3 months and counting

The girls are getting bigger and bigger...now over 10 pounds, they are eating baby food and cereal along with their formula. The reflux has all but disappeared and I think that it had to do with the preemie formula that they were on for the first month or so. We still use thickener just to be on the safe side with the spit up. They are full of smiles and silent talking and seem to want to laugh very soon.



We have had a busy spring so far...we visited Shannon in Batesville about a month ago and last weekend as well as this weekend Shannon and her family have come to visit here, it has been awesome spending time with my other family....they are as close as my own as anyone could ever get and I love them all. We went to Jim's mom's a few weeks ago and then again this weekend and it is so relaxing for me when we go there as I hand her the babies and say goodnight....This prooves to be the best sleep that I have had since their births. We picked up their new swings this weekend and it is nice to be able to swing them both at the same time because until now we only had the one that Mom and Tony had brought 2 months ago. On the way home today we went by the graveyards in Missouri where Jim's family is buried and took pics as well as decorated his brothers grave as today would have been his 32nd birthday.



We plan to make a few more trips this summer and as of yet nothing is set in stone.

Things are getting easier as the girls get bigger and I am excited for the milestones that are in the near future.

My summer courses start June 1st and I am excited to be using my brain again for something other than baby formulas and diaper fullness. Online this summer means that I have yet to figure out how to get out of this house everyday..I am not losing any of this weight...I think I will need to just leave every afternoon and make it a point to walk around the block or something...Jim lost his job at the liquor store when it shut down last month.

love to u all

BETH

UPDATE: There is something wrong with our van, we are not sure the guy at the tire shop said that it was a blown head gasket and the estimate that we got to fox it was 1300.00 RYK...we might as well just get another vehicle for that price or an entire new motor...I have no idea what we are going to do just yet,.,.,,Jim seems to think that it is not a head gasket as he has mechanic friends and they dont think that is what it is...well I guess we will see...this puts off any traveling that I had planned this coming month or so.

2 Months Old

Samantha

Stacey

Samantha and Stacey are growing! They weigh as much as a normal size newborn now...8 lbs. 6 1/2 oz. and 8 lbs. 3 1/2 oz.

They are smiling big now and Samantha can already roll over from belly to back...lol..she does not like to be on her stomach!

Things are better (with the colic) now that we switched them to lacto-free formula, put gas drops in their formula and use Benefiber for Kids to help them use the bathroom. For weeks we were all pulling our hair out as they were some crying babies--EVERY NIGHT!!! We are actually sleeping now, sometimes more than 6 hours straight...I dont know how to act when I get that much sleep.

The girls had their first cold (sniffles) last week and of course I was worried sick, they are better now but Big Brother is sick with a fever and sore throat for the past 2 days....he is going to the dr. tomorrow! The girls took their first out of town trip to Kennett a month ago and then this past weekend I took the kids to Shannon's (in Batesville), we had a good trip and the best time.

Hope this finds all of u well, I am sorry that I am not in very good contact lately..but as u can imagine I am pretty busy day in and day out!! Love you all!! BETH

SCAMP MARIE SWINDLE FAIN 5/2/91-3/6/2009

My baby Scamp passed yesterday morning around 3:00.

I am totally and utterly heartbroken and grieving!!!!

I have had him since before my 13th birthday and will never forget all of the years that we shared together...he meant the world to me!

He was an awesome kitten, always playing and was for sure always with me!!

He slept under the covers and loved turkey, butter, and tuna. He always gave hugs and would jump on my back when I wasnt paying him attention or was bent over...He meant the world to me!

He meant so much to me that Jim was always wondering if it came between him and Gamp--who would win...well I will never tell, but I am sure that one can guess what that answer is.

He loved to play with rubber bands and blush brushes, he would hide them...lol. He also loved POUNCE (Jim's fav. treat to give him) and catnip :)

He was a very talkative cat, never quiet (unless he was asleep), he would just meow to greet u, meow louder for food and yowl at night--we always said--just to hear himself talk. As he got older he would yowl at the walls and in the hallway at all hours...he was getting senile..

He had lived a full life and was the best cat (baby) I could have asked for.

The only time that we were apart in 18 years was when we lived on Speedway and the front door was left open for a time when I was not in the room and Scamp got out. We called a search party and we looked for days...calling his name and screaming down the street at all hours of the night...we looked everywhere!! I was almost as heartbroken then as I am right now! He was gone for weeks and it was such a relief when my friend Cathy found him just 3 or 4 doors down from the house and it seemed as if he had been there the whole time. He had lost his hair and about 10 pounds...he was as miserable without me as I was without him :(

He had just gotten weaker and weaker after his leg was broken..he went downhill really fast within the past couple of weeks and I knew that it was time....he was not in any pain

(as far as I could tell) and he only cried when he wanted my attention. (I wish now for more of that...It was hard with him and the twins all wanting to be in my lap at the same time).

There will never be another baby like Scamp, he was just the greatest...he was my best friend for almost 18 years and I will love and miss him forever!!!

2/21/2009 GRAMMY came to visit !!!!

Well, things are going to fast in my life lately and there is no real way to catch everyone up on the past few weeks that i have not had time to write anything down...but I am going to try to sum a little up today by working backwards :)

Yesterday my mom came to visit her grandkids and it was AWESOME!! There is just something about seeing my kids with my mom that I just love. It is almost indescribable. She held the girls all day long, and I think by the time they left last night she could tell them apart. NOT SURE THOUGH....lmao. It is getting harder and harder to tell them apart these days and I know that the older they get the more they will look alike.

Baxter came to visit and as u can imagine Sebastian got the biggest kick out of that!! Him and Baxter just played and played.

BTW, we got some snow and sleet yesterday and the ground is still just covered...it is beautiful

I am trying to play catch up but not doing a good job at it, everyone just be assured that they girls are doing fine and we are all happy and well.

Dealing with the girls reflux

The girls are a total joy and have made our lives complete!!! We never even knew that we were missing anything. I got scared the 5th when Stacey quit breathing on me....we took her to the clinic after I sucked this fluid out of her throat and they decidedto keep her overnight for observation.

We stayed and she was hooked up to machines to monitor her breathing, oxygen levels, and heartbeat. The next morning..after a night of no incidents and me getting some actual rest as I was not worried being in the hospital and hooked up to machines, they sent her down for a Upper GI scan....During the scan the radiologists told me that she had reflux...that the reason she didnt spit up was because the reflux just came to the bottom of her throat and she was getting choked on it, that that was the reason that she quit breathing.

We went home that night with a prescription for reflux medicine and a sleep apnea machine for home at night.

The medicine did not seem to do that good om its own and we were still having 2-3 episodes a day...I took matters into my own hands and put her on the thickener that Ethen used (thanks Angie for still having some) :)

We have only had 1 or 2 since and that is a relief.

Big Brother Sebastian

He is the most proud and loving BIG BROTHER!!! I am so proud of him, everyday is an adventure with him as he thinks everything they do is the coolest and most awesome thing.

He looked forward to seeing them for so long and I think that the reality of the last few months (with me in and out of the hospital) that he was so excited to see them and relieved that it was all over with...he was overwhelmed with emotion the first time that he held Stacey that he just cried....It was the sweetest thing..I looked at him and said are u OK?? He said yea, I am not sad I am so happy to see my sisters and I am just glad that they are here!!!

He hugs and kisses them all day long and would rather spend time with them than to do anything else...We are so proud of him :) Any worries that we had of him being jealous, etc. have been laid to rest...I wish everyone could see the way he looks at them...his heart is so full!!!

Coming home

The closer the day came to go home the more scared I got!!! The ice storm happened the night after the girls were born and I was scared to death to go home in the ice and to be in the dark with no central heat, etc. The girls were ready to come home the day after they were born..not me!!! I dont remember the c-section with Sebastian being near this painful..and the doctors are attributing it to the fact that my uterus was SO BIG!! I could barely stand it the day that we went home and that was not until Thursday January 29th. We put it off as long as we could...and made a plan as a family for the trip home. The lights were still out, so the first order of business was to have Dad, Phyllis, and Terry (Jim's parents) to come home and get the gas stoves going and get the house warmed as much as possible, and to make room in the basement for us to sleep down there with the big oven. The second order of business was the worry of carbon monoxide poisoning...So, Mom and Dad bought a detector that needed no electricity and it was a blessing...it gave me peace of mind and I was relieved to know that we had a plan and were going to be ok.

It was scary with them being so little and new to bring them home during a time like this. It was nice to have the family working together and helping to figure it all out.

After we came home, things worked as planned, we had no problems and the entire house was warmer than it is when the central heat is running. It was so warm that we just slept in the living room..The first night home was AWESOME!!! All the family was here and those that werent came to visit...The girls got to meet their Aunt Gina for the first time and their Uncle CJ was well enough to hold them. I was hurting pretty bad but in and out of lucidity with all the pain medication. I am thankful for the help and support of Phyllis, Terry, and my Dad...without them don;t know what we would have done, I love and appreciate everything that they did for us :) The lights were back on by Friday evening and there was nothing to worry about after that.

Recovery and holding the girls for the first time

I was taken into recovery around 9:00 and it wasn't until 11:00 until the girls could come into the room and join us...they were wheeled in in those little clear bassinets and I couldn't believe my eyes...they were SO DIFFERENT to be identical!!! They had so much hair!! the differences were mostly the coloring and the size of their bodies. The nurse handed me Samantha and I just melted!!! I was holding one of my daughters that I had waited so long to see, then she said.."make room mom!! there are two u know...lol" So, here come little Stacey to join her sister in my arms :) I was as proud as could be. I never imagined a more powerful moment than the first time that I held Sebastian, but there it was...the second most defining and powerful moment in my life. I was definitely struck with LOVE :)

The birth of the girls

It is unbelievable that I have not posted anything about the girls and their birth!! I guess that everyone can imagine and understand that I have been busy :)
4:00 a.m. Monday January 26th 2009 I got up to use the restroom (after another night of sleeping in the recliner) and before I could even sit down there was water trickling out of me and I knew that it was not pee!! I calmly woke Jim and told him that my water had broke and we needed to go to the hospital, then I calmly went down the hall and told my Dad the same thing...I then stuck a towel between my legs and proceeded to make sure that I had everything that I would need for the hospital. Jim and I then woke Sebastian and we were all out of the door before 4:15 and on the way to St. Bernards Regional Medical Center in Jonesboro, AR.

I was immediately taken in for observation and tested that it was amniotic fluid that was leaking...and sure enough IT WAS!!! I was told that we were in line for Cesearean and that we had to wait on Dr. Speights to decide who goes first...the women who were scheduled for this morning and NOT in labor or me...luckily it was me :) We went to the room for surgery @ 7:00 and after prepping for the longest time, it was time for me to have my spinal block...I was nervous but the block did not hurt anything like the epidural that I had had 7 years earlier. I was laid down immediately and before I knew it I could not move my legs or anything below my chest for that matter...I had a few boughts of nausea and sickness...dry heaving and nothing came up--they had to keep giving me anti-nausea medicine. I was fine then and it was time for Dr. Speights to come in and then Jim...it really was time for my girls to get here and I was so excited--it was UNREAL!!! It only took a few minutes of high anticipation and then there it was....Samantha Joanne Alene Fain's beautiful little cry...she was here and it was 8:10 a.m...not even a minute later there was another cry and it was Stacey Lee Marie Fain coming only a minute after her sister and it was 8:11 a.m. THEY WERE HERE!!! I could not believe it and I was dying for them to bring them around so I could meet them. Jim went to take pictures and cut the cords...He was grinning from ear to ear when they brought the babies over to meet me :) First, I saw little Sammy and I was in shock at all her hair, how much she looked like Sebastian and by how little she was. Then they brought little Stacey to meet me and I could not get over how much she looked like her brother also and by how she was bigger and yet still so small. They were both so beautiful and Jim was anxious to hold them both and go show them off.

I of course stayed behind to get sown up and I was crying and just as happy as could be.

34 weeks

34 weeks and boy am I ready for these girls to get here!!! ultrasound today showed that Sammy is 4 lbs. and 10 oz. and Stacey is 5 lbs. and 4 oz. AND I CAN FEEL EVERY OUNCE WHEN I WALK!!! lolThe dr.'s in Little Rock are pleased and say that these girls are ready to be born, especially after they saw the way that they have grown and the way that they are breathing (after the steroids!!) The only catch is that my doctor at the clinic seems to want to wait until the last minute to let me have them. I wish they would have told me to come on back to Little Rock so we could get them here!!! My body can't take much more...The LR dr. seems to think with the rate of my contractions and the way that things are looking (both girls are head down now) that I should not go more than 2 more weeks anyway--cross ya'lls fingers for me!!I think that the baby shower is going to be the 24th and I know that it is at the Trumann Fire Station....not sure what time but Phyllis is sent out invitations this week. Maybe I won't have the girls or be in the hospital at that time :)
Love to u all

False Labor

Spent last night in the hospital with false labor...we were there until 1 this morning and poor Bastian still got up at 9 and went to school (he really did not mind as he was excited and thinking the girls were coming--FOOLED HIM AGAIN!!!)

I was hurting and contracting for hours yesterday when I finally broke down and had Jim call the DR., mainly because I wasnt feeling Stacey move very much and I got worried about her. The DR. thought I better go in and be monitored for a few hours. Turns out things are ok and they ran a test on me to see if I had a chemical that would show preterm labor (FFR of FRR??) The test was negative and that is a good indication that I will not go into labor in the next 2 weeks and possibly not before 37 (which is 3 or 4 weeks away). This is good news...until I read that the test is still very inconclusive or unknown when it comes to multiples. So, they may have wasted time, who knows. I am still having alot of pain, especially in my back and I am taking so many tylenol and tylenol 3's that I am starting to worry about my liver...every 6 hours is ALOT of pills, I have never taken that much before. The DR. supposed to call me back and tell me what to do about this!!!

Love, BETH

Home

I wasn't sure that everyone knows I am home, so I thought I would take a minute to update. I came home Friday night and will try to get into the clinic early this week to check and make sure that things are still ok.

As long as my blood pressure stays in check and the protein levels stay reletively low I should have no more trouble for a while--keeping my fingers crossed!!!

I am happy to be home, relieved that things are fine and ready to get all this over with now :)

Love to all

1-2-09

Well, still waiting and I have no idea when I am coming home. It is up to the High Risk Doctors and they dont know if they will meet today or Monday...I have a feeling that I am going to lose it if they want me here til then.
I am so crabby and upset right now, I feel like a prisoner!!! My blood pressure as well as my proteins and blood sugar have been fine and there really is no point in my continuation in the hospital. If me or the babies were in serious risk..then I would understand. BUT WE ARE NOT!!!
I need some patience and understanding right now.
I think I bit off everyones head (who called me) yesterday.
Sorry for that!!!
I hope that everyone has a good day :) I know that I would if I was not in here.
All my Love

2009

Couldn't sleep...thought I would blog a little. I was told yesterday that I have MILD preeclampsia, so that is good news. My proteins are around 630 and the point where they panic and get the babies out is around 3000. So, I am FAR from that!!
I was sick with headaches, nausea, and vomitting all day yesterday and I really can't remember anything past 10:00 as I was given shots and pills to knock me out for the night.
I am wide awake now @ 4:38 a.m. but at least I am rested and I feel much better!! :)
I hope that everyone had a safe and wonderful New Years Eve. I sure was lonely but I think that not feeling good anyway made the whole night matter even less.
I am sure that years from now...after the twins grace us with their presence and our lives are turned topsy turvy...that I will look back on last night with fond memories...of peace and quiet and being alone.
Good Luck to everyone in the New Year...May 2009 ROCK!!!! :)
I am still here for a few more days and could use a few emails to cheer me up
Love you all