A Family of Six

Well we've survived the first 4 weeks!  And really they were no where near as bad as I thought they would be.  So how have we all adjusted?

 Christopher is doing so much better than we could have asked for!  I was afraid he would intentionally hurt the babies in retaliation of not getting enough attention, but there is none of that.  He loves these babies.  Whenever he sees them he says, "the babies!"  He will come over to them and point to their nose, eyes, finger, and toes.  He'll give them kisses and help me burp them, then be off on his way.  He loves them, but is not obsessed over them.  I can leave him in the same room with them without being worried he's going to do something to them like I thought would happen.

 Steven is a great big brother, just like I knew he would be.  He wants to help them, but once again is good to leave them alone if I ask him too.  There have been some accounts where he has tried to lift or move one, but I hope that has stopped and will stop once they get bigger.  I think Steven is still getting used to having more of my attention split, but I think that will come more with time.  I have loved him randomly coming to give me a hug, and asking me to carry him places.  It's nice to know he still wants his mom.

 Jacob has been a champ.  He has really stepped up and helped me with all the night feedings.  Lucky for us William and Ryan are pretty good sleepers, they get up once or twice a night.  We have a system down; Jacob changes them while I make bottles, then we feed them while watching a show and 30-45 minutes later we're back in bed.  We average about 6 or 7 cumulative hours of sleep, which is not bad at all.  Unfortunately Jacob's not used to getting up in the middle of the night with out kids, but I tell ya he's a champ and doesn't complain.  He's more tired, but for the most part I think he's doing well.  He's helped me clean and play with the older boys, I couldn't ask for more!

 I'm doing better than I expected as well.  I thought these first few weeks would be filled with me crying a lot and telling Jacob over and over again that I would not be able to handle any more children (this is what happened after Christopher was born.)  Thanks to our family, that have helped out a ton, I'm not that way at all!  It's actually doable.  I had my mom and sister for the first few days after I came home, then Jacob's mom stayed with me during the day for the next 2 weeks and the last week and a half I've been going solo.  With Susan (Jacob's mom) coming twice a week for a couple hours, so I can have a date with one of the older boys going grocery shopping, going to the park and library.  I'm able to clean up the house some, do laundry, and make something for dinner (though I'm still just using the freezer meals I cooked before, so when those run out we'll see how I do).  All of these things were impossible I thought.  I'm also feeling really good physically, it's been a while since I took pain medication and I actually don't feel as tired.  I still need a nap don't get me wrong, but everything is going a lot better than I could have expected!  I honestly don't know how it's happened that way.

 William is doing great.  This picture was taken a week ago where he weighed 7 lbs 4 oz, a whole pound heavier than he was at birth.  He and Ryan are honestly the best babies!  They eat and sleep and when they are awake they are content to just sit and look around.  They are also doing great to go to sleep by themselves in their crib with only a little help from me.

 Ryan weighed 7 lbs 13 oz here, but now looks even bigger!  Yesterday they had their first tummy time and both were lifting their heads from side to side, I couldn't believe how strong they are!  They are seriously the best babies I could have asked for, and honestly I don't think they can get any cuter.

And if you're wondering how we get around with all of them, yes we do go on family walks with this and attract some attention.  It's a lot easier to push than it looks, I'm actually glad we bought it.  (Jacob had to convince me)

Insights

Having these new babies in our home has been a different challenge than what I thought it would be.  Isn't that how life goes?  But with the little time I have I wanted to jot down some thoughts before I forget them.

1.  It's ok to change our philosophies and plans to better fit our family.  (I was planning on tandem nursing since I found out I was pregnant with twins.  But come to find out, it would have been WAY to emotional and physically stressing for me and twins.  So we decided to change gears and formula feed, and it was the best thing we could have done for our family.  Interesting how what we always planned isn't always best.)

2.  It's ok for the rest of my children to wait, so I can better serve the needs of one.  (If the babies are fed and changed, they'll be fine to cry for five minutes while I fix Steven another sandwich.)

3.  It may not seem like it, but my boys are learning...I hope.  I've been trying to reinforce rules and behaviors that have been put on hold for the past 3 months while I haven't been able to physically enforce them.  It's been a bit rough, but I was promised in a blessing this, so I need to repeat it to myself constantly.

4.  I can't control other people, namely my children.  The sooner I get this one down, the better my life will be.  It's going to be a tough one to learn though.

5. I need guidance in my life from my Savior.  I don't know how to raise these children, what to say that will yield the best results in their life. I'm lost as to how best to raise these boys, I'm in desperate need of His help.

6.  It will get better.  I have times where I think all hope is lost.  But an hour or two passes and everything looks bright and good again.  No matter what's going on, it will get better.

7. I am beyond blessed.  I have a good life.  Yes, there are some rough times, but there is so much good.  Everything has gone so well for us, in every aspect.  We've had so much support from family and friends, Jacob and I are in awe with how we lucky we are.  

The Birth of Our Twins

I thought I'd start out with the birthing story, and then follow up with a post to introduce you to each of our babies.

Our story starts out with a deadline:  August 22nd.  It was a goal to look forward to, this is when I'd be induced.  I was nervous though.  What if they couldn't fit me in that day, and I had to wait 4 more days until I'd get to have these precious boys?  I also wanted to know how my body would react to being induced and how long of a labor I'd be in.

The Morning of the 22nd arrived, my mom had come the night before to stay with the boys while we were at the hospital.  Jacob didn't sleep well, he was too anxious.  I on the other hand, slept just fine.  We received a call from the hospital a little after 6 a.m. saying there were 4 people being induced and it was a first come first serve type of deal.  We jumped out of bed, into the shower, and were out of the door in 30 or 45 minutes.  It took until about 8 to fill out paper work, get an ultrasound to make sure we could go ahead with a vaginal delivery, and finally get the pitocin in me.  The doctor arrived within the hour and broke my water and by 9:30 I had an epidural.  Then the waiting game began, Jacob and I distracted ourselves with a little Matlock.  Our doctor gave his guess that we'd have the babies around 2, our goal.  But by 12:00 I was only at a 5 and it seemed as if I'd be in labor all day.  I must add, I wasn't in any pain at this point, I hadn't pushed my epidural button to up the dosage once. A little before 1:00 our doctor comes in and says I'm at an 8!  He said he'd go down to the cafeteria and have lunch with his daughter, who has 2 sets of twins, and when he was done we'd most likely have these babies.  I was excited, and starting to feel more of the contractions, so I pushed the button.  I asked the nurse how long it would take for it to kick in, she said 15 to 20 minutes.  I told her I was feeling a lot more pressure.  She told me if I felt this certain way to give her a call, because that meant I needed to push.

Three minutes later I called her and told her, that's how I was feeling. Sure enough, I was at a 10 and ready to give birth!  She grabbed some grubs for Jacob and we prepared to get wheeled down to the O.R.  (They deliver all twins there in case of an emergency c-section.)  Mind you my epidural still hasn't kicked it up a notch, and I'm feeling pain.  They called for the anesthesiologist to give me a shot of epidural right in my back to help with the pain.  They wanted me to not be able to feel anything in case we needed to do a c-section.  Of course he was giving another woman an epidural and said he'd come as soon as he was done.  Meanwhile, we're waiting in the O.R. for this medication and my doctor.  About 1:25, I get the epidural and a couple of minutes later my doctor says I can push with the next contraction.

I pushed through one contraction and out comes William at 1:30.  The doctor reaches up and feels the head of baby #2 and breaks his water.  As soon it was emptied I was told I could push at the next contraction.  Once again I pushed through one contraction, and out came Ryan three minutes later.  Everything went so well.  No complications with me or the babies, and it wasn't that hard of labor.  We feel so very blessed with how it all went, we couldn't have asked for it to go better!

* in case you were wondering, the recovery was much worse than with the other two.  But there are logical explanations for that 1. recovery gets harder with each birth 2.  twins delivery is harder to recover from than a singleton 3. they gave me at least three different medications to help my uterus contract, since it was huge.  Which meant I was still feeling contractions for the next 24 hours or so. But as long as I stayed on top of my medicine, it wasn't too bad after the first 12 hours.  

Also, we still aren't sure if they are identical or not.  We thought they'd test the placenta, but they didn't, so we'll just have to guess. 

William Reid Morrise

William was born at 1:30 p.m.  He weighed 6 lbs 4 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long.  He had no complications in the hospital except some jaundice that we went back to the hospital a couple of times to test, but other than that perfect!

 He was named after my great grandfather William Whittle, who was the son of Cassanda Pope Whittle who I am named after.  His middle name is after his grandpa Morrise's middle name.  I know he will learn wonderful things from these great men he's named after and will make them proud to bear their name.

Depending on who you ask and the lighting of the room, William either has red, blonde, or brown hair.  It will be interesting to see what color it really turns out to be.  He has extremely long fingers and toes.

 We can already tell he will be protective and caring of his younger brother.  He will often calm down when we place him right next to his brother.  Here he is touching Ryan's head while getting some sun to help their jaundice; he just likes to be near or touching his brother.

 William seems to be one of those babies that needs structure.  When it's time to sleep, he does it best in the crib; and if we miss his drowsy window, it takes a lot more to get him to sleep.  My guess is he will like things to be planned and predictable all his life.

 He is now almost 3 weeks and now weights 6 lbs 8 oz.  He's gained back all his birth weight and then some, and has grown an inch to catch up to his brother, or so the nurse says.

We love you William and are so excited to have you in our family!

Ryan Scott Morrise

Ryan was born at 1:33 p.m.  He weight 6 lbs 12 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long.  Jacob said when they went to weigh him, he didn't want that at all and tried to pull himself out!  He is quite strong and is already trying to lift up his head along with his brother.  

Ryan was named primarily after a friend of ours that has many qualities we hope our son will have.  His middle name is after Jacob's middle name.  Jacob is the fourth boy and so is Ryan, Jacob's been saving his name just for an occasion.  

Although he was the biggest, Ryan had more problems.  His blood sugar was off and so we supplemented with formula in the hospital to keep him out of the NICU.  Which worked.  He also had to have his right ear retested for his hearing test, but passed the second time around.  And he did have to go back to the hospital with his brother for the jaundice tests, but really when you think of all that could have gone wrong, we will gladly take these things any old day!

 Ryan looks exactly like Steven when he was born.  When people ask us if we can tell them apart we say "yes, one looks like Steven and the other doesn't."  

He also loves to be next to his brother, and we can't get enough of them together.  The best part about having twins is their cuteness seems to amplify when they are together.

 Ryan rarely cries except when he's hungry or has a dirty diaper.  He's a pretty mellow guy so far.  It seems he'll be the more care free twin, willing to just go with the flow.

He is 7 lbs and 20 1/2 inches long.  He also has red, blonde, or brown hair, and long skinny toes and fingers.  We think, as of right now, that Ryan and William are identical, but only time with tell.

 Ryan, thanks for coming into our family and bringing your sweet spirit with you!