Happy Birthday Joseph

Joseph--2 days old
Joseph 2 years old

This past week was a lot of fun for our family! Last Tuesday, my niece Michelle and her kids came down from Virginia to visit us. We had a great time eating pizza (thanks Becky) and just chatting. Unfortunately, all the pictures we took are on Michelle's camera, so I don't have any to post. Then on Friday, Mark kept Joseph, Janie and Harrison while the rest of us went shopping with Grandma Susie. We had fun and got lots of new clothes for the kids for summer and found Easter outfits too! Nothing beats shopping! Saturday was Joseph's 2nd birthday. We actually celebrated it on Sunday because of the Priesthood Session of conference on Saturday. He had a great birthday, but didn't want to open anything else after he opened his bubble lawnmower. But he eventually did and loved everything he got! I can hardly believe he is 2 already. Happy birthday Joseph!

While the men were at conference on Saturday, I took the kids and went to visit my mother-in-law. We actually went to Walmart, and that was the babies' first time in a store. They really didn't get to see anything as they were covered the whole time we were there! Mark and I really enjoyed watching General Conference this past weekend and always feel so uplifted and inspired when it is over. We are really looking forward to Easter this weekend. My kids are on Spring Break right now, but unfortunately the weather is really yucky at the moment. Hopefully it will warm up soon.

Here are a few pictures from the past week. Janie loved her bath--Harrison, not so much.

Gotta Love Charlie

Ok, so when I am bored, youtube ends up being my best friend. Mark and I have watched many a random video on youtube. Here is our latest find, and seeing how we live in Georgia, we find it appropriate. This dude rocks on the fiddle. By the way, if anyone knows the difference between a fiddle and a violin, I would love to know!

Deliver Me

For the past few weeks I have been having this nagging feeling to go ahead and get everything ready for the babies. Something kept telling me to pack my hospital bag, but I didn't. 2 weeks ago was Mark's spring break and we made plans to finish painting and then get all the baby stuff out of the attic to wash it. I also had an appointment for an ultrasound on Thursday. Well I never made it. On Tuesday (St. Patty's Day), we took the kids to Sonic for a shake at lunchtime and then headed to the Wildlife Preserve to see the alligators because it was such a gorgeous day. We had a blast and saw a ton of gators. On the way home I shifted my weight and felt something wasn't right. I was leaking something and was hoping it wasn't blood. When we got home, I checked and it wasn't blood, but I wasn't convinced it was amniotic fluid either. Mark, however, was convinced and called his parents to have them meet us at my Dr's office. Of course my doctor was out of town, so they asked me to come see the doctor on call. Sure enough, Mark was right. My water had broken. Mark had made me throw a few things into a bag before we left home, so fortunately I had a few things with me as they wheeled me upstairs to check me into the hospital. Dr. Toraya told me that if I didn't start labor in my own by 4:00am, they would start pitocin. I didn't really want to go that route, but oddly enough, nothing was happening. That is really unusual for me as I generally have about 5 minutes once my water breaks. Anyway, I wasn't allowed to get up out of bed to try to help labor along, so I was stuck there praying it would start. I was miserable because I had a horrible cold and couldn't breath, and laying down in a bed doesn't really help that. When Doc came in, I was only at 3cms (can't remember how far effaced). He told me that until I could breath, nature wouldn't take its course. So they loaded me up with Claritin and Afrin and Nasocort. I am not joking when I say the second I could breath again, I started having hard contractions. We called in the nurse to get the anesthesiologist because I go so fast. My contractions were 4 minutes apart when he came in. I was kind of bummed they made me get an epidural this time, but knew it was necessary in case of an emergency. He finished the epidural at 11:30pm and when the nurse checked me at 11:40, I was completely dilated and effaced. I felt the urge to push about 1 minute later. Fortunately, the epidural was strong enough that I was able to control myself. They wheeled me into the O.R. for delivery because my huge room wasn't big enough. They had 13 people in there; ultrasound tech, 2 ObGyn's, a neonatologist and nurses. It was crazy! But we were so blessed because everything went so smoothly! Some of the nurses had never seen twins delivered vaginally before. They were in shock. Especially because I was done and back in my room by 12:40 am. I had the epidural in less than an hour before they took it out! Anyway, on March 18, 2009 Janie Elizabeth Lowther was born at 12:13 am and Harrison Edward Lowther was born at 12:19am. They were born at 33 weeks and 3 days. Janie weighed 4lbs 5oz, 18 1/2 inches long. Harrison was 4lbs 13oz, 18 inches long. I did not receive the steroid shot for the babies' lungs so I was worried about them being so early. But somehow their lungs were developed and did not even need the surfactant for their lungs that most preemies need. They both were on oxygen for short period of time, and once they finally put them next to one another in the special care nursery, they improved so much quicker. I brought Janie home on Thursday at 8 days old and Harrison on Friday at 9 days old. Technically, their gestation is 35 weeks right now. The nurses were amazed at how quickly they were able to go home. They thought it would be a minimum of 2-3 weeks, maybe longer. But I am so thrilled to have them home! They are tiny and have no fat whatsoever on them, so we just have to watch their temperature and make sure they are warm enough. The other kids love the babies and are always wanting to help out! Joseph just points at them and says "baby." He doesn't know quite what to think of them yet. But we love these 2 little babies and are so blessed to have them on our family! Now we just need to get a car big enough to hold 8 people! :)

Janie shortly after birth

Harrison shortly after birth

Dad and Mom after the babies were born

Janie all hooked up

Harrison loves his tummy

Janie

Harrison smiling (gas)

Mom trying to get a picture of them together

Janie coming home

Harrison coming home

Both home at last!

I hate pictures of me...

.....that's why I am always the one behind the camera, not in front. But I have had numerous requests to see my big belly so here it is. I took this about 2 weeks ago, at 31 weeks. I head back to the doctor on Thursday for another ultrasound to see how big the babies are now. I don't know how much room I've got left in there.

Not much has been happening since my last post. Unfortunately, my kids have all had the classic flu. McKenna missed everyday of school last week, but she is feeling well and ready to go back tomorrow. I am hoping everyone else gets well soon. I am not feeling well today, but I am hoping it is just from all this pollen. Here's to hoping!

Last Sunday was my mother-in-law's birthday. I think she got the best present she could think of; her husband was released as the Stake President. So we had a birthday party here at our house after church and there were 22 people here. It was a ton of fun and we were so glad that Lora and Joe, and Ryan and 2 of his boys made the drive down here. Thanks Dad and Ryan for cooking the steaks--they were awesome! Here are a few more pictures of the past couple of weeks--before we were sick, and of the birthday party!

Explosion

Ok, so maybe not an explosion, but that is how Mark described it. My garbage disposal got clogged up on Sunday night--never pretty. Mark knew he was going to have to clean out the pipe to get it working again. We had done it once before and found a paper towel in there. Unfortunately, Mark had to do some unexpected church stuff that night and the disposal (nor the kitchen) got cleaned. Monday night we put the kids to bed and Mark headed to the kitchen with bucket in hand. He put the bucket under the sink where he was loosening the pipe, but that side just wouldn't cooperate with him. So he moved to the other side to loosen it and before I knew it, (I was in the living room), Mark was yelling--no profanities for a miracle! :) The pipe did drain, but not into the bucket. It sprayed day-old roast beef all over Mark. And underneath the sink. And the floor. And the cupboard doors. Well, needless to say, he wasn't very happy about being covered with something that smelled exactly like vomit. I thought he was joking but as soon as I walked into the kitchen, I had to turn right back around. It was awful and was making me queasy! So Mark dutifully finished cleaning out the drain and found the cause of all his woes: the peel of an onion. It was completely blocking the pipe. Guess we learned our lesson on that one! It took him another 30 minutes to clean up the mess the roast beef had made all over the kitchen. I found it rather humorous, which infuriated Mark all the more. But how can you not laugh?

Eating words

I have to admit that I am eating my words today. I hate when I have to do that! But it was definitely worth it today. Let's backtrack to Sunday when I was talking to another pregnant woman in our ward. We go to the same clinic, but see defferent Doctors. I was complaining to her about the ultrasound lady I was going to have to see today. They have 2 over there and one is completely awesome and always in a good mood. The other is grumpy and wants to get you in and out as quickly as humanly possible and she is very impatient when you ask her questions. Last time I went in she rudely asked me "why are you here?" Um, for an ultrasound maybe? My Dr. likes me to have one everytime I go in. Anyway, back to Sunday. I proceeded to complain about having to see her today and how much I was dreading it. I didn't want to have to deal with her bad mood. So I was pretty skeptical about my whole appointment when I got there this morning early, and she was running about 15 minutes late. Never a good start. But she came and got me and apologized for keeping me waiting. As she was doing the ultrasound, she was the nicest person in the world. She chatted with me about the babies, my family, where I was from, where I met my husband, etc. She answered all of my questions for her willingly and even went into depth to explain them. It was wonderful. Then the clencher. I jumped up to get back dressed (she had to check my cervix) and she told me to hop back up on the table when I was done. Then she told me not to tell anyone, especially because she was running late and my Dr was waiting for me, but she wanted to do a 3D ultrasound on the babies. I have never had a 3D one before, so I definitely couldn't argue. Baby A (the girl) was very cooperative, but baby B (the boy), who had been a complete show-off for the earlier ultrasound, turned over and all we could get was the back of his head. Anyway, I was thrilled with the outcome today, and really had a great time. So I must take back the bad things I said about her. But everything was good with the babies. They are 2lbs 15 oz and 3lbs 1oz with the boy being bigger. So that keeps them in line with where they have been with the boy being 2oz bigger everytime. And as an added surprise, baby B is FINALLY head down like his sister. Now we just need to keep them both there.

Baby B profile (boy)

Baby A profile (girl)

Baby A 3d

Ramblings.....

Well it's a good thing that I didn't make "more blogging" a new year's resolution of mine or I would be in serious trouble. See, I did it again and let another whole month slip right by me. There really isn't a whole lot to say about January. We stayed busy as usual with church and school and kids. The babies seem to be doing great and are the average size of a single baby, so that is always good news. Let's just pray it continues on that way. I took the glucose test for gestational diabetes last week, and so far haven't heard anything back. So I am hoping that no news is good news on that end! McKenna and Jacob are both doing great in school as usual. Jacob's Pre-K teacher has been testing him on 1st grade levels, so I am not sure exactly what we're going to do with him next year when he is only in Kindergarten. Dang those smart genes! :) That boy knows WAAAAY too much for his own good. It is science fair time for McKenna, so we all know what that means; science fair time for Mom and Dad. I put Dad in charge of it--he is the science guy. Wish us luck! Kaitlyn and Joseph are, well, Kaitlyn and Joseph. Boy do they keep me on my toes during the day. Joseph decided to jump into the terrible two's early and boy can he be a pill when he wants to be! But they are both so loveable and growing so fast. I must be the worst mother in the world--I took them both to the Stride Rite outlet on Saturday for new shoes and they both measured 2 1/2 sizes bigger than what they were wearing. I can't keep up with the shoe situation around here! Let's get back to summer so I can go back to buying flip-flops!

Now that I am 28 weeks, my doctor doesn't want me to travel more than 2 hours away. I think it might have something to do with the speed at which I deliver babies--just a thought. Anyway, Mark decided to take me on one last little trip a couple of weeks ago. We drove down to Jacksonville and spent the day at the zoo. It was perfect weather, and only started to rain right when we were ready to go so that worked out perfectly. Then for dinner, we ordered Cheesecake Factory and took it to go. It is the closest one to us so we had to take advantage of being down there. Boy was it tasty.

Anyway, I thought I would add a few pictures of the past month. And I don't want to fail to mention my trip to Utah for Dad's 80th birthday. I had such a great time and enjoyed seeing all of my family and so many old friends that I hadn't seen in years. Plus, it was the first time I have ever taken a trip without a child since I have been married. That's almost 9 years people! I missed them tremendously, but didn't miss the work! Thanks Mark for missing some classes to take care of them!