They're Here!

Camden Bek and Harper Mae joined us all in the world outside of the comfortable confines of their mother's womb today, August 20. Camden came first at 6:42pm and weighed 5lbs.11oz. and Harper made it about a half hour later at 7:07pm and weighed 6lbs.0oz. They both measured 18.5" long.

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A fast labor ... Steph's water broke this afternoon at about 3:00pm ... we made it to the hospital at about 4:00pm (she measured 5 cm.) ... and both babies were born within three hours. Thank God!

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Camden is on the left side of the picture and Harper is on the right.

Powdered Donuts

Steph really hasn't had any strange cravings during this pregnancy ... but she does have a "pregnancy vice" ... powdered donuts. And just like this picture shows ... Carter hasn't just discovered powdered donuts, he likes them too.

No Place Like Home

Steph's doc let her come home earlier this evening, without too long a stay in the hospital. She is still on continued watch and we're hoping the contractions stay under control. Doc still says that he isn't going to stop labor, just trying to slow it down. We're just hoping to make it 7 more days - that should put us in the clear on the development of the babies' lungs. Thanks for all your support.

Another Round of Contractions

Steph has been battling another round of contractions. She is currently at the hospital undergoing one of her scheduled non-stress tests, but has continued to contract, so they're keeping her a little longer to see if they can control the contractions. She has dilated a little more, but not enough to have the doctor thinking she is going into labor. Hopefully we'll be able to watch Big Brother from the comfort of our home tonight instead of the hospital room.

Looks Like We're on Our Way

Steph and I got to come home today after about 30 hours in the hospital. Her doctor came in to check on her this afternoon and said that everything looked good - all of the contractions don't seem to be labor producing. He did say that we shouldn't be surprised if the babies come in the next week, but that it could still be two or three more too. He put Steph on "Stage 3" bedrest (in bed or on the couch except for bathroom privileges), and still has her watching those contractions.

Pictures

Here are some pictures our friend took last week. Click on any of the pics to see a bigger picture.

In the Hospital

Steph started having some more contractions very early this morning (Thursday), so we came to Labor and Delivery at the hospital. After a few check-ups the doc decided to admit her for at least 24 hours for monitoring. She is dilated 3 cm, which doesn't mean a whole lot - but could mean that we're heading towards delivery. She has continued to have contractions throughout the day, sometimes are better than others. The doc is going to check in on her in the morning to see if it's okay to go home. She is 34 weeks pregnant, today, and we're hoping to make it to 36 weeks. Let's pray for the best.

Prego Pics

One of our really good friends is a professional photographer. Steph asked her if today she'd take some pregnancy photos. So we're really excited to see these after she gets them worked up. Carter actually cooperated for a couple of them too! We waited too long and didn't take any prego pics with Carter, so Steph wanted to make sure to get this done with the twins. As soon as we get these back, I'll be sure to post some on here and surely you all will be getting some emailed to you as well.

Still Good

Since my post on Friday, Steph has had two scheduled appointments ... one to the OB and one of her biweekly non-stress tests (NST). I'm happy to say that all is good. She is continuing to have contractions, but the medicine she's taking for these is working wonderfully in slowing them down. The doc told us today that he will have her stop medication at 36 weeks (2 weeks away) and let the rest fall into place. The doc has vacation scheduled right at 36 weeks, which is a little stressful since we switched doctors to our current doctor about halfway through the pregnancy because we wanted him to do the delivery (add this to your prayers please - that the babies keep brewing until the doc gets back from vacation). We do know that all is in God's plan, however.
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We've lined up a few folks to help with Carter while I'm at work during the week. We are seeing already that he is going to grow even more spoiled through this than he already is. He loves the little extra attention he gets, as well as his little visits into momma's bedroom to lie in bed with her (of course it's at this point she has to turn the television to what he wants to watch).

No Hospital, but Bedrest

No surprise trips to the hospital or doctor since Tuesday! Steph is still having some contractions, but the medicine she's taking is definitely helping to calm them down. During her scheduled trip to Labor and Delivery yesterday, she did receive another shot of Bretheen for contractions, but didn't have to stay.
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Steph is officially on bedrest for the remainder of the pregnancy. Those of you who know her know how much she does not and is not going to like this. It's only been three days and she's not happy about it at all. Lots of friends have offered to help us out with Carter, which is going to be a big help. We're just trying to figure out scheduling so we can make all of this work. Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Another Trip to the Hospital

Steph spent another few hours this afternoon and evening in the hospital. Everything is okay ... her uterus is quite jumpy these days, however. She continued to feel contractions last night and this morning and decided to call the doctor - who had her come in to his office for an ultrasound to check her cervix. The great news is that she is not dilating ... but she was having minor contractions about every 2 minutes. After a lot of monitoring, a couple more shots of medicine in the arm(s) and a prescription for some "uterus relaxing" medicine, we were able to finally come home.
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As of right now, Camden is winning the race to be the first born. During the ultrasound we could see his head bumping his momma's cervix. I'm "not-so-secretly" hoping he's born first so Harper can have two BIG brothers watching out for her.

Early Contractions

Steph had her first non-stress test (fetal monitoring) this morning. What was routinely, an hour appointment turned into 4 hours as we learned Steph is having minor contractions. She's scheduled to have two stress tests per week and one doctor's visit each week. But if she continues to have contractions (more than 5/hour) she'll be back in Labor and Delivery (L&D) more often. She had early contractions with Carter and had to take a pill to help slow them. The babies are doing fine - just pushing their momma to her limits. Please pray that all goes well.

Crack Up

Carter continues to crack us up - this has almost become a daily achievement of his. Today's daily crack up ... We got out and ran some errands this evening. We made our way to Target for some stuff and then needed to stop by Braum's (ice cream / fast food / small grocery) to pick up some milk for Carter. About a week ago I took Carter out for some dessert at Braum's (introduced him to mint chocolate chip ice cream). Well, as we were sitting at the stop light, waiting to turn into the store, I guess Carter recoginzed and remembered Braum's and started shouting (repeatedly), "Zerts!" (Carter code for dessert). So we decided to make it a stop and treated him (and ourselves) to a night of dessert. We really love this stage of Carter's life right now - but it's all going way too fast.

Scaredy Cat

Steph and I are beginning to wonder if Carter is going to be a "scaredy cat". He has shown signs leading towards this ... Our youth group takes a little break from regular stuff and meets at a family's house during the summer who has a big pool. Carter and Steph come each week cause Carter loves to "fim" (of course, Carter code for swim). Now this family has an atypical yard for suburban OKC. They have a lot of mature trees that surround their pool and the occasional leaf or flowering bud falls in the pool. For the past two weeks, Carter has decided that he is deathly afraid of leaves and little purple flowers floating in the pool (outside the pool, they're okay). If one is about to touch him, or even in sight in the pool, he begins to yell until I am able to remove the monsterly item from his sight. there are lots of other things that seem to frighten him these days too. Hopefully this is just a phase, but looks like for now, at least, we've got a "scaredy cat".

Safe For Kids

A friend sent me a link to a website that allows you to "rate" your blog. So I did, and received a "G" rating. So now we can all feel safe to enjoy the reading.