Saturday, March 15, 2008

Our Family of Six...

Uncle John and Ty Ty... Lily and her James...

Lily kissing her James...
Lily adoring her James...
Lily and Ty playing play-doh after mommy and the twins returned home... tired mommy and her twinkles...

Poppy and Isabella...
Isabella nursing mommy's lip...
the twinfants snoozing...
Mommy and Daddy with the twins getting ready to leave the hospital...
Lily and James arriving at home...
Mommy and Daddy and the twins in the car ready to go home...



the twins in their carseats for the first time...
Daddy and his boys... Ty Ty and baby Bella...

Nanny holding James...



I had intended to post right after I got home from the hospital, but that was a bit ambitious. So, only a few days later, I am going to update you all on my new expanded family. First, let me say that my beautiful twins are an absolute miracle. They were both born on Monday, March 10th--Isabella Spence at 8:41 a.m. and James McCabe at 8:43 a.m. Bella weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces (our heaviest baby ever) and was 19 1/4 inches long, and James weighed 5 pounds, 15 ounces (our smallest baby ever) and was 19 inches long. When they were trying to pull Isabella out, she poked out her elbow and they nicked her with the scalpel...she promptly came out crying and didn't stop for quite a while! She was fine, but I'm sure that was a rude awakening after 9 months in squishy warm darkness. James had the cord around his neck twice and came out a bit blue, but he pinked up right away and they allowed me to hold both babies in the operating room, which was really special. After I recovered, I was able to nurse both of them and I am proud to report that I can nurse them both at the same time--I need Todd around to help, but I have tandem nursed almost every time since we've been home. Our first night was a bit rough--both of them found their lungs and cried A LOT. I also had a nasty reaction to Tylenol 3 and ended up taking a lot of benadryl, so I was practically seeing double from being so tired. But, we survived and our second night was MUCH better. James has all this dark hair and he is starting to fill out a little bit. Isabella looks so much like Lily when she was born that it takes me back each time I look at her. They are eating about every 3 hours and sleep most of the time when they're not eating. We are so incredibly blessed to have family here to share this time with us and help us. They have been a constant source of strength and happiness for me these last 37 weeks and I think we are all reveling in the joy of this mission coming to fruition. Here are some pictures from our time at home. Enjoy and cheers!