Pregnancy thoughts

i realize that I didn't post a lot during the pregnancy but I wanted to put up some pictures of me pregnant and share what I will and will NOT miss about this once in a lifetime (hopefully) twin pregnancy.

This is my abdomen at (no joke) 29 weeks.

Doesn't look as bad from afar. This was after a day at the clinic. You can see how swollen my feet are ( I had to buy these shoes for the swelling!)

I was miserable on Christmas - I think this is the only shot I allowed. Please note my 34 chins.

The day I left for the hospital hoping that my broken water would turn into labor (it didn't - but it did help us discover my preeclampsia serendipidously)

After work at 20-something weeks.

Top 10 worst things about pregnancy:

10.) fatigue

9.) nausea/hearturn

8.) constipation (sorry it has to be mentioned!)

7.) carpal tunnel syndrome ( i had my wrist injected by a colleague -it really was hell!)

6.) swelling

5.) decreased mobility (couldn't get off the couch myself or walk up the driveway)

4.) breathlessness

3.) sleeplessness

2.) pre-term labor ( i had contractions everyday from 30 weeks onward - very scary)

1.) being discharged after admission for pre-term labor then being without electricity, hot water or heat for 5 days due to ice storm - that was definitely the low point for me!

Top 10 best things about pregnancy:

10.) imagining what your babies looks like

9.) seeing ultrasounds

8.) picking out names (though we had lots of disagreements)

7.) learning the gender

6.) taking it easier (trying!)

5.) eating lots of food (while you can in the early months)

4.) setting up the nursery

3.) finding out there were two!

2.) feeling the babies move

1.) Being excited with Sydney and Jon

Quite a week!

So I went back to work this past week, with bittersweet feelings. It was good getting back into the swing of things at the hospital, although it took me a couple days to feel comfortable. It was tough leaving my two chicas at home as it was their first week there. Grandma Tisdell was here for the week and was a tremendous help, cooking great meals and helping keep the house clean and helping when needed with the babes. We had a few other helpers also this week. Shara came , Erin and Ciara also stayed over for a night. Roberta and Colin made their way out from Ashland to visit for an afternoon, one of their first trips out of the house - so exciting! We also need to thank grandma Carla for watching Sydney that last week, doing mountains of laundry and reorganizing and cleaning the house. Luckily, I have had this weekend off for more bonding time with Charlotte and Ella. One really funny incident that happened outside of Sydney's always hilarious stories was when Trish and I were home alone in the family room with Charlotte and Ella and I was remarking how different their personalities are as I was looking at them lying on the floor. Immediately after I said that, there was a volley of sneezes, first Charlotte then Ella then back and forth (I swear, they sneeze exactly like Sydney). Were they trying to tell me that they are not quite so different? Here are some recent pics from the past week.

We're home!

We finally came home from the hospital on Monday. The girls are settling in well and we are so happy to be back home with Sydney. We came home to lots of generous gifts, a perfectly clean house and a full freezer of food - thanks so much to everyone for taking care of us!

The girls (still in the continuing care nursery above). They have done really well with feeding at the same time.

Here is a picture of the girls at home in outfits from Kathy F.

One more picture from the hospital of the girls side by side, (ella on the left and charlotte on the right).

They're HEEE----EERE!

So January 3rd was quite an exciting, frightening, emotional day. We arrived at the hospital around 8 am and after waiting all day for labor to set in with help from pitocin, things were going in the wrong direction. Trish started getting pretty sick with preeclampsia. The babies were excellent though throughout the day. Then around 1100 at night, it was decided that we could not wait anymore for the labor process to progress. We went for Caeserean delivery. So after getting the necessary preparations done, we went to the operating room. At 1246 am Charlotte Carla Seymour-Tisdell was born. And then at 1247 am Ella Joyce Seymour-Tisdell arrived. As the NICU team whisked them away we could hear them crying. It was beautiful. Trish was amazing after such a long, hard day. Now Trish is resting comfortably at the hospital. Lotte and Ella will have to spend around 6-7 days in the hospital and then they'll be able to come home. We have many pictures and here are a few.


Trish with one of our perfect little bundles of joy, Ella. She weighed in at 4 pounds 11 ounces and is a towering 17 1/2 inches. Trish hasn't been able to see our girls as much as she would like but she'll be getting to know them soon.

Here I am just after delivery. Charlotte is the one on my left and Ella is on the right. The NICU team was kind enough to bring them back to us after swaddling them and checking them out.

And here is Big Sister Sydney holding her sister Charlotte for the first time. Charlotte weighed in at 5 pounds 6.4 ounces and edged out her sister for longest new baby by a half inch, measuring 18 inches. Syd is very excited to be the big sister and I'm sure will teach them all the latest fashions.