Hey everyone! So, I am working on putting together my first tutorial! The stink is that I don't have a camera right now so hopefully that will be resolved soon! I know...how can a mom with three babies NOT have a camera. Just another way that iPhones are taking over the world. They give you that sense that you don't need anything else! Well, I have come to see the deception in that! I DO need a camera!!! Soon...very soon. Anyways, as soon as I do, I will be able to complete the tutorials. I have been reviewing all my steps. Never thought it would be this complicated to simply explain how to do some of these simple things I do, but I think I am just too much a creature of detail! This is why I feel a good camera is so desperately needed I guess! :) So please "follow" my blog so you can not just get updates on tutorials, but also keep updated on all the amazing things going on in our lives here at the Wetzel house lately! Don't worry, I am a once or twice a month only blogger so I won't be loading you down crazy! sometimes though, it's nice to get your input and ideas for things. Ok, well I will get back with more on that soon!
Okay, so only a few people know about this but it's actually a pretty crazy story about the twins. It is pretty long but I tried to break it up with a few pictures. In March of 2008, Donny and I decided we were ready to start a family. We had been married just over a year and a half and all our friends and family were having babies so we decided we were ready to join that club. We did not tell anyone because it was just a personal decision between us and we decided that when we found out, it would be a surprise to everyone! One Sunday morning in early May, a good friend caught us after church sevice and said she needed to talk to me. I said ok and she (sort of hesitantly) said, "I had a dream that I really feel was from the Lord and in my dream you had twins". Knowing that this friend has been known to have a strong prophetic gifting, Donny laughed and said, "well, you need to go back and dream one." We all smiled at that but then her face became a bit more intent and she said, "well, maybe it had something to do with...double anointing or..." then she looked at me much more intently and said confidently, "no, you had TWINS." Then she said she would continue praying about it and what it meant. Other than sharing that with my mom I did not think much more of it. I felt as most women that twins would be so much fun! But at the same time I just wanted a baby and felt 2 would just be crazy! they don't run in my family, I have no medical reasons for why they might occur, I did not have any reason to think I would actually have them.
It was only 2 weeks later that Donny and I found out we were having a baby!!! I am sorry to say that my dear husband had to find out via text message! I know! What can I say? I had all kinds of special ideas for how I would tell him when I found out and the moment I did...everything was out the window, even my senses and I sent him a text. (he was at work and rarely did his phone work) He did call me back not too much later so we were able to share in the excitement in that way for that moment. Almost immediately, my mom brought up our friend's words about twins. I thought about it for all of a moment but then it wasn't really about 2, it was just about a new baby!
Some time in mid-June, a dear friend of mine had her baby shower. At the baby shower, 2 other friends announced they were pregnant. I ended up keeping my secret for the simple fact of not making it "just another pregnant announcement". It was, however, at this baby shower that I started having an overwhelming feeling hat I was going to have twins. Strangely enough, though, several other expectant friends also kept saying they wanted twins or they thought they were going to have them so I pushed aside this thought thinking, ok, so EVERY pregnant woman sees double! and I am still convinced this is pretty accurate. Over the next 4 weeks or so, I prayed for my pregnancy EVERY morning and I just felt really strongly led to pray for "these two babies inside me" and I would always write in my journal about "these babies". I never told anyone though because I didn't want to end up being wrong and everyone think I was just "seeing double" too. Then...the day came for our ultrasound.
I was 10 weeks along and we were leaving that evening for our last family vacation in Florida and Donny was wanting me to postpone the appointment until after vacation, but I had already postponed it before bc of my birthday in July so I didn't want to. So, that morning, 8/8/08, we went to meet our doctor and see our little surprises for the first time. The ultrasound screen was turned towards my Doctor and nurse while me and Donny waiting, almost not breathing. The doctor smiled and pointed to the screen whispering something to the nurse. I asked, "is everything ok?". He smiled and said, "yes....REALLY good actually." Donny (always having to open his mouth) :) said, "as long as there isn't 2 or 3 in there, we're good." Doctor and nurse both laughed and turned the screen aound so we could see. He pointed to the 2 dark spots with beautiful little white spots inside and said, "well...there's one. and.....there's the other"
Here is the very picture that he took that day:
Left: Nicholas (Baby B) Right: Aubree (Baby A)
All I remember is being unable to stop smiling, staring at the screen then seeing Donny, a tear in his eye (yes I told everyone babe!) squeezing my hand and both of us unable to say ANYTHING! What was there to say? He checked their heartrates and said everything looked good and then Donny left the room. Later I found out he called and told his mom, who of course didn't believe him...in fact...probably didn't believe him until we arrived at her house with the ultrasound pictures. I conference called my entire family who were all waiting for us in Florida. The next person who found out was our realtor (haha! funny bc she just happened to call as soon as we left the hospital to let us know that we were going into escrow on our first home!-should'a went with a bigger house) :) After that, I just HAD to call my friend who knew it before it ever even happened!
Here's another U.S. pic taken on 9/5/08:
(For those who like to know: Baby B(Nicholas)- Head all the way to the left, body stretching out towards the right, Baby A(Aubree)- Head at B's feet and body slanting at a downward angle to the right.)
So...the pregnancy was great! Sickness during the first couple months (but, in fact, it was completely gone before I even knew it was twins) and of course I got HUGE!!! Close your eyes if you don't want to see this nasty shot from about 3 weeks before they were born.
WARNING: it is a bare belly shot! I usually hate the bare belly stuff but as very few shirts even fit over my massive growth there at the end, bare belly shots were really all I could get that really showed what we were dealing with!
And...I just want to put this next one up so maybe I can be a bit redeemed after that one. This next one was actually taken about 9 weeks before they were born, but they are just much prettier than the previous one.
The end of January started all my pre-term troubles. Their actual due-date was March 5th. I had 4 labor-scares beginning January 25th but 2 turned out to be labor-inducing infections which antibiotics quickly stopped and 1 was me being on my feet too much and the last one was that at one of my regular NSTs (non-stress tests that I had to do twice a week in addition to my perinatologist visit AND my regular visit- for those counting that's 4...yes FOUR doctors visit PER WEEK---not to mention I lived just over an hour away) but anyways, at one of my regular NSTs, my sisters and neice and nephew had come with me and we were going to go shopping afterwards but the appiontment went REALLY late bc they had to monitor Aubree for an additional 2 hours (they usually do for 30 minutes) bc she was not moving. They ended up sending me to labor and delivery telling me that they were going to deliver within 3 hours. PANIC! My parents were in Switzerland and my husband was at work nearly 3 hours away! After being monitored in labor and delivery for an hour, they said Aubree was doing fine but Nicholas was not moving. UGH! Cooperate kiddos! Finally, after 7 hours of me moving and pushing my stomach and everything else I could do to get them to move, they discharged me! YAY! The twins would have been almost 7 weeks early had they been born at that point. WHEW!
It wasn't until the morning of February 10th. My C-section was scheduled for February 19th and I thought they would come on the 11th. But on the 10th Donny and I had left the house to run errands. I just had the strangest feeling that they would be coming that day. I texted my mom to tell her to keep her phone close. She slightly panicked and told me to track them. Once I did, I realized contractions were 5 minutes apart though I could barely even feel them. The nurse I called told me to head on down since being twins put me at higher risk. Quickly they closed to 2 minutes apart but were still not very hard. A couple hours of monitoring and the on-call doctor admitted me. Here is an amazing miracle that anyone with Kaiser will understand: BOTH my doctor AND my perinatologist just so happened to be the 2 doctors on that day! CRAZY! So we were blessed that the babies were delivered by BOTH of our doctors!!! At 5:51pm, Aubree Faith was born and at 5:52pm, Nicholas William was born. Something about pugs and chic-fil-a....yeah, I don't remember but Donny swears that's what I was talking about while our babies were being born. The meds had me all loopy shaking so bad all I know is that I was freezing cold but I do remember the first cry. Then I remember waiting for the second and hearing it and I think that was the first time I let out a breath during that whole time! I remember the nurses calling out their weights: 6 pounds, 5 ounces for baby A (Aubree) and 6 pounds, 15 ounces for baby B (Nicholas). I remember the nurse at my side (there were 14 doctors and nurses in there total) telling me how she couldn't believe how big they were but the best part I remember was once they finish working on us all, they put the babies on me and wheeled me into recovery! Just the four of us, Donny and I swapping babies back and forth even though I cold hardly move.
While in the recovery room, the nurse kept monitoring Nicholas and ended up sending him to the NICU with a lot of fluid in his lungs. We were there for about 2 hours waiting for a room to open up and finally we were sent to our room, Aubree laying at my side. We got to our room and I was able to see my mom for the first time. They did all of Aubree's checks and one of the nurses was just not happy about her oxygen levels. After a few more checks, Aubree was sent to the NICU.
(Aubree Faith- this was actually taken when she was already about a week old bc she doesn't have the feeding tube in here)
(Nicholas William)
I thought surely they will check them and they will be back tonight. A new mom never thinks about the scary possibilities, even when you have been warned your babies are at risk for it. I was not able to see them until the next day when I was able to move enough to walk over to the NICU but Donny went over to get updates amost every hour throughout the night. The next 5 days were a struggle for our little angels. Back and forth kinda battle where they would be doing great and possibly coming home to where they were declining so rapidly that even the doctors expressed their uncertainties. I was discharged on the 4th day then finally on the 5th day, they had made enough progression that the doctors were certain they would be fine with just a bit of care. Nurses kept saying they would probably be 3-4 weeks and I was not too thrilled about that...of course! :) Every morning, me and Donny woke up at 6am and made the hour long drive to the hospital and we sat in there with the babies until 9pm (only leaving to grab lunch and occasional snacks in the vending machines) and then made the hour long drive back home to sleep and do it all again in the morning. Donny took that time off work so that he could be with us! (We were so blessed to only have to do that for ten days. There were two families in the NICU whose children were 6months and 9 months and had been in there since birth! :~( Well, Aubree began making rapid improvements and on February 20th around 7am, we got the blessed call! We were on our way down and were told that Aubree would be coming home that day and Nicholas would probably be ready in another day or two. We were ecstatic! We got there and were soon told that after Nicholas' last check, it was possible that he too might come home with his sister!
That evening after ridiculously extensive discharge processes and brief training on how to care for pre-term babies, they finally were able to come home with us!!! The next day my mom and sister came over to see them and took this picture:
Anyways, so that is the story of the twins and now we are getting reasy to celebrate their THIRD birthday! It's just crazy to me! I am so happy the Lord blessed us with them and so proud of everything they have become in these short three years and will continue to become all their days! I am amazed at how the Lord has worked in mine and Donny's lives through them and they have no idea the ministry that they have alrady conducted! They are so completely His and always will be and for that I am so grateful! Here's one for the road!!!
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