Luke and Adilynn's 1st Birthday!

Well we are so sorry that it has been NINE whole months since we actually updated this blog. So much as been going on as you can imagine, that we tend to neglect this blog. Well the time has sadly come, Luke and Adilynn had their 1st Birthday!
We celebrated with all are close friends for a morning brunch. The babies have never had sweets before, so they sure loved cake time.
They have grown up so much and they truly have been a blessing to our family. Here is a link to see all there great birthday pictures. How we wish everyone could have been there to celebrate. I promise to update again soon -seriously I will this time ♥
http://s283.photobucket.com/albums/kk310/bellissimodesign/

First Family Vacation

So we attempted our first family trip with four kids. We went to the beautiful Oregon Coast called Depoe Bay. It's the Whale Watching Capital on the West Coast. We stayed there for 2 days. All the kids had a great time and the weather was beautiful! And on top of that -We survived it!







Also, here's a video of Luke & Adilynn learning to "coo" and smiling. They are getting so big. Don't forget to notice Luke's cute dimples!!!!

cast, shoes, football and more!

Well again time has passed by us so fast that another month has gone by. Luke has been doing amazingly well from his feet surgery and has grown so much. He got his casts off yesterday and his new "shoes" put on. We weighed him after they took his casts off and he now weighs 11 pounds 3 ounces! He is growing like a weed and has passed Adilynn up. Luke got his tongue clipped a few weeks ago and that is also healing quite well. It was more painful I think for me as it was for him. All they did was put a tongue dispersers in his mouth and cut it with medical scissors. He cried for 5 minutes and then ate without spitting any of it out -hence in the rapid weight increase!





Adilynn is growing so fast and is getting more beautiful by the day. I don't think a day goes by that either myself, Aaron and even the boys tell her how beautiful she is. She is going to grow up very humble. The lucky man that marries her will be expected to tell her the same thing (if Aaron ever lets anyone take her away from him). She weighs 10 pounds 9 ounces and is almost 23 inches. She is smiling a little more each day and is trying to "talk" to her friends (the animal mobile). Sadly both Luke and Adilynn have their first cold and my heart breaks for them as there is nothing we can do about it. When Adilynn tries to cry, no sound comes out. But hopefully they will be better soon. They will be 3 months old next week!!!!!!




Austin is playing flag football again this season and is doing awesome. He has almost scored 2 touch downs but has sacked a handful of times. He is playing with another boy from our church and his dad is the coach. I think this helps Austin to not be so sensitive but more athletic. He is looking forward to turning the big '7' next month and can't wait to be a 2nd grader. He will be attending his old private school from Kindergarten along with Dylan. So that will be a blessing to have both the boys at the same school. Austin refers to it as 'going back to school that teaches about God.' Needless to say he is very excited to leave the 'place that only talks about God in the 'Pledge of Allegiance' (public school). He has such a pure and loving heart!



Dylan is sad that the school year is almost over. He has grown so much and looks even more like Aaron than ever before. He loves to be our helper and loves to 'help' with Luke and Adilynn. He shadows Austin's every move and thinks the world of his brother. It's so touching to see how close the two of them are.



We joined a local gym here and leave all 4 kiddos in child care. After Aaron and I work out for awhile, we go back to just pick up Austin and Dylan to take them swimming in the indoor pool. They both have missed playing in a pool since moving here, but they certainly look forward to swimming again with us. Next week they will open up there outside heated pool and the boys are excited as it has a water slide. I still find it strange this is the first time that we have been in swimsuits since leaving California.



We are all doing great, just taking everything hour by hour. The twins are such a blessings and the boys are growing up right before our eyes. We can finally say that are family is complete!

Luke's Surgery

Well Friday was Luke's surgery and thank you all for your prayers. We arrived at 6am for his 7:30am surgery. Once we got there, they told us that his surgery was going to be delayed until 10:30am since they told us the wrong time for his last feeding.
Which meant we could have gotten 3 extra hours of sleep!

He was taken back for surgery at 10:45am. Our dear friend took time out of his busy day to come pray with Aaron and I. Which gave us such peace (thanks Edward, we love ya).His surgery was a great success. He was in there for about 45 minutes. We had to wait a bit before we could visit him in recovery. The wait seemed like forever! Finally I was able to kiss and hold my boy again. He was completely drugged on codeine. They told us that he needed to stay for at least 6 hours and possibity overnight. Which was never told to us prior to surgery. We thought we would be home by 1:00pm

They wanted him to say at least 6 hours since he was a preemie. They needed to take extra precaution on his breathing. So after being there for over 12 hours, we finally left at 6:30pm with Luke and Addilynn.

We still needed to pick up Austin and Dylan who were being watched by wonderful friends (thanks guys). Once we got them and Luke's medicine it was 8:30pm! It was a long day, but thankfully a wonderful one!

So Luke got his last set of casts on his legs which will be on for 3 weeks. After those 3 weeks he will wear his braces for 16 hours out of the day. Once he is about 9 months, he will just have to wear them at naps and at night until age 3. So hopefully the major treatment is behind us and we can now focus on our precious boy!

Luke's Surgery

I'm so sorry that it has been weeks since I have updated this thing, but as you can understand, time slips away from me everyday.
Well Luke is on his 5th cast and will be having surgery on April 10th at 7:30 am.
This is the surgery where they will clip his Achilles Tendon in both ankles. Since he is so small, it repairs itself. Once they clip the tendon, they will set his feet accordingly and then cast him again. This time his cast will be on for three weeks. After the three weeks, NO MORE CAST. YEAH! I don't know who will be happier, him or I? Once the cast comes off, he will wear a brace on his feet. This brace looks like Brickenstocks with a metal bar connecting at each shoe. He will wear these 20 hours a day for the beginning of his treatment and slowly reducing the number of hours as he grows. He will wear these braces until about age three. The doctor's say that he will still crawl and walk on time as Adilynn. This is one reason they like to start this treatment at such a young age that the children do not know any different.


Other than weekly cast treatment, both Luke and Adilynn are doing great. They will be six weeks this Friday and growing better than ever. They are just shy of eight pounds and 21 inches. They are 'perfect' babies as they understand the difference between night and day. They only wake up once in the night for a quick bottle and then back to sleep. Adilynn has beautiful blue eyes like her father and Luke's are in between blue and brown. We are still taking guesses at what color they will be in the end. Adilynn is more of the eater than Luke. She always lets you know when it's time to eat. She is like clock work every four hours. After almost six weeks, we still cannot tell the difference between their cries and moans. It's always a game to guess who we think it is and 99% of the time, we are wrong.
Austin and Dylan are in love with their new brother and sister. They both are great helpers for me as I can take all the extra hands that I can get. I will try to give another update after Luke's pre-op appointment on April 8th. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we live on this adventure called parenthood!

Luke's first casting

Well Luke got his cast on Monday and was such a trooper! I think it hurt Aaron and I more to watch him go through this than it did for him to experience. Here is the before picture to show you how severe both feet were. Not only are both his feet turned in, but his heels go up towards his calves too. All this will be corrected over time with this procedure.

So from here on out, Luke will get both legs casts every week until he is about four months old. When he turns six weeks old, they will do his first surgery which is clipping his Achilles tendon in both feet so they can manipulate the feet better. Here is them working on his legs.

As you can see the cast are from the top of his legs to the very end of his toes. Every week when they change the casts, they will turn his feet a little bit at a time to straighten them out. This process can take the whole four months, but thank God that this condition can even be corrected! So our little peanut now weighs over five pounds with these casts on. Together they weigh about a pound. But please continue to pray for his treatment and myself as I do this drive by myself and take both babies every week! We will continue to give updates here and always feel free to call us.

What a week!

LUKE RYDER CHESNUT & ADILYNN (Add-i-lynn) REVAY CHESNUT

Okay first off, we are sorry if this is the first time that you are hearing anything about the babies. I lost my phone 20 minutes before leaving for the hospital and my phone has everyone's info. I will try my best to call you all in the next week or so or feel free to call us anytime. But here is everything that has happen in only seven days!

We had a scheduled c-section on Friday, February 13th at 5:00pm. Luke Ryder Chesnut was born at 5:50pm at 5 pounds and 0 ounces. Adilynn Revay Chesnut was born at 5:51pm at 5 pounds 1 ounce. It's funny that their birth weights match their time of arrival. Anyhow, they were both doing wonderful. About 3 hours after birth, Luke was breathing a little heavy. He was taken and admitted to the NICU for observation. They ended up putting him on a CPAP (kind of like breathing for sleep apnea). Adilynn was great and didn't need to join him the whole hospital stay.

Adilynn and I came home on Tuesday, February 17 but had to leave Luke behind. At this point he was off the CPAP but needed to lose the feeding tube and IV fluids. Our first night home with Adilynn was crazy. Waking up again to a newborn is a hard adjustment. Around 2am Aaron and I just laughed knowing that we still had one more to bring home! Luke made such wonderful progress throughout the week that he came home yesterday!!! Let me tell you how weird it is to leave a hospital with a double stroller and two babies inside. Talk about crazy, but truly blessed at the same time!

Luke was born with severe club feet and he has his first doctor's appointment on Monday for his casting. Not only does he have club feet, but he is also tongue tied (the piece of skin under your tongue is close to the end and prevents you from eating well and possible language problems in the future). My poor little guy seems to have everything! So they will have to clip that sometime soon as well. Adilynn has a slight tongue tie, but shouldn't require clipping.

As far as Aaron and I, Aaron has been so awesome. I know he is so tired from running back and forth between visiting me at the hospital and the 2 boys at home. But he lights up the minute he gets to hold his princess in his arms! I feel wonderful considering everything that I have gone through in a week. I'm not 100% yet, but feel close to it. Just knowing that I have both Luke and Adilynn home together and Austin and Dylan with an amazing husband, makes my recover that much easier!

So thank you again for all the prayers thus far. Please continue to keep all of us, but mainly Luke in your prayers as we start his club feet treatments. Feel free to call us anytime to talk and visit. Our home number is 503-922-1212. We will update you on Monday to show the progress on Luke's feet.

Friday the 13th

So today we went in for our amino. After several painful attempts, they were able to get his fluid. They perform two different test on the fluid. In order to get a postitive result, first test needed to be higher than a 55, Luke's was at 51 (just our luck). So they performed the second test which took four hours. This test needed to be higher than a 2.0, Luke's came back at 2.6!!!! Thank goodness for over achievers in this family =)

So with that said, we are having babies tomorrow night at 5pm at St. Vincent's Hospital. We are so excited, but nervous on having 2 or 4 which ever way you look at it! Plus I'm a little scared about having a c-section. But Aaron will keep everyone updated as much as possible, but feel free to call us for an update: 503-706-3757. Thanks again to everyone for you love, support and prayers throughout this pregnancy

TO BE CONTINUED . . . . .

our last doctor's appointment...hopefully

So today we went in for an ultrasound to get the measurements of the twins. Adilynn is weighing so far at 5 pounds 14 ounces!!! I can't believe how big she is! Luke is approx. 4 pounds 14 ounces, but his head is SO LOW they can't get an accurate measurement. But the doctor's guess he is about 5.5 pounds. Which means by the time Friday comes, they could be even bigger, which is awesome especially since I'm only going to be 35 weeks.

We are still anticipating the amino results on Thursday to let us know if the c-section is 100% on Friday. If their lungs come back mature, then our c-section is sceduled for 5pm on Friday night with a check in time of 3pm. So please continue to pray for the health of the babies and if it's God's will we will have 2 beautiful and healthy babies this Friday.

1 for the money, 2 for the show, 3 to get ready and 4 here we go . . .

So we had our doctor's appointment today after a long weekend of continous contractions. I still have made no prgoress from last weeks hospital stay. I am currently 33.5 weeks, 3cm and 50% effaced. Here is the plan as of this morning. Next Monday (2/9) we will have an ultrasound to look at the babies positions and their growth. Then on Thursday (2/12), we will have an amino (they place a needle into the sac where the baby is and take fluid out to test for lung maturity) on both babies. It will take 4-6 hours to get the results back to show if their lungs are mature for life outside the womb. If they come back positive, then we will have a c-section the next morning on Friday (2/13). If they come back negative, then the c-section will be put off one more week.

With all this said, if my body progress any futher on it's own between now and next week, the babies would be delivered sooner. So again, we wait and continue to allow Adilynn and Luke to grow stronger and healtier. Everyday at this point is less time in the NICU.

3cm and a birthday!

Well this week has definitely been exciting for all of us. We went into the hospital early Thursday morning because I was having more contractions. Once they checked me, they said I was finally 3 cm and 50% effaced. So they decided to admit me and and off we were to a labor room. YEAH!

The contractions were getting more intense with contractions every minute apart. My wonderful doctor said that I could have an epidural for pain since he figured I would delivery that night if not by Friday. Aaron thought he would win the bet on picking my birthday would still come true!

After laboring all day and night with the contractions still 1-2 minutes apart, I still hadn't changed when they checked me. They said if I only made a little progress that they could do the c-section. With my luck, nothing changed. By morning, we were still in the same boat and by the afternoon they gave me the option of going home until things changed. Since I didn't want to break tradition of going to Benihana on my birthday, I opted to leave the hospital and head for dinner to celebrate my birthday and possibly the last dinner out with only two kids!

So again, we wait! We have another doctors appointment on Monday and if I make the littlest of change, they will do a c-section. So continue to keep all of us in prayers and we will keep you updated as much as possible. Thank you all that have supported us, prayed for us, helped with the boys and your love thus far.

32 week check up!

Well we had our 32 week check up today and the babies are looking awesome. Adilynn is 4 pounds 7 ounces and Luke is 4 pounds and 1 ounce. They are still looking as healthy as can be! YEAH! Also I am finally a true 1cm. The doctor's have no way of telling how much longer I could go, but with the contractions that I have, it could be tonight or 3 weeks from now. So continue to keep us all in your prayers and we will keep you updated as things progress! We are still so thankful that we have made it this far =)

The rain isn't always bad

Well most of the Northwest has been hit with some pretty tough rains -10 inches in some places. But we really haven''t had much more than a few sprinkles. But I wanted to share this beautiful picture that I was able to capture off our deck this afternoon. Isn't it amazing?

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!