One Month Old!

Wow! I can't believe Porter and Oliver are already one month old!! These past four weeks have been crazy, but oh so wonderful. The twins are doing great in the NICU and are growing bigger and stronger every day. I love seeing how much they have changed in just the few short weeks they've been here. All day I look forward to when Braxton gets off work and we get to go to the hospital and hold our sweet little boys. I'm so blessed to be a mother to these babies and I already can't imagine my life without them.

They've had a few minor setbacks along the way but overall they're doing wonderful! Porter is already a little over 4 lbs and Oliver isn't far behind. Yesterday they decided the boys were doing well enough that they could be transferred from the hospital they've been at in Ogden to Logan Regional Hospital. As much as we've loved staying in Kaysville with Braxton's family, it's going to be so nice to be back in our own home. And the Logan hospital is only a five minute drive from our apartment compared to the 20 minute drive we've been doing every day, which means more daily visits to the hospital (which means I'm a very happy mama!) 

I absolutely love the time I spend with my sweet boys every day. One of my very favorite moments was when I got to hold both boys together at the same time. It was such an amazing feeling to be able to have both my babies in my arms and I never wanted to let go. 

They've definitely changed a lot since they were born and it's so fun to watch them develop more and more every day. Porter has totally chunked out in the past month and I just die over his squishy cheeks and little baby rolls that are starting to form. His personality has been developing as well and it's so funny to see the difference between him and his brother. Porter is our feisty one and seems to have a lot more to say about everything than Ollie. We love that such a strong personality can come from such a little baby and are looking forward to the adventures we have ahead of us with this one. 

We call Oliver our little philosopher. He always looks like he's deep in thought and spends most of the time that he's awake quietly taking in everything that's going on around him. Unlike Porter he doesn't seem to be bothered by diaper changes or bath time and will look up at us with his big blue eyes the entire time without making a peep. These two could not be more opposite and we love it! 

I will never get tired of watching Braxton with these boys. 

A couple weeks ago Braxton's mom and sister Jessica threw me an amazing baby shower! It obviously was supposed to take place before the babies were born, but since I was already out of the hospital and recovering well we decided to keep the date. The theme of the shower was Thing 1 and Thing 2 and all the decorations were absolutely ADORABLE! Braxton and I are so lucky to have such amazing family and friends who have been giving us support and love through all of this. So many people showed up to the shower and gave us super generous gifts that were more helpful than they probably realize. I've been pretty stressed since the boys arrived about not having everything we need and not being ready when they come home and all the help we received from our family made my stress level go from a 10 to a 1. I'm so thankful to have such incredible people in my life who are there for me and Braxton when we need it. (And check out those cute Thing 1 and Thing 2 hats Jessica made for the twins!)

Now the next task on the to-do list is to finish organizing the nursery! I have absolutely loved decorating the boys room over the past few months and can't wait until it's finished! 

I'm so lucky to be able to call these three dudes my family. 

It's a good life!

xo Lexie 

The Twins are Here!

Saturday June 27 we had the biggest surprise of our lives. Our two little boys decided to make a dramatic unplanned entrance into this world 10 weeks earlier than anticipated. It was our nephew Tristan's first birthday party that day so we drove down to Kaysville to celebrate. The party took place at a park and we were having a great time visiting with all of our family and friends. The entire time we were there I was feeling fine and there was no sign that I would be going into labor later that day. After the party we decided to go back to Braxton's parents house and take a little nap before taking the hour drive back to Logan. 

I was laying down and trying to rest and I started having some pretty mild contractions. I thought they were just the Braxton Hicks "practice contractions" so I wasn't too worried about it, but then they just kept coming. They were pretty short contractions and a little over 10 minutes apart so I didn't think I was going into labor, but I was uncomfortable enough that I asked Braxton if we could head back to Logan. We went upstairs to get everything ready to leave and when I told Braxton's mom about the contractions she suggested I call the doctor and make sure he thought everything was okay before getting in the car for an hour. I called and he told me it would be best to sit, drink lots of water, and wait for the contractions to stop before driving back; and if they didn't stop within an hour he wanted me to go to the hospital to get checked out. So we all sat in the living room to wait them out (at this point they were starting to get a little worse). 

About 5 minutes after getting off the phone with the doctor I had a pretty bad contraction and in the middle of it my water broke. And let me just say that was the weirdest feeling ever. At first I thought I wet my pants and then the water just kept coming and coming. All of a sudden my brain registered that these weren't just "practice contractions" and I was in labor and these babies were coming today. I immediately went into panic mode. My mind kept thinking about how little these babies still were and how they weren't ready and especially how I wasn't ready. Braxton's parents were amazing and tried to keep Braxton and me calm (I could tell Braxton was just as scared as I was). Our car was almost out of gas so we hopped in the back of his parents mini van and they both drove us to the closest hospital. At this point my contractions were only a minute and a half apart and I was trying not to have a panic attack. Once we got to the hospital everything sort of became a blur. 

We pulled up to the entrance and they hurried and put me in a wheel chair and quickly wheeled me into a delivery room. The nurse went to check how dilated I was and instead of reporting a measurement she exclaimed that she felt the umbilical cord (which is a bad sign) and then she said she felt the babies feet (double bad). I knew from the birthing class we took two weeks before that both those things meant a C-section and I was right. Seconds after she announced she felt feet I was being quickly wheeled into an operating room for an emergency C-section while the nurse sat on the bed with me holding the babies legs so he wouldn't come out. At this point I was scared. Well, terrified might be a better word. I didn't want to lose the boys and everything was moving so fast I didn't know what was going on. In the operating room Braxton held my hand and tried to distract me while nurses and doctors were hooking me up to all sorts of tubes and machines. The next thing I knew they were telling me that they didn't have time to numb me and they were going to have to put me to sleep. I was so upset I wouldn't be able to be awake to see my boys come into this world, but I didn't have much time to voice my opinion because before I knew it I was out. 

The next thing I knew I was waking up (in an unimaginable amount of pain) to braxton talking to me and telling me everything was okay. I remember he kept showing me pictures of the babies and talking about them and I was so confused. I thought it was a dream and I kept insisting the twins were still inside of me. Finally I started really waking up and my first vivid memory was of a nurse pushing hard on my stomach to check and make sure everything was okay. At this point I still wasn't on any pain medication at all and her pushing was something that can only be described as the worst pain I have ever felt in my entire life. It felt like someone took a knife and stabbed my stomach and then started turning the knife around and around inside me. Just thinking about it is making me cringe right now. 

Anyways, once that was over we finally got to see our sweet little boys. They wheeled my bed into the NICU and I was able to put my hand inside and touch both of them for the first time. It was the happiest moment of my life. 

Meet Porter Nicholas Foust and Oliver Curtis Foust. 

Porter was born at 5:51 PM, weighed 3 lbs 4 oz, and measured 16 inches long. 

Oliver was born at 5:54 PM, weighed 3 lbs 2 oz, and measured 15.5 inches long. 

Porter's middle name is named after my Uncle Nick who passed away a couple years ago, and Oliver's middle name is after his daddy (Curtis is Braxton's middle name too). 

My water broke at 5:00, so the entire birth story above all took place in under an hour

Over the next few days I continued to slowly heal and every day we would go down to the NICU and see our sweet little miracles. The day after they were born I got to hold both of them and it was absolutely amazing. My heart was so full and I couldn't believe how much I loved these sweet little boys.

I could just sit there and stare at them all day. 

When my family heard I was delivering the twins they dropped everything, got in the car, and drove straight here (I am constantly amazed at what my parents are willing to do for me). They got here early monday morning and spent the week helping us out any way they could and getting some time with the newest additions to the family. I loved having them here and am so thankful for such an incredible family. 

Wednesday I got discharged from the hospital and I had a hard time with the fact that I had to leave the boys there. Since they have to stay at the hospital in Ogden, it would have been way too hard for us to go back to Logan and drive over an hour every time we wanted to see them. So Braxton's parents were nice enough to let us stay with them for the next couple months until the twins get to come home. Braxton's job was able to work something out with him so he can remote in and work from home. So he's still able to work every day from the computer in his parents basement (they also gave him a paid week of paternity leave). We are so blessed! But It's definitely still difficult to go from having the boys right down the hall to having them be a 20 minute drive away. 

And another major blessing is that the hospital we ended up going to is the only hospital in Utah that has a NICU capable of caring for babies as premature as ours. If I would have delivered Porter and Oliver in Logan they would have had to transfer them to this hospital in Ogden anyways and then I would have been recovering from my surgery up in Logan while they would be all the way down here which would have been a million times harder). And it would have cost us $10,000 for each baby to be moved to this hospital. So we were super blessed to have them when we were down here. 

I love seeing Braxton with our sons. I didn't think it was possible to love him any more than I already did.. and then he became a dad. He is so sweet with them and I'm just so thankful to have him as my husband. The boys are lucky to have him for their dad. 

Oliver has struggled a little bit more than Porter with everything, but they're both doing really well for  being born at 30 weeks. We're so proud of them!

I love seeing how different my boys are already. 
Porter is our active one. (It was that way even when they were inside me.) He is a lot more alert and seems to get irritated a little more easily than his brother. He's got dark hair and dark eyes and seems to take after his daddy as far as facial expressions go. (He likes to scrunch up his forehead and scowl at us a lot and I don't think he realizes how cute it is.) 
Oliver is our chill little dude. He's a lot more sleepy and content than Porter. He's got almost white blonde hair and has a lot of Johnson features, which I love. It's so fun to watch these little guys grow and develop more and more every day, and I'm so thankful for their sweet spirits in our lives.

We are so so happy to have Porter and Oliver here!

xo Lexie