Evan has a job!!

The long awaited Match Day has come and gone. Thank goodness. We had been waiting for this day for years!! It's nice to finally know where we are going to be living AND to finally be making some money...now that we have FOUR children. Have I mentioned that I am tired of living off of student loans?? Yes. Yes I am. Evan matched with his #1 choice...John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas doing Orthopedic Surgery. And just so you know how STELLAR my husband is...JPS had 500 applicants...they interviewed 60 and had 4 spots. Yep. Pretty amazing if you ask me. We are now receiving mail for DR. EVAN STOUT. Wowwee. Our dreams are finally becoming reality. I'm so proud of you Evan!! Your hard work has truly paid off...you deserve your number one.

All of us waiting for Dad's envelope with the (GOOD) news!

JPS Baby!!

Happy day! Look at that big smile and sigh of relief!!

And shoot! Both boys are extremely excited for dad b/c that means they get to live right by Grandma and Grandpa Stout.

The Ending.

It seemed strange to be walking into the hospital because honestly I wasn't in a TON of pain. It was uncomfortable...I could hardly walk...or move. But this pregnancy was different than my other two. I have to remember that. Maybe it's because I had been put through so much pain already that I was just numb to it all. Anyways...on Friday, January 21st we arrived at about 2:30 pm. I was walking in already dilated to a 4. When we entered the birthing floor, my nurse took us to our room and I changed into those LOVELY gowns (oh how I hate those) and did a urine sample. My nurse came in (she new a bit about me b/c she had spoken on the phone with my doctor) and asked me why I was there..."you're only 35 weeks...why are you here". She took one look at my urine and thought that I was dehydrated and this was making me have regular contractions. So she started me on fluids to see if that would stop them. They hooked me up to the monitor to check contractions and the babies...and sure enough...after the liquids were gone...I continued to contract. And boy did they get intense! Because my uterus was so large...the contractions were different than with my singleton pregnancies. The pain was in my ribs! During contractions I felt like someone was standing on my ribs and I literally couldn't breath. My doctor came in and confirmed that I was "in labor" and the girls were coming. They admitted me...added some more pretty bracelets to my wrist...and took some blood (two different times). My doctor checked my cervix and said that I was at a good 7. However, baby A (Payton Olivia) was TRANSVERSE. Like really transverse. Both the nurse and my doctor thought she might be head down just from checking my cervix b/c they could feel bone. But after TWO different ultrasounds...come to find out...they were feeling her ribs. So it was decided...C-section it was. My doctor left immediately to go get ready. The anesthesiologist came in to chat about the surgery. He looked at me and said "your having twins?...you look too little to have twins in there." That gave me a good laugh. He left and said that they would be back in 5 minutes to get me for surgery. Well....those 5 minutes were the worst! I told Evan that I couldn't do it ANYMORE and that he better start praying real hard for me. I do believe that I had reached that point...where I needed some help beyond my own. It seems that I always reach that point and have with all 3 pregnancies. But the heavens must have opened and angels must have come to my rescue b/c the nurses did end up coming to get me shortly after and I somehow made it through the 45 minutes it took to get me all ready for surgery and to have all the on-call doctors arrive (they had two pediatricians come in...one for each baby...and an extra doctor to assist my lovely doctor). I have to admit...all the months of sickness...of throwing up...nasty smells...nose bleeds...heartburn...no sleep...getting huge...stretching skin...nasty veins...PAIN...and messy house was worth it all after hearing my two baby's first moments.

I have said several times during this pregnancy (and I'm stating it here), that I do believe that carrying twins has been the most difficult and challenging thing I have done here on this earth.

Payton Olivia was born first (baby A) at 6:53 pm. She did not make a peep due to the meconium in her lungs, but I heard everyone in the room ooh and aah over her.And then not even a minute later, Brooklynn Rae (baby B) arrived at 6:54 pm screaming like she had been doing it in the womb. And notice (her left hand)...she came out signing as well. They took the girls away and finished sewing me up. I was completely out of it at this point. I started barfing and gagging. Oh it was horrible. I don't remember anything after getting back to my room. Which is unfortunate...because they brought us our girls...and I don't remember it. AT ALL. I even held the girls...and I don't remember it. I awoke early Saturday morning and remembered that I TRULY had delivered twins the night before...it wasn't a dream. I immediately wanted to see and hold them. So I woke Evan up and told him to have them bring the girls in. I loved when the nurses would bring the babies to us...I would always get excited as I heard the wheels squeaking down the hallway...and then as the nurse knocks on the door...and the girls enter the room in their beds. They have such a sweet spirit about them. Of course, as always...it's love at first sight. I love their little sounds...their newborn smells...their newness...and their little everything!
Later that afternoon the boys and grandma came to meet the girls.
Brampton claimed Payton as his woman and Cardston...well...he was a little unsure about the babies. Especially their belly buttons. He did not like the leftover umbilical cord. In fact, he started gagging at one point.
After the boys left, Payton started having a hard time breathing. The nurses rushed her away and put her on "no stimulation". They put an IV in her head and fed her through a tube. We were told that we couldn't hold or touch her. My poor baby! I did a lot of crying when seeing her this way. Evan gave her a blessing and we were hopeful that everything would be ok. The nurses would tell us that Payton knew when we left her side b/c she would start to get upset. It was cute to hear...but broke my heart even more.
Come to find out...she still had some fluids in her lungs (TTN-Transient Tachypnea) which is pretty common in c-section deliveries. She was kept this way until Monday morning (almost 2 days). We would take Brooklynn to see her sister in hopes that it would help Payton get better. And get better she did. Monday morning at 5:30 am I walked into the nursery to see how my baby was doing...and they let me hold her (cords and all). Finally. It was hard for me to see her hooked up to so many things and not be able to hold or touch her. Especially when she would cry...I wanted to be able to comfort her.

Nurse Jennifer took care of Payton while she was on "no stimulation". She took such good care of our baby love. And to her we are so thankful! She is a fabulous nurse and we were grateful to have Payton in such good care.

After several days...the girls were back together again! I think they missed each other.

And that's one proud dad of twin girls! I love him.After four days in the hospital and all the craziness there, I was so ready to get home and sleep in our own beds (and start healing)! I was extremely grateful that we were all able to leave together happy and healthy! I'm counting my blessings...over and over again.

Merry Christmas,

from our family to yours.

We're home.

Life for our little family is quite busy and strange at the moment. But we're back in Galveston. We were away for two months because of Evan's rotation at the University of Kansas and he also had 6 interviews for residency in: Kansas City (KU)...Fort Worth, TX...Little Rock, Arkansas...Lubbock, TX...Kansas City (UMKC)...and San Antonio, TX. He is currently doing a rotation in the ER....which means he works some killer hours. But we're happy to see him when he's not at work or sleeping because he worked all night. And the fact that I'm 8 months pregnant with twins and HUGE makes being a mom to two little boys difficult!! Hence the reason that this is our FIRST official Christmas on our own. Plus, my doctor said no more traveling. And I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it...? But I guess it's good...I've been able to rest and take it easy (which is about all I can do these days).

Right now....I miss these guys.

We sure did have a lot of FUN spending 5 weeks at my parents house!!
And my parents took us to see the Kansas City Missouri Temple (obviously it's in the works). So exciting!
And as always, my children did not want to cooperate for a picture. They were much more interested in throwing rocks through the fence.
.................
Follow the Kansas City Temple Chaser

Neat read on the lumber used for the temple

Snapshots

I have been an extremely lazy blogger lately (if you haven't noticed). Ok maybe a lazy everything. I can't help it. My body is working overtime lately...making twins is hard work!! Much more difficult than carrying just one. But that's quite alright...I am getting all too excited to meet our little girls. Although, these days I feel like I am carrying one large octopus (you were right Leisel). I get hit and kicked in all directions at the same time. It's quite weird. But funny at the same time. Baby A likes to karate chop my bladder 24/7 while Baby B has grown fond of chillin' up in my ribs (leaving me breathless). And as you can imagine....it's only going to get better as they get bigger. ha! Alright. Enough baby talk for now. Here are some of the latest pictures of our family here in Kansas.

Grandpa came home with this awesome piece of machinery one night. I think every boy needs one of these tractors! And as you can imagine...they quite enjoyed themselves.

Brampton and Grandpa

Brampton's drawing of him and Cardston playing with the tractor.

The boys loved Halloween night! They helped gamma pass out candy to all the kids. That was their favorite part...seeing everyone's costumes.

The boys' new favorite place...Cardston calls it Mickey Mouse

The boys have loved having Nickelodeon on every morning. Their new favorite is Umi Zoomi.

Cardston playing with his Aunt Jum.

This is how Cardston likes to watch TV

We have enjoyed meeting up with my bestest friend, Michelle Nato and her niece and nephew. I think if we lived here...Brampton and Layne would be best buds.

And it wouldn't be a true Payzant visit without going to the movies.

And thanks to the freezing temps, we have thoroughly enjoyed the cocomotion and some Stephen's Candycane Cocoa.

Let it be known.

I'm sure many of our blog followers already know or have assumed this...I am pregnant (17 weeks to be exact)! We sent the above cards out to all our close family to share the news.
But then a few weeks after sending them out, we had an ultrasound and we saw BABY A and BABY B!
That's right...WE'RE HAVING TWINS!!!
You'll notice they are side by side in this picture (that's a shot of the top of their heads). Precious. I'm already in love.

I guess I should send out new cards!

KANSAS GRANDPA!!

Kansas Grandpa was in Houston for business last week. Lucky for us, he had an evening that we were able to meet up with him! I had told the boys that we were going to see their Kansas Grandpa for days and Brampton was ecstatic. Except he thought we were actually going to go to Kansas and would see Grandma too. So when we got to his hotel...Brampton kept asking papa where grandma was. Silly kid. Brampton told papa about his favorite prophet of God, Joseph Smith Jr. And then he sang him a song about Samuel the Lamanite. He is very into performing at the moment. And well Cardston, he was his little self. He warmed right up to papa and even tried to feed him his grilled cheese sandwich. He also thought that everything was up for grabs...like papa's root beer..."my juice"!!

Here's a look at our evening out through Brampton's eyes...

Thanks for doing business in Houston Dad! We sure loved seeing you.

Until next time...did you know I love you? I do.