Kempton's Home!

We were shocked when the NICU nurses/Dr told us that Kempton would be coming home shortly after Colton. We figured another week but not 2 days after!

we are so glad to have them home. We are glad they exceeded our expectations of how long theyd be in the NICU and how well they progressed. and we are SO glad we dont have to make that drive anymore!

So we went from having 1 newborn home for 2 days/nights before having kempton home yesterday. Last night was our first night with both. Luckily they sleep ALL the time and the hardest part of everything is the feeding/bottles/pumping routine with 2. It takes FOREVER and by the time you're done you only have an hour before you have to wake them up again.

Anyways, here are a few pictures we got. We've been so busy with 2 we havent even really gotten many pictures... but hopefully once we figure everything out we can get more. (not to mention we're moving in less then a monht, not sure where we are going to live, havent packed yet, or done anything!)

 leaving the NICU for the last time - (kemptons face says it all! haha)

 Grandpa with the twins - they match!

 Takin a snooze together

Colton Came Home

Colton came home today. it was bitter sweet leaving Kempton at the Nicu. But the nurses and Dr. said he will most likely come home on Sunday. We hope so, it would be perfect! I really wasn't sure how long Kemp would be in the NICU and i was thinking maybe another week or so. Hearing it would only be a few days after Colton made me feel a TON better.

Dulany met her (one) little brother for the first time today. She loves him already and is doing really well. She REALLY wanted to feed him a bottle so she finally got to do it and was "taking turns with daddy" Anytime Colton makes a noise she goes "oh colton is talking!" or anytime he moves his legs or arms she gets excited.

Anyways, so far so good. Colton is still so young that he sleeps the whole day and is barely awake. We're doing good on feedings so far (which  makes me nervous because im doing bottles twice in a row then trying breastfeeding followed by a bottle) and i want to just make sure he's getting enough. In the NICU anytime we try nursing we weigh him before and after to see how much he got from breast and then follow up with as many ml he needs in abottle and we dont get to do that at home!

Here are pictures from when we got home. We cant wait till Kemp can come join us and our little family can be all in one place and no more one hour drive to the hospital and one hour drive home everyday!

 with colton before going home from the NICU - wish kemp was coming home too : ( 

Me and Colton

In his car seat on the way home 

 With his big sis!

iphone pics of the boys

i finally got pictures off the phone. its too hard to take pictures with the camera when we are both holding one of the boys so the phone comes in handy.
so here they are from the past week.

also - i posted 2 other posts with pictures as well so make sure to check them out!

 Kempton right after birth

 Seriously - these boys are the best cuddle bugs! Colton

Kempton

 grandma with kempton

 Kempton looking at daddy

 he was puckering up his lips - colton

 colton 1 day old getting off the cpap 

 kangarooing with Colton

 kangarooing with kempton

 colton loves to sleep with his mouth open

 loves to sleep like this - colton

Kempton in his bed - wide awake (excuse the reflection!)

and here is a video i got on the phone - colton was making cute little noises while sleeping so i tried to record it. if you turn up your volume enough you can hear him.

"big man on campus"

The nurses say that Colton thinks he's the "big man on campus" because he's exceeding the goals of a 34 weeker. Kempton is right on track which is awesome as well.

today we went in and colton was off the bilirubin blanket so he doesnt have to be wrapped up for most of the day and wear those horrible "sunglasses" as we call it.

we were also surprised when the nurse told us that they took his feeding tube out! Yay!! hes been taking all of his feedings by bottle and if he still has more left they will do it through the tube and then take it out again.

also the boys are moving into cribs. they were in those box cribs because they needed to regulate their temp but today Colton was moved into a crib and it was so fun to see him in the open. Itll be more fun to see Kempton out in the open since its always so hard to see him being in that box.  (colton was on the blanket which kept him warm so he was on one of those huge bed things)

i think with the boys being in cribs. itll be easier for D to come see them for the first time (which we hope will be this week... we are hesitant because she hated visiting me in the hospital).

ALSO! the boys are starting to gain weight. they were losing a little at a time and the past 2 days they've gained weight so we hope they keep it up.

here are some pics we snapped today! (i realized all of them are of colton! i had so many of kempton from before becaues of that blanket on colton that i took a lot of colt today)

 he looks so big, not so much like a preemie with out his feeding tube.

 he ALWAYS sleeps with his one arm behind his head. I believe thats the one that got bruised pretty bad. He is too cute!!

Me and Colt right when we came to visit.

We are so proud of our boys for making progress. I love when the nurses or the head Nicu Pediatrician comes in or calls and tells us how well they are doing and progressing.

we're thinking that with how fast Colt is improving, he may come home sooner then Kemp. Im not sure how i feel about them being separated and kemp being by himself in the Nicu but it would be so nice to have one (if only both!) baby home with me. It'll make it more real for me with being a mom to these 2 boys.

ps other posts with pictures incase you havent seen them below!

Mr. Roberts (and update on twins)

Incase you haven't heard.... Tom got a job! He got a teaching job down in riddle Oregon which is about 3 hrs south of where we are at now. It's a teeeeny little town and the school is grades 7-12. He will be teaching business classes and will help build the business program at the school along with some math classes. We are super excited that the stress of looking for a job is over and we will only be moving 3 hrs away. Not sure how grandma grandpa and Dulany will handle it but we can have sleepovers on some weekends! We aren't sure when or where we are going to move to yet.. Still trying to find places in the bigger towns surrounding riddle. But I am so proud of Tom for graduating and getting his first job! We found out the day after we had the boys so it's sure been an exciting week for the Roberts household!

 Update on the boys... They're doing good. Because of Colton's bruising he has some jaundice or his bilirubin numbers are a little high so he has to be on the blanket. He is doing really well feeding and they even started to see if they would take a bottle. He has really good sucking bc they said he can take a whole bottle while Kempton can get some but not the whole thing. Colton also nursed for the first time today! he did awesome. he was able to latch and he did really well with sucking. He usually gets 38 ml from a bottle or from the tube and he took 24 from my breast which the nurse was very impressed with! It was one of the most amazing experiences even though i nursed D but since i can't have them home with me it makes me feel more like their mommy when i can nurse them.

They've both lost some weight but they say that's normal and we hope they will start gaining weight back soon. Kempton is also still in the bed to keep him warm. They are both such great mellow babies. The only time I've heard either cry (more like whimper) is when they are being taken out of or put back into their beds or getting their diaper changed.

And these boys looooooove to cuddle and i can not complain at all..except when we need to leave..that's super hard! I'm not going to lie... Sometimes I have to remind myself that I have 3 kids now. It's hard when I'm not doing mommy things like changing diapers every hour or getting up in the night for feedings or getting them in and out of their crib or getting them dressed. When at home I realize I'm no longer pregnant..they really are here but it's hard! Hopefully it'll get better. I'm glad I'm able to come home and recover from the csection which is going way better then I thought.

ok now for more pictures!

 Daddy and mommy feeding the boys bottles for the first time!

Kempton:

 tiny little fingers.

 on daddys chest.

 the boys! (colton getting burped while kempton takes a bottle) 

 Colton in his blanket with his "sunglasses"

 he just looks so comfortable - Kempton

 Daddy with Colton

Feeding Colton some of mommy's milk

They're here!

Born Monday July 16th 2012 at 4:25 and 4:28 pm

This week has been quite the whirlwind! Friday night into saturday morning I started to have some contractions nd they were close and getting stronger. So I called the on call midwife and they told me to go in to be monitored. We dropped D off at grandma and grandpas at 2 am and drove to Newberg. I thought we were going to come home in a few hours bc the contractions weren't that bad.well we were there We found out I was contracting every 2-4 min and they were getting stronger. They checked me and was at 3cm dilated and 60% effaced but my cervix was very high. So they decided to send me over to the bigger hospital with a nicu and I got to travel by ambulance! Quite the ride. I got put on mag sulfate to try to stop contractions and then got shots in the bum for steroids for baby's lungs. We got to st Vincent's hospital and I stayed on the mag and got more shots rough out the night. They ended up taking me off the mag about 36 hrs after they started and I waited to see what my body wanted to do. Well maybe 5ish hrs later small contractions came back. Didn't think much of it till they started to get painfull and they re back to back. They put me back on mag and gave me oxicoden along with ambian to try to let me sleep and bam..contractions were not stopping. So they had the nurse come check my cervix and she said I was dilated to a 6! My cervix was soooo high though and touch that was painful. I then lost my mucus plug right after and they asked me if I wanted the epidural. This was it! I got all ready for the epidural and boy did it hurt. I cried. i was shaking. I remember getting it done with Dulany and it didnt hurt at all. This younger lady (probably my age) - it felt like she got me 10 x in the back. Well I then tried to prepare myself for a vaginal delivery.. or an attempt to.  Nope...I slept a bit and woke up and the doctors said the epi and mag made the contractions almost completely stop. I slept through the night with contractions only happening a few an hour. So they checked me the next morning and it was basically like i never went into labor. The dr came in and said i was actually at a 5 and not a 6 like the nurses said. (part of me was disappointed... i was very tired at this point. I knew i wanted my babies to stay in longer and bake a little more. But i couldn't handle being on all of these meds and incredibly tired for much longer. I then feared id have to be in the hospital for another week (34 weeks is when they wont stop labor) or worse - hospital bedrest till they came later.

Then the nurse came back and said they were going to take the epidural out and they did - wish it was that painless going in. And then they came in to take catheter out and iwas so excited i was going to be able to shower! well by that time, i guess i started to bleed some so they were making sure everything was ok and it was. I started to freak out a bit and called Tom who wasnt there that he needed to get there quick (thats what the nurse told me incase something was happening) They wanted to keep the babies on the monitors to make sure they were ok  (no shower.. boo!) and they saw that i was started to contract again but it wasn't painful. This happens everytime my contractions stopped. they would slowly creep back up... they wouldnt hurt and then they would get more painful. Then a few hours later they picked up and boy did they pick up. I have never been in SO much pain in my life. i thought the contractions before were bad.. no way. I couldn't breath, they were in my back, i was crying... trying to breath. I get a lot of women go through this pain... but arent their babies down in their pelvis when this happens? I had one baby there but another baby lodged in my ribs. The contractions would hurt down low but once they got to right under my boobs - i struggled to breath. One nurse even came in and saw my bright red face with tears struggling to breath through each contraction (which were back to back with out breaks.. whew!) and knew i was in active labor. This is when the Dr's came and saw i was progressing and said i needed to make a decision about if i wanted to go natural, vaginal with an epi or cesarian section. I was very surprised that the Dr's were very open about what I wanted and they said they couldn't chose for me and they just said how everything would work each way and that each way was certainly possible.

at that point i was scared to go vaginal and that colton wouldnt drop or he would turn funny and i would have to have a double whammy. I was also exhausted. I was there for 3 days now on and off medications, had compressors on my legs keeping me from sleeping, already went through labor on and off for so long, i was scared the epidural was going to stop labor again. I asked Tom what he thought and he said whatever i wanted he would be there. I wanted someone to tell me what to do! I honestly just wanted the pain to end and get my babies out. I was contemplating a csection all day that day so i went with my gut decision and just said lets go do a csection. Right when i said that my nurse said "i had a feeling you wanted to do that and dont in any way feel guilty or feel ashamed in choosing it" - i was SOOOOOO nervous. the Dr. said ok well then you will see your babies within the hour. Thats when i started to freak out a bit. I wasnt given a chance to really prepare mentally for what was about to happen.

They got scrubs for Tom and while in the worst pain ever they prepped me for the csection. They wheeled me back into the operating room and i was in so much pain i wasnt really nervous. i just wanted the pain to be over. They put a spinal in my back and my whole body went numb, gave me some oxygen and laid me down and put the sheet up so i couldnt see anything. Tom couldnt be in the room but luckily i loved my nurse and she was there holding me the whole time because i was shaking and in pain. I didnt realize how serious it was... my nurse had to call out all my information to all the people in the OR to make sure everything was right. The room was bright, all white, cold...Then they let tom in and he held my hand and it seemed like within seconds we heard Kempton crying. I didn't realize it was going to be that fast. I actually cried knowing he came out screaming and i even got to touch his hand before they took him back to the NICU. Then it took awhile for Colton to come out. he was on his back and they were trying to get him out and he got bruised pretty bad on his arm and one side of his back. It was the strangest feeling with them going in and trying to get them out. There was pressure but it was so weird. Its like when you're sticking your hand into a bunch of goo trying to find something and searching all over to grab it out (like on fearfactor!)  But when they got him out 3 minutes later he didnt cry and she i saw him for 2 seconds before they took him back to the NICU. For some reason, i wasnt scared for him since he didnt cry. I knew he would be ok. Kempton was 4lb3oz and 16 1/2 inch long and Colton was 5lb2oz and 18 inches long.

Kempton didnt need help breathing and colton needed a little help from the cpap but just for a few hours that night.

recovery was a big blur...definitely didnt even think about that. Right when they finished iwas shaking uncontrollably. My dr (who was amazing by the way!) who did the c-section said it was totally normal but it was intense shaking..and its weird when you cant feel half your body. Then i got nauseous. I cant even begin to exaplin the feeling i had of throwing up (nothing since i hadnt eaten in days!) and the feeling of my stomach and insides going all over the place since i could feel that but not the outside. tom felt so bad since there was nothing he could do. About an hour later they went to wheel me to my room but they let me see the boys first. they wheeled me on my bed and i was able to hold kemp for the firsttime. then i went over to colton but since he was getting help breathing i could only touch him. i then had to go back to my room. it was aweful leaving my babies.

they already graduated from the Nicu they were at into a different one because they weren't super sick or had serious problems. they're both have a feeding tube, Kempton is in a warmer to regular his temp and Colton got bruised so they gave him the jaundice blanket/light to help with him getting it.

we have been able to do the kangaroo style holding where we are skin to skin with them and I have even been able to see if they will go to my breast. They both have been able to find it and suck a little but obviously itll take them a good while to be able to nurse.


we are now getting ready to get discharged and its going to be a very bitter sweet moment. I don't know how i'll leave my babies (we're an hour away from the hospital where they will stay for 2-3 weeks if everything goes ok) but at the same time im ready to see Dulany. Im not sure if she's figured out whats going on but ive been gone for almost a week and i dont want her to forget who her mamma is!

anyways, here are some of the pictures for now. We will keep getting pictures and updating! 

(ps. they wouldnt let me shower the whoel time i was there until 24 hours after my surgery - so that is why i look rather disgusting in most of these pictures!)

 Kempton Dean

 Colton Thomas

 Holding Kempton after surgery

 Couldnt hold Colton but got to touch him after surgery.

 First time skin to skin with Kempton

Colton after getting off the help of breathing.

Can you believe it?? we are a family of 5!