Grandma and Grandpa Samson and Aunt Linda visit

Emma and Ethan get their first visitors. We weren't sure they would be up for visitors, but by afternoon they were doing so well, we decided to change our minds and let them have some visitors

Grandma and Grandpa Samson came to visit Emma and Ethan today around 3:00 and were the first official visitors. Both showed their expertise at feeding and burping.

Aunt Linda got done with her re-certification test and came over for a visit as well. She helped Nanc practice the latch on with the babies.

It was great to see everyone, Thanks for coming

Day 2 of Parenthood

It was a big day for Ethan and Emma. Both were released from the incubators, but Emma had to go back in because of her needing to be in just a diaper while on the ultraviolet bed. We hope she can be off the light bed tomorrow and regulating her temp on her own as well. She has started her bm's that will help get rid of the billyrubin so she should be off the light treatment soon. This will mean she can be swaddled and probably stay out of the incubator.

Mom is progressing well also and is on to solid food. She is off the morphine drip and walking around. As always she is being a trooper.

Felt so bad for poor Ethan today, they did his circumcision. They take them as far away from the parents as possible to do this, and then they gave him tylenol which made him very sleepy. His poor little guy part was bright red and bleeding. We know it was the right decision for us to do for him, but it still hurts us to do anything that hurts him.

On a person note, I HATE it when people call Emma tiny. She is NOT TINY. Precious yes, like a porcelain miniature yes, exquisitely detailed yes, like a doll baby yes, TINY NO!!!

I also love how people assume the dad is not a helper at home. The nurse ask are we getting help at home, it will be very hard without it for twins. When I state I will be home to help. She acts like I never said it. This is after I have done almost all the feedings every 3 hours and stayed overnight in the room doing them also. Got to love the prejudice. Many of us men are great help I am sure, but many assume we are not.

That's all for now.

Nanc and the twins

Nanc gets to hold Ethan and Emma for the first time. Nanc finally gets to hold her babies. They had to stay in the incubators till feeding time, so this is the first time that NAnc has been able to hold them. She was in recovery when I got to be with them in the nursery. They are doing great though. Both ate over 20cc's of formula and Emma is catching on to the breastfeeding, I think she wants to catch up to Ethan's size. Ethan meanwhile wanted nothing to do with breastfeeding, which was ok with me since I got to feed him.

  

Nanc is doing great

Wow, tough crowd. Nanc sends me to nursery to watch the twins and
everyone yells there are no updates on Mommy. She is doing well and
just had a liquid lunch. No Brian not that type of lunch. It's soup
and jello. She is going to take a nap now before the 3pm feeding.
-J

Ethan and Emma in the nursery

Born 2/27/200p at 11:19 a.m.

Ethan is on the left, Emma is on the right. Proud poppa is far left of course.

Emma Samson Toms is 4 lbs 12 ounces and 17 inches long

Ethan Carl Toms is 5 lbs 6 ounces and 19 inches long.

Both are doing well and are in the room with Nanc and I.

They are both in incubators for warmth only. Emma needs ultra-violet light therapy to prevent juandice because Nanc and her are opposite - and + blood types.

Both are breathing and eating well So all is well.

Probably want to wait a day or two for visitors till they are out of the incubators so we can show them off.

Love,

John, Nancy, Ethan and Emma

From the nursery

Nurses were nice enough to put them together and take my picture.
J

Ethan Carl Toms

Emma Samson Toms

Waiting while they give Nanc anesthesia

I am banished to hall while they give Nanc the spinal. Only minutes
till our bundles of love are delivered to our arms. I can't wait.
J

We're here!

Waiting to go to operating room for c-section
J

We are off to the Hospital!!!

Dr Szela just called at 8:05 and we are off to the hospital to have Ethan and Emma. We only have 45 minutes to get there so that's all for now.

I am so excited, I can hardly type.

More later...

-John

Twins update - Thursday night Feb 22nd.

We had a Dr appt tonight and they took a amnio to make sure Ethan and Emma are ready for their big debut. To our suprise they wil have the results by tomorrow (Fri the 27th) morning. It appears right now that Nanc will be having a c-section on Friday if all goes as planned. At last weeks appointment they were 4 lbs 11 ounces and 5 lbs 2 ounces. Ethan was the larger as usual.

I cannot wait to get them in my arms. It has been over 5 years of constant attempts to get to this day. I am not a patient person with suprises to start with and the last few weeks have been especially tough as the date gets so close. Yet I am incredibly thankful that the pregnancy has gone well so far and they have waited so long to have time to grow. We are very hopeful they will be large enough to be allowed to stay in the room with us after birth rather than having to go to the NICU. It looks like we may get that wish.

Nanc is still doing well, but of course it is getting harder and harder for her to sleep. It takes a monumental effort for her to switch from laying on her right side to laying on her left side at night. They are a lot of ballast to flip over. I try to remind her it's like carrying a 10 + pound singleton. She has worked from home this week to try to keep her blood pressure down and get more rest. The train trip was killing her. It used to be her rest time, but she could not get comfortable over the past few months.

I am starting my FMLA leave for 6 weeks as of this coming Sunday.

It is really great to be able to take the 6 weeks off to bond with Ethan and Emma and to help Nanc with all the tasks. I am lucky I work for a great company (Old Navy).

Will post more once I know what time we are scheduled for the delivery.

-John

My Photos

The store managers and Vickianne threw us a baby shower

Imagine my surprise when I got to the meeting today and everyone was
waiting and yelled "Surprise" Boy was I ever!
I was blown away with all the gifts, cards, cake and kind words. You
folks are the best. Emma and Ethan are already spoiled.
Thanks again so much.
John, Nancy, Ethan and Emma

It's official WE now have names for the twins

And the winners are:

Ethan Carl Toms
and ...
Emma Samson Toms

I have been decided for some time, but with your help we finally brought Nanc around on Ethan.

Carl is in honor of two of their 3 grandfathers, and Samson is Nanc's maiden name. We want the twins to have a link to their past.

Thanks again for the support for Ethan's name.

-John

We're getting ready

Won't be long now. Just a few short weeks to go.

Nanc models her "two buns in the oven" shirt

Work throws us a baby shower

Wow, what a great surprise. I came in to work and noticed there were
extra cars but didn't know why. I walked into the backroom and heard
"Surprise!!".
What a surprise it was; the team had gone all out and decorated, had
food, gifts, and people there.
I was blown away. What a nice thing to do.

Nancy's sisters throw Ethan and Emma a baby shower

What a great day. Laura, Jan and Linda threw us a great baby shower
for Ethan and Emma.
It was nice of everyone to take time out of their busy lives and come
to it.
It made Nancy and I feel so special. It was greatly appreciated and
everything was perfect.

We have one favor to ask though. We need people to send me their
pictures of the shower as mine did not turn out well and I was too
busy to take many anyway.

Thanks again so much.
Love,
Nancy, John, Emma and Ethan

Nancy and twins at 32 weeks

It's been a while since I have written. The ultrasound pictures are getting so crowded as Ethan and Emma grow that they are very hard to see what's what so I am sending pic of Nanc and me instead.

According to the Dr the twins and mom are doing great In his words she is just cruising through this pregnancy. Let's hope it continues. Maybe it's because nancy is 60% of pregNANCY. :-)

We are hoping to get to at least March 1st which would be 37 weeks and considered full term for twins. Would also be nice as Mom, Carl and Aunt Ruth would be home from Florida by then.

Ethan and Emma are getting so crowded Nanc says they don't kick as much as drag their limbs along her belly. They either love or hate Spaghetti as they went crazy kicking after we homemade spaghetti this past weekend.

Travel is getting harder for Nanc so we are sorry we are not getting out to see more of you. The train which used to be where she could get sleep is now exceptionally hard on her. I wish I could do the travel for her.

Ethan is now about 3 lbs 12 ounces and Emma is about 3 lbs 3 ounces. But they can be off as much as 20% either way. If she delivers normally Emma will be first as she is head down and pushed Ethan up to a sidelying position. Dang poor Ethan will be like me never getting the window seat with Katyh, Karen and Kayla on vaction as kids. If cesarian section Ethan will be first.

We had to remove the plastic from the bed that the child prep classes said to place on bed in case water breaks there. Going to sleep on it was like being in a big bowl of Rice Krispies. Can you say snap, crackle and pop. Then is we did not sleep on side would wake up drenched in sweat every few hours. Maybe getting us ready for sleepless nights? Last month was crazy with closing to nights a week, 2 nights of baby prep classes each week and then weekly 2-2.5 hour dr visit. So if we have not been in touch lately we are not mad at you. This month the classes are over thank goodness and we have a few nights together at home.

Well go to go as my lunch is over. We go to Dr every week now, and tonight is the night so I will send out another update if anything changes greatly since last week.

Lastly, I still need help convincing Nanc on Ethan for boy's name so let her know you love Ethan!

Here's pictures of Nancy at 32 weeks. She is so cute!