Colors, Confetti, and the Easter Bunny

Our first Easter was my first major outing by myself to my Gurney's (my grandma). Each year, we dye eggs for the Easter bunny to hide Sunday morning. It's always paired with Gurney's yummy cooking, confetti eggs, and great family time. This year was quite different. The twins were such a hit with my younger cousins! They love them so much! I can't wait for B&K to be big enough to play and run around with them. Not to mention, I got a much needed break from the every 4 hour task of feeding, changing diapers,ect.
Branden's company has been working the guys so hard, which I am thankful for, but get frustrated with because of the unpredictability of the oil feild...He unfortunately wasn't in town for our first Easter Sunday. So the bambinos and I stayed at home and relaxed.
I never understood how two babies who should (in theory) lay in thier bouncy seats or on playmats be so much work! I did have a slight melt down. Let's face it...2 babies, one month old, husband out of town, and me trying to be super mom...it was bound to happen. Thank goodness for my mother-in-law who picked up may babies and took them to her house so I could sleep ALL day! Whew, what a fantastic recharge day!!!

Babies are growing and thier little personalities are awesome! Their cries are so distict (to me at least). I'm waiting for the day they smile and start thier cutesy sounds.

So its been a while...

I figured this blog would keep everyone up to date on our happenings...WELL, it would help if this Momma slowed down long enough to post them! HAHA! It's been so long, I had to look back at the last post to see how much has been skipped over. Forgive me for making them in mulitple posts :)

Week 3

Today is Brenna & Karsen's official due date. Thank goodness they are already here and are healthy happy babies! They are becoming more and more alert and respond to mine and Branden's voices. Both of them are quite the eaters. We're now up to 4 ounces at each feeding. Good gracious! I make 42 ounces of formula in the evenings and that gets us through about 1pm the next day. We're starting to learn each of their quirks. Brenna prefers to sleep on her belly. I'm not to excited about that...BUT she sleeps much more sound and for a longer amount of time. She's also not a morning person at all. I gradually wake her up in the morning to eat her 'breakfast'. Now, Karsen on the other hand...sleeps on his back with arms straight up above his head. All boy! HAHA! He loves the morning. I bring both babies to the living room and put them in their play pen after breakfast and he just lays their and looks around.
As we headed into this week, I unfortunately had a set back. Early Sunday morning, I started having horrible pains under my rib cage. I thought it was just gas pressure but a trip to the Emergency Room 6 hours later proved it to be a spasm in my gallbladder. So, Monday morning, Branden and I were at St. Joseph's Hospital AGAIN for me to have my gallbladder removed. While it was a fairly simple procedure, I do have 4 more cuts on my stomach. Talk about a minor set back! Just when I was getting the hang of being a mommy on my own...On the upside, no more pains or having to worry with it coming back :)
My mom, Nana/Nanny, came and stayed with Branden and I Monday night. Poor thing had no idea how rough it is! She was a trooper I must say. She got up with Branden and fed the bambinos at all hours. I laughed when she looked at the clock and realized it was already 2pm and neither one of us had had lunch! HA! None the less, we where so excited to have her help and glad she got to spend time with us!!!
All in all, the Wickel household is doing well! Let's hope there will NOT be a trip to St. Jo's during the month of May!!!

Time Flies TWICE as fast

I started this blog thinking that I would have SOME time to keep famliy updated on our happenings...Well, little did I know that it would get extremely hectic with twins when we finally got home. So, here's a little update on whats been going on in the past couple weeks.
Twins were born March 21 and we ALL came home March 25. Both babies still had a little jaundice and had to go back to Bryan for blood work the 26th and 27th. THEN a weight check on 28th and 30th. So needless to say, Branden and I are pros at getting ready, packing the entire house (cause let's face it, I still don't know what I need and don't need), driving to Bryan, feeding kiddos in the car and running errands without so much as a whimper from either baby :)
I must say, they are pretty laid back for right now. They both seem to need each other. Brenna seems to be a quite the lovey dovey child and has to touch Karsen in some form or fashion. Whether its a hand on his arm, or a foot in his face, she always touches him. Karsen is seeming to be all "little man". He lays stretched out with arms above head like he's macho man! So stinkin' cute. I find myself staring at them and watching them breathe during the day. It still amazes me that they are Branden and I. Our creator is good!!!
We did hit a rough patch trying to figure out what works best for each baby and realizing that just because they are twins doesn't mean they are going to act the same way. Our routine was a tad off because of all the running we'd been doing but we FINALLY have it down thanks to a summary on babywise by my cousin-in-law, and many other words of wisdom. They bathe around 9pm, eat, swaddle and go 'night-night'. Lord willing they don't wake again until 12:30am.
This week, I decided to brave being on my own with them...It's been nice. I can move around more so than I did the first week home (silly c-section wound! LOL) so it's easier for me to manuver them in and out of bouncy seats, cribs, ect. We're pretty good at our daytime routine. BUT we certainly LOVE when Daddy gets home...Mommy gets to sit out side and take a minute :).
Everyone says parenthood is the best thing ever and you'll love every minute of it. I've decided that is an understatement. Being a parent is so much more than anything I could have ever imagined. You think about the 'best thing ever' before being a parent and wonder, so this is what its like...NOPE, you never truly understand until you hold your babies (or baby) in your arms even when they are crying, fussy, smiling because they're gassy or just sleeping...that oyu appreciate what a gift from God you have.

Introducing - Brenna & Karsen Wickel

The day FINALLY made it!!! B & I left for the hospital Sunday night at 5pm. What happen over the next 27 hours and 41 minutes was absolutely crazy. Here's a timeline of events:
7pm - checked in to hospital and in room
8pm - stuck 2 times before getting a half ass IV and blood drawn. Then I got hooked up to all the monitors, which let me tell you, is not fun! Apparently I was having contractions 4 mintues apart on my own and didn't know it! (HA)
12:38am - epidural in place (no drugs just yet)
5am - Potassin / epidural started
7:55am - water broke and epidural fixed (it was only numbing one side)
So, we labored all day with minimal pain just discomfort from all the tubes and monitors...
Then, the dreaded decision time came. C-section it was going to have to be. 9:10pm I was rolled in the OR and preped. It was one thing to be scared and lonely BUT a completely different feeling when they ask if you can feel them poking on you and you can then they mention they MAY have to knock you out and your husband can't be in the OR...YES, that was a scary 10 minutes! Thank goodness my dear nurse stayed w/me and calmed me down while the anesthisiolgist worked his magic! Braden came and we had babies!
9:41pm - Karsen Wayne Wickel; 6 pounds 3.5 ounces 18 1/2 inches long
9:44pm - Brenna Gayle Wickel; 6 pounds 3 ounces 19 1/2 inches long
Both HEALTHY babies and impressed the Neonatal Dr.

After all that happened within 27+ hours, it became all so real when they laid our little babies on my chest I heared them 'oooh & ahhh'. Needless to say Branden and I are in LOVE with them. They are amazing little people who spent ALL day in our room yesterday and we plan on having them again today. Karsen is a mini Branden and quite the ssnuggler and oohs and ahhs all the time (like a comfort for him). Brenna is a beautiful combination of us and is quiet alert!

Hope you enjoy the new adventure in our lives with Brenna & Karsen!

***Thank you for the outpouring of support from our entrourage that sat in the waiting room / labor, delivery room all day and into the night.

Refelections

Today’s the big day. I wanted to take the time to reflect back on my pregnancy as a whole. It’s been such a journey and the twins aren’t even here yet. From time we found out we were pregnant until today, everyday has been so unreal to me. Who would have ever thought that Branden and I would be so lucky to have two sweet babies to call our own and be little pieces of us combined.

The last few days have been filled with love from family and friends calling to check up on us and to send their thoughts and prayers. We even had a great burger/fries dinner last night with a couple close ones. That was nice to reminisce on all our wild times!!!

But, today is still the big day. It's also the first day of Spring, which happens to be my FAVORITE season of all time as well as a one year anniversary for some good friends. None the less, today is still the big day for Branden and I. We’ve started off the day off with sleeping in and then some pancakes and chocolate milk J Then, at 5:00pm Branden and I will make a phone that will be the beginning of our lives as PARENTS!!! It's surreal that we will walk out of our house today with babies in my belly and the next time I'll be back, they will be on the "outside" and hopefully be home with us.

Strange to think how everyone’s “roles” are going to change. B and I will be parents, our parents will be Grandparents for the first time, siblings will be Aunts and Uncle, our Grandparents will be Great-Grandparents again, and our Aunts & Uncles will be Great-Aunts (some for the first time) and Great-Uncles. So neat!!!

So, with warm wishes everything runs smoothly and we’ll have babies home by the end of this week, here we go…off to have Brenna and Karsen…

"Bedrest"

Last Friday, Branden and I had our final appointment with our doctor until Delivery Day. Blood pressure was high (152/90) and she put me on bedrest...for about 5 minutes. I pled with her that I NEEDED my last two days at work to get things finished up and get my trainee prepared for the months to come without her training wheels (me). So, she still told me bedrest BUT I had conditions...I can go to work my last two days but stay off my feet, come home from work and 'bedrest'. YES, I am one happy camper!!! Our official check in date at St. Joseph's Hospital "Inn" will be sometime March 20th in the evening.
On the flip side, our last weekend before the BIG day did prove to be productive. Branden worked all day Saturday and Sunday while I rested and caught up on movies :) BURLESQUE...is pretty good! I was surprised. I also got in THE NOTEBOOK, which I don't recommend watching while pregnant because that movie is already a tear jerker without the added hormones of pregnancy, and a few others. We've made name placks for the kiddos and have them painted and asembled, just need to be hung up. B & I did fill up our official pantry started shifting things around to make room in cabinets for baby stuff.
It's a strange feeling knowing that one week (7 days) from now, we will meet Brenna and Karsen and begin the rest of our lives.