A Few Pics

Here are a couple pics, not much with the looks department has changed, still have the cutest little features! All the babies have been under the bilirubin lights for a couple days, we'll see what today brings. Lincoln is the Best eater and so we get to hold him a little more to feed. It is fun to see them chowing down on the food rather than watching food get put into a tube. Carter is doing well and Tatum is still having a rough time. She has a few things wrong with her so there is a lot to try and treat and needs a lot of ventilation assistance. For now she is stable, but she has had some long days- not much rest with someone always moving or poking her- but is our little Angel Baby and is fighting through. No new pictures of Tatum... she isn't quite as fun to look at. So the first two are of Lincoln and the last is Carter being a stud!!

Another day

We'll get around to posting some more pics in a bit-- when Ben gets off school he can take care of that! Still hanging out at the hospital and trying to enjoy the room service! Tatum has been put on a ventilator still struggling with the breathing. The nurses are trying to find the right amount of help that she needs, but since she is a good size baby and fighting to help it is a little more difficult. Carter and Lincoln started eating from a bottle, and whatever they don't get from that they have a feeding tube rather than an IV- so an upgrade there... What else... Carter is a strong little boy but has little problems that arise and get blamed from only having a 2 vessel cord. He keeps getting new tests done and we keep awaiting the news. Lincoln is just Lincoln and loves to chill and cover his whole face with his beanie. That is that and we'll see what the day continues to bring!

The Babies Are Here

The babies are here - born at 1:25 (Tatum), 1:27 (B - Lincoln) and 1:27 (C - Carter)! 30 fingers and 30 toes - all healthy. Tatum weighed 4 pounds 13 ounces (the girl) and the twin boys Lincoln and Carter (finally decided on first names) were 4 pounds 3 ounces and 3 pounds 13 ounces respectively. Jen did great and is now recovering. I had a great time watching the C-section and then moving down the assembly line cutting the umbilical cords and holding the babies one at a time. They are incredibly cute. What can I say - Jen is a pretty woman! Tatum is the only one who needed oxygen support so far - she had a little extra fluid in her lungs - but should be just fine. Carter, although the smallest, is a feisty little boy and loves sucking on his binky. Lincoln is a hairy little boy - shoulders, belly, everywhere. I am just super excited and am running back and forth between the babies in the NICU and Jen in her recovery room, bringing more and more pictures.

Jen is now back in our room and trying to get some sleep. The medication they gave her for treating the pre-eclampsia is making her pretty nauseous. But she did get a chance to hold some of her babies (crazy to say that) as I wheeled her bed and all to their areas (her and Lincoln in this picture). I got to help bathe Tatum and Carter this evening - Carter screamed the whole time until I got to hold him. Lincoln loves to have his eyes open.

They're coming.....

So surprise surprise.. babies should be coming tomorrow morning if things work out...

Bored and more bored

I had a regular check up yesterday and scared the docs a bit with some high blood pressure and a massive headache, so instead of letting me go back to work I got admitted to Labor and Delivery. So I am just sittting here waiting for the 24 hour testing to get over with to find out whether they'll want to take the babies due to sever pre-eclampsia or send me home on bed rest. One bummer is there is no room in the NICU until tomorrow morning for the babies, so if the babies need to come out most likely it wouldn't be today anyway.. I don't know how ready we are for them to come out.. actually gave us a little scare but I think that is how it will always be. Ben got to go to his football game this morning- the playoffs- but lost so he is back with me and ready to take me on a walk so I can also enjoy the nice day outside. Who knows how many more there will be right???... And how long I'll be able to get around... Keep you posted!

A Mini Post

So a Little Heads up on those who are interested in our not so exciting lives!! Ben started his Flag Football playoffs- was tied for first seed and then got stuck as third.. so their first week they played the DS2's who they've lost to in the past but actually beat on Saturday so Yippee!! The most exciting part about going to the game is the amazing weather. The week before was drizzling/sprinkling cold all day and last Saturday was Warm and Sunny. Hopefully next week is the same. Then an update on Babies... Tomorrow they make it to week 34 and now get Non-Stress Tested twice a week - so far everything looks great, they move like crazy and do what they need to do so I don't have to lay there for more than an hour. We had a full measurement Ultrasound last Monday and the girl weighed in at 4 lbs. 11 oz. and one boy (Baby C) was 4 lbs. 5 oz. Baby B wasn't measureable since Baby C is right on top of him, but they found a healthy heart rate and that means all is well!! Oohhh and our tree looked AWESOME with the color changing so had to take a picture. It is supposed to snow this week, but hopefully that falls through and our tree color will stick around a little longer.

Long's Peak - Our first 14er

Dad decided to come and join us for Labor Day. When he last came over the 4th of July we wanted to hike Long's Peak, but didn't have the time or energy for a 15 mile hike. On Saturday 8/30 (I know it took me a long time to get around to this) we left the house at 3 am with hopes of getting to the trailhead by 4:30. I ended up getting pulled over in Estes Park when I made an abrupt lane change in an attempt to make it to McDonald's for breakfast. Fortunately, the cop realized I was not drunk and allowed us to continue on, but McDonald's was closed - no breakfast.

We ended up starting up the trailhead at 5 am using a little flashlight to follow the trail with 3 L of water each and several snacks. As usual, Dad got in his mandatory minimum of 1 trip and fall before daylight. We made it just above the tree line to the tundra for a beautiful sunrise. We know Mom loved sunsets the best, but this made us think of her also. The hike through the tundra was about 2.5 miles of beautiful scenery as far as the eye could see - small flowers, grasses, tiny creeks and pools of water from snow melt off and awesome lakes below.
After the tundra came what is known as the Boulderfield. Why? Because the trail disappears leaving you to pick your way along from where you are to the visible destination above called the keyhole, climbing over one large boulder after another. No signs of plant life anywhere. You can see the gap called the keyhole in the range over my left shoulder - separating one side of the mountain from the other. Unfortunately, this was a fairly steep climb and we were now at 12,500 ft and running out of O2.














Once passing through the keyhole we made our way along the part called the "ledges" - named because just to the side there is a 1000 foot drop - but it made for a really nice view.















After that flat portion came another kick in the pants called the trough - a long, steep hill with more climbing of boulders. I had to set little goals for us - "lets just get to that next bulls-eye and then you can rest" or bribe dad by saying "when you get to that bulls-eye you can have your Baby Ruth." Seriously though, our heads were pounding from the lack of oxygen and we could only go so far before passing out.






After getting up the trough we entered what is known as the Narrows - another area where if you slipped you would stop about 1500 ft below - not good odds for survival. Again, fortunately it was rather flat to allow for some resting.











The last portion is known as the summit. Sadly enough, you could see the top of the mountain - probably some 300 yards away, but knew it would take at least 30 minutes to cover that distance. All joking aside, this part was probably about a 60 degree incline requiring a lot of movement on all fours.



But we finally did make it - arriving at 14,455 ft in altitude shortly before 12. Here we are on what seemed like the top of the world - everywhere we looked there was nothing higher than we were - quite a site.

We thought the way back down would be easy, but we were exhausted and crawling down boulders and over rocks takes more energy that I could have imagined. What's worse is that we both ran out of water with 4 miles to go. We were so glad when we finally made it back to the truck - 12 hours after we started at the trailhead. It was great bonding time and made for some amazing memories, but I don't know if I want to do it again any time soon.