Update & Photo shoot!

Well, they are almost 2 weeks old!!!!
Things are going well, we are working out our sleep schedule still, but we are doing well. :)
Friday was the bris for Mr. Dylan and the baby naming for Madam Josephine. All went very well for all involved. Our Mohelet (female Mohel - the one who does the snip snip) was spectacular. She was very sweet, friendly and gentle.
Today we had a weight check-up at the doctors office and things are looking good. Both Dylan and Josephine are almost back to their birth weight.
Saturday we had an in-house photo shoot with Jenise Maria Photography (jenisemariaphotography@gmail.com - please refer her if you know anyone looking for baby photos). Here is a sampling of what she did for us...

The Arrival!

What a busy week it's been!
As you all probably know, the babies have arrived! What you probably DON'T know, is the story behind their arrival..
On Wednesday, Sept 28, Sarah went in for her routine 37 week checkup. All went well, except for a slightly elevated blood pressure. Since her blood pressure has never, ever changed - her entire life, including during pregnancy  - Doctor decided it would be good to recheck her soon. After 15 or 20 minutes, a repeat pressure was done. Still a little elevated. Our of concern for Sarah and the babies, Doc decided it would be a good idea to go to the hospital and be monitored for two or so hours to make sure it goes down (which is expected) and if not, we will go from there. Blood pressure never went down. It stayed elevated. Doc was a 12 noon appointment, by 5pm Sarah was admitted to the hospital for induction. Doc was afraid that the blood pressure not going down could potentially harm the babies and didn't want to take that chance. We, of course, were ecstatic - and shocked. Doc said that since the babies were full term, it was safe to do, and could be safer than leaving them in. So off we went for an induction. Shortly after midnight Sarah started to go into labor - and by 6am was wheeled into the OR. (Most hospitals, ours included, require twins to be born in the operating room in case of an emergency c-section, so this was just routine.)
At 7:19am Josephine Marie was born. She was 19 inches and weighed a 5 lbs 14 oz. Only 16 minutes later, Dylan Riley joined his sister. He was 17.5 inches and weighed in at 5 lbs 9 oz. By 8am, we were back in the hospital room calling family with the great news :)
Prior to their birth, Sarah told the entire team (a few doctors and nurses plus the anesthesiologists - 8 or so people total were in the room) that when they came out she was going to shout their names "so freaking loud." As Doc said "Baby A born," Sarah screamed out "HI JOSEPHINE!!!!!" Nothing was different for Dylan.

A few days later, we are all home and doing very well. Everyone is happy. Dylan and Josephine are loving all their new stuff, including their new room! The bris and baby naming are set for Friday morning in our apartment. We have a great mohel who will do both at the same time, so we don't need to go separately to the temple for Josephine's baby naming. (She also is a very sweet woman and a pediatrician to boot!)

Here are a few photos, more to come! We are going to try and keep the blog going, but can't promise anything.

 Dylan is the baldy, Josephine is rockin' the faux-hawk

 Josephine

 Dylan

 Uncle Andrew & Dylan

 Aunt Hope & Josephine

 Cousin Clayton looking in on his new cousins

 Curled up

Grandma & Zadye with Dylan















There are other family photos - like Uncle Matt with both - but we can't find them. As soon as we do, they will be uploaded!


Each child is named special after passed members of our families. We decided to give each child a first name from one side, and a middle name from the other side, so each has a dedication from both sides.
Josephine is a combination name of Stefanie's grandparents Joseph and Sabine. Marie is after Sarah's grandmother Mary. Dylan is for Sarah's father David, and Riley is for Stefanie's Uncle Robert.
Hope to see you, or meet you, all soon!!!!

Art Work!

Today, Sarah spent some time painting the letters we will be hanging in their room as well as some nifty photo frames. The frames and letters match colors for each child, the darker is for the boy and the lighter is for the girl. We then attached these cute animals to the photo frames for extra decoration. Hope you like them!!!!


Baby Boy's Frame:

Baby Girl's Frame:

And now, the long awaited... the highly secretive initials!



Baby Boy's Letter:

Baby Girl's Letter:

Well, is it everything you thought it would be? ;-)


Unfortunately, at this time we had to use a censor block on these photos. We apologize, deeply, for any inconvenience. Really, we do.

36 weeks, 4 days

These children have NO plans on coming any time soon...
With that said, I (Sarah) went to Dr. this morning as well as for another growth scan while Stef was working hard.
When she walked into the exam room, Dr. said, "Still pregnant I see. Goodness. They don't want to come out!" So waiting another week we shall do... We are hoping that they will make an appearance soon, but we aren't (and can't) push them.
When at the growth scan I learned that  baby birl weighs 5 lbs 10 oz and baby boy weighs 5 lbs 7 oz. While doing the scan, baby girl (I think it was her) kicked the sono technician. She wasn't happy being pushed on. I also asked her to confirm their genders and her response was simple: "It is confirmed that there is one penis and one vagina."
After the growth scan I went for a Non-Stress Test which was boring and quick. I sat with 3 monitors on me - one for each baby and one for me (to check for contractions). As I felt a kick I was to push a button. Everything on the scan looks good and there were absolutely no contractions. As the nurse said, "Your uterus has done nothing." Gee, thanks! Like I didn't realize that already!
Both babies are still head down - going on 21 weeks of them not flipping, I don't think they will flip now! There's no room left!
The machine that the sono tech used was blurry, so there are no new photos to post :(
Later this week, however, we are going to have a very special addition of photos to share with you. We bought a few things to do as an "art project" to hang in their room and are going to show you them! We are very excited about these pieces and can't wait to see what you all think about them!
That is, of course, unless the babies decide to show their faces......... don't hold your breath.

Problems commenting?

It has come to my attention that people are having trouble commenting on posts. I'm here to tell you that I've researched it and think I may have found the solution!
First off, when you go to type a comment you do not have to sign into any program (like Google, OpenID, etc). You are allowed to sign as "anonymous," BUT we do ask that you then write in your name so we know who you are! After clicking "Post Comment" a box like this should show up:

If you don't see the word verification (which will change every time you post a comment, or if you mistype the word) then you have a little work to do.

In order to post comments you need to have "3rd Party Cookies" enabled. There is a different way to do this for each browser (Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Opera, Chrome, etc), so I am not going to tell you how to do it (plus, I don't know how). You can look it up in Google if you need to know how to do it. You also need to make sure that pop-ups are enabled. As with the cookies, this is different for each browser. Again, Google will tell you what to do if you run a search for it (i.e. "enable pop-ups in internet explorer" if thats what you need to do).

Between the two (cookies and pop-ups), you should be able to comment without a problem.

I think that Google (the runners of this great blog program) changed their doings recently and that is why people that used to be able to comment no longer can. It's merely a programming thing and can be pretty easily fixed. :)

With that, I leave you! Have a wonderful day friends and family!

--Sarah

35 week appointment..

So, we've been a bit slow in posting this week. This is solely because of the lack of anything useful to share!
We saw Doc on Tuesday and she gave high fives all around, very happy that we made it to 35 weeks (today is 35 weeks, 6 days, which leaves 4 weeks 1 day to due date). Sarah will start seeing her weekly now, and there is one more growth scan next week. Very excited to see them again and to see how much they've grown this month!
The nursery is set up and ready for the babies' arrival - just need to get the bedding. The hospital bag is packed and ready to go. Basically, we are ready to go!
As for what the babies have to say, they say hello. They have been trying to make an "out hole" via Sarah's abdomen. Throughout the day, they fight (mostly the girl is hitting the boy, who tries to push out to get away from her) and throughout the night they beat up Sarah.
So thats the report. Not much to it...

Hope you all enjoy the day!

Maternity photos!

Our friend Keri came over last week and blessed us with her photographic skills! She spent a few hours taking a few hundred photos of us and the belly. We've decided to share a handful with you :)