Update on the Clouse's!

Hello everyone! Well I know I haven't posted much since 2 weeks before the babies were born, so here's a quick run-down.

October 20th - went into labor at 33 weeks and 2 days
October -21st - gave birth to 2 amazing little boys at 12:17 and 12:18 am, Luke 3 lbs 13 oz, Logan 4 lbs 6oz

November 2nd - took the boys home from the hospital (12 days later), Luke 4 lbs 3 oz, Logan 4 lbs 8 oz
November 10th - 1st doctors visit, Luke 5lbs 2 oz, Logan 5 lbs 5oz
November 21st - 1 month old, L&L love to sleep, eat every 3 hours like clockwork!
November 29 - Growing fast! Luke 7 lbs 8 oz, Logan 7 lbs 10 oz

December 7 - original due date for L&L, sleeping 3 to 5 hours at night, eating 4 oz. every 3 hours
December 21st -  2 months old, and 60 degrees outside!!

January 10th - Luke 11 lbs 2 oz, Logan 11 lbs 11 oz,  eating 4 to 5 oz 6x a day, sleeping 5 to 6 hours every night! Starting to smile :)
January 15th - Baptism at St. Paul's in Westerville
January 21st - 3 months old, sleeping from around 11pm to 5:30 or 6am in the morning!

February 10 - found our hands and started wearing size 2 diapers
February 17th -  Luke 14 lbs 10 oz, Luke 13 lbs 9 oz, starting to giggle and laugh
February 21st - 4 months old! the boys love laying on their playmat, and sitting in the bouncy, vibrating seats

March - really warm - feels like spring! The boys turned 5 months, started grasping objects and eating cereal. Also starting jumping in our jumperoo toys. Logan LOVES to jump, Luke likes to play with the toys. By the end of March, Luke weighs over 14 lbs, and Logan weighs over 15 lbs. The boys are also starting to push up when they are on their tummies and look around. They really like to stand up (with help of course!)

April -  6 months old! Not as warm as March :(, but still sleeping pretty good, taking longer naps and staying away more now. Eating 5 to 6 x/day and we started eating baby food this month, the really liked carrots! They also started rolling over this month. Logan went from his back to belly first and once he figured it out, he started doing it ALOT!  Luke was not quite as motivated, but started rolling from his belly to back first. By the end of April, Logan was 16 lbs 5 oz, and Luke was 15 lbs. The boys also really like to hear themselves talk, and have started screeching and talking alot more.

May - 7 months old this month! Can't believe how big they are getting! It's amazing! With age, the boys aren't sleeping as well, but I think it's partially because they are sometimes growing/hungry and their gums are hurting. (No teeth yet, but I think it's bothering them now...). L&L are happiest in the mornings. They smile and are so happy to see us when we go to get them from their cribs. Some milestones this month have been - big boy baths (in the tub in seats so we don't slip and fall over), they found their feet (Luke loves them!), changed to size 3 diapers, played in the baby pool for the first time outside, started sleeping on our bellies - or at least waking up that way,  starting to sit up on our own with no help! The boys were weighed around their 7 month birthday and Luke was 15 lbs 15 oz, 17 lbs 3 oz.

I'll try to post highlights at least monthly so you can all see how the boys are doing. I'll make sure to post a few pictures too!

(Oh yeah, mom and dad are doing well too!)

May 7 Months

 Aunt Alicia visited for Memorial Day weekend!

 Logan

 Luke

Logan, what's that on your head?

Happy 1st Mother's Day!

April

 

  

March

So nice outside, taking a walk with Dad and Mom!

Just talking on the phone and watching TV :)

I'm the law!

 February

Luke                    Logan 

January 

 

December

 

At the Hospital

Going Home!!

Happy Halloween!                        First picture taken together!

Luke&Logan 1 month picture collage

1 Month old! Stephanie's Creations

LukeLogan 3 months

3 Months Old! Stephanie's Creations

.

31 weeks

I had my 31 week appointment this past week and some good news! They did a growth ultrasound scan and the babies are getting bigger! I’m pretty sure they are starting to take up all the room I have in my belly, and eat ALL my food I’m consuming because I haven’t been feeling the greatest, and this is slightly reminiscent of my first trimester…which means lots of small meals, eating all the time, but not really feeling like it, boo. But, on the bright side when they did the growth scan, each baby is getting so big! Baby A, who is head down weighs about 3 lbs. 7 oz. and Baby B, who is head up, weighs about 3 lbs. 12 oz! We were very excited to hear how big they are getting! This means I really have over 7 lbs. of baby in me now, so for those of you who haven’t seen me in a while, I’m pretty sure this is what I would look like around 9 months pregnant. Anyways, it was pretty cute, we were getting the ultrasound done, and the technician was talking about how the babies were positioned and I realized that Baby A’s butt is right in Baby B’s face, and you could actually see one of Baby B’s feet when we were looking at Baby A’s head. So if you aren’t confused already, they are really getting tight quarters in there, and probably Baby A is pushing his butt up against Baby B’s face.

Baby A - I think this is the first good head shot we have of him!

Baby B - growing!

Also, just to give you a sneak peak, we have been working a ton on the nursery and it’s almost ready for the little guys! I’ll put a few pictures here as a tease and hopefully will have full pics for you all in a week or two!

29 Week Update

So we are in the middle of week 29, which means only 11 weeks left….or maybe less. On average people pregnant with twins deliver between weeks 35 and 36, so that would mean I would have around 6 or 7 weeks if we use the law of averages.

So, just to give a short update, last week I had my 28 week appointment where we had an ultrasound and 3D ultrasound done. The babies looked great during the ultrasound, their estimate weight was 1 lb. 15oz. and 2 lbs. 5 oz., so one baby is just a little bigger than the other. Baby A was head down and kind of tucked down underneath Baby B who is head up/transverse. I can definitely tell Baby B has a lot more room to move around too as he likes to kick a lot and push against the front of my belly a lot! Their measurements looked good in the ultrasound and when we tried to do a 3-D ultrasound we were not so successful. We did get one or two good pictures of Baby B (See below) where he looks like he is smiling, however, we decided Baby A is more like Tim because he was being camera-shy and facing my spine so we did not get any 3D pics of him and only a few regular ultrasound pictures. Oh, well, they both seem to be doing great, so that’s all that matters :).

Now onto the other development. During my ultrasound the technician decided there was an indicator for pre-term labor (I can give you more details if you want, just ask). They sent me over to Riverside Hospital (which is where I will deliver) to be monitored to ensure my body was not going into pre-term labor. Once at the hospital they discovered I was having some contractions and might be dilating a little, so I ended up having to stay for 24 hours to have several tests and take some precautionary measures to ensure I wasn’t going to have these babies early. While there, they monitored me and the babies. The babies were fine, they continued to be very active, and they didn’t enjoy being monitored (two belts with round discs on them were strapped around my belly to detect each one of their heartbeats), and spent a lot of time kicking the monitors and trying to move away from them, they were being stinkers :) . They gave me medicine to stop the contractions and some steroids to help the babies lungs develop. At the end of the day they were able to do a test on me that is called a fetal fibronectin test. It has a very strong negative indicator, so that if it comes back negative your body is most likely not going to go into labor for the next 1-2 weeks. So that test came back negative and we got to go home. On the other side I was released with orders to be on bed rest. Additionally, my doctor was out of town the whole week last week so I was dealing with on-call doctors. Overall, everything they did was fairly standard for a mom of multiples that has not reached 32 or 34 weeks yet, and is showing signs of pre-term labor. I had actually read about this before-hand so that did make it less scary when going through it.

Now, I’m 29 weeks (one week closer!) and I got to see my doctor. I am still on bedrest, which means I’m not supposed to be on feet much at all, except to go to the bathroom, shower and get up to eat. So that also means I’m not supposed to be driving or shopping or going to work. I am allowed to work from home which is helpful, since I’m confined to my recliner, couch and bed. Overall, I’m doing well, just wanted to give an update so you had the scoop and to let you know that we are doing well. I have included some of the ultrasound pics and others below!

Baby B - Heartbeat
Baby B - Head Shot
Baby B - 3D Face - Smiling
Baby A - Heartbeat
Baby A - Body & Spine

Labor Day Fun & Baby Shower

Well we are officially into September, and the weather has followed suit, feeling like fall. It was almost 100 degrees on Friday/Saturday and then there was a huge drop in temps to the 60s/70s on Monday. Over the weekend I celebrated a friends’ birthday, watched the Buckeyes play their first game of the season, hung out with family and had my baby shower. So, it was definitely a busy weekend, but lots of fun!

Week 27 - Go Bucks!!

It was so nice to see everyone at the baby shower, and everyone that wasn’t able to make it was missed. The food was great and the games were short and sweet! Sonya polled Tim several baby-related questions a week ago (unbeknownst to me) and then I had to try and guess what he answered. We were close, but most of our answers didn’t quite match up. I was pleasantly surprised that Tim is anticipating changing a lot of the diapers that are to come! Afterwards we opened gifts, and I had two very good little helpers, my niece Michaela and cousin’s daughter Kayleigh. Overall it was a great day, and we really do appreciate everyone coming and for all the great gifts that will definitely come in handy with two arrivals on the way. A big thanks to all my family that helped to put on the shower, it really was great and I know you put a lot of planning into the event! At the time were about 27 weeks, so approaching the third trimester. I have been feeling very good during the last 10 weeks or so, which has been a nice change from the first trimester. The babies are going to be growing quite a bit over the next month so I anticipate some growing pains along the way! I’ll keep you posted as we just got another another ultrasound!

Awesome Cake made my sister-in-law Amanda! Yummy desserts! My sister-in-law Lori is due just 10 days before the twins!

Look at all the books we got for the babies, thanks so much everyone!

Update – what have we been up to?

Well we are at the beginning of September, and well into the 2nd trimester and things are good. We are working on stuff around the house and putting stuff together in the babies’ room. We just got both cribs in and put together, but I’m going to wait until the nursery is set up to post any pictures on here. So, since things are great, I have been trying to do some different things around Columbus, the house etc. Last weekend, Brittany, Sonya, Mom and I all went to an ice-cream making demonstration class put on by Jeni – the famous ice cream shop here in Columbus. It was really fun to watch her make the ice cream and learn from somebody that is that good at it! Also, Brittany has been experimenting with making different kinds of Jeni’s ice cream, so she walked up and got to volunteer to help make the ice cream right next to Jeni. See pictures below! And for those of you that want a baby update, I am at about 26 weeks along and the boys are now approaching 2 pounds each and have developed a pretty good ability to hear. This means that they actually do recognize your voice when they are born! They are also moving around quite a bit!

Brittany making some ice cream with Jeni!

We all got to have our books signed and meet her, it was great!