February 13, 2014

The babies are here! The babies are here! Today, March 6, was my due date for the twins (been trying to write this for weeks...alas, being a mommy comes before blog posts...ha). But they had other plans and arrived at 37 weeks, to the day, on Feb 13.  I haven't written very much about our journey but plan on going back and sharing more now. The day the babies arrived was anything but typical. My water didn't break, I wasn't in labor, I wasn't induced nor was my c-section scheduled that day.  Here's our birth story. There are some parts that are probably TMI so stop reading if you get grossed out ;).

The week the babies were born we were having another freak snow/ice storm in Atlanta.  We had previously had one several weeks prior. The first one was quite a journey for us. We ended up getting stuck in our car for over 11 hrs b/c traffic was bad. This 11+ hr journey is normally a 15 min trip to and from the dr's office for us.  After that experience we decided that we would definitely stay put during this 2nd storm.  I had previously been on bed rest from week 29 to week 35 of my pregnancy.  But once I was taken off had gradually been moving more and more to try to get my body acclimated to being up and moving around.  But with the 2nd snowstorm, I decided to stay put and basically just rest and work from the couch. This was Tues, Feb 11 and Wed, Feb 12.  Both of those days were pretty normal for me. I didn't have any contractions and everything in my belly was chill. That Wed night Drew made the comment that we had almost made it through the snow and if the babies could hold off another 12/13 hours we would be good (everything was supposed to melt by midday on Thurs).  Dunh Dunh Dunh Dunh...(that's scary cartoon music).

Well, around 11pm that Wed night I mentioned to Drew that I didn't feel very well and felt kind of nauseous. I went to the restroom and still didn't feel better so I laid down. About 10 minutes later I ran to the bathroom and started projectile vomiting.  Nice huh?!?  That was only the beginning. Within the next 30 min it got worse and I started going off from both ends every 10-15 minutes (sorry, told you it was tmi). It was awful and I was miserable. Drew found my anti-nausea medicine from the first trimester and I tried to take it. I couldn't keep it down. He gave me some anti-diarrhea medicine...couldn't keep that down. By 5am I was still getting sick and told Drew I was really getting worried b/c nothing would stay down and I was starting to have some contractions. I was so dehydrated and the force at which I was dry heaving was making everything ache. So he called the dr on call at my practice. She told him to wait until 7am or 8am (once it was daylight so we could at least see the ice on the roads) and if I was still sick to come on in to the hospital. Her worry was that being so dehydrated would cause me to go into labor and they would at least get me on iv fluids. 

Fast forward to 8am, after one hour of sleep and several costumes changes later (it was bad you guys) I told Drew we needed to go the hospital. At that point I couldn't keep ice chips down.  Drew decided to call our friend/pseudo brother Mark, who has a truck, to see if he could get out of his driveway.  Mark was able to and Drew also thought he could get our car out.  But Mark wouldn't let us and told Drew he was coming to get us and take us to the hospital. I'm really glad we did that b/c poor Drew probably only had 3 or 4 hours of sleep himself and it was probably better that we didn't drive.  Anyway, Drew showered and I tried to get dressed. I felt disgusting but knew there was no way I would be able to shower. It was hard enough getting clothes on.  I told Drew we might want to take "the hospital bag" just in case they made me stay for a few days or we ended up having the babies. Drew decided he should probably grab the camera "just in case."  I said to Drew I really hoped they would just give me fluids and I could have another day or two to sleep before the babies came...Dunh Dunh Dunh Dunh...(more scary cartoon music).

Well, Mark picked us up and carefully drove us to the hospital. I was armed with some watered down gatorade and a bucket (the same bucket that saved my life in the previous storm...darn snowstorms)! The roads to the interstate weren't too bad and Mark was super careful. The interstate was fine if you stayed in the lanes to the right. I thought the vomiting was done but as soon as Mark pulled up to labor and delivery I lost all the gatorade in my lovely bucket. Thank goodness we thought to grab it!  Drew went inside and grabbed a wheelchair and wheeled me up to the check-in area. We explained why we were there and I had to answer a whole bunch of registration questions. I was kind of annoyed bc someone had called me on Wed to pre-register since I was originally getting induced or having a c-section on Feb 17 and I answered everything over the phone. I told them this but she said I still had to answer them again. My only complaint about the hospital. Everything else was great there! 

After what felt like a thousand years they finally wheeled me back to a labor room. The nurse asked me what was going on and I explained everything. They had me change into the beautiful hospital gown and gave me a vomit bag just in case! They immediately starting taking my vital signs, having me sign lots of things and put monitors on me and the babies.  That's when things got nutty.  They got baby girl's heartbeat easily but were having a hard time finding baby boy's. Once they finally found his things got kind of scary. The room had been just me, Drew and a nurse and all of a sudden there were about 4 or 5 other people in there.  They were having me turn from side to side and working really hard to get baby boy stable, as he was decelling. They also put me on oxygen.  Finally baby boy's heart rate was stable and even and things calmed down.  The nurse then informed us that Dr. Jeffers (the dr on call from my practice) was doing a c-section and she would come in as soon as she was done and they would decide what we would do. They warned that she might want to go ahead and deliver the babies today. 

WOW...not what we were thinking at all. Drew immediately called our parents to let them know that we were at the hospital b/c I was sick w/ a stomach bug or food poisoning and he would let them know as soon as we heard from the Dr.  As soon as he got off the phone with the last parent Dr. Jeffers came in and said that we were going to have the babies right then. She said since I was 37 weeks and with me being so sick and baby Boy decelling that it was best to do it right then. They were both head down but she thought c-section was the wisest choice.  From there it's a blur. We signed more things, I got an epidural, Drew changed, called our parents and only had time to text like 3 people.  We checked in at 9:45 and they wheeled me back at 11:30.  I thought the vomiting was over but as soon as the put me on the OR table I had one more bout with it.  NICE! Celia Elizabeth arrived at 11:45 and Joel Andrew arrived at 11:46.  She was 5lbs 11oz, 18.5 inches and he was 5lbs 14oz, 19 inches.  Joel's umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck so it was a REALLY good thing that we did a c-section. Feeling really grateful for God's protection over our little babies.

So there you have it. The story of the day our lives were forever changed. It wasn't exactly the way I pictured it but I wouldn't change anything about it. We later found out that it was a stomach bug that I had bc Drew got it later the day they were born. Unfortunately other family members got it too. What is interesting is that no one got nearly as sick as I did. If I had only been a little sick like them I never would have gone to the hospital. Kind of feel grateful that I was as sick and the babies are safe!

This scripture kept coming to my mind as I praised the Lord for these miracles.

Ecclesiastes 3:1: There is a time for everything,and a season for every activity under the heavens!

Thank you guys for all of your prayers, encouragement and love during this journey.  I will share more about the whole adventure to get here soon. 

Mommy at 6 weeks preggers

 Mommy at 36 weeks

 Proud Daddy right after they were born. 

Mommy with her babies

Joel and Celia

Blessings and Memories

I was kind of dreading Thanksgiving this year.  It wasn't until about 2 or 3 weeks before Thanksgiving that I started to feel the dread slowly leave.  You see, Thanksgiving Day this year also happened to be the one year anniversary of my father in laws passing.  When he passed it was actually the Wed after Thanksgiving but this year the 28th actually fell on the holiday.  When I first realized this months and months ago my first reaction was "Oh crap." But I think it was actually a blessing in disguise.

Thanksgiving this year wasn't an overly sad day.  I think we were all so happy to be together and just be able to love on one another.  Joel was missed for sure and is always missed and it was definitely different without him.  But he was part of the reason we were all together. He and his wife made this awesome family and I am so selfishly blessed to have married into it.

My husband Drew has a wonderful family.  He was blessed with some of the most loving, giving and Christ-like parents.  You can tell this from their actions, their amazing children, and all of the wonderful stories that are shared.  Drew's father, Joel, was seriously one of the nicest men I have ever met. He wasn't one of those people who just talked to talk. If he had something to say there was a reason and you listened.  He was the best Poppy to our nieces and nephew.  He also was a gifted and talented singer with the best tenor voice ever.  When we would visit church you could always pick out Joel's voice in the choir.

I will leave you with these favorite memories.  When Drew and I were dating I had a dream that Joel was a mobster and was out to get me for dating his son.  It was one of the most hilarious and unrealistic dreams ever. After he heard it, Joel loved to pick on me about him being a member of the southern mafia.  Another sweet memory is during our first year of marriage Drew and I did a show in town and Joel also got cast in it.  Three Archers in one show was quite a fun time! It warms my heart to think that we all got that opportunity to be together doing something we all loved. It was a special time!

Thanksgiving day had sad moments...but Thanksgiving was also a great day. We got to love on one another, eat good food and make more memories.  So blessed and thankful!

I am grateful for God's blessings...in good times and bad.

I am thankful for many, many memories of a wonderful man.

I can't wait to share stories of this great Poppy with his grand babies that are on the way!

October fun

I wrote this on 11/2 and completely forgot to post it..wanh wanh. Better late than never...I guess!

October was a fun month.  We celebrated a bazillion birthdays. You think I'm Kidding? Our niece Caroline started off the month by turning one on Oct 1. We had a great celebration for her the weekend after her birthday in Macon with all of her family. She is such a special little kid. Our nephew turned 8 the next day and we got to sing with him too!

Next up was the hubs.  Drew had class on his birthday so we actually celebrated the Saturday after his birthday. We went to one of Drew's favorite mexican places in the ATL called Nuevo Laredo. They have such good food and it didn't disappoint. There is normally a crazy, long wait but we hit them at a good time and only had to wait about 20 min. There have been many a time we have waited 45 min-1hr to get seated....which wouldn't have been so great for this prego. We were thankful to get seated quickly!.We were also excited because it was my first attempt at Mexican in a looooonnnggg time (not so good attempts during the first trimester put mexican on the no no list) and I didn't get sick.  Nuevo Laredo is a great authentic restaurant that has the best mole and margaritas. We didn't partake in the margies this visit but we did partake in chicken enchiladas w/ mole and they were SO good.

After the Drew celebration we had a joint celebration w/ my Dad and Mama Deb. We all have Oct birthdays. So we ate some great Italian and traded birthday cards. Mama Deb also brought us some awesome homemade sourdough bread, gingersnap cookies, fresh honey and apples from NC-yum! After that celebration next up was Iris' birthday (Drew's mom). She went to the mountains w/ some friends so we didn't get to celebrate with her but we did serenade her on the phone.  After Iris' bday was yours truly's birthday.  Drew had class again so I went out with two of my closest ATL gals. We hit a new (to me) pizza joint and then headed to Cafe Intermezzo for dessert and coffee. It was such a fun night and I didn't realize how much I needed a night like that. I had the best decaf butterscotch espresso drink and oreo cheesecake with the best company. Drew and I were going to celebrate w/ a dinner the next night but we were both so tired that we postponed and haven't gone yet. We will soon!

Drew has been in class most ever weekend in Oct but we still managed to have a great month.  I can't wait to carve pumpkins and dress up our little ones for Halloween next year. Until then I will just keep brewing them!

Who Knew?

My friends, I am almost 20 weeks pregnant and finally feeling good. I didn't want to blog for so long b/c all I wanted to blog about was finding out we were pregnant. And now that we've announced it, it has taken me so long to figure out what to share next. I promise I'm not going to turn this blog into just pregnancy talk...but let us all get real...that's what is on my brain. Eventually I will share how we got to where we are but what I want to talk about it the stuff that no one tells you. This might get a little tmi for you...so stop now or forever hold your peace : ).

1. Nausea is NO BUENO-Having Twins is double the hormones-which means double the nausea as well as other things. I was feeling good until about week 7 and then the sickies hit. I was teaching summer camps and downing sprite and saltines like nobody's business. And this wasn't just morning sickness it was morning, noon and night. It was not fun. I talked to some friends who had twins and they said their sickness stuck around until about week 18-20.  Mine started letting up about week 15/16 but really got better around week 17/18. I get a wave every now and then but NOTHING like it was. Praise the Lord.

2. Constipation stinks...hee hee hee-Yes, this hit me hard about week 10 and stayed only about a couple of weeks. I found the magic cure-all...at least for me. My dr said again, this was worse for me b/c of the double hormones...wowser.  So my cure all is yogurt in the morning, an apple in the afternoon and and kefir right before I go to bed. And now life is a much happier place in my tum : ).  What is Kefir you ask? Kefir is a fermented drink made from milk (cow, goat, coconut etc).  You can buy it at most grocery stores but I get an organic coconut kefir from the farmer's market made by Ancient Awakenings. This is a local Atlanta company that has great products and a pretty cool story. Their cultured veggies are also fantastic. All the probiotics are really helping my tum and I would much rather eat those things than take drugs.

3. Are we in Middle school again?-My diet turned into an old school carb eating fest. It was like I was in middle school. I came home with pop tarts one day and my husband made SO much fun of me. For the record I only ate one pack of them.  I drove around w/ a box of cheeze-its for like two weeks. I don't know what was up with me but getting veggies down was SO hard. Drew and I hadn't been eating a lot of grain pre-pregnancy. But that has definitely changed a bit as I now eat cereal again and bread.  The good news is that it has since gotten much better and I can stomach veggies again! I will say I was not happy with the low veggie diet but I was also happy to not be vomiting...so there you go. It passed and I am eating better again now.

4. Trading in ailments-I think that when you are pregnant you trade symptoms in. Once I started feeling better nausea wise my ribs starting hurting and then my upper back. Who am I? An old meemaw? I hate complaining and also don't like feeling icky. But you know what...it is SO worth it. FYI-my upper back is hurting b/c of my massive chest. Yes, people warned me but it still didn't properly prepare me. I will never complain about being small chested again...lol.

5. Overwhelmed much-It can get overwhelming making choices and decisions for these little ones. Especially planning for two. Baby stores love to make you think you need EVERYTHING. But truth be told, you don't. And once I made a decision to not fall into the traps of these stores I felt much better : ).  So do what is right for you and your family. If you want really expensive baby furniture get it...if you don't want it...don't get. And don't judge other mommies. They are doing what is best for them!

More to come on this Adventure I'm starting to call double trouble : )

In my belly

SO my friends...there is big news in our house.

Hence, the silence on the blog for so long.  I will hopefully be sharing more soon! We are thrilled and just Praising God for our little miracles that are on the way.
ps-isn't my husband an amazing artist ;)?

Gone but not forgotten

HI Friends! Remember me? Lindsey here. Actress, silly, goof ball, cheese loving gal who likes to share stories, recipes and deep (mostly not so deep) thoughts. Sound familiar? You probably forgot about me. With good reason too! I haven't posted since March of LAST YEAR! In the words of Mike, (Fred Willard's character) from A Mighty Wind, "Wha' Happened?"  Well, let's just say 2012 was a doozie. And not the good kind of doozie like the cookies from the Great American Cookie Company. Btw-if you want to get me one of those said cookie I won't stop you!

Anyway, 2012 kicked my booty. I will spare you all of the details but let's just say that there was a lot of loss, tears, and just plain ol' hard times.  But the good news is Drew and I survived 2012 and we are still kicking.  So thankful for a great relationship with the hubs and God being a part of that union. Amen! 2013 has not exactly been a piece of cake (why all of the sweets references...can you tell I'm not eating many right now...ha) but it's definitely been a smoother ride so far.  And there have been a lot of great things in the past year and few months.  So on that note, I will leave you with some good things in life since my last post, oh SO long ago.

1. Baby Caroline was born-
Our niece baby Caroline was born.  Drew's older brother and his wife brought their first child into the world last October (best month to be born) and she has stolen the heart of many.

Drew looking so adorable w/ her in Milwaukee last Nov.

2. We took a belated 10th anniversary trip to NYC in August.

Me in Central Park

Some of our closest friends after Brance's infamous Fringe Performance

3. I played my dream role of Kira in XANADU the musical. It was a roller skating, 80's fashion awesomeness, Olivia Newton John singing, ball of fun.

4. My awesome, amazingly talented, superstar of teacher, fellow ballerina co-worker Emily got engaged and she is getting MARRIED (and she's leaving me..wanh wanh...but that's a whole other post entirely).  You can follow her adorable and hilarious blog here.

5. And lastly I will leave you with this tidbit of info.

Luke 1:37- For nothing will be impossible with God.  

This verse has been my jam (not as in toe jam but as in saving grace jam) this year so far.  When it feels like it's all falling a part I just trust in this verse...and I'm grateful for the peace that follows.

Friends, I am back! Get ready for the goober-riffic-ness that is me.

New Dawn, New Day, New Month

Hi my blogging friends, the past month has been a little bit of a bummer for us/me. I really haven't felt like writing much. We had two theater friends, both connected w/ Charleston, tragically and unexpectedly pass away.  They both have weighed heavy on my heart and I've found myself constantly thinking about them both and praying for their families.  I've also been battling a bit of the baby making blues.  I normally am so positive in this area of our life...but it's been a little harder than usual.

I am ready to nip all of these blues in the bud though and focus on God's plan, mercy and love.  My plans for my life always seem like they will be great if God would just get on board : ). But...I've learned over the past couple of years to give him the reigns and know that His plan is greater then I will ever understand and better than I can imagine.  Pray for my patience and my heart. March-I'm embracing you with OPEN arms.  Ready for brighter days and more lessons learned.

Jeremiah 29:11

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.