They've Arrived!!!

It all started with Chan asking me to get the ant that he saw crawling on the floor of the house and as I bent down my water broke.  That was at 5pm Monday, 3/28, and the twins were born at 11:03 and 11:12pm that same night.  Allen was in Kona for a class and luckily Papa was already at our house fixing a fan so Nana drove me to the hospital.  I wasn't having contractions initially so I was madly rushing around the house trying to get last minute stuff done - laundry, put away Easter decorations, clean out the fridge, etc.  We got to the hospital around 7 and Allen met us there, contractions started around 7:30 and then it was all fast moving from there.  

Baby A is now known as Poppy Kim and she weighed in at 4# 13oz and 19in long.  Baby B is now known as Eve Meilani and weighed in at 4# 15oz and 19in long.  They definitely don't look identical and Esme and Chan are in love with them.  They came to the hospital before going to school today and were so giddy with excitement.  

We've been fighting low blood sugar level and low body temperatures all day which has been a challenge.  They nurse one at a time for now and sometimes it's a good feed and other times not.  The plan is to go home tomorrow if all goes well and they cooperate overnight but we'll see...

Eve on the left, Poppy on the right.

Poppy Kim

Eve Meilani

Happy Easter!!!

We're having a nice relaxing four day weekend for Easter this year - Good Friday and Prince Kuhio Day combined with the weekend.  We've gotten lots of house projects done and the kids have been a big help some of the time and the rest of it they've been getting better at playing by themselves.  Today we spent Easter at the beach which was a treat since we're not sure if we'll get back there before the twins come.  

I've officially made it to 36 weeks now which is where my OB wants me since most twins are born around that time.  I'd like to hit at least 37 weeks which is considered full term for any baby.  At my appointment last week my belly started to shrink a little bit as baby A moved lower down.  I now measure at 39.5cm.  At my biggest I was up to 42 cm.  Other than that there were no updates.  The non-stress test went well again and I repeat it all again tomorrow.  We'll be sure to update the blog as soon as our little girls arrive :)

Chan made a nice smooth transition into his own room last weekend and had no issues.  We're still working on moving the office stuff out of there but at least all of his stuff is in there.  And now the old room that Esme and him used to share is the staging area for all the twins stuff - changing station on top the dresser, the swing, rock n play, bouncers, mounds of diaper boxes, clothes bins, etc.  

A trip to the zoo with the cousins last weekend thanks to Aunty Ness and Uncle Judd.

This boy loves his corn and ate 3 ears on top of his dinner this weekend!

Coconut Island for Easter.

Chan was having too much fun in the sand to join the family photo opp.

So he got a solo picture...

  

Babies Are Behaving In There!

All the baby visits this week were a success!  On Monday Esme and I went for the normal non-stress test at the hospital.  The babies passed their test in record time and we were out of there in 20 minutes!  That's a record since the test is usually at least 30 minutes.  The next day I met with the perinatologist from Oahu for an ultrasound to see how the girls measure up.  And yes, they're still two girls :)  Baby A weighs 4# 8oz and Baby B weighs 5# which is impressive because they've kept their same growth curve since we first started measuring them.  Dr Hirata said normally by now they slow down in their growth but the girls aren't showing signs of slowing at all.  We only got a good picture of Baby A but B was being shy.  At one point A had her legs wrapped all around B's head.  No wonder twins are so close!  

Then yesterday I had my weekly visit with Dr Tran, my OB, and she said she's ultimately impressed with how well I've fared so far.  When she asks for any complaints or pregnancy related symptoms all I can usually tell her is that I'm tired, but what pregnant mom isn't tired?  But no back pain, swelling, bed rest, excessive weight gain, gestational diabetes, increased time off work, etc which she had prepared me for in the beginning.  She wants me to make it to 36 weeks for delivery and Dr Hirata said 38 week.  Right now I'm 34 weeks.  We're almost there!  I'm using my spring break to get the house in order for all of us.  There's a lot of shuffling around to do still but we're getting there.  

Esme is loving her new room set up and Chan is getting ready to move into his soon.  The kids have both been playing baby a lot more especially with all the baby stuff surfacing around the house.  Oh the other thing with Esme, she requested to cut her hair short!  I was surprised but totally for it since it seems like it'd make it easier and it has.  She wanted it above her shoulders but the hairdresser wanted to go gradual so it's a little longer than we expected right now.  But she's still happy with it and so the next one will be shorter.  Chan also got a new trim, 2nd haircut of his life.  He was better this time and the lady could use the scissors the whole time and not the buzzers like she had to before.  We had to distract him a lot though with our phones to keep him still.  

Baby A was the only photogenic one this week.  Baby B was hiding.  

Esme's new do!

Celebrating Babies

Don't worry, they're not here yet but we had a nice celebration for the twins this past weekend.  The aunty's threw a beautiful shower at our house which was so nice.  It took some explaining for Esme to understand what a baby shower was.  She enjoyed helping open the gifts and to play with all her girl cousins too.

Amazing decorations and great backdrop for the shower!

Yummy dessert bar for the girls!

We made a wish and two came true :)

Thanks family for the shower!

Esme checking out the new girl clothes.

Esme continues to go with me every Monday afternoon for my non-stress tests at the hospital.  I get admitted and situated in a room.  She's so used to the drill now that as soon as I lay down in the bed she knows to lift my t-shirt up in order to expose my belly and help the nurse strap the monitors on.  She also likes to hold the button to click whenever the babies move.  Of course I have to tell her when but she loves being my big helper.  It usually lasts less than an hour in which we read, do her homework and if we have time then watch some PBS kids.  The nurses tell me that I usually have 2-3 contractions during the visit but I can never feel them so my OB said not to worry.  Last week though the visit got extended for a few hours because one of the babies heart rates dropped below 100 and so they had to monitor me for longer.  Luckily it didn't happen again and they were able to discharge me that evening.  It was a little scary since I know it's possible that they could be here at any minute.  Next week Tuesday we have an ultrasound to check their growth so that'll be interesting.

All strapped up at Hilo Medical Center

As of right now I'm planning to work until Friday April 1st and then take leave but we'll see what the girls have planned.  At most I'm tired at the end of the day and my feet hurt off and on but that's it.  Not a whole lot to complain about and for that I'm super thankful!

Thanks to Aunty B I actually did a maternity photo shoot with her last weekend also.  It was such a great idea and the pics came out awesome.  I'm so glad I have them to look back on this amazing twin pregnancy adventure.  Here's just a few of the shots we got.

Not much room left in my lap these days. 

It's all baby in there!

Happy Birthday Esme!!!

Yikes, I thought it was only 2 weeks from my last post but I guess the month got away from me!  Sorry guys!  We celebrated Esme's 5th birthday in the middle of the month and she requested a rainbow shave ice party with only her cousins present, not her friends.  I was surprised (and slightly glad since it saved me a lot of work) since we had just went to a big, over-the-top birthday party for her classmate a few weeks early and I thought she would have wanted something more like that.  Anyways, we had good weather so they got to do a slip n slide in the back yard and just play.  Since we recently moved into the old guest room she requested things to decorate her room for her birthday and she's loving all the new additions.  We still need to get pictures on the wall though, hopefully before the twins come.

Mommy's rainbow jello masterpiece!

Esme requested carrot cake decorated with rainbows.

She even chose her own birthday outfit to go with her crown from Nana.

We finally got her bedroom set up and are still working on decorating...

Chan also started a new daycare this month.  We said goodbye to Aunty Monica and transitioned him to Aunty Veva's house.  Aunty Veva used to be a teacher at Esme's school and she's also set up to watch the twins when the time comes.  Chan is loving the new space and his new friends.  He's even learning some Spanish from Aunty Veva and picking up on her accent.  It cracks us up!  Chan is working on sleeping in the trundle bed in his room and we're hoping to transition him completely before the twins arrive.

Chan waiting for his dentist appointment.  He looks like a little version of his older self here.

The kids enjoying the new van and their "beela's" aka blankets.

Valentine's Tea Party at Esme's school.

Aunty Bree visited us in Hilo! 

The kids love to paint!

Esme is always trying to mix all the colors regardless of the end result always being the same...brown!

The twins are continuing to grow, grow, grow!  At my last OB appointment I measured as big around as a full term person with only one baby.  So basically that's as big as I've ever gotten before so it'll be interesting to see where it all goes from here.  My weight gain is still slow but the reassuring part is that the babies continue to grow.  Babies were head down still with one on the left side and one on the right.  Their movements seem to get smaller and smaller as they get more and more cramped.  And just when I think it's impossible to get any more tired, the degree of tiredness changes.  This whole pregnancy can be categorized by the variations of tiredness.  Ha ha!  But honestly that's really as bad as it's been so far so I can't complain too much.  I continue with weekly non-stress tests at the hospital, next OB appointment is next week, and the next ultrasound is in 2 weeks.

Baby shower at work.

My basketball belly

Just waiting for 2 more goodballs to add to the group...

Just Keeping Up

Hmmm...what have we been up to lately?  Hard to say since daily life seems to keep us busy most of the time.  And then the rest of the time it's been getting the house settled (still a little behind from when we moved in and I was so nauseous that I couldn't do anything) and ready for the twins.  Esme and Chan were sharing a room but we've since moved Esme to her own room.  Slowly but surely that's coming along.  We still need to move a dresser in there and get it decorated to her liking.  First her choice was "princess world" and then today it was "rainbow dash" themed from My Little Pony.  Regardless it's girly of some sort which is so Esme.

Chan is back in his crib again and sleeping so much better than before.  I guess he just likes those boundaries.  At some point we'll move him to the twin trundle bed that's also in his room but for now we'll leave it as is.  He still calls us all by our ninja names and has started naming other family members too.  Aunty Amy is silver, Nana is orange, etc.  He's so funny that way.

Our little blue ninja as he calls himself.

Chan looking a lot like his daddy in this pic.

The twins have been causing all sorts of commotion in our lives lately.  At my OB visit last week we found out that both twins are head down.  Woohoo!  But then I also found out I failed my one hour glucose screen (boo!) and had to take the 3 hour glucose tolerance test this past weekend.  Not so fun but at least I passed!  Woohoo!  Then on Monday I had to start my weekly non-stress tests at the hospital.  They strap a monitor to my belly to measure any contractions and then two other monitors to check the baby's heart beats.  I have to lie there for at least 30 minutes while this all gets recorded.  Apparently I was having some significant contractions that I couldn't feel so they had to consult with my OB.  It all turned out fine and I was able to go home without being treated for preterm labor but that was sort of scary.  Esme was with me and we were just enjoying lying in the hospital bed and reading books together so that changed the mood.  Esme still wants to go back with me every Monday afternoon when I have to get this done.  Then this morning I had an US with the specialist who had good news - babies are still growing right on target!  Baby A is 2#8oz and baby B is 2#14oz.  These are normal sizes for just one baby so it's no wonder that I feel/look about as big as when I delivered Esme and Chan.  Ha ha!  Overall though I'm still feeling good but just a lot more tired than normal.  I can't do everything like I used to and I'm having to take it easy a lot which can sometimes be hard mentally but physically my body just can't keep up.

The kids are always excited to talk about the twins and feel them move.  Esme thinks it's the most magical thing and her face lights up every time she feels them.  Chan usually isn't patient enough to wait long enough and usually just makes it up that he feels them move.  He also wants to call one Baby Z instead of A and B.  Other than that Esme's suggestions for names have been Peanut and Jelly, and Rapunzel and Pascal (from the Disney movie).  We've also had suggestions of Elsa and Anna, and Bree and Carrie (mom's best friends from when she was growing up).  Regardless we're still working on the names.  It's twice as hard this time!

Esme using mommy's belly as an arm rest after nap one afternoon.

Baby A at 28 weeks

Baby B at 28 weeks

Happy New Year 2016

Christmas and New Years have come and gone and I can honestly say we thoroughly enjoyed them to the fullest!  Christmas Eve was interesting since Esme was still on Taiwan time.  She went to bed at a normal time but then was up from about 11-3am which made life a little hard for Santa's helpers ;)  But the flipside of that was that she slept in.  Chan woke up first and bypassed the entire playroom where all the Christmas stuff was and went to the family room to just hang out with mom.  So we got a nice slow start to the morning and only got through a handful of presents before our family started showing up at our house for brunch.  The kids had enough fun with their stockings and Santa gifts that they didn't make it to all of the tree for the rest of the day which was sort of nice.  We took the rest of the weekend to get through it.  The kids were sad to see Doodle, the elf, go back home with Santa.  The still ask in the mornings sometimes where he's at.  And they keep talking about when he comes back next year.

Esme wearing her robe from Santa.  Our mornings are in the 60s, inside and outside the house, so the robe has come in handy when she wakes up.  

With the cool mornings Chan has been sleeping in footed fleece sleepers for the past month or so.  The new fleece jacket was a bonus!  Thanks Grandpa Budd!

Chan wearing his red training underpants, white shirt and Santa hat.  I couldn't help but take the picture. 

The 4 boy cousins on Christmas morning.  We exchanged all our family gifts and then the kids went straight outside to play with everything.

The 5 girl cousins.

And here's the next 2 girl cousins...

It was so awesome to spend Christmas with those I love the most - my family - mom and siblings!

New Year's was spent at Nana's house.  We didn't make it to midnight but the fireworks woke Chan up later who developed a fear of those loud noises.

He enjoyed the sparklers though!

New Year's Day we spent at the beach in Kona.  The kids had fun in the sand and we all enjoyed the relaxing day together.  

These kids LOVE to dig and could spend most of their time in the sand.

Chan also thought it was funny to get buried in the sand.

Then the kids made a replica of my belly ;)

Chan loves to talk to his sisters and give them a kiss goodnight every night.  It's so cute.