🎂🎈September!🍍💦

     

     It's September! That means Miles and Callie are almost 2 months old, Lucy is basically 3 and I have to go back to school. There's a lot going on over here. 

     Let's start with the babies. They are eating as well as ever, growing strong. Callie is weighing in at 10lbs 6 oz and Miles is up to 11lbs 5 oz. He's 22 inches and she is 21. Miles has grown out of newborn size clothes and Callie is right behind him. Although her weight matches the 3 months guidelines, she's not quite as solid as her brother. They also got their first shots today and oh, does it break your heart when they cry because it hurts. 
They are sleeping better!! They only wake up twice a night-  well Miles does.... Callie just wakes up once, pretty early. They are sleeping in their own cribs and in their room. They are now both equally vocal, although Miles is more urgent when it comes to eating. Callie can definitely match his pipes when she's feeling neglected. They really love being held...all the time...so if you have held them for me- you rock. I have a habit of trying to get stuff done and well,  I just run out of hands, ha! They are currently in 'leap one,' according to WonderWeeks. Leap one is described as, "Especially challenging for your baby because this is the first leap. They just got used to their world outside the womb and suddenly, their world changes dramatically. They need you. Note the following signals; cries without a normal reason, only quiet when they are with you, suddenly wants much more physical contact, wants to breastfeed much more often." Sooo there's that. 
     They are noticing and following people and things now, and they know who their momma is! They sleep while Lucy and I play, they love being carried around in the Wee-Go and they tolerate their car seats pretty well. They've been on their first road trip, and they rocked it! 

     Now for Lucy...this girl. So you hear about the terrible twos- now that she's almost three... I miss twos! Haha! She is as independent as ever, she knows what she wants and what she doesn't and is not afraid to be vocal about it. She is frustrating and adorable and funny and a smarty pants (in a good and bad way!) She is almost three, and thinks she runs the world. So, we are having a fun time explaining that she is not in charge of the world and although we love her, we don't appreciate having a tiny dictator trying to rule us. Her favorite day ever is preschool day and her favorite color is all the colors of the rainbow, except the days it is pink or yellow. She can buckle her seatbelt and often chooses to sleep on the wrong end of her bed. She still reprends (pretends) she has friends that don't exist and they still hang out at "Mingo-tech-toe" when they get together. She's got her second dentist appointment coming up as she's chipped her tooth last week.  She is still taking 2 hour naps and that has made our summer amazing! She's fully potty trained and can even refill the toilet paper correctly (although sometimes she takes a little extra to get the the 'telescope' in the middle.) So Lucy is still awesome, but man- she needs limits and consistency because being three comes with a lot of growing and learning. 

     As for me, I am nervous about going back to school. I'm going to have my first day 5 weeks after everyone else. I am excited, of course. I am thankful that I was able to stay home with all three kiddos for 5 extra weeks of summer vacation. We truly lived each day, each moment to the fullest. We didn't waste a second. I think I've kept my stamina up and my energy will allow me to return to a scheduled work life without getting worn out. Heck, I might even feel like school is a vacation! I am feeling fine and my doctor has cleared me, of course. Get this, from my 36 week appointment to my 6 week check in, I lost 34 pounds- isn't that crazy. Get this, from my 36 week appointment to my 6 week check in, I lost 34 pounds- isn't that crazy. 
Am I ready? Thats a heavy question... Physically, yep. Emotionally, eh. I have only done slight research on all the other countries that get a year of maternity leave and how to move to them..... I am sad I won't be able to get a vanilla coke from Zesto whenever I want. I also need to figure out what time to get moving between babies waking up and having to pump before school. Mostly, I am nervous to figure out a pumping schedule at school too. I am interested to see how the new building is working out and how I fit in the puzzle of this school year. 

One month!

     They've only been here for a month, but we are creating new routines and working on schedules. The only problem with a schedule while they are this little is...well, they grow. Their needs change by the day. Eating more, sleeping more- then less, then eating even more. As soon as we've figured them out, they change it up on us. I am balancing nursing, pumping, formula and all the things it is going to take to keep them healthy and growing (and not screaming). 

      We are still on the go, having an almost summer vacation extension while I am on maternity leave. Miles and Callie go right along so they are going to be used to our 'on the go' style. Lucy is of course, living it up!  She is starting preschool this week and could not be more excited! I am so pumped for her to be around other preschoolers and learn new things. She is so ready and I am looking forward to watching her grow, as always. <3 
      Every time I blog (or scrapbook online as I see it) I am reminded of how much it took to get where we are. I follow our doctors office on their Facebook page (Fertility & Endocrine Associates) and they just celebrated my doctors 300th successful IVF graduate. Can you imagine?? 300 pregnancies that would not have happened without her assistance. 300 times a woman who thought she couldn't conceive was able to hear the words, "You are pregnant!" I don't use this phrase often- but, it hits ya right in the feels. All the feelings of hope, happiness, and all the hard work. Now take that times 300- it is overwhelming. 

     It also reminds me of the long, tough path we took to get here. Lucy, Miles and Callie are here because we took a risk- a very calculated risk- but a risk all the same. We put it all out there, had the BEST support system possible and I put my body through things it couldn't handle doing naturally. Which also allows me to be super protective of my babies without an ounce of guilt. I worked very hard on getting these amazing humans here and by golly, I'll make the decisions to keep them the safest possible. It's obvious that we aren't sheltering anyone by any means- but keeping them safe and making sure they are getting the best I can provide- that's priority #1. And then we have all the fun, haha! 

A lot of love and a little bit of science! 

Three weeks!

Crazy to think these cuties are three weeks old and their due date is Friday (Aug 2)! 

     So Callie and Miles are growing, growing, growing! Callie is a complete show off and has rolled several times from her back to her belly. She then does a little turtle crawl... and bothers her brother. Her behavior while I was pregnant hasn't changed at all! She is still active and makes sure that we know she's around. Miles is showing off too, by gaining a steady amount of weight and eating like a champ. We thought nursing might be an issue after getting bottles and even using the feeding tube in the NICU. He had to practice to get good, but he's a pro now-even if it wears him out. He was released from the NICU with no special care instructions, so now he's just showing off. Callie girl took a little longer to beef up, but at their check up on Tuesday-they are both within 1 oz of their birth weight!! So Callie is at 7lbs 1oz and Miles is at 7lbs 6oz. 
They both enjoy pooping in freshly changed diapers and spitting up on daddy! 
     

Sweet Lucy girl is still being the best sister ever and I hope it never changes. She is usually willing to help us by grabbing pacis or diapers and always wants to love on her "cutie babies" so we are always reminding her that they are tiny and we have to be gentle.... but it's all in love. 

Three weeks seems like no time at all. We are still getting to know these precious little people and they are still trying to figure us out. And with Miles, he's only been home for 2 weeks! It just sounds crazy. 

I also want to shout a huge THANK YOU to all of our friends that have come over to visit and provided an extra set of hands to hold these sweeties. The meals you have made for us make evenings so much easier and I cannot thank you enough!! I have used all the extra time snuggling with all my kiddos.

Bratcher, party of five!

He's here! She's here! Lucy's here! Everyone is here!!!!

We don't have any adorable group photos yet because, well, we just brought Miles home and we have twin newborns now! :) 

What we do have is adorable pictures of the sweetest babies and toddler that ya ever did see. We called, we questioned, we took notes, we shared thoughts, we got our information from the NICU staff and since Miles did not need support for anything- although he's a pokey little eater- he was discharged today! We let the staff know when we would be ready so they could be ready too. We headed over to Norton's for what we hope is the last time and gathered our baby and his things! Such an awesome experience. He got to ride solo in the backseat, which will probably be the last time, haha! 

  We knew he was a cuddle-er from the beginning but we really got to experience his love for a good snuggle today- we stayed home, we relaxed- the babies slept soooo much and Lucy played and practiced her "inside voice." Spoiler alert, she has no volume control and we are all going to suffer. HAHAHA!
  We really just let today happen. It was an easy, breezy, take your time and chill kind of day and it was lovely. 

Well, don't make a plan! ;)

     So last year on July 11th, I shared the news that our frozen embryo transfer from June did not work. Brokenhearted, we were supported by family and friends thinking positive thoughts and sending those healing vibes our way.
So fast forward 364 days.... and we have the two little embryos that could! 
That's right, they're here!

Happy Birthday on July 10th, at about 3:30 am to these precious babies! 

For those who want the scoop- here we goooooo! 

We were out later than usual watching the all star baseball game at Wendy's house. We got home about 11:00, Lucy fell right asleep- I jumped in the shower. So after a shower, I felt like I hadn't dried off well enough as my legs were still wet- as big as my belly was though, this was not a big deal and I really didn't care. HA! Until my mucus plug was on my leg- if you don't know what that is, don't google it- just know it's a sign of starting labor. :) 

I cleaned up, sat in bed and assumed I had some time as that was the only sign of labor. Well, 5 seconds later, puddle. Then drip, drip, drip. That was my water breaking, not shower water. Again, no urgency- I just needed some confirmation that this was actually happening. We never got to this point with Lucy! So as I'm repeatedly cleaning up drips and making it to the toilet to avoid any messes- I let Matt know that I'd like to get it checked out and the ER is the only option at this time of night. I call Gran, she's on her way- also not worried (or at least not sounding worried) and came over to sit with snoozing Lucy. We grabbed our bags and hit the road- with a towel on the seat because, ya know, new car. HAHA!

 We arrived at the hospital at 12:45, they were ready to send us up to labor and delivery and I just wanted to make sure that indeed my water broke! We hung out and got everything ready to roll- decided the c-section was happening soon enough. Again- no sense of urgency- but at this point, you would think a hospital would put a little pep in their step, right? So if these kids are as chill as Lucy, I can just thank everyone for acting like having babies is no big deal....

We prep, prep, prepped and we headed to surgery. This birth experience was way different than Lucy's! I was aware and "all there" for all of it! Science is cool and a little bit scary. Miles was born at 3:27am and Callie was born at 3:29am!

I was out of surgery by 4:15am. We were able to recover and then hang out with Callie while Miles was being evaluated. His first ten minutes into the world were impressive and then he decided that breathing normally was going to take more effort than he wanted to invest- silly kid. So a transport team came in from Norton's Children's hospital and evaluated and supported his breathing- they transported him across the river to Norton's (which made everyone cry) at 7:45 and set him up in this deluxe room with constant monitoring and sweet nurses that instantly fell in love with him (of course.) Callie was super chill and hung out until they decided to weigh her and evaluate her. They did do x-rays of her lungs to check for fluid as they found that was part of Miles' problem- she was cleared and weighed 7 lbs, 2 oz and 20 in long. Later, we were told Miles weighed 7 lbs 7 oz. So the reverse of the prediction from the ultrasound technician. Healthy size babies, right?

    

Sooo, I am still waiting to cuddle my guy Miles- it sucks. Callie is more than a little snuggle bug though, filling in for two babies. She is nursing like a champ, bossing nurses around like another little certain, someone I know... and looks very similar to big sis! 

I am watching Miles on a live camera feed from Norton's- how cool, right? While Matt is running back and forth from Floyd to Norton's to check on everyone and update me on things concerning Miles. Currently, his breathing tube has been removed, he's getting a little bit of oxygen to keep him breathing at a regular rate but he is doing it all on his own! We are hoping to be discharged from the hospital soon so we can head over to there and see him. There is a possibility that he could be discharged before me, so that would be awesome too. Callie will be ready to roll before any of us, so no worries there. I am trying to take it slow- we all know how that goes though and I pushed way too hard Thursday and regretted it... so back to taking it way easy. 

I am a little bummed to miss out on some fun activities that I had planned with Lucy, but thankful Gran and Beth are taking good care of her! She is convinced that Callie is her "cutie baby" and she needs to hold her the whole time she is here. She is great at being gentle- but is way too confident for a two year old with a newborn. Ha! She wants to get Miles too, but thinks he is at a boy hospital because this is a hospital for girls. Hehe! 

I adore her love for "cutie baby" and the way she tells her, "its okay, you're so cute" when she makes her little baby peeping sounds. <3 

This is bro/sis FaceTiming session. Matt is able to video chat with me from Norton's- which is helpful. 

We are more than ready to be together!! (And also get home of course!) They are almost too cute to handle, but who would've thought any different, right?