It seems hard to believe that as of tomorrow Alex and Avery will have been home for 2 whole weeks already. I guess for me going back to work this week it has made the time go by slightly faster. I can say that I do miss the kids A LOT when I have to leave for work in the morning.

Jen and the kids are usually asleep in the mornings when I leave so I don’t often get to say goodbye. What I do is try to sneak into their room to give each of them a little kiss on the head while they’re sleeping and I ask them to be good for their mom today. And, for the most part, it seems like they have been!

Monday was the only day that Jen had to be home entirely alone. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we had friends come to hang out and help out. Everybody has been great so far and we’ve gotten so many meals from our friends that visit and our neighbors.

Yesterday Grandpa and Grandma (Jen’s dad and step-mom) came to help out and stayed over night. The too brought us TONS of food and were a big help. Grandpa even helped out with some much needed pool maintenance and actually was the first person to enjoy the pool so far this year. I have vowed that I will get into the pool this weekend one way or another!

I’ve also put up another photo album with pictures from Alex and Avery’s second week home. You can check it out here.

We took this for our own use but I figured I’d share it anyway. Doesn’t she look great just 1 week after they were born? That was about 4 days ago too and she continues to look better every day. It’s amazing, she looks like my old skinny beautiful wife again

I (Jen) just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for the kind wishes they’ve been sending through comments and emails to Don and me from the website. It means so much to know how much our twins are loved. Of course we just adore them – they’re little miracles, and I can’t believe how much you can love someone you’ve only known for 11 days. We are truly blessed.
For the people who’ve asked:

1. The best way to help us right now would be to make us meals that we can eat / freeze. Don is learning to cook for us, but he goes back to work on Monday, and it’s going to be much harder then when he’s gone all day.

2. Call us anytime – we won’t answer the phone if we can’t get to it, and the babies sleep through anything right now. We’ll call you back when we can – just don’t be upset if it takes us a couple of days!

3. And you’re welcome to come and visit – honestly, it may be some time before we are ready to visit you!

The babies keep me busy 24/7 for the most part. I feel like the old Dunkin Donuts commercial – “It’s time to feed the babies…” It really seems like you barely finish one round before it’s time to start the next. I know that will get better as they learn to breastfeed more efficiently, and Don gives them a pumped bottle around 3 in the morning so I can get at least a 4 to 5 hour stretch. Unfortunately, Alex seems to not like to go back to sleep after this meal, so Don ends up awake for three hours instead of one and a half. I’ve never done anything this hard in my life, but it’s so worth it.

I’m feeling tired but good for the most part. C-section recovery hasn’t been the nightmare I expected, though I did have to stop taking the pain pills they gave me because I kept falling asleep while trying to feed the babies. My blood pressure is still high, and two of my fingers are numb in my left hand, but the doctor’s can’t seem to explain why. I’ve lost a ton of weight – at last check I was only 5 lbs over my pre-pregnancy weight, which I am thrilled about!! It looks like I didn’t get any stretch marks either – woohoo! I just have to hope the skin that is left will somehow shrink back to it’s former size.

Time to run – Avery’s lunch is overdue and you wouldn’t like her when she’s hungry!

We caught this cute picture when Avery grabbed Alex’s arm while they were laying next to each other. I really think it’s the most adorable picture I’ve ever seen. Here’s a 6 second video of them holding hands too.

This, along with many others, can be seen in the new album “Alex and Avery First Week Home.” Here’s a tip for any friends and family that may want bigger versions of any of these pictures or for anybody that may want to order prints of our pictures:

Go to Flickr’s home page and sign up for an account if you haven’t already (if you havea Yahoo login, you can use that too). After that, just let me know (via email or the contact page) and I will make you one of my contacts in Flickr. Once you’re a contact and I make you a friend or family member, you can order prints, get large versions of photos, etc. If you have any trouble and think this is just way too confusing, send me an email with your name and email and I will invite you directly from Flickr so all you have to do is click on a link to join.

That’s right, we finally are all home as one BIG happy family. After us not knowing for sure if Avery and Alex would be able to go home today because of high bilirubin (jaundice) levels, they finally ended up discharging them in the evening. I don’t think I need to say that Jen and I were thrilled!

After a big effort to pack up and get them all ready, we began our exit from the hospital and into the world as a family. My first opinion about the whole process… wow, carying these two guys around in their car seats is harder than I thought. This will either break my back or get me into shape.

Jen took a well deserved snooze on the 45 minute car ride home from the hospital. It’s normally more like a 30-something car ride any other day but I had the cruise control set at the speed limit the whole way. It’s weird because having such precious cargo made me 100x more cautious about what everybody else on the road was doing. I guess in the end hopefully having Alex and Avery will make me a better driver.

They slept the whole way home just like I expected they would. I guess I always had the idea that kids falling asleep in their carseat is like an automatic thing. Must be some chemical that they put into the plastic or something. Hey, works for me.

Once we got home I shifted into “get re-organized” mode and began with unpacking the car. It’s funny because when we went to the hospital we had 1 small suitcase and a few pillows. Coming home we had an entire trunk full of crap. Most of it ended up being free samples of this and that and a TON of junk that we swiped from the hospital. We have a bunch more newborn diapers, receiving blanket, etc. now. Thanks HCGH!

After letting the other family members check out the new babies, Jen got settled in and gave the kids their first home feeding. I proceeded to setup the billy blankets in their crib to help get their jaundice issues resolved. It’s funny with the device in there, it look slike they’re glowing in their sleep.

Hopefully now we can both start to get caught up on our sleep. I have slept probably 6-8 hours since Tuesday at 7am. Jen has probably had even less than that. She has been so great and has worked so hard over the past 5 days. The kids and I are very lucky to have such a dedicated woman in the family whose willing to do whatever she has to for us.

The “Alex and Avery” photo album has been updated.  Check it out!  I’ll be adding titles and comments for the pictures eventually when I get time.

Yes, that’s right, they’re here. Actually, they’ve been here since Tuesday (June 13th). It’s funny because as I’m posting this I saw that Jen had started a post on Tuesday morning saying that they weren’t here yet. Little did she know that later that night they would actually be here, 2 days ahead of schedule. (I just posted her post too by the way).

I’ll cut to the chase because I want to get back to Jen and the kids at the hospital. We won’t be home until Saturday so don’t expect much more until then.

Now, the information you’ve all been waiting for. Please welcome:
Alexander (Alex) Donald Kitchen
Born on 6/13/06 at 9:50pm
Weighing in at 7lbs 2.6 oz
18 1/2″ Tall

Avery Claire Kitchen
Born on 6/13/06 at 9:53pm
Weighing in at 6lbs 4.7oz
20″ Tall

Here are the pictures that we have so far. We’ve still got about 2 days in there so more will be added to the album once we return home for good.

After some minor breathing issues both babies are doing well. Avery and Alex both went to the NICU for monitoring. Avery is back with mom and dad now and Alex should be too by tonight or first thing tomorrow morning. Mom is being treated for Preeclampsia and seems to be doing much better. Her blood pressure and other indicator symptoms are almost gone and hopefully she’ll be up and about by tomorrow.

We are so happy to have our babies here finally and can’t wait to bring them home. Stay tuned for more information in the next few days.

Don’t worry, guys, we won’t keep it a secret when they come! I feel like I need to say that because at least 10 people in the last week have asked. I know everyone is excited, just like we are, but don’t you think you’d hear about it if they’d been born???

They are completely content inside me, even if I am not completely content with them still being there. Don and I have our last dr.appt. today at 3:45 when we’ll get the pre-op instructions and information for Thursday morning. It’s all very exciting and nerve-wracking. On the one hand, I am ready to stop with the crazy itchy belly and inability to move my body and have shirts that cover the bottom of my belly again (though I look like I really fit in with many of the rednecks in Frederick with my current fashion statements,) but I am also really going to miss feeling them move and wiggle and just being pregnant in general. I can’t believe I’m gonna be a mother of TWO in about 48 hours!

That’s what the dr. said yesterday at my 36 week appointment. According to the ultrasound measurements, I am hauling around about 13 and a half pounds of baby! The babies appear to weigh within ounces of eachother, almost 7 pounds each. No wonder I can barely move! But it’s great news for them since big twins usually = healthy twins, and it appears that things continue to be textbook. My blood pressure is good, my weight gain is good, the babies look good, everything is good. The mega-foot and ankle swelling that happens if I spend any time on my feet is also pretty common. Essentially they should gain an ounce a day each now, and their lungs are just maturing. Everything else is done. At 37 weeks, they will be considered full term.
I asked the dr. if he was sure he didn’t want to go in to get the babies sooner than June 15, but he said no. Two weeks ago, I thought labor was coming. Now I feel like I am going to last the full two weeks, and I am bummed about it. Don, on the other hand, is all for keeping them in as long as possible. I’m just ready to meet them and start to get my body back. Between their heads getting stuck under my ribs, them kicking my bladder, the constant heartburn, and rolling over in bed being an Olympic caliber event, I feel like it’s time for them to get out! Sometimes I think God makes the last few weeks of pregancy really uncomfortable so that once the babies are born, you can think back to the discomfort and at least be glad that’s done, even if the baby is crying and you are getting no sleep. Who knows, maybe I’ll be singing a different tune once they are here.

Don and I are getting nervous about once they actually come, too. We know we’re going to need help, and we have had many people offer, but it’s hard to know now how much help we’ll need and when we’ll need it. He’ll be off for a week, and then hopefully we can start to schedule people to come and either stay for several days at a time, or even just come and help me during the day. Any volunteers? Feel free to hit that “Contact Us” area over on the right and send us an email!

Here’s the 36 week belly shot:

And here’s a picture of the baby birds born yesterday in the nest of the geranium hanging on the front porch. At least I’m only having two – this poor bird mom has 4 born and 2 more eggs still to go! They’re cute, an an ugly kind of way. And everytime I look in the nest, one has its neck craned up, ready to eat. I think baby birds and baby humans probably have a lot in common that way…