Sleep, Eat, and Poop :)

First, I am no longer going to type in 3rd person..Michael and I agreed to do the blog in third person in the beginning so it wouldn't matter who updated it, but that takes too much effort so 1st person it is.
 
The Girls:

The girls are getting so big already and we have got to get better about updating the blog so we don't miss anything! These two little angels have turned our world upside down...in a good way...actually in a great way!!
  When we finally came home for good from the hospital we quickly found our place and begin our experiments of what did and didn't work for certain things. After two weeks of having the girls run the show we decided to put them on a schedule based on "Babywise"  (a book I read). The schedule follows an eat, wake, and sleep routine where they eat every 3 hours except at night when we let them wake up on their own. Starting the schedule meant the girls started sleeping in their cribs (they actually both sleep in one crib) all the time. This was harder on us than them, but we are glad we started this as soon as we did because they now know that their cribs are for sleeping so most of the time they go to sleep as soon as they are placed in the crib :)

I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of this monkey see monkey do business (Kai on the left and Jax on the right)

   They have been doing really well with the schedule and are really good babies. They cry when they are hungry or uncomfortable and that's about it. Speaking of uncomfortable, we think they have a bit of reflux so they make these noises that sound like they are clearing their throats a lot and we have had some throwing up issues. We tried different things and it has gotten a little better, but we still haven't decided if it warrants a doctors visit or not since they are already due to go back for their shots at the end of September. They mainly eat, sleep, and poop right now, but we are enjoying it while it lasts because we are often told "they grow up so fast".
    Are they sleeping at night you ask? Well yes and no... They sleep at most 3 hours before they wake up hungry again. It is normal for preemies to do this a bit longer than full term babies. They were not suppose to be here until August 15th so in actuality their adjusted age is 1 week and 4 days old instead of 1 month and 6 days old. Therefore, we can't expect them to reach milestones like a 1 month old that was born full-term and weighing 8 pounds. Michael did weigh them recently (by holding them and standing on our scale and taking the difference ..hehe) and Kairyn was over 6 pounds and Jaxyn was over 7 pounds :-O so they are growing well :) Michael is very helpful and takes one of the night feeds so that I can get a little more sleep (I am pumping and feeding them from bottles. I found this was much easier with two).

This is how feeding two babies by yourself in the middle of the night looks 

 

 

US:

We are loving almost every second of our new lives. I say almost because I am being honest. It is hard juggling two babies and not getting very much sleep even if our babies are "good" babies. We continuously feel very blessed and know that it will all take time to adjust. We are so excited for what God has planned for us!
   Since the girls have been home we have enjoyed lots of company! Family and friends galore!
The Motl's from Dallas (Michael's dad and his family) came to visit starting with Mary on Thursday, Amalie on Saturday and then Alan and Louann driving down in the RV on Sunday. All stayed until the next Thursday. We loved having them here and they were sooo helpful! The girls helped with the babies and Alan helped Michael build a work bench for the garage (he even took over a feeding or two) and mowed and weedeated (thats probably not a word) our lawn :) Thank ya'll sooo much again!

Auntie Am and ? (not sure which girl this is..oops ;)

Grandpa Alan and Kairyn maybe

Aunt Mary and Kairyn again maybe

Grandpa Alan and Kairyn and Grandma Lou and Jaxyn

All of us :)

hard at work

well done guys!

We also enjoyed visits from other family members :)

Aunt Julia and Kai ?

cousin Matt and Kai and Lauren and Jax

Uncle LJ and Kai

Aunt Ronda and Jax

cousin Brady, Uncle Donny and the girls

Other moments we captured with our angels:

makes my heart melt

bath time with Cece

bath time before their umbilical cords fell off

My mom came up last weekend and got me out of the house for a few hours and we had a blast eating, shopping, and even enjoyed a bloody mary :)

She also watched the girls on Sunday so Michael and I could attend church together :) ..its the little things! Thank you mom for kidnapping me for a little bit!
  So I go back to work the end of September :/ I am having some anxiety about this, but at the same time I am eager to see my patients and start providing therapy again :) I will be working afternoons only. While we are both working we will have a close friend of ours that is a student at Texas State, Megan come and watch the girls until one of us gets home. She will do this 3 days a week at least and more if we need her.We are blessed to have flexible schedules and will be able to be with the girls as much as possible.

And last but not least.....

Our family :)

...stayed tuned for more of our breaths of heaven!! God bless!

Kairyn Mae and Jaxyn Nicole have arrived!!!

They finally made their appearance!! Kairyn weighing 4.11 and Jaxyn weighing 4.10, both 17 1/2 inches long. We feel so blessed and are filled with a love we have never known!! Sorry it has taken some time to get on and update everyone on their arrival, but as you can imagine our lives have been a little different now and we are adjusting. The twins have already decided to take some steps off the beaten path starting with day one.

Here is the story of their birth:
   On July 20th Natalie had a regular doctors visit where they discovered high blood pressure and even more fluid retention. The doctor decided to go ahead and induce labor before things got much worse. We checked into the hospital and started calling family members to inform them that our new additions would be arriving today.
   Soon after the nurses started an IV and began the Pitocin to start contractions and the doctor broke Natalie's water. The contractions came on strong and the mood in the room changed quickly. Natalie was having contractions every 60 to 90 seconds and was dilating steadily. Natalie felt as if she was not getting enough rest in between contractions so she asked for an epidural to help with the pain and to slow her fatigue. Life was a lot better for Natalie after having received the epidural and things were still progressing. An hour or two later Natalie was fully dilated and was ready to start pushing. After about an hour of pushing the doctor arrived and we were ready to go to the OR to deliver (with multiple births they always have you deliver in an operating room just in case). Pushing continued in the OR for another 15-20 minutes and Kairyn finally arrived at 8:48 p.m.
   This is where it gets a little tricky..... Natalie stopped having regular contractions after Kairyn was born and the doctor fully expected Jaxyn to fall down into place. This was not the case. Since the doctor couldn't feel her they decided to give Natalie more Pitocin to increase the contractions in hopes that Jaxyn would be moved down. So we played the waiting game except this time Natalie was no longer hooked up to the epideral and was feeling each contraction and even worse was feeling each time the doctor checked to see if he could feel Jaxyn. Since Jaxyn's heart rate was normal the doctor wanted to wait to see if she would move down on her own. 45 minutes later Jaxyn's heart beat started jumping and doctor decided that the best thing would be to deliver Jaxyn via C-section. Come to find out Jaxyn had the umbilical cord wrapped around her head and her shoulder which was not allowing her to move down. She arrived at 10:17 p.m.
    Both babies were healthy and we thanked God there were no further complications. Everything went accordingly the next two days in the hospital and the recovery process for Natalie was definitely a challenge.
    We were released to come home that following Saturday and came home to a clean, beautiful home thanks to Natalie's mom, sister, and Kendl and Brian.
    The next few days continued to be hard for Natalie and the night before her staples were to be removed she woke up feeling as if she had pressure on her chest and was having a hard time breathing. The next day as the nurse took her blood pressure before removing the staples she discovered that Natalie's BP was very high and the fluid on her legs had gotten worse instead of better. She also listened to her lungs and determined that their might have been fluid in her lungs.She asked Natalie to go see an on-call doctor since her doctor was out of town and that doctor re-admitted Natalie into the hospital. Michael and the girls loaded up and moved back into the hospital. After 3 days and two nights and many medicines to help rid Natalie of all the fluid the family headed back home.

We are now back home as a family and Natalie is almost 100%. She lost 38 pounds in 1 week :-0 ...the doctor said he had never seen that much weight loss in that amount of time. We have been blessed with our family being here through all of this and many friends have visited and brought us gifts and food :-) We feel as if we are often surrounded by angels that God sent to help us along this journey and we couldn't have done it without the love and support of our wonderful friends and family. Enjoy some pics of the girls and stay tuned for more adventures with our beautiful miracles!

35 almost 36 WEEKS!!

Well no babies yet......Natalie has suddenly been hit with an overwhelming sensation to have the babies out of her and in our arms! :) This probably has something to do with how uncomfortable she is getting paired with lack of sleep and just having two people take over her body for 9 months. On another note we are very fortunate to have made it as far has we have and the babies are doing great! Natalie is being very positive and and trying to be patient as we wait for our lives to be changed forever :) Jamie and Russell (Natalie's sister and her husband) have been staying during the weeks with us so Russell can attend summer school in San Marcos and Jamie can help Natalie at home...we are very appreciative of everything they have done for us!! We are still going to doctor visits every week and found out this week that our doctor will be out of town the week of the 25th (Natalie's 37th week of pregnancy) soooo this means the babies need to come NEXT WEEK!!

The nursery is finally done!!

Diaper changing area

"May there always be an angel by your side"

Notes from friends and family :)

We will continue to keep you all posted!! Thank you again for your continued prayers and support!

God Bless,
The parents of Breaths of Heaven <3

New Braunfels Family Baby Shower!!

Words can not express how appreciative, blessed, loved...(I could go on and on) we feel after all of the wonderful celebrations of Kairyn and Jaxyn we have had this summer! We are overwhelmed with how loved our girls are ALREADY! We are confident that they will know the exact meaning of love through all of you!

Some amazing family members decided to have a family gathering in honor of Kairyn and Jaxyn in New Braunfels at our home. It was a great time with family that we will cherish forever! Enjoy another slide show..pictures compliments of Alan Motl (he's my photographer btw)

Update on the babes:

Natalie is now going every week to the Doctor so they can closely monitor the babies since the due date is so very close. She had another non-stress test done this week and the results were the same. The babies are doing great and Natalie is still having some contractions that she does not feel. Next week we will get another big ultrasound done and meet with the doctor again. Let's hope Jaxyn has decided to put her head down like her big sister :) The babies are still moving around like crazy and making mom a lot bigger and a lot more uncomfortable at night. Natalie is no longer working, doctor's recommendations, therefore she is suppose to be putting her feet up and doing a lot of nothing. This however, does not go over too well with her, but we are doing the best we can. Week 34 (starting 7/5) marks a milestone!! We aren't real sure what that means besides that we think that is when the babies' lungs are fully development and they are on the safe side of things so wooohooo!! This also means that if Natalie were to go into labor in that week she would get to have the babies here in New Braunfels rather than San Antonio. SA has a level 3 NICU where as NB does not. So our bags are packed and the car seats are in the car ready to go. We are starting to realize how close this really is and we are getting more excited each day!  

On a sadder note:

Patton has taken a turn for the worse and is not thriving on his own. We are now praying for peace and serenity with God's plan for our precious baby boy. We have not yet decided what is best for him and are trying really hard not to be selfish and keep him here longer than he should be. This has been a roller coaster of emotions especially for Natalie. During this very exciting time we would love for every family member to be healthy and ready to greet the girls when they arrive however, if this is not the case we trust in our Lord and know that he will bring us through this difficult time. Please continue to pray for all of us! We will keep you updated. The link below will explain patton's condition in depth.
http://www.2ndchance.info/kidney.htm

We love you all and appreciate all of your continued support! God Bless!
Parents of Breaths of Heaven   

Couples Shower in Cat Spring and more.....

Sorry It has taken us so long to update...but here goes: 
On May 28th some wonderful family and friends threw us a shower at Natalie's mom's house in Cat Spring. It was awesome! We are so blessed to have family and friends spend part of their Memorial day weekend helping us celebrate Kairyn and Jaxyn. Everyone enjoyed food, drinks, corn-hole, baby games, and watching us open all of our wonderful gifts. The day meant so much to us and we would like to thank everyone who rolled up their sleeves and made it all happen beautifully! Enjoy some pics compliments of Alan Motl!

In baby news:

Natalie is now 31 weeks and the babies should weight approximately 3.3 pounds. Natalie is definitely feeling their weight gain and is starting to have more difficulty sleeping at night and standing for very long. We went to have a non-stress test done at the hospital while our doctor was on vacation. This consists of Natalie laying in a bed and the nurses putting a monitor over each baby and her uterus to monitor the babie's heart beats and if Natalie is having contractions. The babies heart beats were great! Natalie was having contractions so the doctor on call recommended that the nurse check her cervix to see if she was dilated at all. She was not but her cervix was soft. To be on the safe side they asked us to come in again the next day to see if there were any changes. The same thing happened the next day so the nurses just advised Natalie to stay off her feet as much as possible and drink lots of fluids. Our next appointment is on the 20th and our doctor will do the same test on Natalie again and will most likely recommend that she stop working (Natalie is crossing her fingers for this). Everything else is going as planned and we are working hard to complete the nursery and prepare our minds for whats to come.

Casey's drawing at the river :)

In other news:

Some of you may have heard about our precious, furry baby Patton. A few weeks ago he went in for a teeth cleaning and they tested his blood. His kidney levels were through the roof and he had some other high numbers in other areas. They recommended him stay at the vet hooked up to an IV to flush his kidneys out and run more tests. He stayed for over 4 days and was more than ready to come home when we picked him up. He was very weak and not himself when he got home. He would not eat and had accidents often. We finally got him to start eating again after taking him off his medicine, which we believed was making him nauseous. He got some of his spunk back and started eating again about a week and 1/2 ago, but when taken back to get his blood tested again his numbers remained higher than the vet liked. Since then he has appeared to be feeling better and is enjoying all the people food and lots of love. We are now hoping that with a supplement, feeding him some food that is good for his kidneys, and lots of liquid that he still has enough kidney function to do their job and keep him alive. We will take him back soon to test his blood again so please keep him in your prayers. As many of you know Patton has been with Natalie since 2002 and is very much a part of our family in many ways. With everything going on right now this is unfortunate but we are not giving up....we want our girls to meet all members of our family when they arrive. 

Thank you all for all your continued support,
The parent's of Breaths of Heaven

Beach Trip and 28 weeks!

Since it is that time of year again we headed to the beach (Natalie being 7 months pregnant wasn't stopping us)!! We loaded up on Friday and drove to Port A where we met up with 12 friends for a fun filled weekend in a beach house! The weekend was filled with sun, beach volleyball, corn hole, jelly fish :/, more maternity pictures taken by Kendl, food, drinks, and lots of catching up with good friends! Natalie still enjoyed all of it and was able to hang with everyone :)

Baby stuff:

We are 28 weeks and going strong! Natalie is having a little more trouble sleeping due to the carpal tunnel that has set in. It is actually really uncomfortable throughout the day now as well so we are hoping the Doc can help us with that soon. Besides that the babies are moving a lot and and she is, as you can see from the pictures getting bigger and bigger. We have one more birthing class left and then we will have completed 3 educational classes to prepare us! We have learned a lot and are very happy we took advantage of them. We toured the hospital last week so we have a better idea of what to expect.  The nursery is coming along slowly but surely. I took some before pictures and some "in the process" pictures:

one crib is complete!!

We go to the doctor tomorrow (5-25-11) for another thorough ultrasound and should be getting some more pictures of the girls so we will be updating you all very soon! We love you all!!

Parents of Breaths of Heaven

Trip to Dallas!!

This past weekend we made a trip to Dallas for Amalie's (Michael's sister) confirmation to which Natalie a sponsor :) We arrived at Alan and Louann's on Friday for sandwiches with family before mass, then headed to the church to watch our sister make the next step in her Catholic journey :) The ceremony was wonderful and we were so grateful to be a part of it!! Afterward we headed to an Italian restaurant to continue the celebration with family and friends :) (pictures compliments of Alan Motl):

Baby news:   

As you can tell from the photos Natalie is getting big which means the babies are too! The books say that at 25 weeks your baby should weigh 2 lbs so we are thinking they are a bit smaller since there are two. Natalie is still feeling good but moving slower and sleeping a little less. The girls on the other hand are doing back flips (or fighting for space like the two to the left). Natalie says she doesn't know when they sleep because they are constantly moving. Amalie and Mary got to the feel them too when we were visiting this weekend :) We have also started taking classes in preparation for birth and the many other joys of bringing baby(ies) home. We will be attending classes every Wednesday and Thursday this month in hopes that they teach us everything we need to know ;) We also go to the Doctor this Thursday (5-12-11). Natalie will have a glucose test and we will get to see where the girls are hanging out these days. We will update you all after Thursday! Keep the prayers coming :)

HAPPY late MOTHER'S DAY to all you wonderful mothers   

Love,
The parents of Breaths of Heaven

Maternity Pictures- by Kgoebel photography

This is the first slide show I have ever attempted to put on a blog so bare with me as I learn :)

We had so much fun taking pictures with Krista...Enjoy!

(the second one turned out a little fancier ;)

Love,
Parent's of Breaths of Heaven

Week 23 Doctor's visit

Happy Holy Week!!

Natalie had another doctor's visit and all went well! Doc said the babies are doing great and have plenty of fluid around them (this is a good thing). They have moved around since week 19 and Kairyn is now breech and Jaxyn is transverse, right above Natalie's belly button. They have plenty of time to put their heads back down so lets pray that this happens so we can have a natural birth :) Doc also said that Natalie needs to cut out the walking for exercise and needs to walk as little as possible...shes not entirely thrilled with this but of course we will do whatever he says to keep our babies safe! Other than that she is feeling great just moving slower and growing bigger. Thanks again for all of your prayers!

In other news:

• We had maternity pictures taken two weeks ago in and around the Cat Spring area. It was a lot of fun and we will be sharing those pictures very soon!! 

• We also got to spend time with wonderful friends celebrating Kendl's (one of our best friends) 27th birthday in Richmond this past weekend...we are living it up as much as we can now and embracing the time we have to just get up and go. We enjoyed crawfish and talking babies and weddings :)

• This weekend we are headed to Cindy and Bobby's for Easter. On that note please say prayers for Natalie's step-dad Bobby. He and Broke his ankle while on vacation and had to have surgery yesterday...this will probably be a long recovery process and will most likely drive him nuts from lack of movement before anything else. 

• Not much has happened with the nursery yet, but we have ordered decals for the walls and as soon as we get those up we will share some photos. Its about time to get the bed out of there and put the cribs in place :)

We hope everyone has a blessed Easter with family and friends and don't forget why we are celebrating!

Love you all,
Parents of Breaths of Heaven