Everyone's sick!

Yikes! Now Fiona and Jadon are sick! Luckily I am just about recovered. Poor Jadon though. I think that this is his first fever and it's pretty bad (probably his worse). He's coughing and hacking and he has a major nasal drip. Thanks to his grandma, she has kindly volunteered to keep him over at her place. Hope the other kids don't get sick.

Rough Week So Far....

The past few nights I've been getting about 5-6 hours of broken sleep (2 hours here, 2 hours there), but last night (or I should say this morning) I got just a little more than 3 hours (complements of Vanessa). Plus I am sick which is making my concentration and focus that much tougher. I don't want to admit it, and I am willing myself to not be sick, but I am. Plus I have to work. I have to use my vacation/sick/discretionay time sparingly (starting to run out), so I don't have the liberty to take the day off. No rest for the weary.

Sisterly Love.

Fiona caught this one on camera when they were napping. We placed them about 6 inches apart or so and then when we came to check up on them, they were snuggling with each other. Cute!

A Moment of Reflection....

As I am spared a little moment of free time, I just wanted to reflect on what it has meant to me as far a being a father. I still don't feel like one. After two years, and three babies, I still see myself as a kid baby-sitting someone else's kids. Don't get me wrong, I am a very proud father, it just hasn't hit me fully. I feel awkward disciplining Jadon and lecturing him. Taking him out to eat, just the two of us, is a strange experience to me(no matter how many times we have done it). I am definitely enjoying his development of communication. His ability to put multiple words together in a very very short amount of time just surprises me to no end. Some few examples of his communication: "ice cream cake" (which he has long associated with birthdays), "no more ____" (fries, burgers, pain, rice, meat, water, milk, etc), "mama/dada car," "big car."

As far as the girls go, they are so much like little kittens. They weigh a mere 4.5 lbs, and their wimpers and cries are like kittens. Vanessa is an eating enthusiast while Natalie is just a sleeping machine. Vanessa knows when it's eating time and works like a clock by crying. Natalie could care less (if it weren't for her sister, she probably wouldn't eat for a very very long time). Vanessa is a very serious eater and she just get's down to business (she eats more than Natalie by the way) while Natalie is a leisurely eater. She just looks around, takes a sip here or there and then decides to close her eyes and try to sleep. There is even a distinct cry between the two. Vanessa's is quite an annoying high pitch, ear scratching wail. Natalie has a cute wimper-like-cry. As far as their pooping goes, they go a lot. For such small little creatures, they take dumps like crazy. They go before eating, after eating, and during diaper changing (now that's just disgusting).

That's all part of fatherhood (enjoyable yet challenging). While I love fatherhood and continue to enjoy it immensely as each day passes, I can't help but to admit that there is this small, itsy-bitsy, little (0.00000001%) part of me that thinks "so when is someone going to pick up these kids?" It's surreal at times to think that these are my kids. I am now a parent of three. We are a family of five. I guess it's time to consider retiring my powers of fertility and go under the knife.

Well time to get back to reality and get back to "work."

Together At Last!

Can you tell who is who? (The answer: Vanessa is on the left and Natalie is on the right)

Yesterday (Saturday; exactly one week from the time they were born), Natalie and Vanessa unexpectedly came home with us. It was a exciting but shocking (and scary) moment for me and Fiona. We were really expecting them until a few more days (perhaps at the end of the week at the latest). On our drive home there was a sense of dread because we knew we were no longer going to get a good night's rest for a very very very long time. So this first night came a went and we did all right. We woke up every two hours which could have been a lot worse. I slept in the other room because the girls were making some really funky sounds plus Fiona snores. Jadon was the only one who slept soundly (and I guess the girls to a certain extent).

Anyways I hope to continue keeping this blog posted but if for some reason I don't, it'll because I am near death. Until then.....

A Few Natalie & Vanessa Tidbits.

-They definitely look identical except for right now, Natalie looks chubbier and Vanessa has a longer, thinner looking face.

-I believe that they each have a Mongolian spot and it's located at the tail bone (on both of them!) .

- Although Vanessa is the smaller one, she eats a lot more than her sister (at this point).

-Since they were born, they have not been together (yet).

More Pictures....

Well today Fiona finally arrived home. It's great to have her back. Although it took forever to get discharged ( I think Fiona was stalling; she probably wanted to see the babies a little bit more).

I added some more pictures of the girls. Have a looky....

Small Update....

Natalie has now been demoted to the NICU where she joins her sister, Vanessa. Apparently she's quite a sleeper and doesn't want to eat. Most likely they won't be coming home with Fiona when she is discharged on Tuesday (Wednesday at the latest). Keep you posted....

Father x2

Well be have been blessed with two beautiful baby girls. Fiona is doing well and recovering. We'll see how she's doing after the drugs wear off. Shortly after the girls were delivered Vanessa and Natalie were separated. The nurses quickly rushed Vanessa off to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) to try to put some weight on her (just as a precaution). Vanessa needed to reach a threshold of 4 lbs 8 oz. Five minutes later I followed Natalie to the Newborn Nursery. To make a long story short (because I am bushed), they are both doing quite well. I heard from the nurses that they are good eaters so far. I just can't believe how small they are (I know they could be smaller) but just looking at their little hands, feet, heads......

Fiona's parents came over in the late afternoon and brought Jadon. Early signs point that Jadon is going to be jealous. At first when he saw the baby he rushed over and wanted to touch his sister (he's only seen Natalie because Vanessa has to stay in the NICU). Well when he tried to touch her face he looked like he was going to be a little rough so stopped him. That was his only attempt to want to come in contact with his sister. He otherwise stayed away. I think he's scared of her. Well anyways when it came to holding Natalie (whether it be me or Fiona's mother or father), Jadon would go up to whoever was holding her and asked to be picked up. So Fiona's mom was holding Natalie, Jadon would go up to her and asked to be picked up. So Fiona's mom would give me Natalie and pick up Jadon. Then Jadon would see that I was holding Natalie and then want me to pick him up. I gave her back to Fiona's mom and Jadon would do the same. Then Fiona's mom would give Natalie over to Fiona's dad and the same thing happened. Jadon finally started to really cry. Oh boy....

Well anyways, that's enough posting for now. Look at the Gallery for pictures of the girls.

Vanessa Kay born January 15th 2005 @ 10:01a.m. She weighed in at 4 lbs 5 oz. And she measures 16.25 inches

Natalie Anne born January 15th 2005 @ 10:00a.m. She weighed in at 4 lbs 13 oz. And she measures 17.5 inches

Picture Gallery...

I had some extra time to work on Jadon's online photo album. If you notice to your right there is now a Picture Gallery Section. I finally found the time to consolidate all of Jadon's monthly photos. I still have to add pictures to it though. And as soon as the twins are born I will add that album to the gallery as well. Let me know if there are problems accessing the gallery.

Last Days....

I am on the the brink of fatherhood again and I need to savor my limited amount of freedom that I have left. I am still a slave to Jadon but at least I could put him to sleep early and just watch t.v. or some movies. But soon I will no longer have those pleasures. Sleep will yet again become scarce and I will return to my zombie-like state when we first had Jadon. I don't really know what to expect this time around (but then again I didn't know what to expect with Jadon). To be honest I haven't given it much thought. If we were just having one kid I would have a decent idea but with twins...that just changes the whole equation. It could be double-trouble (no pun intended) or it could turn out allright. But what's the use of fretting? I just like to take things as they come, take one day at a time if I can.

Update on the delivery front: Apparently our main doctor has come down with encephalitis (inflammation of the brain caused by a virus), so four of the other physicians got together and discussed to go ahead with the cesarean section on Saturday. As for the time, they are going to still shoot for 11:00am but that could change. So that's decent news. Also they gave Fiona a choice to have an amnio or not. What do you think she picked?

Well this will probably be my last post (hopefully) until the twins come. Signing off.....

My Poor Wife...

Fiona's been in the hospital for nearly a month now and she is in agony. Between being homesick, missing her family (especially Jadon), lack of sleep, bed-ridden, tasteless patient-hospital food (patients are served food that differs from the cafeteria), irritating nurses, and a lack of communication, I really feel bad for her.

Well, as mentioned previously, the plan is to have the twins delivered on the 15th. The other night one of the nurses comes in and mentions to Fiona that she has a scheduled amniocentesis (to check for the babies' lung maturity) on Sunday the 16th. That infuriated Fiona (she already doesn't want the amnio, but it's on the wrong day!). She mentioned to the nurse how she is supposed to be scheduled for delivery the day before. The nurse didn't know anything else.

A few weeks ago Fiona wanted the twins delivered at 33 weeks which would have been last Saturday, but our doctor talked her into going 34 weeks. So we asked him to schedule a c-section on the 15th. He was fine with that. He mentioned to us that he would be out that week but that he would specifically come in on that day just to deliver the babies. Well as it turns out, Fiona asked one of the other physician to double check the scheduled appointment. She was not on the schedule. What the heck is going on here!?!?! Apparently our doctor wants to be the one responsible for the delivery and the other doctors don't want to make any decisions without consulting him. Apparently he is known to be a physician who is hard to get a hold of. So for now we have no idea what is going to happen. One of the doctors tried to reassure Fiona that the plan is to have the amnio on Friday and if all goes well, have the twins delivered on Saturday. But who knows what the f*** is going on.

I have to say that Fiona and I are quite disappointed with the care at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center so far. Too many people watching her and poor communication going on. I surely hope that the care for the twins will be a different story.

A Few Pictures From Christmas

I know that I have been procrastinating but finally I got my pictures from my disposable camera developed. Fiona's got the digital camera at the hospital (in case she has to go through and emergency c-section and I can't make it).

This was one of Jadon's Christmas gift. He loves it dearly. Except when got into the car he looked at the speedometer stickers and said "may-me." That's his word for "music." I had to tell him that his car doesn't come with a stereo. Then he pointed to the car ceiling and said "upa." That's his word for "open." I had to sadly tell him that his car doesn't come with a sunroof. And then he pointed to the car ceiling and said "ya-ya." That's his word for "lights." No lights there either. I told him that this was a base model car. =(

Here is one of the presents that Jadon received, a few books for him to read, grow, and get smarter like his pops ;)

Quickie....

I can't write much but hopefully I will have sometime later to go into details what's been going on.

First off we have officially scheduled a delivery date (if all goes smoothly). It will be on January 15th, 2005 (Saturday) at 11:00am. So keep your fingers crossed.

I have some pictures to post of how Jadon spent his 2nd Christmas. I had to take them using a disposable camera because Fiona has the digital one at the hospital.

Thirdly, our prayers have been answered as far as how we are going to be able to financially support this increase in family. A nice little raise and getting better health insurance that would cover the whole family.

Well I hope you all had a great holiday and a Happy New Years.