It has been a great week!

     It has been over a week since our little loves were born, and they have been keeping us very busy!! Brett and Emma are really good babies. Brian and I could not have been more blessed. They eat about every 3 hours and rarely cry. When they start wiggling around we know it is time for a diaper change and some food in their cute little bellies. They do not sleep through the night, but they stick to their schedule which really helps us! Brian and I take turns getting up and we work together as a really great team. I couldn't imagine doing this with anyone else in the world. 

     Things at home aren't quite as we had planned. Because I had to have a c-section, we have been sleeping downstairs. Brian brought a bassinet down from our bedroom and we already had a pack-n-play set up in the living room. So Brett and Emma have been sleeping in those while we sleep on the couch. I cannot wait to get upstairs into our big comfy bed, but this is working out really well right now. It is going to be hard to put the babies in their nursery when we move upstairs, I am so used to having them so close to us! I guess that is why we bought the bassinets in the first place, I knew I would want them in our room for a little while. It makes the nighttime feedings easier, and we just like having them close by. 

     We have been taking a lot of pictures over the last few days and I will get them on here as soon as I get them all uploaded. But here are a few to hold everyone over for now! 

Emma right after she was born.

Uncle Heath (Brian's brother) holding Brett when he was an hour old!

Emma in her cute outfit when we were leaving the hospital. 

She wasn't too happy here!

I love this outfit on Brett. It says "Mommy's peanut!" This was taken when we were leaving the hospital.

Our first day at home and they were holding hands in the pack-n-play!! This is the most adorable picture, ever!! 

Daddy playing a trick on Brett and giving him bunny ears!

     We have really been enjoying our time at home. Brian went back to work for a few hours today and after this weekend he will probably be back to his regular schedule. Having him home has been so much fun. I wish our little family could always be this way but I guess someone has to work :) Luckily I won't be going back to work until August, but I know that is going to be very hard! I thought leaving my students was tough, I cannot imagine leaving my babies! 

     A lot of people have been asking us how the dogs are adjusting to the babies. I think they are doing fantastic! Rocco and Rusty are very curious but they are acting like their typical selves. I am sure they are a little jealous of all the attention the babies get, but we found a great doggy day care that we can take them to. They get to play with other dogs, and there are even video cameras so we can check on them during the day and see them play! I think we will start taking Rusty one or two days a week so she can get exercise and have fun with the other dogs. I am not sure about Rocco, I don't think he gets as much out of it. At home, he usually just lounges around. 

Rocco loves to curl up on the couch cushions!

     Rusty has been a little more productive around here. While we are busy changing diapers and warming bottles, she has been catching up on our e-mails for us. Don't be offended if she doesn't get back to you right away. It takes her a while to type since she doesn't have opposable thumbs! 

     So that is what we have been up to lately. Staying busy with the babies and enjoying every minute of it. It has really been a lot easier than I could have imagined. Sometimes it is tough getting up at 3 and 6 in the morning, but seeing my little pumpkins smile makes it totally worth it! 

Two Boksen babies are here -- the birth!

It has been a little while since I last posted a blog. Well, a lot has happened since then :) I will start with the birth of Brett and Emma. It was long...so prepare yourself if you intend on reading this entry. I will spare a few details but this might be TMI for some, or just uninteresting.

Last Monday morning (1/31) Brian and I went to see my OB and find out why I was still pregnant! It was a good appointment. Babies looked great and we scheduled another induction for Wednesday morning (38 weeks, 6 days) . I would come in Tuesday night to start the cervidil and hopefully things would progress more quickly than last time. I am sure you can imagine Brian and I were excited but at the same time questioning what the outcome would be of all this. We told the doctor that we needed a "backup plan" this time! We were not leaving the hospital without babies. He laughed and promised they would be coming out, one way or another!

I think the babies finally started feeling guilty for making us wait so long because Tuesday morning around 6:30AM my water broke spontaneously! I had been laying in bed for over an hour with back pains and was flipping from side to side. After a few minutes I felt what I thought might be my water breaking so I stood up to go to the bathroom and check. When I stood up I knew my water had definitely broken, it was sort of like in the movies - well, a little less dramatic. I woke Brian up immediately and he was a mix of emotions. He was excited, scared, nervous...it was very cute to see him so frantic. I called my doctor and he said to go to the hospital. YAY -- we were having babies! Brian walked our dogs and gave them food and water while I got dressed and finished grabbing a few things to take to the hospital.

On the way to the hospital Brian was getting annoyed at every car on the road! Even though I was in labor, I had to keep him calm. I guess we never expected this to actually happen this way. We had planned to be at the hospital at 11:30PM that night and had already made one other scheduled trip to labor and delivery. But it seems Brett and Emma were coming on their own time and this was finally it!

By 8:00AM I was checked in to the hospital and laying in a bed in a delivery suite. I was started on pitocin a little while later to get my contractions stronger so I could go into more active labor. My doctor warned me that the pitocin would cause very strong and painful contractions and that I should get my epidural sooner rather than later. I knew for sure I would be getting an epidural so I went ahead and had it ordered. When the epidural came I was so scared and nervous, but it was painless and quick! I promise!! Just a quick pinch in my back and I was numb from the top of my stomach down to my hip area. The nurses told me I shouldn't feel any pain from the contractions but that I would feel pressure when the babies were coming. I would still be able to push through labor but it would not be too painful. I could handle that! Once the epidural was in I had to stay in bed. I watched TV, read, played Words With Friends (thanks Tressa and Brian!), and listened to everyone tell me how boring I was! The time went on and on and every few hours my doctor would pop in to see how my labor was progressing. It was moving very very slow. I had only dilated a couple of centimeters but my contractions were coming very close together and lasting over a minute each. My doctor and nurses told me 4cm was the golden number. Once I was 4cm dilated labor would speed up. Every time I had my cervix checked, I was hoping to hear that number! But instead I kept hearing "2cm" over and over. And then "3 cm." I was being checked every two hours and it was discouraging to have been making no progress between checks. Also, I was starving! I hadn't eaten anything since dinner the night before, and I was not allowed to eat or drink the whole day. Brian was being a trooper and hadn't really eaten anything either, even though I packed him snacks and told him to just eat! Finally around 9PM he went to the cafeteria to get some food.

When Brian left the room...the action started! I was hooked up to some monitors that watched the babies' heartbeats and my contractions. There was a yellow box that showed where the babies' heartbeats should be. Out of nowhere Brett's heartbeat dipped out of the box, way down to the bottom of the screen. My older sister, Kathleen, was visiting me and noticed it right away. She started freaking out and panicking but I told her to relax, I was sure everything was fine. And if there was a problem my nurse would come in and check on me. I guess I was way too relaxed because within a minute three nurses ran in. They unhooked my pitocin and told me to roll onto my side. I guess the contractions were getting to be too much for Brett. They were too close together and the babies were not getting a break in between. After just a minute his heartbeat went back to normal. My pitocin dose was lowered and everything seemed to go right back to normal. Phew! I think Kathleen was still pretty freaked out, but I really trusted that the nurses knew what they were doing. A few minutes later, my doctor came in for another cervix check. I crossed my fingers! What was my lucky number going to be?!! A 4? 5? NOPE! He said I was maybe 4 cm, but it was more like 3. Ughh! I thought I was going to be in labor until the next day. It was already 9:30PM and my water broke at 6:30AM...so it had already been 15 hours. Not that I should complain. The epidural had made it a very easy labor. My doctor told me if I had not had the epidural, there was no way I could have made it 8 hours with how many contractions I was having. That was a relief, I guess.

Brian was still out of the room at this time. He had been in the room with me all day and the second he leaves things start to get interesting! Poor guy. I figured my doctor would come back in a few hours to check me again, but I was wrong. He told me I would need to have a c-section! WHAT?! Since my water broke so long ago, there was a risk of infection. My labor wasn't going anywhere even though my contractions were regular. I asked him when the c-section would be (tomorrow morning?) and he said right now! An anesthesiologist would be in to talk to me and within 30 minutes I would be in the operating room. My mom and sister started texting and calling Brian, he was still gone! I couldn't believe it. After all this time, I was going to have a c-section. This is what I avoided doing an entire week ago! So all the waiting was sort of for nothing.

When Brian finally got back into the room it was about time to leave for surgery. I could not believe we were about to finally meet our little babies!!! The next few minutes went by so fast. I was wheeled into the operating room and Brian had to wait outside for a few minutes. My epidural was turned up and I was numb and ready to go! Brian came in and stood next to me and held my hand while we waited for everything to begin. There was a big curtain in front of me and I couldn't see anything, but Brian was able to see everything! And he even got some of it on video. I could watch the video a hundred times, it is so cool. From the time the doctor started cutting to the time the babies were out was probably less than ten minutes. My doctor showed me the babies real quick and they were taken over to a table to be examined. Brian went with them to the other side of the room and I was able to see everything from the table. It was pretty cool. Brian left with the babies to go to the nursery for a little while. I was cleaned up and taken to a recovery room. Within 30 minutes our little family was reunited and we were taken to the mother baby suite, where we stayed for 3 nights.

Brett Owen Boksen was born at 10:32 PM. He was 19 3/4 inches long and 6 lbs, 6 oz.

Emma Zoey Boksen was born at 10:33 PM. She was 19 3/4 inches long and 7 lbs.

Both babies were healthy and able to come right to the room with us after their check-ups and baths. They truly are beautiful and are keeping Brian and I so busy. We love just looking at them and are falling more and more in love with them all the time. We are lucky to be parents and to have such healthy and beautiful babies. They are a week old and the time has gone by so fast!

Home with no babies! Ughh!

Here is a summary of our night/day in labor and delivery. It didn't turn out as we expected...

I went in last night as planned and had cervidil inserted into my closed cervix (PAINFUL!) After a few hours I was still not sleeping and having contractions every 1-2 minutes and even though they were not intense, I could not sleep. At 4AM I was checked again and was 1cm and 70% effaced. The nurse put a little something in my IV to help me "relax" and I fell asleep for a few hours. Around 8AM my doctor came in and checked me again, my cervix had made no progress. Because of all the contractions I was having, she did not want to give me another cervidil. She also did not need to give me pitocin because I was obviously already having contractions.

So we were sort of stuck, waiting for my cervix to dilate. So we went walking around the delivery floor some and I bounced around on an exercise ball. I was checked about two more times before 1:00PM and still there was no progress. My doctor wanted me to be 3-4cm dilated before she could break my water. She said I would need an epidural for her to break my water before 3cm and once that was inserted I would be "committed" to staying in L&D for the labor, which she thought would be at least two days. Her strong suggestion was that I go home and come back when my contractions are strong enough that I need to breathe through them or when my water breaks.

She saw no reason for a c-section because the babies are doing great and would be fine to stay in for a little while longer. It is pretty disappointing but Brian and I know it is for the best. There is no reason for me to have surgery or be miserable in the hospital when our babies are healthy and still enjoying their current home.

It just SUCKS! I thought a scheduled induction was our guarantee, but I guess even a scheduled induction can have to be re-scheduled. So now I am trying to go into labor on my own and I see the doctor Monday to check my cervix and reschedule round #2, if needed. I know a c-section is a possibility, which is OK with me, but it might be worth waiting it out to avoid it.

I am still having contractions but they aren't strong. I am looking forward to a nice long walk with Brian, spicy food, and all the other ways to naturally induce labor that people have been telling me. There is one thing we still haven't tried...and tonight is the night. So be thinking of us :)

The final countdown!! :)

This is my last pre-baby post! Please excuse any formatting problems, I am experimenting with Blogger on my iPhone. Brian and I checked into labor and delivery around 11 tonight and are very excited. I should be getting some sleep but I am hooked up to an IV and all kinds of monitors so it is a little tough. Our labor room is so big and nice! It is a private suite with a bed for me, a pullout couch, a TV, shower, some chairs and drawers. When I am in active labor we will be moved to an operating room in case there is a need for a c-section. Brian and I weren't planning on having anyone else in the room during the actual delivery process, but that decision was already made for us when they said only one person could accompany me in the OR. Of course that would be Brian! So it looks like we were making the right decision all along.

I was told that I couldn't have any food or water after midnight so Brian and I stopped for dinner at Olive Garden on the way to the hospital. I was looking forward to the soup and salad all day, and it was delicious!

It is about 1:30AM and I'm going to be checked in a few hours to see how things are progressing :) hopefully things are moving quick!!!

Pre-delivery poll!!

How far along? 37 weeks, 6 days

Total weight gain/loss: 59 lbs

Maternity clothes? Yes. But I'm currently wearing a hospital gown :)

Stretch marks? I guess I have been pretty lucky that my stretch marks have contained themselves to just the basic areas. Although I heard they can get worse after delivery, I hope that is not the case for me.

Sleep: Not much! Between my back, the babies moving, and having to go to the bathroom all night -- I have been sleeping in 2-3 hour stretches at the most.

Best moment this week: Spending time together with Brian and just enjoying each other.

Movement: They are still moving so much, but they are really cramped for space in there

Food cravings: Chocolate was really the only craving I had, and it wasn't until the end.

Gender: One boy and one girl!

Labor Signs: I didn't think so, but after being on the hospital monitor for less than an hour, the nurse said I had 3 contractions. I didn't even realize I was having them.

Belly Button in or out? Out and it pokes through my clothes.

What I miss: Sleep!

What I am looking forward to: Meeting the babies TOMORROW!!!

Weekly Wisdom: try to relax :)

Milestones: Checking in to labor and delivery.

Thank you so much for all the love!! People have been calling, texting, e-mailing, and facebooking to let us know they are thinking of us and praying for us. We are truly blessed to have so many great friends and such a supportive family. Thank you for thinking of us! :)

My next post will have baby pictures, can you believe it??!?

Monday morning...

No babies!

If you are wondering if I have had the babies yet, please feel free to check out

www.haveyouhadthatbabyyet.com. :)

Trust me, I am trying here! But nothing is working. People have all these ideas about naturally inducing labor, but it just isn't in the cards for me!

One interesting technique is to eat eggplant parmesan. Sounds easy enough...because it is delicious!! So I followed a recipe that I found from a restaurant in Georgia. Supposedly hundreds of babies have been born within 48 hours of eating this. They have all the adorable pictures to prove it. So I gave it a shot. Technically I still have around 12 hours to go, but I am not holding my breath.

In case you are interested in the recipe I used, here it is!

Ingredients

3 medium sized eggplants

1 cup flour

6 eggs, beaten

4 cups fine Italian bread crumbs, seasoned

Olive oil for sauteing

8 cups of marinara sauce (recipe below)

1/2 cup grated Romano cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 pounds of mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 cups of ricotta cheese

Directions

1. After you wash the eggplant, slice them into 1/4-inch thick slices. You may choose to peel the eggplant before you slice it. However, you may want to leave the skin on since it contains a lot of vitamins.

2. Place the eggplant slices on a layer of paper towels and sprinkle with a little salt, then cover with another layer of paper towels and hold it down with something heavy to drain the excess moisture. Let them sit for about an hour.

3. Working with one slice of eggplant at a time, dust with flour, dip in beaten eggs, then coat well with breadcrumbs.

4. Saute in preheated olive oil on both sides until golden brown.

5. In baking dish, alternate layers of marinara sauce, eggplant slices, ricotta, parmesan and Romano cheeses, until you fill the baking dish, about 1/8 inch from the top. Cover with shredded mozzarella cheese, and bake for 25 minutes in a 375 degree oven. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Scalini's Marinara Sauce

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons of chopped garlic

3 Tablespoons of olive oil

8 cups chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned)

1 cup onions, chopped

1/2 cup of fresh chopped parsley

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper

1/8 cup of fresh chopped sweet basil

Pinch of thyme

Pinch of rosemary

One teaspoon salt

One teaspoon black pepper

Directions

1. Lightly saute the onions in olive oil in large pot for a few minutes.

2. Add garlic and saute another minute.

3. Add tomatoes and bring sauce to a boil, then turn heat low.

4. Add remaining ingredients, stir, cover and let simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally.

Recipe courtesy of John Bogino, Scalini's Italian Restaurant, Smyrna, Ga.

www.scalinis.com

I did have some modifications, maybe that is why it didn't work! I did not fry the eggplant, instead I broiled them for about 4 minutes on each side to get them a little crispy (that is a good calorie saving tip FYI!)

So it is almost two days later and I have half a pan of eggplant parmesan in my refrigerator and two babies in my belly. I guess it works for some people, but not me. Bummer.

I also thought the babies might make their appearance Saturday night after seeing Rock of Ages at Ruth Eckerd Hall. Rock of Ages is a fantastic Broadway musical set in the mid 1980's. It is basically an 80's rock concert. I thought for sure Brett and Emma would have been air guitaring their way out of me by the end of the show. But NOPE!

For breakfast yesterday I ate a pineapple. Well half for breakfast and half as a snack later. Obviously that did not work either. I guess Brett and Emma just want to stay put. I hope they are enjoying it because on Wednesday they are coming out, like it or not! And Brian says they are both grounded for making us wait so long to meet them!

So we are just going to enjoy today and tomorrow baby-free. On Wednesday everything in our lives will become crazy and exhausting! So I guess we should be treasuring these last couple days together. Which we have been. If Brian and I love these babies only half as much as we love each other, they will still be the most loved babies in the world!!!

"Baby" playlist by DJ Brian!

Last night Brian stole my iPhone and made a "baby" playlist. I was laughing so hard, I had to share his choices! :)

1. Push It - Salt N Peppa (My personal favorite!! Haha)

2. Hey Mama - The Black Eyed Peas

3. Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith

4. Baby - Ashanti

5. Mother - Danzig

6. Hey Baby - No Doubt

7. Dear Mama - 2Pac

8. Mama Said Knock You Out - Def Jam

9. I'm a Believer - The Monkees

10. Watching You - Rodney Atkins

11. Mom - Earth, Wind, and Fire

12. Baby - Justin Bieber

13. Mommy - Missy Elliot

14. Two is Better Than One - Boys Like Girls

15. Baby - Dave Matthews

16. Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns and Roses

I thought this was so cute of him to do!!!

So we are only 6 days away from meeting Brett and Emma! Brian and I could not be more excited. All day he asks me if I am going into labor or if everything is OK. I wish I had a more exciting answer, but there is no news! No signs of labor. I am having a lot of stiffness in my hips and it has been a little issue. I am hoping I don't go into a big flare before next week, so I am just trying to relax at home as much as possible. I have a Humira injection pen (RA medication) waiting for me next week after I deliver! Luckily my RA meds are safe for nursing, so I can start back on them right away and get off of the steroids I am on now.

That is all for now...more updates soon! :)

Eviction notice! :)

Well, it is official!! I have an induction scheduled for Wednesday, January 26th! I am hoping to go into labor on my own, but it is nice to know that the babies will be here by next week :)

My appointment today went really well. Both babies were moving and practicing breathing right away, so that part did not take too long. They were measured and Brett is estimated to weigh 5lbs, 8 oz and Emma is estimated to weigh 6lbs, 5 oz! In the next week they should gain about 1/2 a pound each. I am excited to see how close their actual weights are to the estimates. Both babies are still head down, so a c-section is not necessary. Obviously things can always change, but they are looking really good right now.

So we have one week (or less) to make sure everything is ready for Brett and Emma's arrival. And guess what I am going to do right now....take a nap! I didn't get much sleep last night, which is pretty typical these days. When I wake up though, I am sure I will have tons of energy to get some things done :)