Abby Lee

ABBY & ALEKS

NATHAN'S BIG SMILE.

WHAT IT TYPCALLY LOOKS LIKE AT OUR HOUSE. SCREAMING BABIES & SLY ABBY.

The birth of our twins was completely different from the birth of our daughter. Abigail was born without any pain medication. We did most of our laboring at home without realizing it. The twins’ birth story started almost two whole weeks prior to their birth. Two Thursdays prior to the twins’ birth, I started having pre-uterine contractions. I didn’t really know what was going on besides the fact that my super huge belly had been rock hard since 4 o’clock in the afternoon and at 2AM it was still hard and I was feeling discomfort. Also I was pretty sure that some pains had been coming regularly and were getting more intense. So Jason and I called my mom, wrapped Abby in a blanket, dropped her off at my parents and headed into town. We spent the next 2 hours in Burlington at the hospital getting checked out. After determining that I was not going into labor but I was 3 cm dilated, they sent me home and said to take it easy. So I did. I felt OK after this appointment until the following Thursday when the pain had returned and felt worse than before. This time it was 1 in the afternoon. Jason was in town so I drove myself to the hospital, where he met me. We got evaluated, the pain had lessened a little bit so they again said take it easy you’ll be fine. The next day I had a doctor’s appointment with Dr. Young. I felt OK on Friday- I had even lost 8 pounds. I did tell Dr. Young that I didn’t want to be pregnant any more. Since I was at 36 weeks, I expected him to be OK with that statement. He warned me that it was still a little early for me to be having the boys. We did decide that it was time for me to stop working and take care of myself and the babies. I was OK with this. The week before I had decided that I definitely couldn’t work full time and had reduced to ½ time. Now I wouldn’t go to work at all. Saturday I spent most of the day in bed. My body was really tired and I didn’t feel good. I couldn’t eat anything, which is totally unlike me. The food that I did eat which included crackers and apple chunks didn’t stay in my belly very long. I felt so nauseous I couldn’t drink any water either. So I was getting hungry and dehydrated. I spent Saturday, Sunday, and Monday in bed. I watched a lot of movies, read a bunch of books, and spent time on the computer. I don’t know how people spend months on bed rest, I think that I would get super bored and uncomfortable in bed. I would much prefer to be out and about talking with people and being outside than in a bed. Ick. Monday I noticed that my urine was orange. It had been more yellow because of the prenatal vitamin that I had been taking but this was a significant color difference. I still wasn’t eating and was drinking very little. Everything that I ate…including 3 crackers and 1 slice of apple didn’t stay down and I could find no comfortable position. I had decided if I didn’t feel better on Tuesday than I was going to call the nurse and tell her. Sure enough Tuesday morning still felt really crummy and nauseous, I called the nurse and got an appointment for 1:30 that afternoon with my doctor. I was excited and relieved to have an appointment and hopefully feel better. I spent the morning in bed trying to keep the piece of apple that I had eaten in my belly. Before too long it was time to head into my appointment. We headed into Burlington to await my time with Dr. Young. I was called and got weighed. Amazingly I had lost 5 more pounds. We were brought to a room, my blood pressure was measured and I gave a urine sample. Dr. Young came in and checked me out saying that I was no longer dilated but he thought that I should be evaluated by labor & delivery due to a high blood pressure and the fact that my urine was a dark reddish orange color. By this time I was crying because I felt really crummy. I must have looked pretty bad as well because Dr. Young stated that I looked really pathetic. We headed up to Labor & delivery. After waiting 10-15 minutes we were brought into a huge room with a pretty amazing view. I was given a gown and the testing began. I was given an IV with liquids because I was severely dehydrated. Blood was drawn with great difficulty leaving a number of different bruises and bandages. Another urine sample was given and this time my urine was the color of a Coke soda. Jason and I waited to hear from the doctors. We realized during the time period that we hadn’t brought our camera—what if we ended up having these babies today. We also didn’t have the car seats in the car and Jason hadn’t packed an overnight bag. We were totally unprepared to stay and have these babies. After sitting around for 2 hours Jason decided to run home and gather up our forgotten supplies and take care of some loose ends at the house. I got some rest and talked with the nurse, who was a little bit overbearing. Jason was gone longer than we expected. After about an hour the doctor came back in and started explaining what was going on. The blood tests had revealed that I had HELLP Syndrome. HELLP Syndrome is part of the Pre-eclampsia spectrum. HELLP stands for Hemolytic anemia, Elevated Liver enzymes, & Low Platelet count. The protein in my urine showed my liver problems along with the pain that I was having in my upper left abdomen. My blood pressure wasn’t excessively high which is what was confusing my doctors. When they ran my blood samples they found that my platelet level was at 33,000. The average platelet level is 150,000-400,000. I was in the Severe classification of my platelet level. This was alarming to my doctors. The treatment for HELLP syndrome is the birth of the baby and the removal of the placenta. The doctors explained all of this saying that we would have to have a C-Section as soon as possible. Prior to this operation they would need to talk to the anesthesiologist and determine how the procedure would occur—if I would be awake for the procedure or completely under. The dilemma was the placement of the injection for the anesthesia would be in the spine if I was to remain awake. Since my platelet level was low there could be a problem with clotting in the spinal region. So most likely I would be given a general anesthesia and be completely asleep. These discussions were occurring while Jason was still not in the hospital. It was decided that I needed to be given an IV of platelets & that I would have to receive a general anesthesia because the anesthesiologist believed this to be the safest route to my delivery of the twins safely and my own return to good health. All decisions were made and the forms signed before Jason’s return to the hospital. I assume that he was totally overwhelmed by receiving this information upon his return and didn’t truly know what was going on. Due to me receiving a general anesthesia Jason would not be allowed in the delivery room. This was a little bit alarming. This wasn’t turning out to be the delivery I thought it was going to be. I received the platelets, was told that I didn’t need to have the magnesium until after the surgery ( HELLP patients can experience seizures following the delivery, thus they are given magnesium either prior or following surgery or both. I was told that I would be given the magnesium post surgery.) I was rolled into surgery at 9 and told it would be done in very short time. I was awake for the roll down the hall. This is when I started to get scared. I was assisted onto the operating table and given a mask to put me under. It took a while for me to go under. I remember starting to panic because I couldn’t get a full breath. The next piece I remember I was back in the room. The boys were not in the room yet. I was evaluated and given a magnesium IV. Jason went to go find the boys & returned with our beautiful sons. Nathaniel weighed 5 lbs 4 oz, and Aleksander weighed 5 lbs, 3oz. The rest of the evening past with the help of the evening nurses helping me with getting the boys to nurse and keeping an eye on my breathing. Magnesium makes you very tired and makes it really hard to concentrate on conversations and anything longer than a couple of seconds. We spent the next day on the labor & delivery floor. Luckily Jason was around for most of the day and could help me focus on conversations with the doctors. My mom came to visit me in my room. While she and I were talking, Jason went down to the lobby and spent time with Abby. They got a stuffed Kitty that was for Abby to hug whenever she missed her mommy & daddy while we were in the hospital.


Mom was able to stick around for about an hour and talk. It was a little weird because my nurse never left the room to give us privacy and would add comments to our conversation. It was nice that Mom can by and took some pictures. I sent out text messages & called some people but from what I hear I wasn’t very coherent when talking to people. I remember one time talking with Jason and mid conversation I passed out. I awoke seconds later and apologized. Jason said my eyes rolled back into my head. We stayed on L&D until 11PM. At 11PM we were moved down to the maternity floor. Because we had two babies we got our own room, which was nice. Jason was able to get his own bed and he soon fell asleep. I was set up with the boys near by and pillows propping me up. The nurse came by every 2 hours or so to give me pain medication and help me with nursing and bathroom needs. We spent Thursday, Friday, and part of Saturday in this room. I was doing well but being watched because of some liquid that could be in my lungs and my inability to breath in with force. I was also being told that I needed to cough up anything I had in my chest even though it hurt a lot. Visitation was limited due to the spread of the flu. My friend Laura came by on our first day and Mary & Paul came on Friday to spend the day and bring some snacks and take pictures. Apparently I looked pretty pale when they came to visit.



Doctor Young also came by to see how I was doing and to say he was sorry that he hadn’t caught the HELLP syndrome symptoms earlier. I had an atypical presentation and due to the fact that my blood pressure never rose alarmingly this possible syndrome didn’t come up. Each day I felt better and stronger. We were hoping to leave on Saturday because it was Abby’s birthday. We got our wish and were able to leave around noon. It was a little emotional for me because all of a sudden we were totally responsible for these two little beings. I was feeling better but still hurting when I moved too quickly. We picked up Subway for lunch and headed home. Mom brought Abby home and she met her brothers for the first time.

It has been 7 weeks. They have been hard and the boys have grown a lot. I have 2 more weeks until I return to work. Jason will be staying home during the day to take care of the boys and will hopefully be getting a job at night to help with the bills. We are slowly getting back on our feet. Having 3 children is much more difficult than 1 and having twins is much more stressful than a singleton. We’ll keep you posted on the exciting lives of the Lee children and try and be better about posting pictures in the upcoming months. Thank you to everyone for prayers, support and gifts. We love you all.





-Emily

This summer was busy. We spent a lot of time hanging out around the house but doing different things. One of the exciting things that we did this summer was go berry picking. We picked Strawberries in late June and then Blueberries in early August. Blueberry picking was much easier and enjoyable this summer in comparison to last summer. Last year Abby kind of ran around and it was stressful because she wouldn't stick where I could see her. This year she helped picked berries and stayed close by jason and I as we picked 2 flats of berries. I also made my first batch of blueberry jam this summer. It was my first experience with jamming and canning. I have to say that I am feeling pretty good about the end product. Unfortunately it was my one and only time this summer. It took a lot of energy and focus that I didn't have in August due to the growth of the twin boys.


We went camping once this summer as well. It was only a one time occurance because it was very difficult for me to get comfortable sleeping on the ground. It was a great time though. Jason's band, The Benson Beaver Band, was invited to play at the Fletcher Fest, a camping party that is really a get together of a couple and all of their friends. It was a great party. The turn out was good, there was a badminton tournament that Jason participated in, and a bunch of kids that Abby got to play with and hang out with.


We sat front row for the tournament and cheered Jason on. Abby loved drawing and running around with kids her age. We have noticed a great desire that Abby is showing to play with kids her own age. Luckily we have signed her up for pre-school in the fall which will enable her to join in with kids her age and also out of the house.



The coolest thing that we found at the party was this car. Abby was thoroughly entranced by the fact that there was a car that was just her size. It kept her entertained for a long time.


As I was saying things were getting more difficult as the summer went on. It might have something to do with the fact that I was getting bigger and bigger as the twins progressed. Also most of the summer was quite cool and then in August we hit a heat wave. Well atleast a heat wave in comparison to the rest of the summer. As you can see I got pretty huge. This wasn't even the largest.


Abby spent the summer trying some different foods and doing new experiences. Watermelon is one of her new favorite foods. I got a watermelon from the farmer's market and brought it home to share with Abby. We cut into the watermelon expecting to see ripe pink watermelon, instead it was a yellow watermelon. I hadn't ever seen one before. Abby was surprised and not quite sure what to think about the different colored fruit.



Here she is eating waffles, her new favorite breakfast food. She likes it soaked full of syrup.


Most of our summer was spent in our backyard. The pool was the best place ever this summer. I don't know how I would have survived being pregnant this summer without being able to go out to the pool every day. It made me feel human. I continued this pattern even when I returned to school. One week it was colder out of the water than in it but I was so uncomfortable being so large that I had to get in. It was awesome.



Abby loved going in the pool as well. We spent time with the noodles and also just playing around.


Our friends, Heather and her daughter Lauren came over to play a couple of different times. Abby loved having people over, especially to swim in the pool. I think that next year we'll be even more popular & have more people over.


Abby has grown up so much this summer. I can't believe that our little girl is turning 4 in September. She picks up on things right away and although appears not to be listening, can and will tell you exactly what you said. Which can be a bad thing. We definitely have to watch what we are talking about in front of her because she'll ask you about it later.




The summer ended with a party on my birthday. It was a big birthday-30! We were celebrating our upcoming birth of twins, the purchase of our house, & my birthday. It was a good time. Jason gave me a beautiful rose and also finished staining our dining room table. He still needs to put another layer on the table but hopefully by thanksgiving we'll have the table in the house.




As the summer draws to a close, I think that Abby is slowly realizing that things are going to be changing. My belly continues to get huge. She likes to talk to the boys and tell them how she will be a great big sister and teach them lots of different things. She also likes to give my belly zerberts. I think that she believes that the babies can hear/feel the vibrations through my belly.


She frequently asks me if I will feel better after the babies will be born. I know that she is bummed that I don't do as much as I did prior to being pregs. It'll be nice to get out and go and not be carrying a huge belly...now we'll just have 2 more kids to care for. No problem.


One of our last adventures on the summer was to the art hop in burlington. Jason's band was playing an afternoon show on a saturday. So Abby and I headed into town. We spent an enjoyable afternoon listening to the band play and enjoying being outside.

Abby played with her girls and admired Andi's dress. Andi sings in the band. Abby did a little bit of dancing but really just enjoyed the afternoon.



I return to work in late August and did well for the first three weeks. And then it got to be a little bit much. At first I modified my schedule be reduced by 25-50%. By the next week, I was out of work for good. I spent the time trying to relax and be comfortable. I think that Abby enjoys me being around.






My thought is that the boys will be coming soon. Stay tuned. We'll post as soon as we can.

Jason and Abby went to California in July for Sue's wedding. Jason was a little concerned prior to leaving for the trip but from what I heard everything went great. The trip started out with Abby getting to visit the cockpit of the plane. She got to sit up front and talk with the pilot. I thought that this was pretty awesome. I am kind of jealous. She of course loved the attention and Jason thought it was pretty cool as well.




The highlight of the trip out to the west coast was that most of the family got to meet Zoe for the first time. Sue's daughter was born in March and for many of us/ all of us it was the first time that she was met. Zoe is a beautiful baby and apparently loved to have her picture taken. Abby enjoyed meeting her newest cousin but I believe that her cousin Allyson held the most interest for Abby. It was someone that she could play with and have them interact with her as well.




Here the two older girls sat on the floor enjoying ice cream with their uncle Matt. It does look like the coolest place to be. I would have loved to been sitting there with them.



The wedding was a great hit for the whole family but I think the part that most people enjoyed the most was the pinata that was packed and hung and hit the night before the wedding. Abby is still talking about the fun that she had and we are still eating the candy that she brought home with her and it is almost 4 months later.

In between wedding events the family explored the beaches and took many walks enjoying the sun of San Diego. This picture accentuates the length of Jason's beard. It has since been cut but this shows his length.


A parting shot of the girls who had a great time playing in the California sun.

We got 3-D pictures of the twins the other day and wanted to share. The first picture is of Twin A. In the picture you can see his face and his hand right in front of his mouth. There looks to be another arm or something under the baby's chin. i don't know what that is but you can see eyes, nose, mouth, and fisted hand and arm.

The second picture is of Twin B. You can see ear, eyes, nose, and semi-open mouth. Pretty amazing what you can see in these pictures.


Things are going well with the boys. At last measurement they were 2 pounds 10 oz & 2 pounds 6 oz. We will do a measurement on Friday so I am sure we will have more information then.

We have had a busy July. Jason's Brother and his wife, Brian & Kendra came for a visit of the fourth of July and also the third which was Brian's birthday.

Abby made Brian a birthday cake. Under all of those sprinkles it says happy birthday uncle brian. And then Kendra let abby decorate with M & Ms and sprinkles. The M&Ms were strategically placed one by one. then came the sprinkles. A little here, a little there, a little bit more over here...and so it went until the entire bottle of sprinkles was on the frosted cake.

The fourth of July parade consisted of the same floats that they have every year...and yet it never gets old. Brian took loads of pictures. I am going to rifle through mom and dads photos and scan the ones from the 1980s and we'll see how closely they align. Abby had fun playing in the bird bath prior to parade while the rest of us ate yummy sticky buns.

We ended up brian & Kendra's visit with a trip into Burlington. We started out in barnes & noble, ate some pizza at American Flat Bread and rounded out the adventure with free music and wading in one of burlington's fountains and then down to the waterfront to look at the lake.


It was a great time for Abby and for us to see Brian & Kendra. A week later Jason's Mom and Dad came driving over from Michigan. We spent a lot of the week hanging out at our house. Abby decided she wanted to create some balloon animals & hats by herself, which actually turned out really cool







We had dinner with my parents & also Bonnie & Kevin. Dinner was awesome full of yummy food and lots of laughs. Our last full day together we went down to waterbury to visit ben & jerry's and have the tour. Abby loves ice cream so a good time was had by all, except for the ride home but finally everyone in the back seat fell asleep.




The end of July brought a big vacation for Jason and Abby. They headed out to California on the 21st to spend a week with the Lake family for the celebration of Sue's wedding to Alfonso. Hopefully we will have some awesome pictures to put up as soon as they return. I spent the week reading and relaxing. And thinking about weeding the garden...yuck!

Things have been busy so far this summer. Jason is still working at Healthy Living his regular hours and I have been working at Pomykala Farm with Pick-You-Own strawberries. I am done with that which is good because I am definitely starting to feel super pregnant and I still have 3 months to go. Holy Cow. Abby has been enjoying the pool and her swing set at the new house. She truly loves the color pink and wants everything to be pink. She has a pair of pink sunglasses that turn the world pink. I am surprised she doesn't wear them everyday.



Abby has become pretty skilled at her swing set. On the far right she has a swinging bar that she can do flips while holding on to the bar. She also has hung by her legs from the bar. Pretty awesome. I am continually impressed by the things that she is learning and doing. Jason has taught her a couple of words...furious, migration, and extinction. I think her vocabulary is slowly growing.

She also loves music and dancing. She and Mary had a dancing session the other day. It was pretty funny. She is getting really good. We will have to look into a dance class later this summer or fall.

You will notice on her head a crown! She went to the dentist for the 1st time and had a cleaning and did amazing! We were really proud of her.