses was respitory distress and lung disease. Basically her lungs were not fully developed and she was not getting sufficient oxygen. Dennis drove to Cardinal's while I was in the Ste. Gen hospital with Broden. Here is Raya's first picture.



Broden weighed 4 lbs 4 ozs and was 16 1/4 inches long. He is so tiny!! But he has been doing great! Eating well, pooping, peeing and sleeping. Broden's name is a combination of Broc and Dennis and Worth is the only brand of softball bats Dennis has used in his prestige softball career. Broden and I came home on Wednesday. Here we are leaving the hospital. He barely fits in the car seat.


Raya weighed 5 lbs 14 ozs and was 19 inches long when she was born. Raya's name is a combination of letters from Mary and Kyrah and Mary Ann is my Mom's name.
Raya spent a total of 11 days in the NICU. She was misdiganosed with seizures when she first arrived and was given feinabarb medication which calms a baby down into a deep sleep. It took her at least a week to fight off the effects of this medication which also slowed her progress on taking deep breaths. At one week old she was not giving up her oxygen so the doctors gave her a dose of caffiene. This worked and she was able to be weined off the oxygen by Tuesday morning. She had to be off oxygen for 24 hours before she could come home. Finally on Wednesday the 16th we brought her home. This is a picture of her at Cardinals.



Here is the first picture of the twins together.







So what is it like having twins at home.... well sleep is hard to come by. For the first few nights we tried taking shifts. Dennis would take care of both of them up until 12:30 and the I would take over. This was doable, but it took about an hour and a half to feed both of them, you would get to sleep about 30 minutes then have to restart the process over. We have now switched to assigning a baby to a person. We switch babies each night and you are responsible for your baby. This is working about as good as the other way. Either way your sleep is interrupted but at least with the one baby per person your awake time during the night is shorter. During the day my Mom comes over in the morning and together we clean up the house, do laundry and wash baby bottles. Then I have the twins in the afternoon by myself. This is the easiest time because the house gets nice and warm from the sunshine and the babies sleep a lot in the afternoon.
Each one has their own likes and personalities. Raya is wonderful. She eats a full 3.5 ozs bottle, burbs right away then goes back to sleep and she likes to be laying flat on her back in the crib or pack and play. When she is awake she just looks around and does not fuss much at all. She is on a schedule of every 3-4 hours of eating and does not require much in between each feeding.

Broden is a bit more challenging. He eats anywhere from 1 to 2 ozs, spits up some of it, burbs pretty good, then you have to hold him upright for awhile after he eats or he will spit up everything. He also loves to be held and will whimper every few minutes if you put him down. He is not on a very good eating schedule - it could be 2 hours or 3 or 4 before he wants to eat again - you just don't know with him. Although he is a better pooper and pee'r then Raya (if that is something to be proud of...)

Here are some pictures of them from this weekend.

Doesn't he look adorable - like he is just bored waiting for someone to pick him up.


Last night we finally got their room all put together and tried having them sleep in their crib. Up until now they have been sleeping in a pack n play in the kitchen or on us (more often then not on us!). This lasted about an hour before Broden woke up whimpering. Oh one funny thing is that they both make the same grunting noises. I can tell the noises apart about 75% of the time.


Oh and wait... what about Kyrah in all of this... She loves looking at the babies and touching them. Everytime she touches them and they move she giggles at herself. She has heard the word "NO" more in the past two weeks then she has her entire life. Bedtime is the hardest because if one of us is holding a baby she wants to put a blanket on them or mess with them and won't get into her sleep routine. It is an adjustment and I know she will eventually adjust to them being around. I have only had one night where it was me and all 3 kids. It went better then I expected - Kyrah cried for awhile because of course the twins wanted to eat right when it was her bedtime, so I wasn't able to hold her, but I put a pillow on the floor and she got to watch Sesame Street and she was fine. So not to leave without a little cuteness from Miss Kyrah...