Babies 1st visit to Caliornia--Herran style

We survived it! We packed the kids into the car and arrived in Las Vegas without any problems. JT and I had fun playing ridiculous games along the way. One was naming as many animals as we could think of. When it looked like I might win JT began saying "black bear...brown bear...black bear". He still thinks he won.

I had been concerned because previous car rides hadn't gone as smoothly, but I guess I underestimated the power of the freeway. The babies enjoyed being pampered by Aunt Linda before heading into California the next morning. We spent some time with JT's parents and my own the rest of the day.

Saturday we all piled into the Trout van and drove to San Fernando to visit the Herran side of the family. I thought the babies would've been sick of driving, but they were perfectly serene!

Porter and Delilah got to meet their Great Great Grandma Herran. She looked pretty spiffy for the event!

We were also happy to have them meet their Great Grandma Trout. Porter loved her cuddling abilities from the start.

Cheryl talking with Grandma Trout. The table behind them is filled with Bear Pit BBQ food. It's AWESOME. Seriously.
These pictures were so adorable! Both of Dawn's kids held the babies like seasoned pros.





Great Great Grandma was brave enough to tackle them both at once! It took me forever to try that one.

Pictures with the menfolk:




Pictures with the girls:


I love the chaos that breaks out directly after a photo has been taken. Unfortunately, this is the only photo we have of Wendy holding one of the kids.



Great Great Grandma Herran holding Porter and Great Grandma Trout holding Delilah



Both babies with their Great Grandma and Grandpa Trout

Lastly, one more group shot:

We were happy that the babies had the opportunity to meet the Herran side of the family. It was especially important to JT. He will definitely cherish those memories.

Their first few weeks

The twins and I came home from the hospital after a 3-day stay. We were all SO happy to be home! That includes JT because he slept there every night in a chair. I told him he could go home and get some decent rest but he wouldn't leave our sides. He's really been the perfect doting father and loving husband.

Porter developed a mild case of jaundice once he came home and had to be under the lights for 4 days. They brought a light suitcase for him and a little mask for his eyes. I felt so bad for him. It was heartbreaking to watch him spend hour after hour lying in there when I know he would've loved to have been held by those who love him. Even now I tear up thinking about it!

From the very get-go our little man has been very aware of his surroundings. His big blue eyes are always open as wide as possible. He also makes the cutest little faces! Our favorite is his "Zoolander" face where he puckers up. Porter is also our lazy boy. Usually, he is content to sleep the day away without too much of a fuss. He also prefers a bottle to breastfeeding and if forced to breastfeed will pretend to do so. He had us fooled for a while! Once we found out what he was doing we were able to up the amount I supplement with and change breastfeeding tactics.

Delilah is our little princess. She wasn't as aware at first but that's beginning to change. She impressed us very quickly with her ability to hold her head up! She began lifting it and looking around while we were still in the hospital. Of course, then her head immediately would crash down into our shoulder...but that's not the point. Delilah also barely fits into any of her clothes! At 6 lbs 11 oz she isn't a very small baby. But she's SO petite that the best fitting clothes are closer to the preemie sizes. Lastly, she is a bit of a drama queen. Delilah tends to fuss over anything really. For a while there it was safe to say it was her if we ever heard one of the babies start to fuss.

The twins both had some issues gaining weight. I wasn't producing enough milk for them and they required a certain amount of food to even pass their blood sugar requirements. Things have evened out since then. They enjoyed being kept close together, although Delilah required it more than Porter did. They snuggled together every day in their little bassinet. They were so cute and funny together! Porter even once turned around and began sucking on Delilah's nose while she slept! Sadly, we couldn't get to a camera in time.

Delilah & Porter are born!

With the big c-section scheduled for Tuesday morning on January 12th, JT and I decided to head out on the town for a last hurrah the night before. It was a lot of fun! We enjoyed a wonderful and romantic meal at Carabbas. The hostess was worried that I'd eat too much for the surgery. Afterwards we went to the theater to see Sherlock Holmes. It was a really good movie! It was a little too dark at times for my taste, but I still thought it was fantastically done. However, it was 1:30 AM before the movie was over! I knew I was gonna die in the morning.

The next morning I was in the shower by 6 AM and we were at the hospital an hour later. I couldn't have been more nervous! JT and my mom tried to calm me down the whole time. Really, I was fine with the surgery. What terrified me was the epidural! The doctors and nurses were really good about it though. The poor anesthesiologist kept thinking he had hurt me because I was such a wreck. But I was never hurt. I was so grateful to have JT there through it. He was such a MAJOR help. He held my hands the whole way. My mom watched the epidural and actually thought it was way cool! I love her, but I think that's SO weird. Definitely a traitor. Anyways, after the meds kicked in and I couldn't feel anything but my nerves, they wheeled me into the delivery room.

They got everything set up and then one of my doctors stopped everyone and said, "ready on the right? ready on the left?"(I think there may have been more to the phrase than I can remember) Well when JT started laughing the doctor stopped and said that they must have a military man in their midst. Of all times to decide to take a detour and talk about the Marine Corps!! After his curiosity was satisfied, the doctor finally started the procedure.

I gotta say, I was only mildly freaking out the entire time. The biggest problem I was facing was how to stay awake! It wasn't that the meds were making me drowsy. It was having been out until 1:30 that morning! Well, I felt like I was finally getting a hold of my nerves when one of the doctor announces that they're about to pull one of the babies out and that I'm going to feel pressure. I started FREAKING OUT! JT immediately knelt beside me and began talking to me to calm me down. He started talking about our favorite TV shows but I told him I was NOT going to give birth discussing something as mindlessly frivolous as television! I don't remember what we DID talk about, but it sure wasn't TV.

Then it was time. One of the doctors told JT to stand up and told me to get ready to see the baby. JT turned on the video camera and jumped up. They lowered the sheet and we were suddenly face to face with our new little daughter Delilah! She was crying and looked perfectly healthy! I was happy, but I really wasn't registering a ton of emotion. I just remember being SO relieved to see she was ok. She was born at 9:15 am at 6 lbs 11 oz and 18 inches long. They asked what we wanted to name her and I said Delilah. The anesthesiologist immediately whipped out his iPhone and set it next to my ear playing a Tom Jones song that features the name Delilah. I had never heard the song and didn't care, but it was sweet of him. Then they held up our little boy Porter! He was SO much bigger than Delilah! He was born at 9:17 am at 8 lbs and 19 inches long.

They whisked them away for cleanup and I remember frantically asking if they were as healthy as they seemed. They said they were and I FINALLY relaxed. I was so exhausted that I really was quite content with letting things follow their course. The anesthesiologist put on Coldplay and began administering me more pain medication (he gave me a choice of drugs to relax or relieve pain and I said being relieved of pain WOULD be relaxing). At this point JT walked back over to me with each baby in his arms. They looked beautiful. The nurses and doctors were so impressed with JT. They kept talking about how focused he had kept me during the surgery and how naturally he took to fatherhood. The nurses were shocked that he didn't even flinch at taking both babies in his arms. He showed them to me before giving me a kiss and taking them up to the Newborn ICU. They were 99% ok. The main issue was making sure that their lungs were emptied of any fluid.


After the doctors finished stitching me back up they put in staples. It was so weird! It actually sounded like they'd grabbed a stapler off the receptionists desk and were stapling my stomach up! To sum it all up, I was wheeled in for surgery at 9 am, gave birth at 9:15, and was sewn back up by 9:30. It went SO fast! Then they wheeled me up to the NICU to visit the babies. They wheeled me right by Delilah without even noticing! She was doing perfectly fine! The C-PAP went well and she was sleeping peacefully. JT was with Porter. He had a tube inserted into his head because they had a hard time drawing blood from anywhere else. We came to find that Porter's NICU nurse was one of the same nurses that had attended to his cousin Zachary when he was there too!

Well, from here on out my story gets totally boring. I sat in my recovery room in the mother-baby ward waiting and waiting. I was really grateful to have my mom there with me. It seemed like FOREVER before they brought me my babies. Delilah was released first and JT escorted her down to my room. That attentive daddy gave me a kiss and stayed just long enough to make sure his little girl was ok before rushing back up to watch over Porter. He had blood sugar issues due to my gestational diabetes. However, Porter too was eventually brought down and we were all able to enjoy time together.

I'll never forget the first time I got to hold the both of them. It was skin-to-skin contact. They were so little and absolutely perfect. My little girl was so dainty. I couldn't see JT or myself in her face so it felt like I was getting to know this brand new perfect person. Porter was as pleasantly chubby as possible and was the spitting image of JT! The resemblance kept amazing me. I loved everything about them. They were absolutely perfect and they were all ours. I held them and kissed them as long as I could. I wish I had pictures of JT with the kids and myself. Next time we have kids we'll remember to have him pass off the camera so he can be in pictures too!

Private!

Tuesday January 12th, 2010 we welcomed our sweet little Porter and Delilah into the world! It was such a life-changing day that we're still trying to wrap our heads around it! The one feeling we can immediately agree on is JOY.

We will be posting about their birth and updating with pictures so you all can see their sweet little faces. HOWEVER, after much discussion, JT and I have decided to clamp down on security. Up until now we have been posting pictures of the kids on facebook and sending the link to family and friends. We realized that if our family and friends could easily look at them then so could any stranger who so desired. So our facebooks have been made private. Yay! But in doing so we have made it impossible for the aforementioned family and friends to view the photos without their own facebook account.

SOLUTION:
We have decided that along with regularly posting updates about our family happenings, we will be frequently posting photos on THIS blog site. To continue protecting the kids we will be making this blog private as well. The good news is that anyone who gives us their email address will be allowed to read it!

HENCE, if you would like to continue reading this blog then please make sure I have your email address! We really don't want to exclude you! Plus these kids are so cute I PROMISE you're gonna want to stick around to see them. :)

We love you and hope to hear from you soon!

Catching Up

Today is the first day in a while that I don't have a million things to do. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that I'm NOT going to work on the million things I have to do. I realize however that I am severely behind in the blogging department. So today I'm playing "catch up".

As I think back on the first trimester of my pregnancy, it's all kind of a blur. I remember being really tired. SUPER tired. That's why I thought I was sick at first instead of pregnant. I also remember the constant need to EAT. If I didn't eat every 2 hours then I'd get sick. But it's not like I'd sit down and eat a feast either. I'd get all this food and then pick at it until I had eaten maybe half and then be fine until my next "feeding". I really did think that I was going to get hit with morning sickness. I figured that what were the chances of me being one of the lucky ones? Well I turned out to be one of the extremely lucky ones! Besides a bout of food poisoning and taking prenatals without food, there was not a single incident. I knew then and I know now how lucky I was. The tiredness was the worst part of it all really. I would get frustrated trying to do laundry only to get too exhausted to move half way through folding clothes. I'm sure you could infer, but I'll say it anyways: my house was a MESS!!! I knew my body could handle cleaning. It was just that pesky exhaustion! This was me at 18 weeks:

Towards the end of the first trimester I began feeling a change in my body coming on. I started to have more energy but still wasn't quite there yet. By this time I had long decided to quit going to Fall semester at BYU. One week of classes and my OBs indignation were enough to convince me that I would probably die trying. So I deferred. My sciatic nerve was really starting to act up at this point. JT drove the scooter to work so I was able to go out and about in the car. However, I began to learn that even car-fun had its limitations. The photo below is me somewhere at the tail end of my first trimester:

My second trimester saw an increase in pain from my sciatic nerve. My left rib cage also began to swell and hurt so badly it felt unbearable at times. Between my sciatic on my right side and my rib on my left side...well there were a few nights where I opted for sleeping in a sitting position. My depression didn't get much better this trimester either. I'd been struggling with it since I had first found out I was pregnant and was pretty well set into my pity party. I did my best to hide my true feelings from everyone but JT. But the truth was that I was devastated to be going through a HUGE milestone in my life at a random time and with TWO babies. You see, I like plans. I LOVE plans. My plan was to enjoy my time with JT as a couple for about 2 more years before trying to get pregnant. I loved my growing babies. I just cried because they were coming to a mommy who wasn't ready to take care of them yet. I felt like I had already failed them. Their mom was a crybaby who hadn't finished school and definitely wasn't mature enough to handle them. I was selfish and I knew it. Self-pity+guilt=not such a fun wife for JT to come home to.

Somewhere around this time I came to a realization. I knew these babies were a blessing and that I already would have given the world for them. I realized that I was being petty and requiring God to follow my timeline. I was basically saying, "ya, I'll do life according to thy will...as long as it fits within my schedule." For heaven's sake, if God trusted me enough to send two little perfect children at this time then I COULD DO IT. At the very least, I could be a pleasant companion for JT. He deserved at least that much. This is me at 21 weeks:

Interesting story: one Sunday morning we woke up and JT made me waffles. I sat at the kitchen table happily eating until I noticed that I was blue/purple from the knees down. I laid out on the couch and called the doctor's office. Well the doctor's office forwarded me to an answering service. Then that answering service forwarded me to the same doctor's office. We weren't pleased. I called the hospital to speak with a nurse who told me I'd have to come in to get an opinion. So off we raced to the labor and delivery ward. In the room they told me to change into a gown and lay in bed. After changing we found two velcro straps lying on the bed. We didn't know what to do with them. JT assumed that they must be for me to wear! He put it around my waist I'm not gonna lie...I don't really remember much else between these two photos. The photo below is at the end of my second trimester:

Third trimester got well underway with a refresher course in exhaustion. I felt bigger each and every day! I still felt pretty lucky though to be escaping virtually unscathed (well, except for those pesky stretch marks).

Then we decided to move. It was so fast and so chaotic that the time seems to have flown by! The new neighborhood has been getting used to my HUGE belly. The kids move constantly and I'm sure that if it weren't for unisom, I'd be getting very little sleep. About this time I developed SPD--Something Pelvis D-something. The gist of it is that my pelvic joints are softening up and spreading apart to prepare for labor. It creates extreme pain since the bones that aren't softened scrape against each other. The doctor said it's not going to get better. Below is a photo of me after church one evening:

I learned that if I walked through the pain of SPD, I was able to eventually feel 100% better! :) The only time it ever hurts now is in the evenings after the course of a long day. I can handle a little pain in the effort to get to my comfy bed!

JT finished up the nursery paint job and I'm so happy about it! We painted it seafoam green. It's bright but pretty. It looks a lot brighter when there's snow in the backyard.

Lastly, approaching week 35 was a big deal. The doctors told us that most twins arrive at week 36 and to expect them at any time. Panic and excitement have switched off running my life. Contractions are sporadic, but that keeps the doctors happy. Little Porter was verging on 6 pounds only a week earlier. Delilah was just over 4 pounds. From the size of my tummy, I bet that they didn't stop there! This is me at 35 weeks: ..........um, it looks like my uploader thingy won't work. I'll have to post that photo later. Sorry!