Meet Abigial Elizabeth Nagode

Happy Birthday, Abigail!
She was in this exact pose in one of the 3D sonograms.

3 weeks old and already alret!

Abigail loves her binky!

During a smile session, but mom couldn't catch it on film!

Abigial is the "Nagode baby" with the exception of her dark hair which is more like mom's! She has been our chubby little cheeks baby since day one. Many have made the comment that she looks like a chipmunk and lots of people love to kiss and squeeze those darling chubby cheeks! Abigail started out to be the fussy baby, but big sis Anna Mae has now taken on that role. The only time Abigail fusses is when she is craving that taste of bottle! Abigail seems to get bigger eyes as the days past. She is becoming much more alert and LOVES to smile when we talk to her. She is making really good eye contact and seems to be socializing quiet well for a 6 week old.

Nana nicknamed her Cuddle Bug, which is very fitting. When she is cuddled she will quickly fall asleep and is very content. It used to be, that the second we put her down she would stir around and quickly let you know she wanted to be held. 6 weeks later, she is much more content when she is placed down for a nap, and even has the ability to soothe herself to sleep.

Abigail seems to be independent and rather smooth sailing for the most part. She is shorter than Anna Mae, therefore developing multiple and such adorable thigh roles! She likes to be tickled, patted, talked to and played with.

We love you, little girl!! :D

Meet Anna Mae Nagode

5 weeks :) and so Precious

4 weeks! Isn't my face filling out well?

Three weeks! So big!

I love car rides... looking out the window especially!

Happy Birthday, Anna Mae!

Anna Mae is the big sis by 1 minute! At birth, she seemed so dainty and fragile. She kept us up those first couple of nights by sneezing here and there, and making some odd noises. :) Matt quickly was drawn to her because Abigial was (then) more fussy and liked being held by mom. Originally she was quiet and now she is the noisemaker of the family. She is a very good eater (eating anything from 4-6 ounces), very good sleeper (sleeping anywhere from 6-8 hours), but oh-so crabby sometimes (crying anywhere from 1-3 hours)!!!

Anna Mae has not yet blessed us with a cute smile, but she makes the prettiest coo's and she sneezes so darling! She always ends her sneezing sessions with a big "Ahhh." When she fusses, she starts out so quietly and we think it will be an easy soothe, but then she really works herself up to the point of where nothing is comforting to her. She is typically very alert and loves to be held all the time. Right now that is the only way to put her to sleep... close cuddling and easy rocking.

Anna seems much longer than Abigial, and we think she is putting on weight a little more quickly than her little sister since she consumes more formula during a feeding. She has this pretty strawberry blonde hair currently, and we look forward to knowing if her pretty baby blue eyes will stay baby blue! Anna Mae is often compared to looking like her mommy.... just about everyone has made that comment. She seems to have more Jackson than Nagode in her!

We love you little girl :D

Happy Birthday, Little Nagode's!

so tiny they can share the hospital bed :D

Our first family portrait.... a nice Christmas card? :D

Hello, little loves!

Here's the 38 week belly...

Ok, Ok... we may be 5 weeks late. Hopefully you all can understand that we have been extremely busy and adjusting to parenthood. We haven't had much time to think, let alone update our blog! Let us think back to July 22nd here and see if we can sum up the best day of our life together!

After a long, long day of waiting, off we went to Methodist Medical Center around 6:30 P.M. We checked in at the ER and away we were swept to the maternity ward. We spent a good hour and a half in the exam room where all sorts of monitors and an IV were put in their proper places. We of course did a run through of questions with the nurse and doctor and Melissa was then prepped for surgery...

Nerves really set in as the surgery time crept up on us. Melissa of course had a breakdown and bawled her eyes out for a good 20 minutes, fearful she was going to die. (She did not appreciate stories of infections, blood clots, and hemmorhaging on TV and magazines during her pregnancy). After the tears stopped and she came to grips with reality, she was walked down to the surgery room and Matt was strapped into his "monkey suit."

The surgery went very well. So quick and painless (thank goodness)! We can't tell you how much we LOVED the surgical team and especially our Dr. Gibson! Anna Mae made her debut at 9:07 P.M weighing in at a healthy 6 lbs. 2 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long. One minute later out slipped Abigail Elizabeth one ounce heavier and 1/2 an inch shorter than her big sis! Daddy Matt snapped some pictures, Mommy Melissa layed their curious and paitiently to see her big girls! After about 30 minutes of clean up and sewing Melissa back together, away the girls and Matt went to the nursery and Melissa to recovery.

Recovery was horrible. Melissa threw up we don't know how many times and was so exhausted and completely out of it from the anesthesia. The next day, she was up and out of bed with ease and even got to take a shower on Friday morning! Overall, it was not nearly the horrible experience she had been dreading and of course the best results were meeting our new little ones!

The Waiting Game

Here we sit at 1:40. Another 5 hours and 20 minutes stand between our arrival at the hospital! Then we will have to wait another 2 hours and 10 minutes to see those babies!

We are both in good spirits today. Giddy is a good word. Matt worked a half day and Melissa did her nesting one more time this AM. She is currently starving and thirsty as she began fasting at 9AM for the surgery. What a cruel way to end pregnancy for women with C-sections! After pigging out and being told to drink lots and lots of water for 8 months.... she now has to go food/fluid less for 12 hours prior to the surgery. Ouch!

Matt's parents are currently making their long trip up from Georgia and should be arriving in a few hours. We are happy that they were willing to make the trip to share in this special day to meet their #5 and #6 grandbabies!! Melissa's family will also be at the hospital (parents, gramma, sister & family). We are fortunate to have so many loving family members who want to support us on our special night with us! Kudos to you all for waiting the long wait and probably not getting home until the wee hours of the morning. We are sure it will be worth it :D

We keep getting asked what we still need for the babies at this point. In all honesty, if you would just keep us all in your prayers and hope for a quick, safe delivery... that is all we need! We look forward to sharing pictures in the next couple of days and finally being able to introduce you all to our little darlings... Anna Mae & Abigail :D :D :D

The Twinsie's Birthday is Set

July, 22 2009. :D

We will finally get to kiss and squeeze our little girls' cheeks soooo much that day! After Dr. Gibson did his normal routine with us today, he decided it would be best to schedule a C-section for this week. He just didn't want to risk us going into labor on my own any longer. This Friday, he happens to not be in town so 7/24 was out. Then we took a step back and looked at Thursday, Jully 23rd. That also happens to be Mimi J's birthday. How cute of a gift to get twin grandbabies! However, there was really no spot for us available for surgery on 7/23. That made us look one more day back and look at Wednesday, July 22nd. That is his surgery day at OSF but he is squeezing us in at 9:00 PM! We hope Dr. Gibson can take a nap after his long day at OSF and before coming to take care of business with us that late at night.

Melissa will have to fast for 12 hours Wednesday. Yikes. Someone might be going into surgery a little crabby. Blood pressure was good today & babies are still breech/transverse (no surprise there). She has to go to the hospital tomorrow for some quick blood work and have a talk with the anesthesiologist. Then its up to Labor & Delivery to talk about our birth plan with the following questions... Can you drop the curatin so we can see the girls being pulled out? Can daddy Matt cut the cord? Can Melissa not be strapped to the table like Jesus so she can touch her babies once they are out? Can we take pictures and video? Can we attempt breastfeeding in the recovery room? ETC.)

Oh, and after speaking with several people with experience & after some of our own consideration, we are going to request visitors (with the exception of family) to hold off from coming to the hospital for a couple of days. Maybe Saturday at the earliest? Since we are having such a late surgery Wednesday, and Melissa is a big wuss for pain... Thursday & Friday may be one heck of a couple of days for us with lack of sleep, adjusting to little ones, learning to breastfeed twins, etc. We want to share our little girls with our family first and foremost, but once we are home we would love to show them off to you all as well!! Don't worry, we will try and post pictures ASAP from the hospital!

Can you believe it's finally time to have some babies? Looks like we may successfully make it to 38 weeks after all... and that's been our goal from day one!! :D

Good News!

We went back on Friday to get our results from all the blood work, and everything just looked peachy! All levels were either normal or low.... so NO toxemia! The blood pressure spike must have been from my poor food selections from the last week. I really splurged since I had such good numbers the week before. whoops. :D No more splurging.

Girls are breech and one is slightly sideways. If they flip to the head down position now, unbelievable. They have been a little less active these last couple of days. Of course that makes me nervous, but Dr. Gibson likes to reassure us that they are just running out of room and their kicks and tumbles won't be so dramatic as before.

Matt has put the finishing touches on the nursery this week. Shelving is up on the wall for pictures and such. He also put up the curtain rod. Today we are going to sneak out and purchase the curtains and stock up on groceries one last time before their arrival. Did I mention that tomorrow we get the delivery date for Anna Mae & Abigail?? Im keeping my fingers crossed, as he said he wouldn't make it past the 17th either, but here we are on the 19th and still completely pregnant. I would just love to hit our goal of 38 weeks on Wednesday!!

Bags are packed... dog sitter is lined up... Matt & I are rather calm and collected. I think we are ready to join the parenting club :D

We are Officially Full Term! 37 Weeks!

The average pregnancy with twins is 36 weeks and it is such a great feeling surpassing that by another week. I have been reading that 37 weeks is considered "full term" for any pregnancy becuase the lungs of the baby are typically fully developed. So to be sitting here at 37 weeks with two healthy babies is a wonderful feeling. We may still hit our 38 week goal. Maybe not. I'll explain that in a little bit!

We met with the sonographer probably for the last time today, followed by an appointment with Dr. Gibson. The sonogram session was great again... and we finally got an image of Abigail's face! She is so stinkin cute with chubby little cheeks and a little button nose. I am doing my best to wait patiently for their arrival, but I can't wait to kiss those chubby cheeks! Anyway, they are still stinkers and both are sitting breech. I can't blame them, I would hate to stand on my head for weeks on end too. So we will forgive you's for being breech and causing mom to undergo a C-Section. :D Both girls have hair! Unbelievable. Must get that gene from Matt, as I was as bald as a baby's butt for months when I was born. Heartbeats were good and Anna Mae weighed in at 6lbs. 7oz. while Abigail was just a little behind at 6lbs. 2 oz.

Now for the "iffy" news. I put on another 3lbs this week, so that brings total weight gain to 41 lbs. I have high hopes of losing 20 of it that first week out of surgery. We'll see. My blood pressure was HORRIBLE this week and I find it so confusing how it can go from "perfect" the week before to sky high this week. Dr. Gibson is now concerned that I may have toxemia, so he ordered blood work and we are waiting anxiously for the results to come back tomorrow afternoon. Basically, if I do have toxemia, he is going to "pull the plug" on my pregnancy as he put it. I am assuming at the earliest he will deliver the babies first thing next week. I doubt he does it this Friday because we already have an appointment with him at 8:00 A.M. We also have to go back on Monday at 8:45 A.M! We of course hope blood work comes back looking good and I'll get a clean slate of health to wrap up the pregnancy.

He did finally give us the absolute last possible date to deliver... July 28th. That would make us one day shy of 39 weeks!! But he also threw in there, more than likely he will deliver our sweet babies next. So what birthday sounds good? I like July 21st or 23rd. I like those odd numbers. :D

We will keep you posted!