Babies' First Christmas

My dear son

Great Grandma with Oliver

Papa with Braden and Lucy

The twins with Braden and my brother-in-law, Seth

Braden loving his new play kitchen!

My super-cute nephew, Trevor!


Christmas started very early for The Hammontrees! We celebrated first with my family on the 12th. We all had so much fun...the 4 cousins made things pretty exciting :) For those of you who may not know, my sister has 2 children. Braden will be 2 years old in January and Trevor is 4 months old, only 7 weeks older than the twins! My parents went from one grandchild to four in less than two months :) Braden is a great big brother and big cousin. He really loves Oliver and Lucy and can't wait for them to be able to play.

Super Babies!!

We have a photo shoot nearly every day, but this has got to be my favorite! Thanks Rev for the adorable onesies!!

The Twins Are 2 Months Old!!

We can't believe Oliver and Lucy are 10 weeks old tomorrow! They are interacting so much more and are getting so fun!

At around 7-8 weeks, the smiles really started coming. They just melt my heart!! And in the last week or so, the twins have started cooing! Very exciting :) I love hearing their super-cute voices. We carry on very important conversations throughout the day!

The babies had their 2 month doctor appointment and...Oliver is now 10 lbs 10 oz and is 22.5 inches long! Lucy (our little princess) is 8 lbs 6 oz and is 21.75 inches long. I think she'll start packing on the pounds soon though. We switched her to a fast flow nipple and have seen a significant increase in her formula intake. She was taking about 17 oz a day and now she's up to a whopping 26 oz!!! Yeah Lucy :) Other news at the appt...we changed Lucy's formula. She and Oliver have been taking Alimentum, a hypoallergenic and SUPER EXPENSIVE formula for babies with a cow's milk protein allergy. If you remember, when I was breasfeeding, Oliver had major reflux/fussiness issues when I ate dairy. When we switched to formula, we chose Alimentum, knowing he would probably react to "regular" formula much like he did to my breastmilk. Anyway, Lucy never had a reaction to my breastmilk regardless of my diet. So, we decided to try to switch her to a less expensive formula and hope for the best. She's done wonderfully, no problems whatsoever! She's now on Similac Sensitive and Oliver remains on the Alimentum. Oliver has a bit of a flat spot on the right side of his head. We are doing more tummy time to help round it out :)

Other exciting news...the babies have become great sleepers, especially in the last week! We have them on a pretty good schedule that seems to work for everyone. Bedtime is between 9 and 10pm after a bottle and some play time. We wrap them up tight in their swaddle-me's and it's off to bed in separate cribs with no crying. They typically wake up between 3 and 4am for a bottle and diaper change and then it's right back to sleep. The next feeding is between 6 and 7am and lately they've been going back to sleep again until 8 or 9am! Woohoo! They have become great nappers too! You can sense my excitement in all the exclamation points :) They take a consistent morning nap from 10-1200pm. The morning nap is really amazing and is made possible by swaddling and swinging. I can wash bottles, do laundry, blog...the possibilities are endless :)

I am in nearing the end of my maternity leave and am having mixed feelings. I really don't ever want to leave them and I'm going to miss them terribly. They better not hit any major milestones while I'm at work! On a positive note, Kyle and I were both offered weekend-option positions at work! After discussing the opportunity with my mom and his mom, we both accepted. We are SUPER excited to work just 2 days a week (Saturday and Sunday from 7a-7p)! That means we will have 5 days off together during the week. Lots of quality family time!!! On the weekends, Oliver and Lucy will be spending time getting spoiled at grandma and grandpa's house :) Our families are really looking forward to watching them every week. For now, because the twins are so young and require so much care and attention, we will be splitting them up. One baby with my mom and one baby with Kyle's mom. At first it seemed sad to separate them, but in reality, they don't really interact yet and they really enjoy one-on-one time. So, the big day for me to return to work is January 9th. And Kyle will start his weekend-option position on January 24th.

1 Month

So, it's a little hard to remember all that went on the first month, but I'll give it a try...

I have to admit that the first month of parenthood was tough. It started the first night home with Oliver and Lucy. We were discharged around 3 pm and were home, unloaded and eating dinner and watching TV around 5 pm. We were smiling blissfully at our babies who were sleeping peacefully in their swings. I remember thinking...man this is going to be easy. I was so glad we decided to leave the hospital a day early. Ha! About an hour later, all hell broke loose! Oliver started crying, well screaming really, inconsolably. And about 30 minutes after that, Lucy joined him. We didn't know what they wanted, so we tried everything...rocking, nursing, swinging, nursing, shushing, nursing again and again and again! Finally at midnight I called my parents and said we needed some emergency help. They came to our rescue, holding and soothing the babies for awhile. After much persuasion, we tried giving the babies a little formula from a bottle...my milk hadn't come in. They sucked it down and fell asleep! Apparently the colostrum wasn't cutting it! Luckily the next day I woke up full of delicious and fulfilling milk! Whew!

A few days later Oliver was screaming and inconsolable again :( Poor little guy. I was thinking back on the last time he was fussy. I thought about my diet...both days that he was fussy, I had eaten lots of dairy (ie. hot ham and cheese, cottage cheese and yogurt the day we were discharged...taco bell, cheesy enchiladas and sour cream a few days later). Solution to Oliver's fussiness = no dairy for mom!!! So, for the next month I ate absolutely NO DAIRY. This was pretty tough and no fun and contributed to my very quick return to pre-pregnancy weight.

The first 2 weeks, I was trying to be "super mom". The babies were sleeping with us at that time. They couldn't seem to sleep unless they were being held. At night, I would wake up, feed Lucy, change her and get her back to sleep before returning her to Kyle. I would then feed Oliver, change him and get him back to sleep before returning to sleep myself. Repeat every 2-3 hours. Needless to say, I wasn't sleeping much...maybe 30 minutes to an hour at a time. At my 2 week OB post-operative check, I was a basketcase! My doc demanded that I relinquish some control and accept some help. She recommended pumping once before bed and letting Kyle feed the babies the expressed breastmilk once overnight so I could get a solid 4-5 hours of sleep. Boy did that help!!!

That first month I had two episodes of mastitis requiring two rounds of antibiotics. I also had major infected nipples. It was pretty horrible. I spent much of the day crying silently while nursing or pumping. After 5 weeks, I called it quits and we started formula. Major bummer. I still feel a little guilty, but my sanity was at stake...my doctor and my family were really worried about me. I do feel MUCH better and am much happier now. I feel like I am able to enjoy Oliver and Lucy more and that's really what matters the most. A happy momma is a good momma, right!!

Kyle went back to work after 2 weeks. That was SO hard! I really wish we were independently wealthy :)...don't we all, right!? It's just very tough being alone with the twins. I feel so guilty not being able to give my full attention to either baby. And it is really terrible and stressful when they are both crying. I never mastered tandem nursing, and until recently, I wasn't able to bottlefeed at the same time either. They were so "floppy" during those first 2 months and needed they're heads/necks supported. I couldn't hold 2 heads and 2 bottles! Major problem!! (sidenote: now that the twins are 2 months old and so much stronger, I'm a pro at bottlefeeding at the same time!)

By the end of the first month, we felt more comfortable in our new role and Oliver and Lucy were getting cuter every day...and still are :) No matter how stressful, at the end of everyday we are the happiest parents and are so thankful for our miracles! The twins are really the best babies...they are very happy and don't cry much. We LOVE them :)

Birth Story

The final belly shot!

Soon-to-be Parents
Lucy Renee
Oliver Adam
Little Lucy all cleaned up! Oliver pinking up after a rough start.

Well, I realize it's been 2 months since Oliver and Lucy were born, but give a Momma a break. Needless to say, we've been a little busy around here! So, for the birth story...

Starting at 34 weeks, I had a nonstress test every Monday and Friday to confirm all was well in utero. Oliver and Lucy proved to be very active and healthy each time, tolerating my many contractions with flying colors. We still can't believe it, but I made it to our scheduled c-section date...38 weeks gestation!

I did not sleep AT ALL the night before they were born...I'm sure that's pretty typical. We woke up, Kyle ate breakfast (I was NPO for surgery), and we headed to the hospital. I was checked in, my IV was started, and the wait continued. I was shaking the whole time...so excited to meet my babies and so nervous for surgery. We took some good last minute video of my giant belly and at 1200 I walked to the OR for my c-section. The anesthesiologist started my epidural and before I knew it I was warm and numb from the chest down. It was a very strange feeling. Kyle was brought in the room shortly after and the surgery started. My OB doc said, "I'm making the first incision" and I was like, "What, you've started...weird!" It seriously was SO WEIRD! I couldn't feel a thing. I know you're not supposed to feel anything, but it was still strange. Then, a few seconds later, my doc was holding my precious daughter over the sheet for me to see!!! Lucy Renee Hammontree was born at 1245pm weighing 6 lbs 3 oz, 17.75 inches long! She had a head of dark hair, was pink and crying...the best sound EVER! Lucy's APGARs were 8 and 9. It was Oliver's turn next. After Lucy was born he turned breech and was all the way up by my ribs. My doc wanted to turn him to pull him out head-first, but he wasn't cooperating...she said, "Well, I'm going to have to pull him out by his feet." At 1247, Oliver Adam Hammontree was born! He gave all of us a little scare...he was very pale and quiet. I could hear Lucy crying and couldn't tell if Oliver had started. I kept asking if Oliver was okay and if he was crying yet. Kyle had to keep saying, not yet, but they're working on him. He wasn't breathing on his own so the nurses starting bagging him to give him oxygen. I heard them call for the NICU to come "just in case" he didn't come around, his heartrate had dropped to 100 bpm. Luckily, after about 2 minutes, he started crying through the mask and his heartrate increased to 170 bpm! What a frightening 2 minutes! His APGARs were 4 and 8. He pinked up quickly and had a beautiful little cry. Oliver weighed 6 lbs 7 oz and was 19.5 inches long. Big boy! He had little blonde ringlets...I was so excited to think he might have my curly hair. However, we don't know what happened to those curls...ever since his first bath his hair has been straight!

My recovery started out well, I didn't need any pain medicine the first 36 hours! I thought...man, that was so easy! Unfortunately, it was downhill from there. I developed a pretty large hematoma under my incision 2 days after surgery. It was very painful and they thought I may have to go back to surgery to evacuate the hematoma, relieving the pressure. Luckily, the bleeding stopped and my hematoma did not get any bigger. I was still very swollen for weeks afterward, but am finally completely healed.

We all stayed at the hospital for 3 nights and were discharged Saturday afternoon. WOW! We were so blessed to have healthy babies and no NICU stay!!!

37 Weeks

The twins are officially full term!!! Yay! I seriously can't believe we've made it this far. I honestly thought they would come early...guess Oliver and Lucy have other plans. We are so relieved that they most likely won't be spending time in the NICU at this point (knock on wood). My belly is still growing daily...so far no stretch marks (knock on wood again). The skin is an amazing organ! I never would've thought I could get so big without ripping to pieces :)

Only 5 days until delivery day!! My c-section is scheduled for 12:30 pm Wednesday, October 14th. I need to be at the hospital at 10:30 am to start pre-op. Oliver and Lucy should make their debut around 1:00 pm. Oh, we just can't wait!! Kyle is SO excited too...he is such a great husband and I know he'll be a wonderful father. He's so cute, counting down the hours until he gets to hold them and kiss them and squeeze them :) I have been having so many vivid dreams about them...I want to meet them NOW! We would be thrilled if I went into spontaneous labor before Wednesday, but something tells me the twins are too comfy in my uterus. I don't understand how that could possibly be...they've got to be super-smooshed in there! I'm a little worried that Lucy will come out with a smashed face...Oliver has really been crowding her since the beginning! We are very curious to see how much they weigh. They could be as much as 7 lbs a piece! Kyle & I are thinking more like 6-6.5lbs. Only time will tell!

Thank you everyone for following our long journey to parenthood...it's finally coming to an end! We really appreciate all of your love and support over the last couple years. We can't wait to begin our new lives as parents and introduce to you, Oliver Adam and Lucy Renee!! I will do my best to update the blog soon after their birth!

35 Weeks and 3 days

WOW!!!! I'm HUGE! I think that I officially look like I'm carrying twins. It's amazing how much bigger I've gotten in the last 2 weeks. These babies are growing like crazy! We have our final ultrasound and growth scan on Monday to see just how big they've gotten. My guess is almost 6lbs a piece. It seems like they're really running out of room now...kicking under my ribs and pressing hard on my pelvis. But, the countdown has begun...18 days until we are holding our miracles in our arms!!! It can't come soon enough for Mommy, I'm getting SO uncomfortable.