At home with the twins

We have been home for over a week now. I was so scared to leave to the hospital. No nurses to help out. No nursery to put the kids in so we could get a couple hours of sleep. I was silly for being scared. It really is much better being home. Joy and I have been taking shifts in sleeping. Right now, she is sleeping till 2:30 and then I will get some sleep. Also one nice perk is we're not woken up by nurses in the middle of the night for vitals.

I've been staying up with the boys and watching really bad horror movies on Netflix streaming. I finally got a chance to watch that Hellraiser DVD I got back a couple years. I'm sure eventually this will have to stop when the boys get a little older but for now I'm taking advantage.

One of the biggest fears I had when we came home is that our dog would freak out and hurt the babies. I had been worrying about this for weeks. I had not come up with a good plan to introduce them to our dog, Ace. Joy came up with the idea of putting them in the crib where they would be safe and trying to introduce them to him

Much to our surprise, Ace was great! He treated them like one of his own. His first response was to smell them and try to lick them. We stopped the licking. After the introduction, he would check up on them about every hour. As soon as he heard a cry, he would come from where ever he was in the house to check up on them. At one point, I was burping one of the boys and Ace looked at Joy with a look in his eye that said "Are you gonna let him do that to him?" After about a day or two Ace finally need some sleep. Joy's mom is staying with us, so he went upstairs to sleep with her. His eyes looked bloodshot. Ace has defiantly been a good dog. What a major relief.

The Birth of the Twins

Last Thursday marks the birth of our twins. It's been a week now and it's been amazing. I've never been so happy. I've had barely any sleep and could hardly notice. Although Joy says I get a little negative in the middle of the night.

So, it all started last Thursday very early in the morning. I thought Joy was sleeping next to me when I heard someone walking in the house. As I heard them in the hallway, I panicked. I screamed and grabbed the flashlight aimed it at a screaming Joy walking in from the bathroom. I swear I saw her jump back 2 steps. I felt really bad about scaring her but fell back asleep.

Joy woke me up a couple hours later and said "I think you scared the boys out if me." Her contractions had started. By the time she woke me up, they were 8 minutes apart. Right before I would have left for work, they were at 7 minutes. I finally decided by the look of Joy's face that I should stay home that day. I called off sick explaining that my wife has contractions.

About a half hour later. I called our doctor to see what we should do. She told us to head to the hospital.

I forgot to match that we had a doctor's appointment the day before. Our doctor said she was surprised we hadn't had them yet. They had Joy put on a fetal baby monitor, I think it was a stress test. I was kind of hoping the doctor would send us to the hospital and then was slightly bummed when she did not.

Back to last Thursday; I had had raced to get everything in order for he hospital. In the process I broke Joy's key chain. Filled the trunk with our bag, laptop, and camera bag then put our a dog in his cage. As we walked out the door I said to Joy "we might be coming home with two babies."

We parked in the parking lot and walked into the hospital. There was no dramatic entrance, like in the movies. It was almost funny how causal it was.

They hooked up Joy to the same equipment as the day before and we waited. Joy turned me to said "is it bad to say I'm bored?" Finally, we heard from our doctor that it's time to deliver. We got the c-section scheduled for 12:30pm. I ran outside to call our parents while they tried to put an IV in Joy.

They had a really hard time putting a an IV in Joy. Two nurses couldn't do it. They had to call in an Anesthesiologist. Even he had
trouble. I had to look the other way. One of the nurses told me to leave if I felt like fainting. I told her I was fine an the Anesthesiologist said "that's what they all say."

Joy's mom and brother came in to visit. They talked about her brother going back to school. That was good because it took Joy's mind off the nerves.

Then around 12:25, Joy walked off to get prepared for surgery and I waited in the recovery room till I could be with Joy for the birth if our children. They said it would be 10 or 15 minute. It went to about a half an hour. A nurse gave me graham crackers and apple juice so I wouldn't pass out during the delivery. I walked back and forth in the room.

The nurse finally came and got me and I gotta say it was the scariest and most amazing moment of my life.

I saw Joy laying down on the hospital bed with a curtain cutting off her head from the rest of her body. She had not taken to the drugs they gave her well. She was throwing up. I put the camera down and held a puke cup next to her mouth. I rubbed her hair but felt helpless to comfort her. She turned to the nurse behind her said "it's getting hard to breathe." The nurse said it was just because she couldn't feel her chest.

1:02pm came and Jasper was born. They quickly rushed him into the other room. I wasn't sure if this was standard procedure or if something was wrong. I didn't have time to think. Joy was throwing up and had hard breathing.

1:03 came and the curtain came down and they asked me if I wanted to see baby B (Jacob.) I watched him be born. I wasn't given the option to cut his cord. He looked good but I quickly went back to try to comfort Joy.

Eventually, they called me over to Jacob. It was just amazing to see my son. I watched as they weighed and tested him.

I worried about Jasper. He was in another room. I heard crying so that was a good sign.

They finally called me in to Jasper. Looked like they were wrapping up doing tests on him. The nurse told me that it's standard procedure to do extra tests because they are premature. He looked good to me. It wasn't until much later that I learned that he has trouble taking his first breathes.

My mind was in a million places. It was with Jasper, Jacob, and with Joy. It wad hard to concentrate. A nurse handed me my camera and told me I should take pictures. I had been so overwhelmed I had forgot. I quickly took pictures of the boys.

I went back to Joy to show her our boys since she wasn't given the opportunity to see them. I tried to show her pictures while they were putting her back together but could tell she was out of it.

I was then told by a nurse to go to recovery room and then tell the family how everything went. I showed the fam the pictures I had taken.

Joy was then wheeled to the recovery room. She still hasn't seen the boys. I had no idea what was going on. It was scary. Joy was still throwing up and no one could figure out why. The nurse ordered a prescription IV that helped her stop.

About an hour and half later, the boys were finally brought in. That was the first time I was able to hold them. What a fantastic feeling! And finally, Joy was able to see and hold them.

The boys are here!

The boys were born Thursday, May 20th. Jasper was born at
1:02 pm and Jacob at 1:03pm.

They are good and healthy and need a I say ubber cute!

We currently waitng to be dischanged from hospital.

More info coming soon.

I think soon! Plus anniversary.

I got a feeling that the twins are gonna be born next week. It is just a theory. Joy said average is 37, which would be start on the 23rd.

Last night, Joy had some pains when we got back from the library. She said her mom said "if you take a hot bath and they don't go away, you're in labor." I plugged the bath tub and proceeded with taking out the garbage while she read her new book and took a bath.

While outside; I got an overwhelming feeling that she was going into labor. I quickly filled the trash can and then backed in the car to the garage for easy access and so we could zoom out like as if we were in the batcave.

I came and her tummy was feeling better. Not sure if she had a contraction or a what she calls a "fake contraction" (Braxton hicks contraction). I got a large tote bag from upstairs and we finished packing for the hospital. We picked out some cute clothes for the boys.

It's a good feeling that we are pretty much ready to go when she goes into labor.

Our anniversary weekend was a lot of fun. We didn't know what to do. We visited Joy's mom and then we just hit the road. We had no idea what to do. Joy kept saying "we're not boring!" I agreed and was determined. We drove past the new stadium at the University of Akron and looked how much things have changed. We used to live across the street in a dumpy apartment, which is now gone.

We got on the highway and I suggested the rain forest at the Cleveland Zoo. Joy suggested Dave and Buster. Which is much better because d and b'a doesn't smell and not much walking involved. Plus, we had our reception there. It also seemed to fit because we got married in Vegas. We went there, had lunch and played games. I really dug the Rambo game because it was pretty ridiculous.

On the ride home, we stopped at Starbucks for their happy hour then drove home through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It was a lot of fun. Then we found parks that we didn't know existed.

The next day, we took another drive through the park, this time with our dog Ace. He enjoyed the goats we saw along the road.

Time moves quickly

It is really crazy to think that the boys could be here very soon. It could happen in the next couple weeks. These nine months went by so fast. With time going by so fast, I need to make sure I make the best of each moment of our children's lives.

I hear a lot of parenting advice in books, podcast, birthing class etc that no one's the perfect parent. "You WILL make mistakes," they all start off with. I understand, I'll make mistakes. But why does it feel they set you up to fail? Maybe that's just my take. I really want to be the best parent I can be. I think starting parenting advice by saying "you'll make mistakes" is the wrong approach. Everyone makes mistakes, how do I be a good parent? I want to be the best parent I can be and make the most of the time.

This coming weekend (well, actually Monday) marks Joy and I's first wedding anniversary. Not to gush too much but what a year! Within a year, we bought house, got married, and went on one amazing honeymoon across the US and now we're having children! Couldn't have been a better first year of marriage and my love for her grows bigger and bigger each day.

In other news: the c-section has been scheduled for June 7th if they don't come out sooner!

The preparations continue. On Monday, we installed the car seats. Joy brought out stuffed animals to test the works. We had some issues because the car seats are also baby carriers that latch into a base and handle is so large that we kind of need to pull the driver and passenger seats up. It's not bad but it will take a little bit to get used to because Joy and I are tall people. Next we need to finish packing our hospital bag.