Swim Team

 The other thing that has kept us extremely busy this summer besides all of the twin madness is swim team. It was an INTENSE 2 months with swim practice every day and meets on the weekends. I am so glad we signed the girls up for it. They learned a lot and it was good experience for them. They have improved so much and even though Madi doesn't want to do it again, we will probably do it again next year. I will try to post a video of Saige diving so that you can see just how much they have learned. At the beginning of the summer she couldn't dive AT ALL. They are doing well in both the backstroke and freestyle. Next year they will work more on the butterfly and breaststroke. Those are super hard in my opinion. Here are some pictures from their meets. I think they look SO cute in their 

swim caps.

They were so excited that Grandpa got to come to one of their 

swim meets

1st place in backstroke!

Brett thinks these two pictures are so sad but I LOVE THEM. It is so cute that he is consoling her. 

Saige's "Running Dive"

June 20, 2011

Warning: lots of delivery and pregnancy details that you may not want to read. TMI for some of you. 

The date-Monday, June 20, 2011. 

It was a day that I thought I would never see. It was a day I thought I would spend in the NICU (after several before). It was a day that for so long seemed SO far away. If you would have asked me the likely-hood of me being pregnant on June 20, I would have said 0%. Good thing there were no bets to place because I would have bet the farm that I would not make it to my June 20th scheduled C-Section. 

I was however, SO very thankful to see that day come and still be pregnant, miserable as I was. 

We arrived at the hospital at 5 a.m. after a sleepless night. It was more like 5:20 because I said, "we are just going to be sitting around waiting." When we got there, the nurses acted totally bugged and said, "we have been waiting for you"!

They quickly put me in a room and prepped me for surgery. It took a long time and I wasn't wheeled into surgery until after 7. Waiting on the doctor I am sure. The nurse who prepped me was named Rae. I asked her if that was short for Rachel since my sister-in-law is named Rachel and she said, "nope-my parents had a sick sense of humor." She wouldn't tell me what it was short for. She ended up being really nice and I have to say that overall, we had some pretty great nurses during our stay.

Before the surgery I was SO very nervous. Wondering if the babies were okay. Wondering how or if it would be different from last time. (If you don't know, last time was a TRAUMATIC experience for me.) As soon as they gave me the spinal block I couldn't stop crying. I was so scared that my babies wouldn't be okay. It wasn't long after the doctor told me he was starting to cut that I heard the most beautiful sound in the world-my baby girl screaming her head off! It truly was one of the biggest reliefs I have ever had. (When Madi and Saige were born, neither of them cried and they whisked them away without telling me if they were even alive.)

Then, one minute later, a sound equally exciting. My baby boy screaming just as loud. The nurses even let me see them and hold them right there in the surgery room. I couldn't stop crying and thanking my Heavenly Father for not one, but TWO healthy babies. My heart has never been so full of gratitude.

Everything was going well so Brett went with the babies to the nursery. Then, all of the sudden, I felt VERY sleepy and the next thing I know I was waking up. It felt like I had just dozed off for a few seconds but it was much longer than that. Brett said that he couldn't figure out why I wasn't out of surgery yet. We later found out why. When the doctors made the first cut into my abdomen, the babies were just right there. There was no uterus to cut. My uterus had split open at some point during the pregnancy and had attached itself to my abdomen. This explains why I was so lop-sided! They had to peel it away from the abdominal wall and reconstruct it. Needless to say, my recovery was very long and painful but we are SO very thankful that everything turned out the way it did. Things could have gone horribly wrong. I am also thankful that I didn't listen to the physicians assistant who told me that it 'was a shame' that I wasn't going to do a VBAC and who treated me like crap. :)

Here are some pictures from the hospital:

LOVE these! One very proud dad.

They looked A LOT alike in the hospital, but not at all now.

Also, I have already had a few people ask me if they are identical. REALLY? Can people really be that dumb? Do I have to take off their diapers to prove that a boy and girl can't be identical?

Check out Sydney's hair! That was a surprise! Madi and Saige didn't have hair til they were over 2 years old so we weren't expecting that. By the way...it looks like they are both going to have red hair-CRAZY!

These are my FAVORITES. 

TWINS HOLDING TWINS

Madi and Saige were SO excited to meet their new baby brother and sister. They got all dressed up to come to the hospital and did not want to leave. 

They are awesome big sisters.

We decided on Wednesday that we had had enough of the hospital so at about 9 p.m. I told Brett to tell the nurses that we were leaving. We loaded everything up and headed for home. It was very exciting to get to take the babies home and not have to leave them in the NICU. 

 Dalton didn't look too excited about coming home. Maybe he knew just how crazy it was going to be!

If you think Dalton looks scared, you should have seen me!

In an attempt to catch up...

I know I will fail miserably but i have to try right? I don't want to forget all of these things so I will make an attempt.

Here are some pictures from the FABULOUS baby shower that my AMAZING friend Laurel threw for me. She must have been a professional party planner in another life because she knows how to throw a great party. People here are SO generous-we got some really great things. I love my friends here!!

Stef was able to come! She made the CUTEST cake.

Laurel made everything special-even these cups-cute!

The food was FANTASTIC-lots of fun desserts too. My favorites were the chocolate bites and Cindy's strawberry pizza.

I had lots of good helpers to open gifts.

These preemie outfits were SO Cute. Thankfully my babies were too big for preemie outfits though

These booties are my FAVORITE. They came from Chile. Thank you Sister Hawkins!

Here is Laurel-isn't she fun? LOVE HER!

We had some surprise visitors!!!  My awesome in-laws drove all the way from Utah to be there. I couldn't believe it. SO FUN!

Thanks so much Laurel. You are the BEST!