Doubly Blessed...

(36 Weeks Pregnant with Twins)

On Sunday, October 2nd I went to the hospital at 11:00am because I was having hard contractions every 5 minutes. By the time I arrived to the hospital they were every 2 minutes and getting harder. I was a 4 and 90% effaced. My doctor informed me that because I was 36 weeks she would not stop my labor but would also not do anything to speed it along. 


So I was to stay in bed, hooked to an I.V. If I would progress to a 5 then she would break my water but not until then.  So they checked me again at 5:00pm and I was still a 4 and 90% effaced.  I checked myself out of the hospital, knowing they weren't going to do anything to move it along and that I would be much more comfortable at home.  My doctor was oh so nice enough to give me an induction date of October 16th though...


All week long I had contractions.  Sometimes as close as 5 minutes apart again but I still put off going to the doctor until I was in "good" labor.


On Wednesday I had a BPP done. The ultrasound tech noticed that something looked different in Baby A's upper right chamber on her heart.  It was decided that I'd go to the valley to get a stage 2 ultrasound done to see just what was going on. If something was wrong then I'd stay in the valley to deliver. If not, I could come home.   Turns out it was the moderator band that we saw. It is supposed to be there, sometimes it just looks odd. 


My doctor informed me that because my blood pressure was steadily rising she would be willing to induce me on Sunday, October 9th instead of the 16th.  I was thrilled. I knew I only had 2 days to go!!


On Saturday morning I woke up and felt a little wet. I really thought that my water had broke.  I gave it a few hours and waited to see if anything else happened.  Nothing happened but I called my water to give her a heads up. She didn't think that it was my water that broke. So I resumed my normal plans and we had a grandparent birthday party dinner for Kaysen.  All the while I was having some good contractions but put them out of my mind knowing that I was being induced the next morning and my doctor would probably just tell me to wait it out unless they got "really good."


At 8:30 I decided to call it a night.  I wanted to be rested up for my induction the next morning that was to happen at 8:00am.  I quickly fell asleep as Jerry browsed away on our laptop. 


At 9:05pm I woke up with an excruciating pain in my stomach.  Jerry helped me get out of bed and I barely made it into the bathroom before my water broke. This time there was no doubt that it had broken.


Jerry immediately called his mom to come and stay with the boys and at 9:15pm we headed to Show Low. I called my doctor to give her a heads up. Then I asked Jerry to say a prayer that we would make it to the hospital in time, as he drove. At that time my contractions were about 10 minutes apart and not very intense. Boy was I in for the most interesting and intense drive to Show Low in my entire life.  Jerry was driving 85-50 mph most of the time and would speed up during my contractions. By the time we got to Taylor my contractions were coming every 5 minutes and getting pretty hard.  Then by the time we got on the Deuce of Clubs my contractions were every 2 minutes and VERY intense. 

Did I mention that I had epidurals with my previous two children so by the time REALLY intense contractions came I was so oblivious to the pain I was smiling and sleeping throughout them???  I am no longer niave to REAL contraction pain and I must say that although it hurt like crazy, it is somewhat nice to know that I could handle it. (although screaming came along with them)


My Mom was waiting at the ER entrance of the hospital for us.  They had been notified in advance that we were coming and were supposed to have a wheelchair ready for me.  However, it wasn't ready. I stood in the entrance of the ER and had two horrible contractions and could literally feel the baby. Finally they got me in a wheelchair and up to a room in Labor and Delivery. 


I really think that the hospital staff didn't think that I was in REAL labor. The nurse told me to get in a gown and that I could go to the bathroom.  I went in the bathroom to change but knew there was no way I could go to the bathroom. I had a contraction as soon as the door closed and once again I could feel the baby.  Jerry managed to get me back to the bed and helped the nurses strip my clothes off and put a gown on during a contraction.  The nurse went to check me but only had to lift up my gown to see that the baby was coming. She yelled at me not to push and ran out the door to notify the nurses that I was complete and ready. 


They wheeled me into the Operating Room.  Simply because I was expecting twins and it is high risk and many times an emergency c-section is needed.  I was having contractions like crazy at this point and really needed/wanted to push but was constantly being told not to. 

They got me on the Operating Room bed and 30 second later my doctor arrived.  Finally the nurse said, "Okay Charlsye. With this next contraction you CAN push."  I was so relieved. Contractions are bad enough...but having to keep a baby inside while having these contractions was pure torture.  So as soon as the nurse said those words a contraction came and at 10:26pm Kynlee Claire Miller was born. She weighed 4lbs 12oz and was 18 1/2" long. From the time I arrived to the hospital to the time our sweet girl arrived was 11 minutes. The prayer we said on the way was definitely answered and we couldn't be more grateful.

The ultrasound tech had just arrived and was ready to figure out where Baby B was at so we could try and deliver. At the same time, my doctor was checking me and felt his feet.  Yep. He changed position again and was trying to come out feet first.   She tried to manipulate him but as soon as she tried that his heart rate dropped to 56 and mine dropped to 59.  An emergency c-section became necessary.  I was put under general anesthesia and at 10:44pm Teagen Blake Miller was born.  He weighed 4lbs 10z and was 18 1/2" long.

 

Teagen (left) Kynlee (right)

I came out of anesthesia around midnight and the nurses informed me that my babies were good and healthy. I was so out of it at first that I couldn't really remember that I had just given birth.  At 1:30 am Jerry and my mom and sister were finally able to come back and see me. Then the babies were brought into my room and I was able to hold them both for the first time. 

They let us enjoy our babie for a few minutes before having to take them back for a bit more evaluation.  Since they were twins born at 37 weeks the hospital likes to keep them back in the nursery for 6 hours of evaluation.  At 4:30 they put me in a new room in postpartum and Jerry and I slept until 6:00 am expecting our babies to come any minute. Finally around 8:00am we were able to be with our babies again. 

Kaysen has been the best big brother.  He LOVES to hold the babies and feed them when given the chance. 

Gage loves them too but he doesn't want to hold them or help them as much. He's to busy. He likes to say hi to them, tell people their names and give them a quick kiss, then he's ready to move onto something more fun. 

We ended up having to stay in the hospital until Wednesday morning because it has been hard for Teagen to keep his blood sugar up.  He doesn't have enough body fat stored for his body to regulate the sugars enough.  His weight dropped to 4lbs 6oz and Kynlee dropped to 4lbs 8oz, which isn't a lot at all but when you are as small as they are, you don't have much you can lose. The doctors wanted us to supplement Teagen with formula so we did that for a bit but it didn't really seem to help so I am just nursing both of them for now. They both seem to be doing great.  

 Our family

 All dressed up and ready to go home.

 I love their naked little bodies. Look how small they are!

They already have little secrets....

We love these two little babies and are so excited to have them in our family. We know the next little bit is going to be rough but we are ready for the challenge and the memories we are about to make.

Did I mention how awesome of a family we have? We came home to find some homemade cards from our awesome nieces and nephews. And more offers for help than we know what to do with.  We really are blessed to have such an amazing family! 

{FIVE}...

Our oldest son turned 5 yesterday...

he chose to have a Toy Story Birthday. 

On Monday I whipped up some cupcakes to take to his class...his birthday wasn't for 3 more days but I was worried that I'd go into labor and then he wouldn't get to take cupcakes to school like I promised him he could.  So we did it a couple days early....did he mind???

Absolutely NOT!

 As I walked into his classroom he said, "My Mom's the best...she made me TOY...STORY.... CUPCAKES!!!" Man did that put a smile on my face...as it did for the rest of the class. They were excited to get a new snack. They sang Happy Birthday to him, then dove right on in to the delicious treat.

The morning of his birthday, Jerry and I woke Kaysen up by singing Happy Birthday to him.  He wanted to open his presents and have French Toast before Dad left for work. So that's what we did.

He tore into that present so fast...and that smile is still on his face when he sees or thinks about his new "Nerf Shotgun!"

 The past two mornings it is the first thing he does when he wakes up.  He loves shooting it at the big window in our living room and having the bullets stick to it.  He's pretending he is shooting birds and coyotes.  He really is in love with that toy. I think Dad and I scored big on choosing this as his present this year. 

That night we let him pick what he wanted for dinner. What did he pick?? The same as his brother...McDonalds.

After dinner we headed home to eat another cupcake, sing Happy Birthday and blow out some candles.  He blew all 5 out in one big puff and thought he was hot stuff. 



After that was done he asked when the twins were coming because, "Mom, you told me they would be born before my birthday and my birthday is almost over and they aren't here yet."

I wish that I had an answer for him...but mostly I'm just glad that they didn't come on his birthday. He gets to keep it for himself.

We love this big boy that is often to "old" for his own good. He is our biggest helper and always reminds us of what we need to do and how to act.

Gage turns 3!

Really? I can't believe that my youngest child is now 3 years old.

This year our kids get only family birthdays. No inviting a bunch of kids over. We rotate every other year and I'd have to say I sure am glad that this year was a family year. Next year I'm sure I'll be up to having kids over and going all out.

On Saturday all of the Grandparents came over for a BBQ and little party for Gage. We sang happy birthday to him twice and he begged for us to do it again and again. He loves singing that song.

Grandma Miller hit a home run with the boots that she bought for him. Both of my boys love boots. The whole rest of the day the boy wouldn't take them off. He sure looked stylin' with shorts and boots on.

Grandma Duncan also hit a home run with the glow in the dark stars she got him. We put them on the ceiling in the boys room that night and they love them.

Yesterday was really Gage's birthday so before Jerry headed into work we had him open the gifts from us.

Here is Kaysen telling Gage that, "You can share that Buzz Lightyear phone with me, huh Gage???"

Gage also got a marble race track and the boys haven't stopped playing with it since yesterday morning. It has been rebuilt at least 20 times and different ways. It has been a good little investment...they've played TOGETHER with it so far.

After we played for a bit I made some Mickey Mouse pancakes for the birthday boy. That was his birthday breakfast request...and man did he eat them up.

Gage has been telling people for a couple months now that, "Tomorrow is going to be my birthday!" He got the line from Tangled. He even grabs your shoulder and tells you like Rapunzel does in the movie. Whenever we'd ask him what kind of birthday cake he wanted he'd say a Rapunzel cake. Well, we drew the line on that one. I really thought about making it a Flynn Ryder and Max cake but couldn't find the stuff I wanted. So gradually we were able to talk the kid out of a Rapunzel cake by telling him that was for girls only and he was a boy.

So he settled for Scooby Doo....and loved it.

Since we didn't have a big party bash with kids at home, I made some cupcakes to take to preschool. I found little Scooby Doo Rings that I used as the toppers on the cupcakes. They were a big hit.

For dinner we let Gage choose what he wanted. He chose "Old McDonalds." So I broke my bed rest rule and we headed to Old McDonalds to get the boy a happy meal.

After dinner we came home and sang Happy Birthday to him as he blew out all 3 of his candles.

He was pretty excited that he got all of them out by himself in one big "bad wolf" blow.

One thing about this boy is that he cannot stand to have his hands dirty. He'll play in the dirt but as soon as he's done, his hands are washed. If he gets mud on them...it immediately comes off. So when it came to eating his cupcakes yesterday....

he opted for no hands and just dug in with his face.

This little boy has a mind of his own and can drive me up a wall most days but I don't know what I'd do without him. He has taught me to just chill and let some things go. He thinks that everything is a joke...which can get on my nerves but teaches me to smile about little things. He is constantly giving me hugs and kisses, something I hope he doesn't outgrow too soon. We sure love this little guy and are so glad that he was sent to our home. Happy Birthday Gagers!!!

A Birthday and a Testimony....

Yesterday was my husbands 28th birthday.

We kicked it off by having waffles drenched in peaches and whip cream. Mmmm...it was so good. I asked him what he wanted to do for his big day and he said, "A whole lot of nothing. Unless it's something fun." He was a bit sick of work...I was fine with that.

We called my parents to see if thy could watch the boys while we went out. We had a great lunch at Native New Yorker which we have NEVER eaten at. We lived in Show Low for 4 years and never once at there. He got the Native burger and I got the chef salad. Boy did that salad taste wonderful. I could eat one of those everday. After lunch we headed to the movie and watched Transformers: Dark of the Moon. We both enjoyed it. I would have enjoyed it much more if I would have been comfortable. The little boy in my belly still likes to keep his foot jammed in my ribs. Plus I had to go to the restroom 3 times and missed some good parts dang it!

It was a great date though and we loved being able to spend time together, since we know our dating days are going to be a bit more limited for quite some time.

After lunch the movie we headed back to my parent house where they had a great steak dinner in the works. Mmm....boy did I get spoiled with good food that day. I'm pretty sure my doctor would be proud of all the food I packed in this belly.

I hope that Jerry had as good of a day as I did. He sure deserves it. He's such a hard worker, he needs to just relax sometimes.

I must have been really tired from our exciting day because as soon as we got home we got the boys to bed. I had to finish up the ward announcements for church, and Jerry was waiting for me to get that done so he could surf the net for a bit. About 30 seconds after I handed the lap top over I was falling asleep as he was talking to me. I never do this...he is usually the one falling asleep as I talk his ear off each night.

Then his phone went off. It happened to be right next to my head and I had to hand it to him. It was someone texting him a happy birthday note. He handed the phone back to me and somehow I got it plugged back in. A few minutes later it went off again. So I handed it to him again, then I charged it in again...although I don't remember doing it. Once again, it went off a few minutes later. This time I gave it to him and told him to keep it. Of course because I had him keep it....it didn't go off again.

In other news....Kaysen stood up and said bore his testimony in church all by himself today. A few of his cousins went up there, like they do almost every fast Sunday, so we asked him if he was ready to go up there yet. Each Sunday he has told us no, but today he said he was going to do it. We were a bit shocked. He kept waiting and waiting then finally just stood up and walked up there. He had to sit on the stand for a bit because, "that guys just kept going" (according to him).

Jer and I were a bit nervous. We haven't prepped him on what to say because we want his testimony to be his own. However, we realized that he may say some things that do not pertain to testimony so much.

I don't know why we were nervous...the boy did great. He stood up there and said, "I like to bear my testimony. I know the church is true and I love my Mom and Dad and brothers and sister." I wondered at first if he just said that becasue that's what he heard other kids say. Especially since, he only has one brother born so far. However, he informed me that, "I love Kynlee and Teagen too even though they are still in your belly."

Now each night before bed he prays for Heavenly Father to help him bare his testimony on Sunday.

He loved it...and so did we.

Gage on the other had was pretty ticked off that we didn't allow him to go up there by himself too...maybe someday soon, but not yet. The boy would just run all over the place. I just know it.

Quarter of a Century....

Yep I am officially a quarter of a century old now. Today was kicked back day. It is the first time Jerry has had my birthday off since we have been married. So it was really nice to just spend the day as a family, shopping, playing a couple rounds of WAHOO and just being together. He got a baby sitter and took me out for Italian Food that was delicious and totally hit the spot. He sure is getting good at surprising me and arraning dates. I'm loving it.

Turning 25 hasn't been that big of a deal to me. The main thing I realize is that I'm going on my 3rd and 4th child and I'm pretty young for that. Am I going to be able to handle it??? I hope so. I also think about the things I want to accomplish and have accomplished and realize that I'm lacking in a few areas but hope that I can do better in the next 25 years. The past 25 have been fun and I've learned a lot but I bet that the next 25 will be even better. c

Our 4 year old...

On the 6th of October our eldest son celebrated his 4th birthday party. Not just any birthday party...a PIRATE birthday party. He has been talking about his PIRATE party since Gage's birthday. It was the second thing he spoke about when he woke up that morning. The first was...I'm 4! Am I as tall as Greg now? (being our friend Greg Fish, who is at least 6'4".)


Once again I decided to try and make a cake for my kids. Really, have I not learned that I am NO good at cake decorating? This is supposed to be a pirate ship in the ocean. It was my 3rd cake. I told Jerry I was going to Safeway if this one didn't work out decently. I couldn't find pirate figurines to put on the ship so we just have a treasure chest, cannons, cannon balls, railing and sails...oh yeah. And blue jello that wouldn't set up. All the hard work and dissapointment (mine) was worth it when Kaysen walked in saying, "Oh mom! That's an awesome pirate ship!" Good thing 4 year olds are easy to please huh?


We invited 7 little boys to come over to our house for a treasure hunt and cake. I got them pirate bandanas and patches to dress up with as they went on their treasure hunt. They followed a detailed map which Jerry drew and each of the boys got their very own treasure box filled with candy. They all had so much fun, but were mostly excited to go back inside and open presents and play with all the new toys.

I've noticed that I'm really good at recording the birthday parties, but not at taking pictures. I have none of him opening presents or blowing out the candles....at least it's on video though.


The worst part of this special day was that Jerry got called and picked for jury duty. Of course! So he wasn't able to be there for any of the party. However, when he got home we headed to El Rancho and had them sing to Kaysen. That way we could celebrate as a family. Kaysen thought he was pretty cool. I was so excited to get fried ice cream...its my favorite. However, I was so full from dinner, all of us were, so we didn't even finish all of the ice cream. ugh...I wish I had it to eat right now.


I remember waiting and waiting to get pregnant with you Kaysen. As soon as we found out we were over joyed. I don't think we fully understood the happiness and love you would be bringing into our home. You are my biggest helper and best example. You pray daily for us to "talk nice and be obedient." You make me want to be a better person and especially mother. We love you and hope that you had the best 4th birthday ever!

Gage turns 2!!!

Gage turned 2 on the 30th of August! Crazy, Crazy.

He is obsessed with Mickey Mouse so I did a Mickey Cake...

Okay, a very sad Mickey Mouse Cake.

I wanted to go all out but couldn't get myself to do it so much. We only had a small party for grandparents and we were leaving the next morning for Disneyland. Needless to say I was a bit lazy, and crazy with other stuff. Sorry Gage.


Here he is crying because I am lighting the candles on his cake and he sees Mickey and wants him.

I am the most sad because about 30 minutes after the party I dropped our camcorder...and broke it. We video recorded us singing and him opening present so Jerry didn't take pictures of it all and I was trying to help Gage. Needless to say, we have no pics or videos of him blowing out his candles, which he did all by himself. And immediately after that, he grabbed Mickey off the cake and played with it.

It was a fun little party and we appreciate his grandparents for coming and celebrating the special day with us.

My baby is now two years old and its absolutely crazy to me. He just isn't a baby anymore...

We sure love the little dare devil though and wouldn't trade him for anything.