THE NICU ROLLER COASTER

Happy 1 month to our beautiful baby boys! What a month it has been!! The first day in the NICU, the case manager came to talk to us about what an emotional roller coaster the NICU can be. She wasn't kidding! We have had our fair share of trials in the NICU but are extremely grateful for modern day medicine and the amazing people taking care of our babies.

Because the boys were born at 32 weeks, we knew we'd have some issues to deal with - the first came with the head ultrasounds. The nurse began by saying how great Beckham's looked & the whole time Tyler & I were thinking, ok, so what's wrong with Turner's... They went on to inform us that Turner has a cyst on his brain, but it is nothing to worry about. In fact, many adults have cysts on the brain, and they would never know it unless they had a head scan.

The boys initally lost some weight, which is completely normal, but was a little worrisome to us when Beckham dropped down to 3 lbs. 7 oz., and Turner got down to a whopping 2 lbs. 15 oz. Thankfully, at 4 weeks, our boys are up to a healthy 4 lbs. 14 oz. (Turner) and 4 lbs. 15 oz. (Beckham). We're pushing 5 lbs. folks!

Another challenge our boys have gone through is NEC/Pneumatosis which is an infection in the intestine wall. It can be a really scary thing if the wall gets punctured, but luckily, our boys both pulled through like champs. The treatment involves 7+ days with no food and iv fluids through PICC lines. Beckham got to experience NEC first, and Turner was just cruising along. We were even told to plan on his homecoming that weekend. As we're driving to our discharge class, we got a call that blood was found in Turner's stool... and cue Turner's turn with NEC. Thankfully he pulled through his round of NEC quickly.

As of today, our boys are both back to eating and hopefully on the up & up. We are so blessed to have such amazing, supportive family and friends to help us get through this challenging time. Those boys are the world to us!

Ty preparing to change a blow-out... the gloves are coming out!

Me & itty-bitty Turner

Twins reunited for the first time since birth (3 weeks old)

T.K. & Beckham

Turner with Grandma Linda

Grandma Terri Jo Berri

The Beck-ster!

T.K. (or TKent as Grandpa Kent likes to call him)

The TWINS have arrived!!!

Beckham & Turner decided they wanted to make their appearance a little early... so at 32 weeks, here they are! With an extremely crazy weekend leading up to the birth, we're just so glad that they made their debut safely. Long story short, I started having contractions the Saturday before they came & was 99.9% sure my water had broken. We go to the hospital, and they send us back home and tell me to just take it easy. The next two days are filled with terrible back labor pains and cramping all day Sunday & Monday. So we decided to go back in Tuesday. They check my water first thing, and sure enough, it had broken! The goal was to have me on hospital bed rest for a couple more weeks and take them at 34 weeks, but the boys had a different plan. So at 7:30 that night (after LOTS of super fun contractions), they took the boys out by C-Section. Everything went very smoothly, and we've been blessed with two beautiful, semi-healthy boys. Turner Kent (3 lbs. 7 oz.) was born at 7:56 p.m., and Beckham Tyler (3 lbs. 14 oz.) was born at 7:57 p.m. Both measured in at 16 inches. We couldn't be more thrilled!!!

First bath for Turner

Beckham with Mom & Dad

Turner holding Dad's finger

Turner with jumbo binky

Beckham with his jumbo binky

CHRISTMAS 2010 continued...

We also had lots of fun with my family Christmas morning. It's crazy to think next Christmas we'll be celebrating with our two new additions! Can't wait!!

CHRISTMAS 2010

What a busy holiday season we've had! Tyler's sister, Haley, came into town from the "concert" (Wisconsin), and we had lots of fun times with the Smith fam. She made us the most DARLING monkey hats for our twin boys. They can't wait to wear them!!

27 WEEKS!!

Here I am at 27 weeks with Beckham & Baby "B". Poor baby may never have a name...

FESTIVAL OF TREES

My family has a tradition of going to Festival of Trees every year. As always, we had a great time! I just love seeing all the amazing trees & gingerbread houses.

SOCKS OR STOCKINGS??

Well Christmas decor is in place!! Apparently Tyler gets confused with what we do with Christmas stockings. At least we get multi-use out of them... ours aren't just a one night thing!