Home For The Holidays, Part TWO!!

So...I have no idea where to begin so I'll start from Monday morning around 0930. (Oh yeah...this is Dan)

So there I was, no joke, driving to Dunkin Donuts for some coffee and delicious breakfast sandwiches and maybe a donut or two. That's when our well laid plans took a sharp turn. Holly called to tell me that she had just gotten off the phone with the hospital who needed us to bump our induction date up by 24 hours due to ongoing concerns with her blood pressure and protein levels. They needed us to come any time that day so we took our time getting ready (after eating our DD of course).

We got to the hospital around 1130 and we were finally admitted around 1600...no big deal, we weren't going anywhere for a while anyway. We were told that Holly had developed preeclampsia which is a disease of the placenta which was a significant danger to Holly and since the kids, by all accounts to date, were healthy enough to be delivered without any issues, off we went!

Side note...a couple we met at one of the classes we attended was 4 weeks behind us with twins and the mom had developed the same issues about 6 weeks ago. We ran into the dad on Monday who told us that they delivered their kiddos about 6 weeks ao and they had been 10 weeks preemie and were due to go home this week. So needless to say, the docs weren't messing around with us.

After alot of tests and IVs, the doc checked Holly's cervix and found out that she was already 5cm dialated! That was without any induction drugs and when asked if she had been having contractions, Holly's response was, "Some mild discomfort but nothing I thought was a real contraction..." Long story short, we got wheeled into the operating room at around 0200 on 14 December. All multiples are delivered in the OR in case they need to perform a c-section immediately. Not including Holly & myself, I counted 13 people including 4 OB docs, 2 pediatricians, 1 high risk doc (this guy was awesome), 2 anesthesiologists, a flemish peasant woman, that John Madden impersonator from those TBS commercials, and a duck. Alright, I made those last couple up but you get the idea.

After two unbelievably heroic hours of pushing, Abby's head was just barely beginning to crown. That's when the head guy decided to ask Holly if it was okay to use the vacuum to which she replied, "I asked for that thing an hour and a half ago. YES!" Now...as a man, there are two schools of thought on whether or not to watch the birth of your child. The first is, "Are you out of your mind? That's the most disgusting I've ever seen. Do not do it Danno!" The second is, "You're crazy not to. It's the most amazing thing you'll ever see. You have to watch it!" There's no other way around it...I took a tiny peak and I was hooked. Once I saw Abigail's little teeny head (don't tell Holly I said it was teeny) poking through, that's all she wrote. Abigail Marie Hayden was born at 0428 hours on 14 December 2010.





One of the reasons that Holly and I thoroughly enjoyed our experience at the National Naval Medical Center (Bethesda for short) is that it's a learning hospital and we were very adamant that as many people learn from us as humanly possible. But given that it was two o'clock in the AM, their weren't a whole lotta folks there for the next set of fireworks. Bridget had shown to be breech for the majority of the pregnancy and was a prime candidate for a breech extraction. For all intents and purposes, a breech extraction is when you find the feet and pull. We entered the pregnancy with a very open mind about it all but were also pretty sure that if a c-section could be avoided, awesome. A whole bunch of things came together on this one. A) we were willing participants, B) Bridget was breech (didn't have a choice in participation), C) the doc was willing to come in just for us so he could oversee the extraction, and D) it was a teaching hospital.

Again...to look or not to look. The doc told us that while breech extractions aren't necessarily rare, it is slowly becoming a lost art due to the increasing popularity of the speed and precision of c-section deliveries. Since he told us that it is not uncommon for him to graduate residents who had never seen one, what were the chances that I would ever see one? Therefore, I watched the whole thing unfold and at 0430 hours on 14 December 2010, Bridget Suzanne Hayden was born by way of breech extraction and it was totally awesome!

On a very personal note, Holly is my hero...no doubt about it. All you dads out there know exactly what I mean. I don't care what anyone says, women are stronger than men. Furthermore, how on earth am I supposed to be a firm and disciplined parent to these two girls when I can't even hold them without tearing up?!?! I don't stand a chance...don't think that I ever will.

Back to our story...the first day & night were an absolute blur and of several -ologists, doctors, nurses, lactation consultants (who are very passionate and very anti-supplement/pacifier) and Navy Corpsmen (the equivalent to Army medics...but don't tell the Corpsmen I said that...or the medics for that matter). Long story short again, after just 2 days in the hospital, Holly and the girls got a clean bill of health and off we went!

We think Bridget may have been riding a roller coaster disguised as a double stroller!

Here is Bridget signaling a TOUCHDOWN, IRISH!

So that's our story and I'm stickin' to it. I really hope you enjoy the pictures...these kiddos may be twins but couldn't be more different.

Did I mention that she's my hero?

Bridget always has her eyes open when she's not sleeping...meanwhile, Abby is simply always sleeping!

WHOAH!! Wasn't this crib empty when we left the house the last time?!?! Where did these kiddos come from?

Home for the Holidays!

So it's been a while since we updated and we have a lot to share. To start with, we are still pregnant. Just about 36 weeks along and only have until December 14th when we go to the hospital to get induced and finally meet our little girls.

Since we're incredibly pregnant, we weren't able to travel for Thanksgiving and ended up having the greatest time just staying home. We are excited to be able to celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas this year all at home and no stress of travelling at all.

The fall was beautiful this year. We enjoyed driving around and seeing the colors on the trees. Our own yard even had a couple trees that turned bright red (before they turned brown and fell and left Dan with an entire front and back yard worth of raking).

Dan and I got some maternity photos taken. Other than it being a little cold out, it was a great experience. Here are some of the ones that we liked. We have more that we will be posting or sending out later.

We stayed home for Halloween. Dan and I had a fun time carving pumpkins, and then our friends Mark and Stacy came over to watch football while we passed out candy to the trick-or-treaters. I think one of our favorites was a little boy dressed up like a hobo.

November seemed to come and go so quickly! We had a little scare with Baby A and thought that she was under stress and that we'd have to deliver before Thanksgiving... but further tests showed that she was doing just fine, so that was great news! My best friend Christine flew out here from California and threw us a baby shower. There were about 10 people that came and it was a good time (and a very good excuse to make a ton of junk food and veg out all day). Dan's parents came up from North Carolina and spent the weekend too.

My friend Amy who helped out a ton with the shower

Boscoe didn't quite know what to do with all the commotion

Christine threw a great shower. (I'd like to say this picture makes my belly look bigger than it actually is, but I'm afraid I'd be kidding myself). :(

Christine stayed around for Thanksgiving and helped me cook up a big dinner. It was fun. That was the first time that I had done a turkey on my own (without the help of a mom) and it turned out really well. Everything else we cooked up was amazing as well. We started off planning to do the bare minimum since there were only 3 of us but ended up doing the whole sha-bang since our taste buds just couldn't pass up some of the dishes. We even ended the evening with some pumpkin pie and chocolate cream pie.

That night we also announced to our families that we had decided on names for the girls.

Abigail Marie Hayden and Bridget Suzanne Hayden.

Yay! Now we can't wait to meet them!

Now we're celebrating the Christmas season. Dan decorated the outside of the house and got us a Christmas tree two days after Thanksgiving (it's nice to know that he knows how much of a Christmas crazy I am). :) Our house is now decorated and we're listening to Christmas music about as much as Dan can handle.

As a surprise, Dan took me to the ICE! display showing at the nearby Gaylord Hotel. It's the How the Grinch Stole Christmas (a movie favorite of both of ours, so we had a great time). It is a massive tent kept at 9 degrees and filled with colored ice sculptures from the movie. There was even a huge ice slide that kids could ride down. They give you giant blue parkas to wear, but after about 20 mins in the display, you're cold. It was a great time!

This last one was an entire manger scene carved from ice. Very impressive and a great close to the entire display

Both of our parents are coming up after the girls are born and then my parents will stay around for the 3 weeks that they get off of school. We're excited to have them here to celebrate Christmas (oh yeah...and help out with the girls too!). :)

At the rate we've been updating the blog, I'm sure the next one will be a great announcement about a couple of little Hayden girls. :) We can't wait to share with you all.