We Have Babies!!!

We have babies!!! After a visit to the doctor on Tuesday, we were admitted to the hospital for a c-section due to my rising blood pressure. Katherine Marie "Kate" Allmon was born at 10:52 pm, and Charles Raymond "Charlie" Allmon was born 2 minutes later at 10:54 pm on December 18th. Kate weighed in at 5 lbs 4oz, 17 1/4" long, and Charlie weighed 5lbs 9oz, 18 1/2" long. Kate had to be admitted to the NICU for breathing issues, but she was quickly released the next day, which was wonderful. The twins are absolutely beautiful (what parent would say otherwise)! Charlie looks like he takes after his mother, while Baby Kate is definitely her father's daughter. We were all discharged from the hospital on Friday evening, just in time for Christmas. It's been the best Christmas present ever, and we couldn't be happier or more blessed. Thanks to everyone for all the well wishes and Merry Christmas!

Baby Kate & Baby Charlie

Instant Family:

Proud Papa:

Sleepy Daddy and Charlie:

Proud Grandparents:


Christmas Babies:

Drama Queen Kate:

Too Cute...

Quick Update

We had another appointment on Friday, and we had an ultrasound to measure growth, etc. It looks like the girl is about 4 lb, 13 oz, and the boy is about 6 lb, 1oz. That's almost 11 lbs of baby in there. With placental age accounted for, growth rates, and my blood pressure, the doctor gave me approximately 7-10 days! Looks like the babies will be here in time for Christmas! How exciting!!!

P.S. In case you haven't figured it out, I'm not sending Christmas cards this year. Sorry. You'll probably be receiving announcements instead. If you're special. :) Merry Christmas, Everyone!

My Big Belly, Big Babies, and Bedrest

Sorry it's been so long since the November post... We're 34 weeks and counting down. I'm puffy and getting more miserable as we go. My belly is heavy and stretched and measures 43 weeks. There's been much excitement lately, and not all of it the good kind. A couple of weeks ago, we had an ultrasound that revealed that one of the babies is a full pound larger than the other- not necessarily a bad thing, but we needed to get a consult to make sure the baby girl was growing alright. After our appointment downtown, we were told everything checked out. It was such a relief. She's just genetically smaller at 4 lb 1oz. The boy weighed in at 5 lb 5 oz.

Then, last week at our 33 week checkup, my blood pressure worried the doctor, along with some headaches I'd been experiencing. Instead of meeting a photographer for some maternity pictures, I found myself checking into the hospital for the night for observation. Blood was drawn, labs were done, blood pressures taken, and by morning it was determined that I have pregnancy-induced hypertension. The Doc discharged me and told me to take it easy, so now I'm on modified bedrest. Thank God it worked out. It was such a relief to be able to go home without taking any extreme measures. We need 2 more weeks to get our girl to 5 pounds, and then we should be good to go! We have another ultrasound on Friday to see how everything is going in there.

As for the maternity pictures, we decided to forego the photographer and just take some ourselves... especially since I can't even leave the house anymore. This is the only time anyone will ever see my belly, but I thought the photos came out pretty well. Not bad for amateurs. I have to give Brent props. Here's one of the better photos:


Oh yeah, and my baby sister, Rachel, had to be rushed to the ER on last for severe abdominal pain. Her ovary apparently ruptured, but the doctors were able to save it, and there was more news- she's pregnant! So much excitement! Congrats Rachel & Harold!

Baby Shower Fun

So I still don't have all the pics from my baby showers... But- I do have some. Unfortunately, though, some of tham came out blurry. I've attached some of the better ones from the shower thrown by my best bud, Erin, and her mother on November 10th:

My middle sister, Amy, made the beautiful cake:


"Sherin" ("Shannon" and "Erin" often just become "Sherin" when we are together...)


Miss Riley Claire, Special Helper


These next pictures are from the Sadler Clinic Baby Shower thrown by the good ladies on Brent's staff, Linda & Bev:


The Hostesses:


Attendees:






Jimmy Dean looks for attention:

4D, 3D, whatever...

We had a 3D ultrasound, and the babies were uncooperative. Really stubborn, in fact. They slept through the whole thing. They held their faces in their little hands the entire time. Aside from that, they were facing my back, so we never got a good picture. The boy hiccoughed and yawned, started to look towards us and retreated into his hands yet again. Brent even tried threatening both of them, but it was useless. The clinic scheduled us for a second round, but it wasn't any better the second time. We did get a few pics of the boy, between limbs passing in front of his face. It was a mess of legs and arms in there.





We had a baby shower this weekend, but I don't have all the pics together yet. We had a great time, I only wish I could've invited everyone... Thanks everyone who made it a great day!

The nursery is almost done -we'll be working on the bedding this week. When that's all done, we'lll take pictures and post 'em. It looks great so far... In the meantime, here's another belly pic:

Baby Booty (No, not that kind of booty)

We went to the Woodlands Mothers of Multiples Buy/Sell on the last Saturday in September and scored all kinds of baby booty. We filled, and I mean FILLED, the back of our pickup with all kinds of baby-pleasing stuff. It's funny how quickly you learn the names and functions of items you have never otherwise heard of- Diaper Champs, swaddlers, bouncey seats, Baby Bjorns... you get the idea. Well, maybe I'd heard of them, but I didn't know what was best, useless, or a complete waste of money. With the guidance of experienced friends and a well-thumbed through copy of Baby Bargains, we set out to get as much as we could manage. Brent's duty became merely carrying out the large items to the truck, while my mother-in-law shopped and I pointed out the next item on our list. Afterwards, I got to mark several things off my registry... 1 diaper champ, 2 full swings, 1 bouncer, bathtub, baby carrier, 1 Pack n Play, a Snap n Go stroller for 2, 1 activity mat, and more. What a bargain! And- I checked everything for recalls. Look at me, I'm so responsible.
The proud parents-to-be with their treasure:




Now all we need is everything else. We're expecting our cribs to be in at any time, and Brent just finished painting the nursery. He did the paneling job all by himself. He also did the painting. Way to go, B! It looks great. The yellow still came out a little on the high chroma side. I added about a quart and a half of white to pastel it up, but it only went so far. In my defense, it looks much better when the sun is up. You'd think I'd know how to pick the right color by now. I would probably shame my snazzy art school friends. Sorry y'all, we're not repainting. Forget about it.





On October 9th, which just happened to be our anniversary, we had an appointment and ultrasound to check our growth. The diet has been going well. I haven't gained a pound, since the babies' gains are apparently balancing out my losses. They are bigger, but they've slowed down on their growth curve, which is good since they were giants before. Baby A is supposedly 1 lb, 12 oz and Baby B is 1 lb, 15 oz. They're still a little large for twins, but they're closer to where we want them. After all, we want them to stay in there as long as possible! I'm also feeling the kicks much easier now. -It's been both fun and frightening to feel them roll around and punch at my organs.

After our appointment, we went to get steak and shrimp at Kirby's steakhouse. It was outstanding. Then we headed over to the Cheesecake Factory for celebratory cheesecake. Yes, I had sugar. And yes, the babies were thrilled. They started their usual acrobatics a little early that night. Oh yeah, and Brent wanted to take a stroll through Williams Sonoma on our way to the parking lot, which I thought to be a little out of character. I don't think he's ever been in Williams Sonoma. I found myself next to the Kitchen Aids, and I just happened to mention that it would be nice to have one of those someday. Suddenly Brent exclaimed,"Well Happy Anniversary! That's why I brought you here! You did say you wanted one, right?" Well that was unexpected, I have to say. I little random even. Yes, it's an appliance as an anniversary gift, but it's not like it's a washer and dryer or vacuum cleaner. (There was apparently some scolding on this subject.) It's much cooler than that. I am excited to be able to walk away from my cake batter or mashed potatoes while something else keeps doing the stirring for me. Heck, maybe I'll actually make mashed potatoes! Now I just have to pick the color.

Baby A wouldn't hold still for a good pic (unless you want to see yet another not so good hand or foot picture), so all I really have is 2 profile shots of Baby B. The tech took the first picture, and then saw him open his cute little mouth... it looks like he's blowing bubbles, but I've been told he's not. Part of what you see is his umbilical cord.

Grandpa's Turn

We had another appointment on Sept 11th, and we took the soon-to-be grand-dads with us. I think they enjoyed themselves. Just a little. They joked the whole time, in fact, I don't think they ever stopped talking. They were so happy to get to see the twinkies. The ultrasound was amazingly clearer this time. We could see a lot more soft tissue, so I really felt like I was getting a glimpse of what they will look like. Their noses were so cute! Unfortunately the pictures just didn't do justice to the moving image. I've only a posted a few select pics of the ultrasound for your enjoyment. Afterwards, we met with the doctor. Everything is going well, especially since I've been put on a restricted calorie diabetic diet. I was admittedly worried and skeptical at first, but my swelling has definitely improved. My blood pressure is better than ever, and my blood sugar is stable and under control. Dr. Markos just wanted to take measures to reduce the chance of gestationl diabetes and preeclampsia, since I am at a higher risk for both. Oh yeah, and the babies are still huge. They're at the 97th percentile (for singletons)! Dr. Markos says they should eventually fall to a lower percentile, which will help keep them where they belong for longer. Otherwise, they might prematurely outgrow their environment and come way too early. Not good. Let's pray they stay snug and happy until 37 weeks! If we could just make it past 36 weeks -I don't think I want Christmas Eve babies!

The nursery is getting underway. I will post some pics as it progresses, but there is nothing to see yet. Brent is putting up some beadboard, and we already ordered cribs. Yes, you heard me right. Brent decided 2 cribs were too overwhelming for him to build himself, so we found some we liked. The room colors are green and yellow, and we're doing a puppy theme for the boy and bunnies for the girl.

Here's the ultrasound pics, along with some waiting room antics:

Baby A (girl)


Baby B (boy)


Brent especially enjoyed this one... He likes to say Baby A did this on command!


(Yes, my dad is attempting to imitate Baby A's gesture. We'll have to work on his form.)



Here is my much-loved profile! Boy, do I look tired. I am definitely feeling uncomfortable.

It's A...

Made you look. Now you have to read the following to find out!
We had our 18 week ultrasound yesterday, and both of our mothers went with us. It seemed like it took forever to find out the genders. Everyone was really excited. We were going to take a picture of the us in the ultrasound room, but it turns out the card wasn't in the camera. Oops. The tech was so sweet -she offered hers, but it didn't fit. Oh well, we'll do it next time and just pretend. Then we got started. As soon as we saw that the babies were wiggling around and seemed healthy, I breathed a sigh of relief. I could hardly wait to see the sex. Our tech measured everything first, and then finally made her way down to the all important mystery zone. "Baby A's a girl." I couldn't believe it- I was so sure Baby A was a boy. She's very active, and I just knew she was the little embryo that formed several days ahead of Baby B. The tech was 100% sure. All I could say was, "Well, we could be looking at 2 girls..." I have to say I was secretly hoping for both sexes. Brent later informed us that all he could think of was 2 weddings! Already acting like a dad, I guess. Baby B was not so cooperative. Curled into a ball with legs in front, the tech stated that she would find a way to see the gender. She prodded my belly a little bit, but Baby B was apparently feeling very sleepy and didn't want to participate. We even witnessed a yawn! After some more prodding, the baby stretched and separated it's legs. And there it was - the little turtle shape that definitely signifies a boy! It was as we had suspected all along -a girl/boy combo! After all the measurements were done, it was determined that Baby B was the older of the 2 by about 4 days. It turns out that the babies had switched places since our earliest ultrasounds. So see, I wasn't entirely wrong. After we all congratulated ourselves, we left our mothers in the waiting room to meet with the doctor. He came in and informed us that we are going to have large kids! Between the two, the babies are in the 90th percentile for size! As for me, my blood pressure looks good, but I've got some swelling that worries him a little bit. I've got to watch the salt intake and take it easy. Good thing I don't work anymore!
Well, I guess I can start preparing now. Up until now, I haven't bought a single thing. I've even surprised myself.

Here's our ultrasound pictures starting with Baby A (click to enlarge):






And here's Baby B:






You can see for yourself how swollen I am... We took these after we found out: