The Arrival of Jackson and Samson Yoder

Sunday November 3rd marked the last week in Steph's pregnancy. A change from my last blog was that Baby B had pushed Baby A out of the way and took the role of presenting baby. So a vaginal delivery was back on the books. An induction date had been set for Friday November 8, but entering that last week I was suspicious that we would not make it. I'll just start the narrative on Wednesday when things really got underway.

Our midwife had told us Wednesday was the day we could start trying to induce labor ourselves. So Steph kept herself busy and active most of the day. We wanted to have a date night just the two of us before we welcomed our boys into the world. So Wednesday night we went to Jacamos and got some pizza, then came home and enjoyed each other's company. Around 10 p.m. we were in bed and Steph said she thought she felt contractions. I had been procrastinating reading though a pregnancy book by Dr. Robert Bradley and decided that maybe tonight it would be a good idea to go ahead and read a little extra just in case. I finished the chapter on second stage labor and delivery. Satisfied, at about 11 p.m. I drifted off to sleep.

I didn't sleep long, right around mid-night Steph's water broke and it was on. The rush to the hospital was actually somewhat similar to what I have seen in the movies. We threw our bags in the car, Steph had the hospital on the horn, and I grabbed a cold slice of pizza and Pepsi. Less than an hour ago I read the average labor lasts fifteen hours, so I would need energy and caffeine. We made it to the hospital, I dropped Steph off, parked the car, and went up to triage. There we met our on-call doctor.

Since we had to have so many OB appointments, we knew most of the doctors that would be around to deliver us. Most were on board with our plan to give birth naturally, one was not. For the purposes of this blog, we will call her Frau Blucher and she was the doctor on call that night. Frau Blucher did not like me. Some doctors hold tight to the old traditional belief that if fathers must be seen at all during pregnancies, they are better seen not heard. She was one of them. She was also very keen on a C-section, even after other staff had determined that a vaginal birth was probable and most desirable. I don't judge her too harshly about that, she has good reason. Many people have sued hospitals over deliveries that went wrong and she was just trying to protect herself. However, she was not the ideal doctor to have around and I crossed my fingers we would make it past 7 a.m. when new staff would rotate in.

I met a yawning Frau Blucher outside our room and we exchanged icy cold greetings. She had us sign a consent to C-section and went back to her nap, while we made our way to labor and delivery. We then began what is nicknamed the "putsy putsy" stage of labor. Steph and I shuffled around the floor looking at pictures on the walls and pausing for contractions. This stage didn't last long, we made about one lap and returned to our room where Steph would spend the rest of her labor.

Around 3 a.m. our midwife Ame showed up and there was much celebration. Ame is experienced, knowledgeable, connected, and wanted a natural birth for our babies. She was our advocate to the rest of the hospital and wanted to be personally involved. She somehow even overruled Frau Blucher and her cesarean schemes. She made all the preparations so we could focus on laboring.

My job during labor was to keep Steph's mind right and offer up as much encouragement as possible. Fortunately I had made it far enough in my pregnancy book to know a few relaxation coaching methods. So I employed all the weapons I had in my arsenal to keep Steph calm and relaxed so as to reduce the pain of each contraction. Steph was a champ. A complete model of concentration and relaxation.

7 a.m. came. Frau Blucher was replaced and the new doctor checked in on us in our room. We knew her and liked her. She told us we would be delivering vaginally and was even on board if the second baby needed to be delivered breach. We talked and determined that when the time came, the doctor would try to a rare maneuver to flip the second baby after the successful delivery of the first.

Our plans made, we continued to labor and Steph quickly advanced toward 10 cm. dilation. She actually reached that point at about 11:30 a.m and felt the urge to push. The time had come to make it happen.

Having identical twins means that you are a high risk pregnancy and so delivery is made in an operating room instead of delivery room. For me, this meant putting on a sterile hazmat suit so that nothing on me would infect Stephanie. Also, because we were having twins, there needed to be not one but two complete birthing teams present. Methodist is a learning hospital with lots of residents and many wanted to be present to learn from our birth. Add our midwife, nurses, NICU team, and a anesthesiologist, I estimated the grand total of people present to be around sixteen.

I was facing the opposite way of Stephanie and could see all these people observing us. It was like our delivery was a sporting event except everyone in the stands was smarter than me, made more money than me, and knew how to play the game better. Steph was oblivious to it all and focused on pushing these babies out. So we got underway.

One of the more humorous aspects of delivery was the background music. Steph had put in her birth plan that she wanted to listen to music from her ipod, specifically Hillsong Live's new album. In the operating room they didn't have the adapter necessary to play her ipod. That didn't deter our nurses though. They got on the internet, pulled up grooveshark, and tried to find some Hillsong for her. We got some Hillsong, but mostly not. Throughout the whole thing we listened to a combination of cheesy 90's christian pop, Christmas carols, hymns, and Espanol Hillsong. Turns out it didn't mater as Steph was so focused she didn't hear the music.

Focused doesn't even begin to describe Stephanie during delivery. She was a natural birthing obstetricianal athlete! While she labored she tried three different positions, including one where she was squatting on the floor. When she announced to the team she was moving to the floor, they all looked at each other, shrugged and made it happen. I think Ame was actually on her knees at one point in the ready-catch position. Steph declined all drugs for pain, pitocin, and epidurals. Like a birthing beast, she pushed until we saw the head of the first baby. Shortly after, at 12:34 p.m., Jackson came sliding out.

It was amazing. The moment he came out and I knew I was a father, I was so overcome with excitement that I actually let out a triumphant yell and scared some of the young residents. I can't think of any time in my life when I had felt such elation.

I cut the cord, Ame put him on Steph's chest, and the two on hand doctors started performing the flip on the second baby. It looked like they were putting gentle pressure on opposite sides until he flipped head down. Now it was time to push again.

Strengthened and encouraged by her success so far, Steph pushed with new energy. She even made a joke or two with the nurses between contractions. It didn't take long. At 12:56, Samson started to emerge.

This is actually where things got scary. As his shoulders came out, Steph's contraction stopped. Me and another nurse were on opposite sides of Steph holding her legs. From that position, I could see it happening and his blue expressionless face was looking right up at me. I heard Ame say something about the cord wrapped around his shoulders and she told Steph she needed to push right now. Without a contraction, Steph bore down and forced his body out. There was no cry from Samson. I had read enough to know that was a bad sign. Ame immediately had me cut the cord and then carried his limp body to the NICU team. The moment he hit the bed they went to work reviving him. I couldn't tell you how long it took, probably less than a minute, but they got a weak cry out of him. Relief poured over me when they brought him over and set him on Steph's chest.

The placenta passed no problem. Steph was with it and didn't require any stitches. Steph, the nurses, Ame, and myself happily made our way back to our room. Jackson came back with us. Samson had to spend a few hours in the NICU just to be observed, but would soon rejoin us too with a clear bill of health. For the rest of the day, I rode an emotional high amplified by my lack of sleep. We stayed at Methodist for another day and then went home as a family.

I will end this blog by saying first off that God showed up. I have never prayed so many times in twelve hours. I love my wife and twin boys. The staff at Methodist was amazingly skilled and I would recommend them to anybody. Without them, we would not have had such an amazing birth. I am now a Father and feel like a different man from when I first started writing this blog eight months ago. I want to thank all of you who supported us with encouragement, gifts, and prayers. We feel so loved it overwhelms us. If you want to see the boys, give us a jingle and swing by. I hope you enjoyed my blog.

 

The Waiting Game

Since its fall break, I finally have the free time to sit down and record some thoughts on here. Good thing too, because we are two to three weeks away from the big day. Waiting is the name of the game at this point.

The last ultrasound we had gave us some game changing news in that the presenting baby is breached. Some doctors may be comfortable with delivering a singleton baby breach, but they don't even mess around with breached twins and will always choose a C-section. Neither the nurses nor the midwife seemed impressed with my double handed reach, grab, and pull birthing idea. So provided Baby A doesn't pull another fast one and flip around the right way, we will most likely be having a scheduled birth time.

This news has admittedly upset us slightly, as we were preparing for a natural birth and are aware of the benefits of natural birth versus C-section. But God will be in control of the whole process and has a better view of things where he is at, so we are trusting in Him.

Life around the house seems to be in a holding pattern. The slanted autumn sunlight shinning in the many windows around the house and the browning of the various plant life outside, provide a kind of lonely atmosphere for us to wait for the rest of our family to arrive. The nesting is in full affect. The baby room is painted, organized, and completely empty. The car seats are already installed. Outlet plugs inserted appropriately. Diapers organized in the closet. Diaper bags stocked. Hospital bag packed. Hospital route planned. Paternity leave paper work done. Now we just twiddle our thumbs.

One area of change currently undergoing is in our vehicles. Basically, we need to replace them all. I met this notion at first with angry denial, because my beloved Ford Ranger 4x4 is not necessarily twin friendly and will have to go. Installing car seats in the bed, I am told, has not been culturally acceptable since the 60s. So the Ranger is currently in Indiana Auto/RV and also on craigslist. Combine that with the sale of my motorcycle, any evidence of my old bachelor lifestyle will be all but erased.

Since we have the car seats installed, we have discovered that our Hyndai Elandra is ridiculously small and will need to be replaced too. To accommodate the size of the child car seats in the back, it is necessary to move the drivers seat so far forward that if I were inclined to, I could clean the top of my knee cap with my tongue. I will miss this vehicle much less than my truck and bike. Don't get me wrong, it has been a great dependable and affordable car. But the interior is made of dollar store plastic, only one of the power windows works, and mother nature has had her way with the paint job. We plan on upgrading to a boat of a car that we can pay for with cash. Stylish and chic will not be factors considered in this replacement vehicle. Bench seats, giant interior, and spatial displacement will be.

So we wait. Eager to meet our twin boys. Hopefully, this will be my second to last blog in this thread. The last one announcing the successful and healthy birth of our boys. Prayers for us are very welcome at the moment and any encouragement for Steph would not be wasted effort either.

Baby Showers: Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

As I pause for a moment to think back to when I decided to start writing down my thoughts on this pregnancy, it seems like that first blog was written in a different life. And we still have 8 weeks to go. So much has transpired, even since my last blog, that I need to review my old posts to remember what I wrote about. The topic was moving to our new house, it seems like we've been here forever already but that was only a month ago. Anyways, lets get on with all that is current.

Stephanie's center of gravity has been firmly established just above her hips and is the cause for many new adjustments in the way she goes about her day. In the mornings, telling a mountain to move from one place to the other is easy compared to the task of prying Steph from her bed. More often than not, my T-shirts offer much more comfort than her pre-pregnancy ones. From the moment she steps out of bed, I too must be on my toes. The steady diet of breakfast bacon that sustains my wife and boys also gives the smoke detector something to shout about (I am the only one tall enough to reach it). Usually that wakes me up. If not, the mental vigilance required to operate our shower will do the trick. After that I'm out the door. Steph does a half day of work before coming home and using what energy she has left to complete a task or two. In a crowded mall of women, you'll pick her out easily. She will be the one whose belly moves side to side like a pendulum as she waddles from store to store sending teenagers, moms, and senior citizens scrambling. Those who aren't fast enough get belly-bumped with enough force to clear the gumball machines. The maternity department at Gap calls for backup and everyone else trying to sell something better have chocolate to seal the deal. (Okay so I am exaggerating a little here but I hope you get the picture).

The babies are healthy, head down, and weighing in at a whopping 2 lbs 9 oz and 2 lbs 2 oz, which makes their combined weight about the same as a full term singleton.

We have been blessed with great friends and family. They threw us three awesome baby showers. I now consider myself somewhat proficient at attending baby showers as we were thrown three different types of showers. All three were great.

The first was thrown by my side of the family at Grandma Yoder's house. It was co-ed and the highlight of that one besides Grandma's mac n' cheese was the trivia game covering numerous topics from Saved By the Bell to Steph and I. There was laughter and there was tears. We spent the rest of the afternoon fellowshipping and enjoying each other's company.

The second was thrown by Steph's side at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Arenzville. This one was ladies only. I was informed there is certain protocol men are to follow at Nobis/Hendricker showers. I was to carry any heavy items down to the basement. Once that task is done, I can make quick chit-chat with the ladies, but should soon make myself scarce. I made my appearance then left. The women then freely shared their common experiences as only women can and celebrated Steph's pregnancy. Eventually, I was hailed via text to haul away the giftss and help with the clean up. Our car was crammed full of baby goodies.

The third was thrown by our good friends the Hoot's and Morey's in Bloomington, Illinois. Their shower was a co-ed open house, where anyone who was in town was free to come and stop by from 1-4 pm. They decked out the house in ribbons and had an array of homemade sweets to choose from. Note cards and crayons were placed in strategic areas to jot down words of wisdom for us to remember. We left Bloomington with our hearts full from reconnecting with so many close friends we don't get to see anymore.

To the men reading this blog, if you will soon go through this process, here are some pearls of wisdom I took away from my experience you may care to remember:

• With enough diapers, ribbon, and craft wire you can create almost anything.
• A quick escape to the basement for a beer with other males is a good way to renew your vigor for the remainder of the shower.
• There will be many treats at the shower. The size of your wife's belly by this point will ensure that any food that doesn't make it into her mouth will end up on her blouse. A change of clothes or wet wash cloth is a good item to bring along.
• Get used to other people feeling up your wife's belly.
• While standing next to your wife, the conversations with many guests will inevitably stray to the hardships pregnancy brings. Make no mistake, as a man none of these conversations are directed at you. A knowing nod is the best course of action here. Your wife knows the meaning of discomfort far better than you do.
• Guard the words from your mouth. One comment said the wrong way, will quickly turn a room full of smiling women into your worst nightmare.
• Keep cards with their corresponding gifts so you know who to send thank you notes to.
• Have fun.

The Yoder Family Moves

My wife beaming and happily painting our hallway.

 

 Mid-July we finally closed on the house we'd been interested in and a good riddance to the whole home buying process. We spent almost half a year preparing to find a house and a year saving up like fiends for a big down payment. After taking the fast and crazy route, I would recommend the slow and steady route to anyone buying a house. Houses haunted my dreams. In July we emerged from the battle victorious, me a little wired with bags under my eyes and Stephanie breathing hard from hauling the rest of our family around.

We closed on a Friday and we had one week to get everything done before moving day. We bought a foreclosure. Though move-in ready, the list of things to do was pretty lengthy. So we went to work doing everything we didn't want to do with furniture in there. Priority number one was painting. Steph put the colors together and even did a decent amount of painting. Her current condition however limited her physical stamina. So we relied heavily on our gracious cousins Jimmy and Tasha to give us some much needed man power.

Rooms painted, my next priority was to get the water heater running. It is a tank less one by Bosch and at the time of purchase it was not working. I downloaded the instruction manual and figured out how to run the thing and fired it up. We now had hot water at all the taps. "Problem solved" I thought to myself. Then I tried to take a shower. From the tub faucet, the hot water flows at a trickle compared to the blast of the cold water. Should you choose to shower, your options are hot water with the cold water tap off or let the cold water overwhelm the hot water. There is no in between. I chose a hot shower. The searing pain of the near boiling water would not last long, because three minutes into my shower the hot water pressure began to decrease. Two minutes later, I was huddled under the feeble dribbles sputtering from the shower head trying to rinse the shampoo from my hair and eyes without scalding my corneas. Honestly, it was one of the most invigorating showers I've ever taken and I was ready to go! Steph on the on ther hand, discouraged by my painful utterances, was not in the mood to be awoken that rudely and decided she would forgo showering for as long as possible. Currently, the water temperature in the shower is something we are still in the process of fixing.

Hot showers or no, the move-in day still came a week later. I can't express how blessed Stephanie and I felt with all the friends and family that came to help us move. We alone, could not do it. Steph is forbidden from lifting anything heavier than her Tervis Tumbler and I am not capable of single handedly moving a solid oak roll top desk. We had everything moved out of the apartment and hauled to the house by noon. The Yoder and Nobis mothers prepared us an amazing lunch, so we had a quick break and enjoyed the company around us. Thanks to everyone's help and the White's giant trailer, we were all moved in by two.

Living in a house is divine! So quiet, no sirens, trains, or Mexican hat dance music. And I finally have the outdoor and garage space to go nuts with all the stuff I wan to do. At night, I crouch down in our backyard, listen to the crickets and enjoy the quiet beauty that surrounds me. My delight in our new abode is slightly checked however by the fact that this place is not really mine. The Lord has given us a piece of land and a house to live in. Should He require us to be somewhere different, He will give it all to someone else and we will happily move along. Daily, I remind myself to prioritize my life in this order: God, Family, everything else. Our house does not fall into the first two categories and so I must not hold too tightly to it. In the end, the will of God outweighs my desire for a quiet peaceful home to live in. None-the-less, I think I can allow myself to take a little bit of pleasure in it all and bask in the glow of being a homeowner.

   

The Case for Conveyor Belt Walkways at Baby's R Us

Calm down now ladies, the conveyor belt is for me. A means to drag my exhausted carcass through the land of overpriced pacifiers is one of many things I find myself in want of lately. In my mind's eye, I imagine a slew of previously energetic and alert husbands now half dead, sprawled out and rolling along at a pathetic 2 mph. Their determination and eagerness defeated by countless product comparisons and the earth's gravity. Progress is now determined by the rotating black belt that hauls them from department to department. They never stood a chance. If Baby's R Us is smart, they'll have the bar codes of the most expensive items planted along the belt's path. 

I promise not to be cynical for this entire blog. Preparation for parenting has opened up a new world of experiences for me lately and I thought it'd be best for me to process my new world through writing. If nothing else, it'll give my future shrink a starting point to work from. Most notable is the creation of our baby registries. Say what you want about how boring it is to go imaginary shopping for nothing but baby stuff, but if it wasn't for a baby registry we wouldn't be able to get half the stuff our kids need. To be honest, parts of it weren't that bad at all. Registering for furniture was actually interesting enough because you have different wood options and styles to choose from. Car seats, strollers, and things that have safety regulations are mind numbing to shop for. Is it wrong to be excited for my man colored diaper backpack? For those of you males who still have to do this, I found that when I was determined to stay engaged and weed out the weakest items I was able to enjoy myself. It wasn't until we began shopping for the countless little things, that my stamina finally failed me. It might be best to let your wife pick out these items later at home on the internet, that way she can color coordinated them easier.

In the rest of my time lately I've been contemplating how my lifestyle will change with the arrival of these two boys. Though I'm still working during the summer, I have lots of time to myself. These pleasant hours will most likely cease and instead be filled with the duties of fatherhood. I definitely haven't been utilizing my last kid-free days like I should. I've had many goals for this summer which largely have not been realized. Instead other responsibilities have presented themselves and I've squandered my remaining free time with mindless computer games and movies. I'll find my self determination again, but I probably won't have the free time I do now. Yet I am still resolute to avoid turning into the haggardly tired parents who have completely absorbed themselves in their jobs and kids lives until they leave for college. Its not that I don't want to be involved with my kids lives, I just don't want unnecessary obligations to take time away from higher priorities like my faith and loving my wife. I'm a bit of an idealist though and so we'll see how all this pans out.

So in closing, I'm excited for the upcoming baby showers and encourage everyone to go online and buy us stuff. Live long and prosper. 

Chickens Coming Home to Roost

    The status of my wife (Stephanie) is as follows: She is currently entering her 16th week of pregnancy and is embracing the baby bump the Lord blessed her body with. School let out the last week of May and so she no longer has to struggle through full work days. She now spends most of her time preserving her valuable energy for the growing babies in her belly and has become a follower of many day time television shows. Friday she took her EIPA (educational interpreters performance assessment) and passed with flying colors. Challenges of daily life include finding creative ways to get as many calories into her body as possible and  avoiding her cravings to purchase the charming diapers she finds on the internet. I have attached the most recent picture of her and our babies below. Notice the delightful glow to her complexion as the joy of child bearing radiates from the center of her being.

   As far as updates in my life are concerned, I too have a break from education for two months and am now working as a concrete finisher with Visions in Hardscapes in Indianapolis. Life has kept me busy with church, buying a house, concrete, soccer, reading, car troubles, and the various events that take me out of town. Last week I participated in a great youth leadership summit (C.L.A.S.S.) in Goshen and got some air time (my backside) on the local news. Yesterday evening was spent basking in the glow of my mechanical prowess as I successfully replaced our Hyundai's alternator. Next weekend I will enjoy celebrating the wedding of my youngest sister Carmen.

   The title of this blog is in reference to some exciting new discoveries with our babies, their penises. We are having boys! Steph had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday which included an ultrasound. I was unable to attend due to the leadership summit three hours away I had committed to. During the appointment, the doctor was able to determine the sex of the babies. Anticipating this possibility, Steph had brought an envelope in which she had the doctor deposit the ultrasound pictures and the gender of the babies without telling her the sex. When I got home late Wednesday night, we sat down and opened it together and found out at the same time.

  Since then, many of the people we have told have made some type of remark to me getting payback for being such an unwieldy child. The title is the one my father-in-law dubbed on me. I'd like to think my youth was spent in playful bliss without burdening my parents too much with rambunctiousness. But truth is in the eye of the beholder, so I might be getting what I deserve after all.

   I am personally very excited at the opportunity to raise two boys at the same time. If the Lord has his way, they will be big brother teammates to any other siblings we spawn and help lead them through life's many challenges. If society has its way, they will star on COPS every Saturday accompanied by their proud father sporting a stained white tank top, drooling and unconscious face down on our front lawn.      

Twins?

You know that feeling you get when the ground drops from under you, time slows, and all of your senses have been consumed by what you're staring at right in front of you? I was introduced to that feeling Wednesday.

I mentioned in an earlier blog, that Steph and I would be participating in a study through IU Hospital that would result in groundbreaking advances in the medical field and hundreds of years worth of knowledge for future expecting couples. Oh you don't remember me saying all that? That's because I didn't. I was in it for the gift cards and free car seat we were getting from the deal. Wednesday was scheduled our first appointment. We were to sign some paper work and take the first of many ultra sounds of our baby. Steph is only thirteen weeks along and so this is happening way before the most couples get their first ultra-sound. I was mildly excited to see our baby. I thought it would still be a tadpole or something. I was holding my excitement for the one where we find out the sex.

My lukewarm enthusiasm is about to be ambushed by life and I didn't even know it. I'll just go through the dialogue that occurred between the female technician, Steph, and myself as we underwent the ultra-sound:

Steph: Oh that gel is cold.
Tech: And there is your baby.
Steph: Wow look at how much its moving.
Me: Hey there. Look at its arm move. That's awesome.
Tech: There's two in there...
Steph: (silence)
Me: What?

I wish I could convey what was happening to my body at this moment, I don't really know what to compare it to. This was different than the first time I found out I was going to be a father and I had to let it sink in. This time, the moment she said those words, I instantly had complete comprehension of what they meant. A warm sensation went through my entire body and I had to sit down. I kept staring at the ultra-sound screen. My eyes must have been huge because the technician started laughing at me.

Here's the facts: We have two babys. Baby A is .02 cm longer than Baby B. Baby B has a faster heart beat than Baby A. We don't know the gender of either one. They share the same placenta, but are in separate sacks. They will be identical twins. We are VERY excited. We are going to have our hands full.

So we have yet another reason to praise the Lord. We can no longer participate in the IU study because it is only for singletons. The picture below is of the ultra-sound and both babies. Now I must go and prepare another meal for Stephanie because with twins she must eat the same calorie count as Michael Phelps.