1 Month

One month has already passed in our new life with twins.  In some ways it feels like the time has flown by and in other ways it feels like they have been here forever.  Our days basically consist of eating, sleeping and having diapers changed with occasional outings here and there.

Nap time during the Bold and the Beautiful in the sun on the couch.  

In the beginning I told Mike that I had to go back to work because there was no way I could stay home alone with both of them.  Now I feel like when I have an extra person to help me, it is easy to take care of the twins.  When I am by myself it can get a little hairy and one baby may cry once in a while, but it is doable.  I also felt in the beginning that I couldn't leave the house by myself with the twins because it is hard to put two babies in car seats and get everything ready to head out the door, but now I have left the house twice with the twins by myself.

Here are interesting points about the twins first month of life.

• Our first outing was to Great Grandma and Grandpa Goertzen's on New Years Day, one day short of being 1 week old, to watch football and eat New Years Cookies.  

Arriving at Great Grandma and Grandpa's house.  

• Both boys passed their birth weights at 2 weeks of age. Jax was 7 lbs. and Jase was 6 lbs. 6 ozs. 
• First trip to Walmart (I'm sad to admit) was at 2 weeks

• Mom has had some alone time outside of the house thanks to helpful family members. 
• One morning while I was feeding one of the babies I looked out the living room window and saw a hot air balloon.  If we wouldn't have had the boys we would have been at church and would have missed it.  The balloon landed less than a mile from our house.  

• First trip to Lincoln at three weeks old.  Our trip included stops at Target, Milkworks, Famous Daves and South Point Mall.  

The car was full to capacity on our way home from Lincoln.  Boot purchases for mom and grandma may have contributed to the problem.  

• Dad spent 5 days in St. Louis, and while we missed him, mom had great help to get through the week. 
• Grandma K saw the boys everyday during the first month, Grandpa Kurt was right behind her with only missing 2 days. 

• Grandpa and Grandma Terry and Karla watched the boys twice while mom and dad went on two dates.  One 30 minute lunch date to the Dutch Kitchen and one longer date to a Ducks Unlimited Banquet.  
• The night time bottles hold 70-85 ml. 
• Our first trip to church was the day after the boys turned 1 month old.  

Our church outfits.  

• The boys are still in newborn diapers, but newborn clothing is getting pretty tight.  
• The daily eating schedule is roughly: 3 am, 6:30 am, 9:30 am, 12:30 pm, 3:30 pm, 5:30 pm, 9:30 pm and 11pm.  
• Mom spent one day at Bethesda Women's Ministries when Dad was in St. Louis.  The boys were very good during the day and mom even had time to tie some knots on two quilts.  

At Bethesda Women's Ministries.  

Going Home

 We had our "last meal" before we left the hospital. Our hospital serves a steak dinner to each couple having a baby.  So this was jokingly our last hot meal that we could eat in peace.  While we ate, the nurses took the boys to the nursery to change them into their going home outfits.  

Once we were done eating we loaded up the boys and made the slowest trip from Henderson to our house to start our life as a family of four.  

On our first night home, in addition to our parents, our good friends from Kansas came to meet the boy.  They were a huge help with the night feedings the first two night and it gave Mike and I a chance to get a little sleep.  

The first night we realized the honeymoon was over as we laid on the couch waiting for Jax or Jase to cry so we wouldn't miss it getting almost no sleep that night.  Our only saving grace was breaking the night into two shifts so we at least slept some of the time.  

We quickly realized that we did not have to check on them for every little peep they made and that we should make their sleeping environment as much like the hospital as possible.  So the second night we had the boys sleep in plastic tubs similar to their bassinets at the hospital.  While they slept very well, it was obvious that they were to big for the tubs, so on the third night we moved them to one of the cribs in the nursery and they have slept there ever since.  

We are still getting the hang of being parents to twins, but we have had a large amount of help from family, wonderful meals from our church and a great group of friends that support us in many ways. 

Stay tuned for stories about some of our adventures with Jax and Jase.   

At the Hospital

Mike and I were worried that we wouldn't be able to tell the boys apart, so I bought hats with their names on them ahead of time.  Little did we know that they would look very different. 

Jax has dark hair, and looks more like Mike even down to his cowlick on his forehead.  

Jase has light hair and looks more like me, plus he has two semi-webbed toes.  

We had a good amount of company at the hospital.  Here is Jase with Grandma K. 

Grandpa Kurt with Jax. 

Grandma Karla with Jase.  

Aunt Ann and cousin Ava with Jase.  

Uncle Kellen with Jax.  

While we were at the hospital, my mom and I took a few pictures of the boys for the newspaper and a few random pictures since the lighting was good.  

Jax

Jase

Before going home we had a bath time demonstration from Marcia.  

We learned all of the basics so we could do it at home on our own.  

Jax was first. 

Then it was Jase's turn. 

Grandpa Kurt, Grandpa Terry and Uncle Kellen watched bath time through the window.  

After they were clean and dressed in matching outfits they needed to have a picture taken. 

This was the "first " race between the boys back to the hospital room.

We were at the hospital from Wednesday to Saturday evening.  Being in the hospital is truly the honeymoon period.  We took care of the babies during the day, could call a nurse whenever we had a question, the boys were happy in the environment that they had known since birth and the nurses took them during the night so we could rest up and recuperate before going home.

Up Next: Going Home (the honeymoons over)

After Delivery

After the boys were delivered they took them out of the OR to the nursery to get weighed, measured and checked out.  

Jase was 6 lbs 3.5 oz and 18.5 inches long. 

Jax was 6 lbs 13.5 oz and 19.5 inches long. 

Dr. Ohrt and Allison checking out the boys. 

Marcia showing off Jase to our family watching through the window.  

Foot prints. 

All of our family was in the waiting room during the operation so they could see the boys as soon as they came out of the OR since they were so excited to see them and find out what there names were.  

After everyone met the boys and I was out of surgery Mike brought the boys to our room for recovery so we could spend our first hours together as a family of four.  

Up Next: Life in the Hospital (The honeymoon)

Delivery

WARNING:  There is one picture that is semi-grafic during surgery, so if you don't want to see that you may want to skip this post. 

We walked back to surgery just after 7am.  When we walked into the room everyone as moving and very business like.  There were nurses counting utensils, people hooking me up to different monitors, sticking things to my legs and arms, getting the epidural, and general prep work.  

In the OR there were two doctors, a physicians assistant, three surgery nurses, two OB nurses, tom the anesthetist, mike and I.    

Dr. Ohrt on the left and Dr. Adams on the right getting ready to deliver baby A. 

The anesthetist took pictures for us and Mike watched both babies being delivered.  While many of the pictures are graphic, it is nice to be able to look back and see what happened behind the blue curtain.   

Jax Levi Bergen was born in silence at 7:20 am.  He was breathing and perfectly fine, but he just didn't have a reason to cry and he is still the quieter of the two babies.  

Jase Ryan Bergen was born at 7:21am crying and he still is the loud one.  This is roughly the view I had of Jase when Dr Ohrt carried him across the room.  

The first moment it felt real what when they both cried at the same time about a minute after Jase was born.  

This was the first time I saw them both together.  It only lasted about a minute since they needed to be checked out in the nursery.  

Mike holding both of the boys for the first time.  

As far as the csection goes, I had read anything and everything I could about what a csection would be like.  Since mine was scheduled, it was different from people who have one after laboring for hours first.  Even though it kind of feels like a dream now, I do remember that I didn't feel anything. No pressure, tugging, or pushing I was numb from the ribs down.  I decided to not have any meds to sedate me after the csection was complete because I wanted to alert for meeting the boys and I am happy with that decision, since I wasn't feeling bad or freaked out in the operating room.  I knew that my arms would have to be out to the sides for the operation, but I was surprised that they weren't strapped down.  I don't know why I thought they would be, but they weren't.  When the csection was over things moved just as fast as they did before surgery.  People were counting utensils again, the doctors were having conversations about health care mandates and everything was getting cleaned up.  

Recovery was harder in some ways, but not too bad.  The first day I only stood up twice and I tried to eat some lunch, which I couldn't keep down.  It took until the middle of the afternoon for me to be able to move my legs.  As the epidural lost its effectiveness my legs were very tingly like when your arm falls asleep.  I felt like I wanted to move my legs and would concentrate very hard on trying to move and only my toes would wiggle a little.  The second day I got up to go to the bathroom, spent time sitting in a chair and even took a shower. Everyday after that just got better and better. I would recommend taking pain pills when ever they offer them in the hospital to stay ahead of the pain.  By the time I got home I was only taking Ibuprofen so pain was less by that point, but I still tried to take it regularly   I was a little low on energy and almost had to get a blood transfusion before leaving the hospital, but my numbers stabilized and I was still able to walk around without fainting, so luckily we were able to bypass that.  

Up next: After Delivery

Pre Delivery

This is part one of a series of posts about our delivery experience and life with twins.  

We took the last bi-weekly picture on Christmas night, the night before our c section.  

I never felt like I got huge simply for the fact that I was having twins and expected to be bigger.  Having said that, when I look at this picture I realize that I was huge, so I'm glad that we took this picture the morning the boys were born. 

During the last two weeks I had numerous people ask me if I was having twins.  Usually these people were a twin or have had twins, but we were always surprised that people would be bold enough to ask this and often wondered if people having one baby were ever asked the same questions.  

We had to arrive at the hospital at 5:30, two hours before the surgery.  It didn't really matter how early it was because we really didn't sleep the night before.  

On our way to town Mike's pickup said it was -4 degrees.  Being pregnant the temperature was not a problem for me and I really considered not wearing a coat that morning.  

When I checked in at the hospital I weighted 188.2.  I was always wondered if I would break 200 lbs during the pregnancy and in the end I didn't get there.  

Waiting to go to surgery.  It was amazing how fast time when before the operation.  During the Non Stress Test that morning I was having a few small contractions that I had never had before, so the boys were about ready to make there entrance c section or not.  

I would like to describe how we were feeling that morning, but there really are no words that seem to cover the way we were feeling since there was such a wide range of emotions.  

Up next: Delivery