Adding on to Casa de Blundell

We have decided to make some additions to our home.  There will be some renovations going on in the next 6 months, some not so pleasant, but definitely worth it in the end! The majority of these renovations will mostly affect 1 person of this family, but I’m sure everyone will feel the repercussions of these renovations.

This add-on will be taking part in 3 phases throughout the next several months.  The first phase is just about complete and we may (fingers crossed) have a relatively easy phase coming up.  The first phase has been rough so far, there’s been a lot of headaches, sleeplessness and fatigue, mixed with a little nausea.  The last phase will be the roughest of all, we will all be uncomfortable and inpatient while we wait for the completion of the project.  We’ll be checking in with the project leader a lot in the end they will ultimately decide when the end date will come.

Here is a sneak peak at our new addition…

Coming in July, we will be welcoming a new addition to our family…we are so excited to be welcoming our 3rd baby and can’t wait to finally meet him or her! More to come later…

Our big boys

Our boys are days away from being 4 months old, that’s crazy. They are getting so big and growing up so fast. It is so much fun to see what all they are learning to do in such a short amount of time. We have changed a lot lately because the boys are becoming more active and their needs have changed.

Lets start with the changes to their beds. Jonathan went in one morning and found Hayden had scooted all the way over to the side of the crib with his face right up against the crib bumpers. So that was a sure sign the bumpers were needing to be taken off! Just by taking off the crib bumpers, the whole environment, from their perspective changes. The lighting changes, the amount of air or draft they feel is different and they see more through the crib slats, where as before they just say the bumpers. So everything they knew had been changed.

Both boys have been sleeping in their miracle blankets and they absolutely love them! Well they have started moving so much that they are wiggling out of their blankets are we were afraid that they would get all tangled up in them.

all snuggled in their miracle blankets

So we are no longer putting them in the miracle blankets and they are now in their sleep sacks, or as we like to call them, their happy sacks. The sleep sacks are like a long vest that zips up and covers their legs without the worry of a blanket covering their face during the night. We weren’t sure they would like the new sleep sacks because they love being wrapped up and when they aren’t wrapped up they don’t know what to do with their arms. The first night wasn’t great, Hayden did ok, he just woke up several times because, Iike I said earlier, he didn’t know what to do with his arms not being wrapped up. Ian on the other hand, he didn’t do so well. He screamed for 30 minutes straight (of course we would go in and check on him periodically) and after that I decided he wasn’t ready to make the switch yet. So I wrapped him up, rocked him for about 5 minutes, and he was asleep. We tried to change way to much on him in one night, so we let him get used to not having the bumpers around the crib for a few nights and tried again. This time he did great and has slept in the sleep sack ever since.

Hayden in his happy sack

Ian is a mover and shaker at night. When we go in during the night or in the morning, we never know where he is going to be laying or in what position he will be in. Hayden, on the other hand, pretty much stays put throughout the night.

both boys have learned to sit and stand up, with our help of course, and love it. In fact, it is what they want to do all day long! They don’t like being in their bouncy seats or swings as much because they can’t sit up. So I decided to find a big boy toy for them. I wanted to get an exersaucer type toy that they could sit it and eventually jump in, but not take up the entire living room (because we will need to get two). I found an awesome one online at Amazon that they would love so I ordered one and if they liked it I would order another one. Well, while I was at a resale shop the other day selling some clothes I found the exact Fisher-Price SpaceSaver Bounce ‘n Spin Froggy
(man that’s a long title) that I ordered from Amazon…and, it was $30 cheaper. This one was in really good shape, hardly looked used, so I brought it home and they loved it. Hayden was the first one to try it because Ian was asleep when I came home.

Hayden enjoying his new toy


Ian sleeping through all the fun


Ian got to try it out the next day and loved it just as much.

Ian enjoying the new toy


We have really enjoyed having two of the toys because we set them nose to nose while the boys play and they can watch one another. Sometimes they play so much they both end up falling asleep while sitting in it.

Hdiddy & Ididdy playing

Hayden has never been one to like tummy time, and Ian does when he is in the mood. They have both learned to like it a little bit better and Hayden even rolled over from his stomach to his back the other day by himself. They also like to lay on their play mat and look at the mirror and toys above them. Ian will lay under there for an hour sometimes just playing away.

Ian doing tummy time while waiting on his turn for a bath

Not only are the boys more active now and wanting to move more, they are a lot more vocal. They both love to talk and tell us everything that’s going on. Ian has been “talking” for a few weeks now but Hayden just recently started really “talking”, and when he gets on a roll, he will talk your ear off.

This is difficult age because they are at an inbetween stage. They want to sit up and do more, but are not able to do it by themselves and we can’t sit there all day long and hold them so they get fussy more now than they have in the past. But, needles to say we are loving watching the boys grow up and learn new things. I love watching their faces when they do something they didn’t realize they could do before. Watching Hayden roll over for the first time was priceless, his just got this huge grin on his face. They have grown up so much in the last 4 months, it will be amazing to see how much more they learn in the next 4 months!

My O.B….My Hero

Dr. Monti, Me, Hayden & Ian

Ok, so hero may be a little strong, but to me she is one. I honestly cannot find enough words to express my gratitude to Dr. Monti and all she did to help me and Jonathan get our two precious little boys! Almost 3 years ago we started trying to have a family and about 2 years ago we sought Dr. Monti’s help. She stuck with us for almost 2 years doing test after test, infertility treatments and then helped us through a not so perfect pregnancy. I saw her at least once, sometimes 2 or 3 times a month for almost 2 years straight…she even met us in her office on a Saturday afternoon to do an IUI treatment. If that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is! Every time I look at my babies I get a reminder of what she did to help us and I will forever be thankful.

I’m free to drive…and a realizaion

Last Thursday I had a 2 week check-up with my OB after having my c-section. Everything looks great, the incision is healing nicely and the pain is bearable. She said as long as I’m not taking the pain pill and just the prescription Ibuprofen then I can drive…WAHOO! I only take the actual pain pill once every other day or so and its only at night so I’m good. Anyway, I haven’t really driven but maybe once or twice to the store since July! That’s 3 1/2 months people. I’ve felt like Driving Miss Daisy forever having to depend on others to take me places, and if you know me, you know I hate it!

Saturday I left Jonathan at home with the boys alone, and while they had their own little adventure, I got to venture out to see my nephew play football which I was pretty excited about. While on my way to the game, driving by myself, it hit me…”I’m all alone”. It was a very weird feeling. It wasn’t a feeling of “I’m all alone, I’m so lonely, woe is me”. It was more of a surreal feeling of “I’m alone, there is no one else here”…make any sense or is it just sounding like it makes sense in my head?! For the last 8 months I have carried 2 little bambinos with me everywhere I went. They heard everything around me, they heard when my stomach growled, my heart beat and felt every movement I made. They were always there. I watched what I put in my body so I could keep them as safe as possible and had to watch what I did with my body (ex: bed rest) so I could keep them in there longer. Like I said, it was just a surreal feeling of “I’m alone again”, not a sad feeling, just a feeling. But that is the one thing that I will miss about being pregnant…knowing that they are always there and safe inside my tummy!

Our Twin Boys are here!

Jonathan and I are happy to announce that on Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 2:36 PM Hayden James Blundell and Ian Christopher Blundell were born. Hayden weighed 4lbs 14oz and was 18 1/4 inches long & Ian weighed 4lbs 11oz and was 18 inches long.

We checked into labor and delivery about 11:30 AM and the nurse got me all hooked up to the monitor until they were ready to take me back to the OR for the c-section.

Before C-Section


Me and Jonathan before surgery

Jonathan was pretty anxious, nervous, etc before hand and wouldn’t sit down…he just kept walking around the room.

Nervous Jonathan

Once I was taken back to the OR they put in my epidural and got me all set up. Let me tell you, having an epidural is a weird feeling…not being able to move your legs/feet is just not right. They gave me something to “help with nerves” before the epidural…which I really didn’t want because I didn’t need anything like that, I was fine. Then they gave me some anti-nausea drugs since I was getting nauseous…so both of those combined made me kind of sleepy. I was trying not to fall asleep through the whole delivery.

The epidural is in...

It didn’t take them long and they were getting started. FYI…there are some graphic photos ahead and are not for those with a weak stomach.

Getting started

And a few minutes later, the boys are here. first comes Baby A – Hayden….he was head down

Hayden James

Next came Baby B – Ian Christopher…he was footling breech (butt first)

Ian Christopher

The nurses took both boys to get them cleaned off, weighed, assessed, etc.

Baby A ~ Hayden


Baby B ~ Ian

Jonathan got to put their first diaper on them and after he was finished the boys were crying and he put his hands on each of their chests and they suddenly stopped crying. It may have been a freak coincidence, but even if it was, it was still pretty cool!

A calming touch

They were both struggling a little bit to breath so we got to see them and hold them for a few minutes before they took them to the nursery for observation.

The Blundells


An instant family of 4!

Jonathan holding Hayden


Me holding Ian...looking up at Jonathan holding Hayden


This has to be one of the best moments of my life!! I’m holding our son and looking up at my husband holding our other son! When thinking back to everything I went through the last 2 years to get to this point….it was SOOO worth it!

While the boys went to the nursery to be observed, they finished putting me back together and then I went to recovery for about an hour and a half. Then I went up to a room. These pictures were taken by the boys’ Aunt Kara while I was still in recovery and the boys were in the nursery.

Hayden

Ian

About 7:00 pm they brought Hayden to my room on his way up to the NICU and I got to hold him for the first time for a few minutes.

Hayden on his way up to NICU

Hayden was having trouble breathing and they decided it was better to take him to NICU. They put him on Oxygen and watched him over night. More to come on his NICU stay in another post.

Ian’s blood sugar was low and he was having some trouble breathing too so they watched him in the nursery as well. At about 11:30 pm that night we got a big surprise and the nurse brought Ian to our room saying he was released from the observation and was ours to keep in the room. He was breathing much better and his blood sugar was stable. We kept him in our room for about 30 minutes holding him and when the nurse came back in we let her take him to the nursery for the night. We were completely exhausted and couldn’t keep our eyes open (and when I say we, I mean I).

Holding Ian

So there you have it, the birth story of our two wonderful boys!

Amniocentesis

We got some good news the morning of our amnio at the perinatologists office. And, I say good news loosely because the other news isn’t great to hear but it is good news in another way. Still following me? Anyway, we had our amnio to test for the boys’ lung maturity Thursday AM at 9:30 and a c-section scheduled at 1:30 PM that same day, pending the amnio results. We had out growth scan done and the boys had gained a decent amount of weight in 4 weeks. Baby A (Hayden) had an estimated weight of 5lbs 5oz and Baby B (Ian) had an estimated weight of 5lbs 3oz. We also found out that Baby B had flipped, AGAIN, and was now breech again. I mentioned a while back that the hospital that I am delivering at won’t deliver twins via scheduled c-section until 39 weeks unless you had an amnio that showed the lungs were mature. Anyway, the perinatologist came in and said we shouldn’t have to do the amnio now because although the boys had gained weight, their weights had dropped from the 20th percentile 4 weeks ago to the 5th percentile. Based on that they had a diagnosis of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and that meant they needed to come out that day. The doctor said this was a “good” diagnosis in the sense that we didn’t need to do the amniocentesis, which put me and the boys at risk for several issues. Well, he called my OB and talked to her and she said to come on over to the hospital and we’ll continue with the c-section as scheduled. The boys would be here within 3 or 4 hours ~ CRAZY!

I’ll post more on the boys’ birthday a little later, but for now…I’m off to bed!

37 weeks!!

We made is 37 weeks, I can’t believe it!! I am considered full term now, especially for twins. If you told me I would make it this far 3 months ago I would have laughed at you. It has been a bumpy road but I can honestly say it hasn’t been a horrible pregnancy, it could have been a lot worse! I could have been in the hospital, been to L&D every other week or even delivered before the babies were ready. God has definitely watched over us and for that I will forever Praise Him. We can’t forget about all of our friends, family, and even people we have never met that have been prayong for all of us – Thank you!!

We are on our way to have the amnio done an then we will go check-in to labor and delivery for our scheduled c-section. Later we will have our boys here!! Here is one last belly picture.

Last OB appointment before the big day

Today we had our final OB appointment before the boys’ birthday and scheduled c-section on Thursday (assuming they hold off for another 48 hours). Everything still looks good and the boys are growing and putting on weight. My doctor was having a hard time getting a look at ALL of Baby B (Ian) because he is under my rib cage trying to get as much space as he can….real estate is pretty tight for the boys these days. We tried talking her into doing the c-section today but she already had to run down to do an emergency c/s once she was done with me.

So we have the amnio set for 9:30 Thursday morning to check and make sure their lungs are mature and then we have to check into labor and delivery at 11:30 for a 1:30 c-section. That’s less than 48 hours away…and we’ll finally get to meet our boys!

36 week OB appointment

Today we had another appointment with my OB and all looked good. The boys are doing great and still growing and putting on weight. Baby B (Ian) now has hair too so we won’t have one baldy while the other one has luscious locks. While she was doing the sonogram, Baby A (Hayden) was either licking or sucking on his brothers head…it was pretty funny. Maybe Hayden was trying to tame the wild hair that Ian has grown. Hayden was also trying to show us that he was still a boy and making sure he stayed that way, I let you use your imagination.

I am pretty peeved, I lasted an entire 35 weeks, almost 36 weeks without ONE stretch mark…and overnight I grew some wonderful souvenirs from the pregnancy! I was telling someone a few weeks ago that I was going to be mad if I went the whole pregnancy without a stretch mark and then the week of the c/s I get them….well I’m eating my words now because that’s exactly what happened. ARGGGHH O’well, it was bound to happen. My OB told me today “you are still so small and don’t look like you are carrying twins…but for you and your size, you’re big and have reached maximum capacity.”

We talked about the c-section, epidural, the horrible procedure the boys will endure before they come home, and how long I would stay in the hospital after the c/s. She said I would stay there up to 4 nights after the c/s but if I felt good enough and the boys are doing well enough we could leave after 3…we’ll see how I feel after 3 nights. I told her I wasn’t worried or anxious at all about the surgery, it was the epidural I was worried about. I’ve heard that your blood pressure drops with an epidural, which she said is true, and my blood pressure already bottoms out very easily…so I told her I was worried about my blood pressure dropping and passing out, etc. She said just to tell the anesthesiologist and nurse to warn them and make sure I take my medication that morning. I will have to starve all day since I can’t have anything to eat 8 hours before the surgery. It is scheduled for 1:30 so I can’t have anything to eat after 5:30am and lets face it, I’m not getting up before 5:30 just so I can eat something!

Here is my final questionaire before the boys are here:

How Far Along: 36 weeks

Total Weight Gained/Loss: about 25 pounds

Sleep: As long as I take either an Ambien or Benadryl I sleep decently.

Best Moment of the Week: knowing that I only have 1 more week left until we meet the boys!

Movement: They are definitely still movers and shakers…the are squirmers for sure! Baby B (Ian) still likes to try to get his little bootie up under my ribs and has pretty much displaced the ribs on my left side. I’m going to need an adjustment after I have them for sure!

Food Craving: Still ocean waters from Sonic and water…for some reason I crave ICE COLD water, it has to be ice cold though.

Labor Signs: Still having contractions which are getting more frequent, intense and are lasting longer but not really a sign that labor is around the corner.

Belly Button: It’s definitely an outie…I call it my actual Button since it sticks out so much, you can press it like a button.

Stretch Marks: not one for 35-36 weeks, and now they decided to appear, 1 week before the boys get here!

Wedding rings: No longer fits, I am now just wearing a wedding band which is too tight sometimes, depending on the day.

What I miss: clothes that fit and having a body that lets me do what I want to do without a big belly that gets in the way.

What I’m looking forward to: Getting to meet my baby boys in 6 days!!!!

Other NEW news this week
: Baylor and their outsourced HR, payroll and leaves of absence department are completely ignorant when it comes to their jobs. One department doesn’t know how to talk to the other and when that happens it totally affects the employee in question. Needless to say I’m hoping to NEVER EVER have to deal with them again on this matter! Ok, my ranting is done.

And lastly, here is a belly shot for the week:

36 weeks with twins

Eviction Notice!!

I am issuing a 10 day notice for EVICTION. Tenants will have 10 days in which they can either gather their belongings and promptly vacate the premises, or wait until the final day. After which, they will be physically removed from the property.

They are being evicted due to breech of contract and destruction of property. Expansions only to the FRONT of the house, within reasonable limits, were discussed. Not only have these limits been exceeded, but additions to the back of the house were also made!

Remodeling and gutting of the home was never approved, nor was changing the initial layout and base structure. And due to property damage, there are now leaks in both the upper AND lower levels of the home. On top of which, the landlord has received numerous complaints about nightly disturbances.

After 10 days from this day that they do not comply with the notice, it will result in immediate and forceful removal at my discretion.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Love,
Mom

I really don’t want the boys to come in the next 10 days (they need to grow and mature just a little bit more), but on October 21st they WILL be evicted!! And like it says, they will be “physically removed from the property”. I’m sure some kicking and screaming will be involved, but that will be music to my ears…for a little while anyway.