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The boys are going to be 6 months old in a few days.  I can hardly believe it.  During the first three months of their lives, I thought the days that stretched into nights that stretched out into days again would never, ever end.  But suddenly, I’m looking back at how fast it all went, and I can hardly remember those long days and nights.  That may be because the sleeplessness caused short-term memory loss…

The news now, apart from the fact that the boys are big and healthy and beautiful and soooo good, is that I am a little bit unwell.  I’ve been having anxiety attacks, excessive weight loss, sleeplessness, sweating (when everyone else is cold), and a variety of other symptoms for a while now – I thought it was the nursing and the having TWINS.  I mean, it seems pretty normal to lose weight when you’re producing copious quantities of fat-filled fluid made just for babies.  And when you have two of them, why wouldn’t you panic a little every now and then?

Turns out, however, that my symptoms are due to a hyperactive thyroid (post-partum Graves disease) – not just the reality of raising two babies at once.  It’s a good thing we figured out what was going on, because some of the symptoms I didn’t mention were actually pretty problematic.  Shaking, itchy skin, serious mood swings and irritability, and worst of all, an extremely elevated heartbeat.  My heart was literally beating 115 BPMs at rest – that’s really high, and if I weren’t young and healthy, very dangerous.  The thyroid can be treated…I’m going in for some more tests next week to confirm the exact problem and determin treatment.  And in the meantime, I’m taking a medicine to slow my heart down a bit.  It’s helping with the anxiety too.

The bad news is that once my thyroid gets treated, I’ll probably gain back a few pounds.  I’m eating lots of ice cream these days, while I can get away with it.

And in the meantime, the boys are amazing – all 3 of them.  I can’t believe how blessed we are – even though we’re tired.  Here are a few pics of my sweet boys…is it just me, or are they just adorable?

These are the real twins.

Play time!

Puppy dog eyes - I can't resist.

The boys are 4 months old, and yesterday, we went to their 4-month pediatric appointment.  They both weighed in at over 16 pounds, and 2 feet tall!  Big, healthy, bouncing baby boys.  I KNEW they felt heavy.    In celebration (or maybe because they didn’t feel good after the vaccine shots), they slept through the night – from 8:30 pm until almost 7 am!!  There is light at the end of the tunnel…

The photos below were taken by our cousin Eileen while she was visiting last weekend. Thanks, Eileen!

Jesse is checking you out!

Noah and his chubby cheeks

The boys turned 3 months old last Thursday. They are getting much bigger, and are discovering new things all the time – like their feet, and each other.

I’d like to take a moment on this momentous occasion to say publicly just how incredible a father my sweet  husband David really is.  Please forgive the gush that must inevitably follow…

I’ve rarely seen children handled so gently, patiently, and lovingly.  These boys are incredibly fortunate to have David as their role model, and they couldn’t do better than to grow up to be like him.

Thank you David, for being such an amazing father and husband, and perhaps most importantly, such an extremely good man.  Your commitment, sensitivity, integrity, and passion are unmatched, and my awe for you grows each day as more of who you are is revealed to me.  I love you the most, and although they don’t know it yet, so do your boys.

Happy Father’s Day, Abba!

I suppose I can muster a smirk for Abba

I love you Abba!

This Father's Day celebrating is so exhausting

We’ve managed to keep Noah and Jesse alive for 8 weeks, as of today.   Yay!   And (so far), David and I are surviving, too.  We’ve been without consistent help for 8 days now…only 4 to go before Grandma Susan and Grandpa Rick return to help for the rest of the summer, and it honestly couldn’t come soon enough.  We’re exhausted.  Thankfully, the boys have been pretty well-behaved, and are sleeping better and crying less.  I can only imagine how exhausted we’d be if Jesse were being as fussy as usual…

A big shout-out to Natalie Schiller, Esther Northrup, and Uncle Timmy who helped us so much this last weekend, and allowed David and me to get some sleep (and a shower).  THANK YOU!  It really does take a village.

I can’t believe how much these little boys have grown and changed in 8 weeks.  They’ve gained weight (Jesse no longer has any semblance of a neck…just folds and folds of skin and fat), they’ve started focusing their eyes, they’re smiling and cooing.  They’re already showing these sweet little personalities, and I can’t wait to see how they continue to develop.  They are really entertaining, and I know they’re only going to get more fun.  Once I get some sleep…

We’ve been trying to get their dimply smiles on camera, and here’s what we got.  We didn’t capture them completely, but you get the idea.  Pretty adorable, in my biased opinion.

Guess what's in my diaper!

He's not ALWAYS crying...

I know I'm cute. You're welcome.

We’re all home now and settling in. It seems that the routine that we developed in the hospital needs to be relearned at home. I’ll get you some more photos soon, but in the meantime here is a video of Jesse and Noah’s departure from the hospital.

Rachel is doing great and everyone was cleared to go home. Jesse had a slightly elevated bilirubin count which put him at risk for hepatitis and both of them had lost a little too much weight, but they are doing much better and the doctor cleared them to go home. So after a short three day stay in the hospital everyone is ready to come home.

A word about the hospital. Sharp Mary Birch is an unbelievably well run machine. For the most part all of the nurses and staff were great. They helped Rachel get used to breast feeding and gave us all of the basic tools to be able to go home without missing a beat in caring for the boys. One of the volunteers even snagged me a better pull-out bed to sleep on from another room. In all, we had a great experience and as crappy as Rachel felt after surgery, I can’t imagine a better hospital stay. It helped that the purpose of the hospital stay was babies and not open-heart surgery, but I think you know what I mean.

Sleeping Noah as held by Tim

Jesse taking a load off

The boys have finished their first day and it was action packed. They got their first inoculation, had blood tests done, learned how to eat, posed for a portrait (thanks Jon!) flirted with a half dozen nurses (I think Noah might have even gotten a phone number from the looks of the little note in his cradle), had some enormous poops, lost some weight. (I’m pretty sure those last two are connected), and made grandma Susan very happy and tired. All in all a good day.

Rachel’s recovery has been going remarkably well. She’s really tired, but has remained in good spirits. She’s a remarkable woman, and I know that if I went through half of what she has, I would have taken it less than half as well.

We’re likely going to be in the hospital until Sunday around noon. If you’d like to visit on Saturday, we’re at Sharp Mary Birch, room 585. Visiting hours are 11-8 and you have be 13 years old. If you’d like visit us at home after that, just give me a call.

You can click on the photos to see them bigger.

They’re born! Here are the stats:

Noah Eugene – born 6 lbs 6 oz. and he’s got blond hair.
Jesse Edwin – born 6 lbs. 14 oz. and he’s got light brown hair.

Their eyes are both blue for now, but that and their hair color may change. They were born at 4pm PDT and everything went smoothly. Rachel is recovering nicely and the babies are doing great. Here are some photos and a video.

So – tomorrow is the big day.  Babies – meet world.  World – meet babies.  Let’s look back at the last 9 months, and then review some important pregnancy-related stats and details.

And now, for some important facts and figures…

Estimated date of conception:  August 6, 2008
Doctor’s official due date:  April 30, 2009
Date of scheduled C-section:  April 23, 2009
Number of babies made:  2
Weeks pregnant at delivery:  39
Final belly circumference – no joke:  54 inches
Total weight gained:  73 pounds
Approximate number of doctor’s appointments prior to surgery:  14
Number of ultrasounds prior to surgery:  3
Number of half-marathons run while pregnant:  1

It’s been a ride.  I couldn’t have asked for a smoother pregnancy.  We are blessed that all of us have been so healthy throughout.  I can’t say I enjoyed being pregnant…I’m definitely looking forward to being done.  But I’m proud of the boys for hanging in there for the duration.  Now begins the fun part, right?

David will update the blog tomorrow with pictures and details, once we have them.  Surgery is scheduled for 3 pm Pacific – we welcome your thoughts and prayers!