Doctor's Appointment

So I had my doctor's appointment yesterday and the twins are still looking wonderful!! I was able to get my bed rest reduce to moderate rest with NO house work -YEAH! That is actually doctor's orders =) I should get that framed forever. Thank goodness I'm married to a man that is able to care for all of us and clean house!!!

Adilynn is now 3 pounds 3 ounces and Luke is 2 pounds 15 ounces. She gained 9 ounces in 7 days, wow she has an appetite like me. He is of course head down and ready to come and Ms. Princess Adi has decided now to go breech (feet first), she was side ways. So as of now, we would have to have a c-section, but time will tell as the Princess continues to change positions. She has not been head down in four months, so we don't expect to much change from her. She really is taking this Princess thing on early but Daddy says she is allowed to do whatever she wants!

We still want to get to 32 weeks as a minimum but of course anything after 32 weeks is icing on the cake. We have been asked what their survival rate is this early and it's actually quite amazing. They have a 90% survival rate right now, but that doesn't mean there wouldn't be a hospital stay, but their overall health is increased as the weeks go on after the 32 week mark. Again, both Luke and Adilynn are growing 2 weeks ahead of schedule and doing exceptionally well.

I am still having contractions, but not dilating (which is good). I have a follow up appointment on Monday and then see him every two weeks thereafter. We thank you all for your continue support and prayers and will keep you all updated on our blog.

~Happy New Year~

Baby update/Merry Christmas

Well for those of you who may not know, Erica was in the hospital this week for preterm labor -surprise! The babies are doing extremely awesome and are actually measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule. Adilynn and Luke are almost 3 pounds each and looking great. What caused the labor, was Luke decided that he wanted to drop and get into position for delivery early. The only thing keeping him from being born right now is her bag of water. This is why she needs to stay off her feet so the pressure from his head won't break her water. She is already 80% effaced but not dilating yet, which is great!

The doctor's gave her 2 doses of a steroid shot to speed the maturity of their lungs and kidneys. This is a life saver if they are born sooner then we would like. The doctors let Erica come home last night to be home for Christmas with us. She is on strict bed rest, which for her means nothing. But I am home for 2 weeks for Christmas break so I can be here for her and the boys.

The doctor guesses that the babies could be here in 4 weeks or less, so keep all of them in your prayers for the healthiest arrival possible. We go back to the doctor on Monday, so if anything changes between now and then, we will post it here.

Merry Christmas to all of you and may you have a blessed and safe New Year. We are surrounded by almost 3 feet of snow and have major cabin fever!! Merry Christmas from the Chesnut's in a Winter Wonderland =)

Well last week was full of great times. My Dad and Riitta came out for four days and it was so awesome to have them here. We drove to Canon Beach, which is about an 1.5 hour trip. It was one of the most beautiful beaches on the West Coast. It was really cold, but a lot of fun!

We also tackled going to cut down our own tree this year. What fun that was! We had over four acres to choose from. Trying to find the perfect tree was a headache. But after an hour, we found the perfect one. It will be a new tradition for us to chop down our own tree vs. a nursery.

Today we went to meet with Luke's surgeon. We found out that he will start getting casts approximately 1-2 weeks after birth. The cast will be changed on a weekly basis for six weeks. After six weeks, he will have tendon surgery (they will cut the back of his ankles and stretch the tendons out). After the surgery, he will wear a cast for 4 weeks and move into a brace. We won't know if he will require major surgery until he is about six months old, but this is what we will do once he is born.

Again we are trying to count down our weeks to a successful pregnancy. So far, we have 7 more weeks to go. I have another appointment on Wednesday, but so far both he babies are doing exceptionally well. We will continue to keep you updated. Have a great week!

Update on the Chesnut's

Well I know that it has been over a month since we have given an update on the twins, so here is all the current news. We had our appointment the day before Thanksgiving and what a grateful one it was. Luke's heart looks perfect! Actually both of their hearts look fantastic!

Here is a picture of Luke's club feet. I know a lot of you are curious to see what this may look like early on. In the center of the picture are his feet shape like a "club." This would be his right leg that you are looking at. You can see his feet turned inward. We meet with the surgeon on Monday, December 8. We will give you an update once we hear from them.
They are both just about 2 pounds each and are measuring a week in advance of their gestational age. So they are growing completely healthy and right on target. As for me, my stomach feels as though it's going to burst and I just can't imagine a few more months of TWO growing babies in there!


The doctor has set our goal for mid-January. That would put me at 32 weeks. If we can get my body to last that long, we are in great shape! Babies or twins born after 27 weeks have a 90% chance of a healthy survival. So we pray that I can get to at least 32. The reason why we have this concern is with both pregnancies, I have had pre-term labor early on. So please keep us in your prayers! But I do feel great -actually better this pregnancy than with either boys. Sometimes I feel like a punching bag with one baby literally bruising a rib and then another on my hip. I have occasional moments where my hip/legs will give out, but over all, I am doing well.



As far as the rest of the family, we had a great Thanksgiving. We hosted it here with about 20 of our church friends. I made a 30 pound turkey and the guys project was a 20 pound deep friend turkey (yes our house is still standing). So needless to say, we STILL have a lot of turkey! We can't believe that Christmas is 24 days away and then a new year. How exciting! My Dad and Riitta come this week and then next week is Aaron's parents. And then at the end of the month, Julie (my dear friend) and her 3 kids are driving all the way up here to visit for the first time.So we are so excited to have
family and friends visit for this Christmas season.

By the way- this shouldn't surprise anyone that knows me, but we (yes , both Aaron and I) changed our daughters name. Her name (no more changes, promise) will be Adilynn Noelle Chesnut (Adi for short) and his is still Luke Aaron Chesnut.

Halloween

Update on the Babies

Well we had our follow up appointment today for both the babies. As of right now, both of them look wonderful. Luke still has the club feet which won't be able to be corrected until arrival, but his spine and heart looked perfect today -as well as Ellie's. We were told even if there was any chromosome abnormalities, we won't be able to tell until they are born. .

At my next appointment, they will do a echo gram on Luke's heart to rule out any other abnormalities. Ellie and Luke weigh a little over 12 ounces and about 9 inches long EACH! Can you believe that I already have 18 inches of baby in me? Austin and Dylan were both born at 19 inches at birth. I just can't imagine what I will look like in just a few more months! Pretty much they are from hip to hip. Luke actually was hitting my rib today during the ultrasound with his head. We are always amazed to see how big they are every few weeks. As of right now they are both breech (head up) but the doctor isn't sure if they will turn are not. Since they are twins and the space is getting quite small, we will have to wait and see if they turn or it will be a mandatory c-section.

So thank you all for keeping all of us in your prayers. We will continue to keep you updated as the months go pass.

Luke & Ellie

Here are the most recent ultrasound pictures that we have. These are from almost a month ago, I'm just now getting around to putting them on here.




Our next appointment is on October 28th and we will have another ultrasound to look closer at Luke's club feet and to make sure that both Ellie and Luke have no abnormalities. I promise to write an update as soon as I get home. Thanks for the prayers!

Seattle

A few weeks ago, we took out last family vacation before we are a family of six. We went up to Seattle, which is a little over a two hour drive north. We were going up there to watch the Angels play the Mariners. The boys were so excited to go as this was Dylan's first real baseball game.

We stayed downtown in the timeshare and it was beautiful. It was an old, restored brick building that had a vintage theme. We walked a lot and even road the bus, which was operated underground. The boys had a blast. Dylan thought that he was on a train so he was in seventh heaven.

We got to the game a few hours early so that the boys could watch batting practice. Austin was able to watch his favorite player which is Vladi. He was even able to get Vladi to say hello and wave to him. Dylan, being the cutie that he is, was handed a ball by one of the Angels players. He was very proud of himself. Since Dylan got a ball we were on the hunt for Austin.

Our seats were in left field near the bullpen. Austin was cheering them on as they were warming up before the game and the pitching coach noticed him. As they were walking out to start the game, he threw a ball up to Austin -the actual ball that they were warming up with. Thank goodness! So now that both boys got baseballls, we could enjoy the game. The Angels won in a fairly easy game in the freezing 48 degree night. Needless to say after six hours at the ball field, we all crashed the minute we got back.

The next day we did a sight-seeing tour. It's a tour bus and boat in one. The boys thought that this was just awesome. It took us all around Seattle and in the water too. After the three hour tour, we walked around town looking for a great fish restaurant along the water. We or I had the best Halibut ever! It was worth the walk. Before we left, we went to the famous market center where they throw the fish. The boys thought that this was so exciting and wanted to try themselves.

This was a lot of things to squeeze in a 24 hour period, but we all had a great time and there's nothing ever better than a family trip.

Pumpkin Patch 2008

So yes I know that it has been quite awhile since I have updated this thing, so bare with me. Our internet has been down for a while and finally got a new service. Here is a little slide show of our recent trip to the pumpkin patch and a few extras.

Dylan's First Day of School

Well the day finally came for our baby to start school. Dylan was so excited to go to school like his big brother Austin. The first thing he did was go down stairs to get a bag of chips to take to school for snack time (healthy right?). He ate very little breakfast and was anxious to get to going. He grabbed his backpack and put his chips inside and was ready to go!

I was more emotional about him starting school then I think anyone else. When we arrived, he
put his backpack away, put the chips in his cubbie and went to play with cars and airplanes, surprise! Aaron and I stayed for about five minutes and let him know that we were leaving. He said "Okay, bye." I figured he was acting great because he thought Aaron was leaving, not me. Well I gave him a kiss and hug and let him know that I would be back later. He said, "Okay Mom, muah." I figured he didn't get it and so I followed him and this time he didn't say anything in return. We left the room and that was it. No crying, no running after us . . . nothing. I sat in my car with tears in my eyes wondering where my mommy's boy went.

I left the parking lot wondering where I was to go. In 11 months when did I actually have the whole house to myself without anyone home to take care of? It was an odd feeling, but a feeling that I can get use to. I plan to enjoy it and be productive, at least until the twins arrive. Finally three hours had gone by and I couldn't wait to pick up my little guy. When I arrived, his class (there's only 12 of them) was standing against the wall waiting to be picked up with their backpacks on. Dylan had one foot against the wall and his hands in his pockets -just one cool kid! When his teacher told him that I


was there, my mommy's boy was back!!! He ran to me with a smile from ear to ear as he gave me a giant hug -what a welcome! He actually explained the highlights of his day to me, which were: playing on the yellow slide (which poor Dylan has had to see the playground for a year every time we picked Austin up last year. They wouldn't allow non-students to play on it, so needless to say, Dylan was very excited to finally have at it), eating his chips and coloring his balloon paper. Who knew Dylan could explain so much. So overall, I believe Dylan is going to do great in school and continue to love snack time too!

Two Peas in a Pod

The babies are growing so fast that we can't keep up with them. It's scary to think that they are two babies developing inside my body. I just can't imagine what my stomach will look like even three months from now.

Here is a picture of Baby A. He (no we don't the the gender but I don't want to say "it"), is titled A since he is the closest to the cervix. This generally means that he would be born first. This baby is very active and wouldn't stay still long enough to get a good shot. His arms are near his head and look almost the same size as his body. Even though you can't tell in this picture, his legs were crossed and looked like frog legs.

This is Baby B and he is calm as a cucumber. He didn't move much in the 45 minutes but does enjoy living close to my hip. I didn't even know that babies could find their way into a hip. But they warned me that since there's not much space in there, that the babies will take every bit of space they can. Lucky me! You can see his hand near his face as though he is sucking his thumb. I say he is waving saying hello!

This is my favorite picture of them all. It is a picture looking down on their skulls/brains. I say this is where the saying "Two heads are better than one" came from. But really doesn't it look like two peas in a pod?

Austin's first Day of School

Here are pictures of Austin's first day of school. He was so excited to be a first grader and go to the "big" school that didn't teach about God. We have tried to explain the difference between private and public. Austin has been telling people that he goes to a school where
there is no God. But I think he's getting the idea now. When we first arrived at school, Austin told us to stay in the car as he knew where to go. We explained that on the first day of school that Mom and Dad would walk him to class. Like Austin always does, he asked to compromise, "how about you walk me up to class, but I go in by myself?" I still can't believe he said this, what is he 12? In the end, we all made it in his class and wished him a great first day!
We let him ride the bus to school as it picks him up in front of the house. You would think the bus was taking him to Disneyland because he was overjoyed by excitement! He thought that he was all grown up leaving me and Dylan at the sidewalk. Dylan now wants to take the bus too!

To make the week even better, Austin had a note sent home today saying what an amazing kid he is and that he is a hard worker and very caring! What more could we ask for to hear his first week of school! we have decided to allow Austin to ride the bus to school on Tuesday and Thursday and he can ride the bus home every day as along as he obeys. After waiting two days in car line, I went through 1/4 tank of gas and 2 minutes after we would arrive home, the bus will pull up right after us. We are the first stop so it's not much of a ride, plus it allows me to spend more time alone with Dylan. So I guess he is getting way to big too fast!