Introducing: Two Extraordinarily Handsome Men!

Yes, you heard me. Extraordinarily handsome. Let me tell you about them.

So, do you remember when Katie was born and I wrote the whole story, including lots of gory details? (Sorry, Dad.) And remember how we were rather caught by surprise and things went rather not as expected? Well, this experience was the complete opposite of that.

For one thing, we had our camera with us. Katie was rather undocumented for a first child. But these guys may have gotten quite well documented. So I can tell the story with pictures. :)

So, remember how we had the date set conditionally upon their still being breech? Well, Monday when my doctor checked their positions, both boys were standing straight up and down with their feet on my bladder (which I could totally tell, by the way). So he signed orders for my C-section Wednesday.

Wednesday morning was rather exciting. We all got all dressed up for the babies to come. And seriously? I was having a planned C-section. Ain't no nasty, sweaty labor to deal with, right? So I wore makeup and contacts and such. Because I'm awesome.

We got my hospital bag all ready to go, made our beds, and then got Katie's sleepover backpack ready to go to Grandma's house. But while Daddy was taking his shower, she decided that she and her animals needed to play school. Isn't that what backpacks are for?

So after we were all ready and Katie actually let me put ponytails in her hair, Grandma came to get Katie so Mike and I could go to the hospital. This is our attempt at one last family picture with just the three of us. Katie was way too excited about her backpack to care about any 'ole picture. I mean, all you ever do is take pictures of me, Mommy. Why should I have to pose for more?

And we were off! Oh man, this was exciting. And I wasn't puking, even though I had been forbidden to eat food after midnight before my surgery, which is a big deal for pregnant me.

We got to the hospital, and I probably was walking faster than I had in months, just trying to get there as fast as possible. We got up to labor and delivery triage (where I was told to check in) and I was probably the perkiest pregnant lady those nurses had seen in a while. I mean, most people who come to their desk are women who are already in labor, right? Not happy and smiling. Which I definitely was.

So we went back to a room to get prepped, and they hooked the babies up to heart monitors just to keep track of them while we did paperwork and such, and then they brought in an ultrasound machine because my doctor had ordered a check before they sent me in to make sure everything was where we thought it was. And guess what? Vertex babies. SERIOUSLY? They had both been tap-dancing on my bladder two days before! Ridiculous children. They were even wiggling while the nurses were trying to monitor them. Nonetheless, we all let ourselves get a little bit excited that we might not have a C-section (better for future babies, eh?)

So my doctor came running over from his office to see for himself and make a final decision, but when he got there, an umbilical cord had gotten between baby's head and the way out. He explained that we could try inducing me instead of a C-section, but that would probably result in a prolapsed cord and an emergency C-section, and "we could risk losing--I mean having complications with Baby A."

Yeah, he had me convinced. We decided to go ahead with the C-section.

I was behind the curtain and didn't see anything, and I had a spinal so I felt no pain, but I did feel lots of tugging, stretching, and pressing on my ribs, and I heard lots of sloshing and suctioning and weird things like that. I will mention that when he was cutting me open Dr. Lowder said, "Wow, girl, you have almost no subcutaneous fat in here." I knew it. Buaha.

It all happened rather quickly, but within 5 or 6 minutes of Mike coming in and them cutting me open, we had two healthy, screaming boys who were peeing all over the operating room. I lay there crying with happiness and getting stitched up while Mike ran back and forth between the boys snapping pictures of their little red, slimy, froggy bodies. His grin was almost wider than his surgical mask could cover. But it was okay, because they let him take his mask off for a couple pictures anyway.

Mommy, Joshua, Peter, Daddy

 After everything was all over and I was all stitched up, a nurse grabbed one baby and Mike had the other, and she said, "Okay, follow me." Mike and I were both expecting that she was taking the babies to the NICU to get checked out, or at the very least to the nursery to get tested like normal babies. But when they wheeled me to a recovery room a few minutes later, there were Mike and my boys and some pediatric nurses, doing all their newborn tests right there while I got checked out. They never went to the nursery. That's how awesome I am at growing babies.

After they were ready and I was ready, I got to hold them on my stretcher while we all got wheeled up to our mother-baby room on the 8th floor. And an hour or two later, my mom brought the big sister to come see her babies.

Peter and Katie

Oh man, was she cute with them. She was so excited. She wanted to hold the cute babies and kept squealing that they were her brothers, her babies. There was a moment of concern when she saw one of their umbilical cords, but we explained that it was okay and that the cord would fall off soon, and she was totally cool with it.

One thing I noticed was that although, like most newborns, they were startled by any loud or sudden noises, they were completely unfazed by Katie. She came in roaring like a dinosaur and was probably the loudest thing the mother-baby floor had ever heard, but they didn't even twitch. I think they were already used to hearing her voice when they were in the womb.

My mom was probably the most excited, though. And I'm pretty sure she only started to cry a couple of times: she never actually started bawling. I think Katie saved her.

Grandma and Josh

She kept wanting to talk to them and kiss their faces . . . and I really couldn't blame her. (Grandma, Josh, and Katie)

Peter and Mommy

Mike was pretty excited. Another big difference between this time and last time was that last time, since I was in labor ALL NIGHT, we were both completely worn out and exhausted by the time Katie was born, and Mike ended up really sick from how tired he was. This time, though, he was all awake and happy and clean-shaven (at least the first day). And he's pretty proud of his boys.

Thursday evening, my family came in shifts to see the babies, and it made me rather laugh to see my large, manly, rugby-playing brother Parker get all mushy about his little baby nephews. And here's a picture of awesome Uncle Sam, getting ready to become the favorite of the next set of kids. (In case you didn't know, Katie pretty much idol-worships Uncle Sam.) Isn't he a handsome kid?

Josh and Uncle Sam

Well, it turns out not only am I magically awesome at growing babies, but I can heal from a C-section like a BOSS. So the boys and I all got to be discharged Friday night. Katie stayed one more night with Grandma because we were so exhausted, but then she came home to us on Saturday. And I definitely think this is going to work.

Peter thought he'd be helpful and hold Josh's binky in for him.

This was actually taken the Sunday before the boys were born, but isn't she the cutest little pixie you've ever seen?

They both like to snuggle each other and sleep like this rather often. (Josh, Peter)

And that's the story. Joshua Michael and Peter Jeffrey were born April 10 at 12:37 and 12:39 pm, respectively. Josh was 7lbs, 4oz, and 20 1/2 inches, and Peter was 6lbs, 5oz, and 20 inches. And boy do we love these good-lookin' boys a lot. Miracles really do happen.