Happy Holidays

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and joyful New Year!

Love,

Me, Sam and Jake

My boys will finally be reunited today

Just popping in real quick to give you all an update. I'm leaving soon to finally pick up Jake from the hospital! Sam has been home for two weeks now, which is why all has been quiet on the homefront. Jake has had little "episodes" with his o2 saturation, which is why his discharge has been delayed for two weeks. Every time he was about to be discharged, he had a little spell. Now, after being spell-free for 5 days (again!), we have an apnea monitor for him just in case. Sam, on the other hand hasn't given me much rest, even though it was like having a singleton home for the first two weeks. He, like his brother (but having it much worse) has GERD (acid reflux), and has been spitting up a lot in the two weeks...and would only sleep for about 30-45 minutes and then until his next feeding would wake up every 5 minutes grunting in pain...or grunting just to grunt. Sometimes it is hard to calm him, as he will turn red and squirm because the acid is coming back up through his throat, mouth and sometimes nose. I have had a couple of scares where the milk in his nose solidified and he couldn't breath and I had to suction him. That only made me check on him with every grunt at night afterwards. They are both on medicine now, and Sam had to have his meds reevaluated yesterday because it didn't seem to work. Today, he hasn't spit up anything measurable today and might be less irritable, but lets see. Luckily, Jake is a easy burper and sleeper.
Sam is 4Ibs 13oz and Jake is 6Ibs 5oz. Jake is growing so much that I'm starting to get one preemie looking baby, and one chubby newborn looking baby. lol.
Wish me luck and better sleep (somehow) and for the babies to mature inside. That's what I want for my birthday in a few days...and for Christmas!

Here's some older, but cute pics of the babies:

(above: he outgrew this outfit already)

Bathtime!

My Babes are 2 weeks old and die-hard Hawkeye Fans already

One of the nurses took two pictures of them the other night, and so we scanned these adorable photos in. My husband jokes that Jake is giving his little brother the "death grip" which shows the nature of them in the womb (their size, mainly).

Look! No oxygen anymore!!! Jake was 4 pounds, 6 ounces yesterday...and so his last mission besides maintaining his own oxygen is bottle-feeding better. He and his brother got spoiled with their nose-tube feedings.

Sam is 3 pounds 5 ounces. He does not like his vitals being checked...he grunts and grunts and turns really red. However, I did get to see his beautiful dark blue eyes once he was really "disturbed." He remained awake for the rest of the visit then.

Preemie Ribbed Cap (Free KUAS Pattern)

Now the babies are showing some Hawkeye spirit! I just couldn't stand looking at their heads swimming in all of the newborn hats, so I decided to make a preemie hat with some pep. I purposefully made a ribbed hat to mold of the babies' heads and grow with them. Hope you enjoy the pattern...it's a quick and gratifying knit for all of the preemies you come across in your life.

This type of ribbed or striped hat is nothing original...but here's a pattern just for the tiny-weensy size.

Preemie Ribbed Cap:
Yarn: lightly worsted weight or DK yarn (a yarn that recommends size US7 needles)in two colors. Less than 70yds per color.
Needles: Size US7 straights or Dpns
Gauge: approx. 5 stitches=1'' (lightly stretched); 6 rows= 3/4'' (18 rows=2.5'')
Measurements: unstretched= 3.5'' wide; stretched= approx 5.5'' wide; 4.25'' tall

DIRECTIONS:
Co 51sts with size US7 needles.
NOTES: Add 3 or 6 extra sts if the baby's head is larger than most preemies, or if the baby is just about newborn size. Also, I chose the MC and CC because we're Hawkeye fans, but use your own colors to suite your needs.

The Main Body:
1. Using the Main Color (MC) black, knit 6 rows in 2x1 ribbing (*k2,k1* on the right side and *k1, p2* on the wrong side if you're just using two needles).
2. Switch to the contrasting color (CC) gold without cutting the MC and knit 6 rows in 2x1 ribbing.
3. Switch to MC and knit 6 rows in 2x1 ribbing.
4. Switch to CC and knit 6 rows in 2x1 ribbing.

Decreasing for the crown:
5. Cut the CC, leaving a few inch tail, switch to MC and knit 2 rows in 2x1 ribbing.
6. *K2tog, p1* across.
7. *K1, p1* across.
8. K2tog across.
9. Purl across.
10. Cut the MC, leaving a long tail of several inches. Pull the darning needle through all of the stitches left on the needles and secure with a knot.
(11.)Sew the hat together if you used the two needle method.
12. Weave in all threads.

Feel free to add a pom-pom in the two colors for some extra pizazz.

My babies are turning 1 week old!

Just a picture update of the little tikes in intensive care:

1 day old:

Jake off the CPAP mask temporarily until he later needed to be back on it. Mommy got to peek at what he looked like for a couple of hours.

Notice the size of the pacifier and the size of the baby?

Two days old:

Jake on the CPAP mask to help him breath. Daddy's company actually produced it!

Mr. Cool Dude in the isolet getting his UV treatment for jaundice.

Three days old: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Look, I've got my arms spread just like Mr. Bat and Skeleton!

My heart ached every time I saw him...

Four days old:

Jake finally feeding from the bottle. I think they started him off on 1tsp. He started to stop breathing with more than that since he's not coordinated yet for feeding and breathing.

Jake, looking like his daddy. He was too tired to fully open his eyes.

Look, little booties on my hands! I bet the nurses finally got sick of me pulling off those wires...

5 days old:


Jake in good spirits now he has no mask and also now 1 less wire running into his bellybutton. He's also sporting his booty on his hands.

Sam, the little squirmy stinker.


6 days old:

Jake is eating 12ml of milk now. His brother is drinking 7ml, but actually is 3 grams heavier than his birth weight now! What did Jake do today? His first poop! The nurse just commented on how they have been waiting for him to do that, and on his next change...what did they get? A big messy surprise! And he didn't even fuss when she changed him, the little angel.

Daddy spending time with the babes.

Sam, the Hawkeye fan.

Sam got his catheter removed from his bellybutton and put into his arm for sterile purposes. They say I should be able to hold him tomorrow!!! I can't wait!!!!

Now announcing....

Both born 10/28 at 8:35am, little Samuel (2Ibs 13oz) and Jacob (4Ibs 1 oz)!!!

Here's the short story, since I'm still in the hospital recovering from my C-section and I'm pretty pooped:

Tuesday, a week and a half ago, my obgyn found out that I was 2cm dilated and was worried about preterm labor, of course. She set me up to have another NST and doctor check-up 2 days later (Thursday) where I was still the same but the NST showed signs of contractions every 8 minutes. At that point, I was admitted into the Labor Center to stop the contractions, and I spent the day getting shots and steroids to help the boy's lungs to develop faster just in case I was to deliver anyways. I was sent home that night instead of spending the 24 hours and was scheduled for a Monday checkup and NST, which was fine. However, they also scheduled me for another Level II ultrasound because the Tuesday ultrasound showed a weight discordance between the boys of a pound. (Really, this IS the SHORT story.) At the level II, the doctors found that Sam was 2 pounds and 11 oz and Jake was 3 pounds 15 oz and that Sam's placenta was starting to actually revert in blood-supplying performance. The doctor says that because be didn't gain really anything all week and the Doppler showed a weaker supply than his brother...it was possible that keeping him in there longer just more maturation could actually cause more problems and possibly death if long enough. He recommended a C-section THAT NIGHT or the next day or so.
Still in shock, we waited for my regular obgyn to give me a call and give her opinion, which was the same. Freaking out, that evening we got our affairs in order and Thursday 10/28, I was C-sectioned at 8am. (Scariest event of my life, and if you guys want that story and what it's like, maybe I'll tell the tale later.)

The boys are doing well. Baby Sam, even though a pound smaller, is breathing well and is in an incubator, while his brother Jake was on a breathing machine and has done a lot better to the point where he is aided with oxygen with just one of those breathing tubes instead of a mask. They both now have wires hooked up all over them and one running through their mouth, but they both seem to be doing better and better with each visit and not only little sam sucks on his pacifier...we found out last hour that Jake can do the same, if motivated. We left them both happily sucking on their purple hospital pacies. (Little sam will actually hold the pacifier with his little hand too.)

As for me, the "day after" isn't fun at all. The morphine that lasts for 24hours really shows how important the medicine was...and the nurses kept telling me to stay on top of the pain because it's hard to control it once you get beyond 3 or 4 out of 10. Well, I was doing fine until the afternoon today where I really started feeling the incision, as well as backpain. I've been popping pills like a madwomen to get it controlled again and I'm looking forward to finally getting past the little "pain hump" of a couple of days (or so they say). I will be released Sunday, and have not held my babies yet...do not know when they will come home (Sam might come home sooner than his brother if he keeps it up, as well as his weight). I ache that my babies will stay in the hospital for maybe a couple of weeks or longer.........(their due date was 12/11/10)

I still can't believe I'm a mommy and I still look at their itty bitty, fragile bodies in amazement and awe.

Baby pride & Fall 2010

Well, I know I said in the last post that I wouldn't blog about the hat until the second one is done, but I guess I lied and you're going to see it since I'm about 3 inches away from being done with the second. I'll post again about the two hats, and little matching mittens in the next post. But anyways, here is the first baby Bears earflap cap for Jake/Sam. I have no idea what month this cap corresponds to, but it might be 0-6 or just 3-6 depending on the size of their heads. The cap is pretty stretchy though.

I was looking through Ravelry to find inspiration on Bears hats, and didn't find any...so I had to go google some images on how to better place the colors. It seemed that orange looked good at the base, and then to stripe the white and blue and of course finish off with blue. I added the pom-pom and braided cord for more visual interest, and the hat would not be complete without that blue crochet edging. I'm sure the hat will look better on a human than a lumpy monkey's head, but we'll have to wait for some more pics after they are born.

I hope you like photos, because this post is jam-packed with them because we are very much ripe into Fall and it just seems fitting to place them all in this post.

Here is the finished babies' room. There is nothing left to do but hang up two animal wall peices. Even their sheets and onesies are washed with baby detergent. We were very fortunate to have the grandparents purchase the major furniture for the little babes. The bedding is from their "great grandpa" and the mobiles are from others at my baby shower on Sunday.

Almost every person at my two showers (work & family) gave the babies clothing. I have almost two of everything because when you hear twins people people think more "identical" then "fraternal"...so I was really grateful to come across the gifts with similar, but different looking pjs or onesies. I have them organized from newborn to 24 months, and although it looks like they possibly can't go through all of their clothing from the look of their closet, I heard a rumor that babies go through clothing like water throughout the day. And don't worry...we also received lots and lots of diapers. My mom organized a "raffle" for diapers, telling all of the guests that for every 10 diapers they bring to the shower they get their name in the bowl for a prize. We ended up getting dozens of boxes that for twins should last, oh, a few months! Usually you don't think of diapers as an exciting gift at a shower for singletons, but for us...every time we opened up a box, a little more weight fell off my shoulders.

Here is our house in the fall. It looked so pretty when the leaves fell fresh from the tree last week. The colors aren't so vibrant now that they have dried up, so I'm glad we got some shots while they were so orange and yellow.

A shot of the neighborhood too.

Baby Gift

Hey guys,
Now that we are slowly unpacking and uncovering more things, I finally came across the baby gift I received right before I moved that my blogfriend Bobbi graciously knit up for my little boys.

What a sweetie! Thanks again Bobbi...you're awesome!

As for my own knits, I've got a baby "Bears Fan" earflap hat on the needles right now and it's 50% done. You'll get to see the picture when both are done. No posting until the fat lady sings...otherwise, it will be like second sock syndrome, but for hats.

The little babes are now about 3 pounds each and are moving around in me like little aliens. You can really see and feel the little limbs popping out of the tummy, and they are particularily fond of my bellybutton, which feels very strange.

FO: Little Ribbed Baby Jacket

Well, the little ribbed jacket is finished. Like always, I was waiting on having to buy matching buttons. I have a little box filled with buttons of all sorts, but I always somehow manage to make projects that don't exactly match them.

I think the boys will look dashing in this. I used one of their PJ's as a template for size. This model will fit 0-3 months.

The collar turned out OK, but I'm not too thrilled with it. I think it will look better if the top-most button weren't buttoned.

If you notice, the sleeves rib pattern has been changed up from the body of the sweater for some visual appeal. I didn't want the whole sweater to simply just have predictable ridges.

I love the look of seed-stitch, but by this point...it's driving me batty having to go back and forth like that (for some reason it creates tension instead of relaxing me) and the next sweater will have garter stitch as a border, and I'm contemplating making a different sweater altogether for the second boy. (They are going to share these sweaters. I'm not making one specifically for one kid.) I'm thinking something more under the lines of the triangle pattern that I used for "Joe's Office Socks."

Pattern: "Little Ribbed Baby Jacket" by KUAS
Yarn: 1.3 skeins of Plymouth Yarn Galway Highland Heather in teal. Worsted weight wool.
Needles: size US9
Construction: mostly sideways
Start and completed: September 27th-29th, 2010
Made for: Jake & Sam (my expected baby boys)

Getting a good dose of Fall? I've been making pumpkin pie, I went apple picking a couple of weeks ago with my mom and grandpa, picked out pumpkins for the front of our house, I've been making apple cider and have sugar cookie dough ready to be rolled out and cut into little leaf and acorn shapes. Leaves are falling all over our yard, it's colder....I'm in heaven. Mother Nature, can you please let this last all October long??

Little Ribbed Baby Jacket

Well, we are officially moved into our new home (although there are plenty of boxes to unpack still)! We have painted the baby's room light yellow, and the office a light steel blue, and are feeling more and more comfortable in this new environment. It is a really strange feeling living for the first week in the buyer's home...but I think it's starting to go away as the days go on.

Above is a photo of a new baby jacket project that I started. I'm dubbing it the "Little Ribbed Baby Jacket." It's a sideways construction, which makes it more interesting to the eyes and easier on the hands as it requires less sewing in the end. I'm using some of the babies' clothing to judge how much and far to knit for size 0-3 mos since I'm doing free-style as usual.

Since our house isn't completely unpacked, I'll give you a preview of the only finished room in the house, the kitchen:

I'm in love with it, and the large island inspires me to cook & bake. I've already been adding little "Fall touches" around to make it cozier and christened the oven with a pumpkin pie!

Fuzzy Wuzzy Cap

Holy smokes, I'm back again? (hee hee hee.)
Just popping in to show you the little fuzzy wuzzy caps I made my little babies. Yesterday in the ultrasound, I found out that the two little buggers must be conspiring deep in the womb. They used to be both in the head-down position, ready for take-off in several weeks...but when we looked at the ultrasound, they are now both breached and the two of them were forehead to forehead and looking like they were talking or communicating with eachother. They must have heard the TLC baby shows I've been watching recently and learned how long it takes to get down that shoot. At least they are both buds, though. They are starting to do the whole alien thing while moving and kicking, where you see my belly rise and fall with their large movements.

The green in the caps are really nicer looking in real life. They look a little split-pea soupish in these photos. The nice thing about them is that they are very soft and match the baby cocoon I showed you all in the last post.

They are knit up on a 5.5'' diameter loom. They were a cinch to make and gave me some more instant gratification. Maybe I should have all of my knitting stuff taking up my family room in the new house, since when it's in the way and in plain view it gives me motivation to knit up these new projects...

Fuzzy Baby Cocoon

Well, ladies and gents, we've got a FO! I forced myself to not only cast on...but knit and knit until the darn thing was finished. If you've been with me for a while, you probably know that I am notorious for hibernating WIPs.

Pattern: Fuzzy Baby Cocoon by KUAS
Needles: size 13, 11 & 10.5 straights
Yarn: Yarn Bee's Cameo (bulky)
Started & finished: 9/7/10
For: my little babies.

I'll have to make one more just like this so I have matching ones for Jake and Sam. While packing, I have found that I have been hoarding yarn like no other, and I realized that I have "grinch-like" yarn that can be used for another type of cocoon for taking photos, and of course a spare bit for grinchy booties.

Can't wait to take new pictures with live babies all snuggly in them...