Our story and more pics....

Bright and early....5:30am on our way to Orem Community Hospital and ready to meet the girls!! Shane dropped my mom and I off in the lobby as he parked and brought in our bag.

First of all, could my OB be any cooler?! I swear I'd take a bullet for that guy! Two nights before this scheduled delivery, we went to the hospital to take a tour and feel things out a bit. Dr. Judd was there and he was more than happy to show us around. He took us to his favorite room, Suite 116, and noticed another girl was going to be induced and this room was scheduled to be hers. Well Judd decided he wanted us to have this room and joked around that I was so important because I was having twins and I just had to have the best view and biggest room. So he saved the room for us and made sure we got Jana, one of his favorite nurses. He's pretty much a rockstar at that hospital. It was so funny to watch the staff laughing at all his jokes and gladly catering to his wants. I think Dr. Judd was just as excited as we were to have these twins. Twins are his favorite!! When we had our overnight stays at Utah Valley, even the nurses there were telling us that no one could touch Judd with twin deliveries...he's the best. Surprisingly, even the 3 perinatologists were biased towards him when it comes to twins. So we knew we were in the best hands and trusted him wholeheartedly.


Here we are getting settled into our room, suite 116





Getting ready for the epideral..... I came into the hospital that morning dialated to just over a 4 and 100% effaced. Because of this I was advised to get the epideral quickly before it was too late. Dr. Judd said I'd be a cake induction for progressing so far on my own and because I was having twins, it was recomended I get an epideral in case an emergency c-section was called for. The thought of epiderals has always freaked me out.....

...Laughing because it didn't hurt in the least.




Here I am officially in labor. At times it was pretty scary. My blood pressure was bouncing all over the place due to my pre eclampsia. A few times it got as high as 157/109. WHAT! My nurse, Jana, told me at one point she was scared for me. Good thing I was having my babies that day! Here I am enjoying the moment....my mom and Shane were massaging my feet and legs, it felt amazing. My epideral wasn't very strong the whole time so I was able to feel the goodness of the massaging :)


Only 3 hours later I was dialated to a 10! Holy cow that was fast. Then they wanted to do the rest and descend for awhile to make it easier for baby A to come out. It was the strangest feeling, I could definitely tell she was so low that I didn't want to close my legs. At this point, they told me Dr. Judd was waiting and all scrubbed in. I was especially excited when they handed Shane his outfit to get all geared up.

Uhhh, I couldn't tell if it was a terrorist or Shane standing beside me but he sure was sweet!!

Dr. Judd!

....Here's the fun side of the story...

Just writing about this story makes me want to do it all over again. I loved my delivery day! Absolutely loved it!
In the delivery room, there were 12 people. 10 staff members plus Shane and I. The twins needed their own respiratory therapist and two nurses each. When Dr. Judd walked in a nurse said, "...we need to wait for the c-section meds..." Then Dr. Judd snapped at his gloves and said, "we're not going to need a c-section today." He was so sure of himself and we all started laughing. One of the nurses joked aroud asking the rest of the staff what their bet was on....twin B coming out by her feet or not?? Normally this would call for a c-section with most other Doctors, but not Dr. Judd. (side note, he is known for pulling the second twin out by their feet. It's his preference and this is why he loves vaginal twin deliveries) Both of my girls heads were down so it was going to be interesting to find out what Lindsey, baby B, was going to do.


Only seconds had passed and I heard Dr. Judd nudged Shane and say, "Look at all her dark hair!" I couldn't believe it... she was already coming out? It didn't hurt much at all. It happened entirely too fast I almost didn't believe him. Then he put the forecepts down, I felt a little pressure, and he pulled the rest of her right out. The first thing I noticed about Ashton was she had the most beautiful lips and a healthy cry. She definitely let us know she was here.


Then next thing I know his hand was 3 inches past elbow deep inside me and he was breaking Lindsey's water. He decided he wanted a seat (uh, would you you like a martini too?) and pulled up a chair, put his arm back up inside me and was moving around like crazy. When I looked down at my stomach I could see all his hand movements inside my uterus. As he was slowly pulling his hand out, I watched the biggest surprised smile spread across Shanes face. Sure enough Lindsey was coming out by her feet!! Amazing, Amazing, Amazing! First thing I noticed about Lindsey was she looks just like a mini Shane with beautiful light blond hair and she had the highest little squeeky cry.


The greatest part about my delivery was when they put both girls in my arms. We were told throughout the pregnancy, and it was well understood, that twins go straight ot the nicu almost everytime. Our little angels were shockingly so healthy they didn't need to spend one minute in the nicu. The respiratory doctor leaned over to Shane as he was cleaning them both off and said, "Well, you just witnessed the miracle of steriods." (meaning that the girls got steriod shots to help their lungs develop at our 28 week scare) WOW! When they layed them in my arms I embraced every second of that moment. My two little blessings were finally here.



Lynn, Aunt Emily, and my mom watching through the window. The room was just too crowded to have them in there too. Em recorded the whole delivery on video. It was beautiful! You couldn't help but smile as you watched it listening to their Oooo's and Ahhh's, laughter and cries.


One proud daddy holding his little Lindz for the first time


I DID IT!!...



...but now I'm going to throw up all the way down the hall back to my room



Ashton on left, Lindsey on right

We wanted their names to be special and mean something. We couldn't decide between Riley or Lindsey for baby B but as soon as she came out, Shane gasped and his voice cracked as he said, "Ohhh Linds." I knew right then who she was. So we named her Lindsey; which is Shane's first name and we named Ashton after my middle. We think it's special to name both our daughters after us.

Aren't their hats cute? Not that we need any help identifying these babies because they look so different but it's neat to finally be able to put a face to our precious 'baby A' and 'baby B' that I've come to know so well over nine months. Especially since they acted so different in my tummy. Lindsey constantly rolled, not kicked, but slowly rolled and turned her body into my ribs several times a day...making my stomach look mis-shaped and deformed at times. Ashton's head was considerably low the last eight weeks and when she moved it felt like her head or hand was going to come shooting out of my body. Not to mention the 10-12 times (not an exaggeration) I had to pee in the night from ANY slight movement of her. Hense the jillion times I used the bathroom each night. They both had hicups 3-4 times daily. I already miss feeling these movements, but feeling them in my arms is much much cooler anyway! Duh!!!



Ashton and Lindsey all clean and wrapped up in their first Christmas stocking

I love these two pictures for the meaning thats behind them. After I was done throwing up from the delivery, my body started convulsing for about an hour. It wasn't painful I just couldn't stop shaking. From my head to my lips to my arms, legs and toes. My body was completely in shock. They said all the hormones leaving my body, arm up my uterus, and delivering two babies was a bit much for me to handle. So it was best for me to skip out on watching the girls get their first bath. Zach took video of it for me and Shane was helping give the baths. After my body calmed down and they were done doing baths, Shane wheeled the girls down the hallway and into our room. As he turned the corner he says "..Merry Christmas, Mommy" grinning ear to ear. It was such moment for me.

My daddy holding one of my own daughters....(sigh) I love this picture

Grama Bubbles and Grama Nana

We didn't allow many visitors due to the huge snow storm and RSV season but my family drove such a long way. Rachels kids couldn't believe how little they were. Taylor kept silently smiling and staring at them, Easton said, "whoa! those are two babies???" and Paige said, "well I don't really like the name Ashton, but it will do I guess."

Shane's family. I'm glad they got to see the girls...they were all leaving the following morning to spend Christmas in Costa Rica

This is Shane and I completely pooped the next morning

Matching up our wrist and foot bands to each other

We're getting ready to leave the hospital. The girls were excited go to their new home! But mommy was terrified, I ask if I could stay another month! :)

I swear we need a bigger car already! This was such a crazy, exciting, and nervous feeling loading them into the car. As we drove away I couldn't help but cry. I'm not really sure why and I couldn't explain it to you. It was a good feeling though. And when I looked over at Shane, he was crying to.

(scroll down for more baby pics)