Gavin proclaims, "I'm huge!"

After rumors had been swirling for days about a possible weight gain, Gavin confirmed in a press conference this morning that he does now weigh five pounds. When asked why he waited so long to speak publicly, Gavin replied, "I wanted to inform close family and friends before alerting the media." Little brother Aiden had a different story to tell, "Let's just say that his weight has fluctuated a bit lately." When asked to elaborate, Aiden declined further comment and took a nap. Gavin maintains that it was his choice alone to delay the announcement and describes his new size simply as "huge."


Aiden spent the better part of the press conference trying to sleep in his crib. Bothered by all the flash bulbs from the paparazzi, Aiden commented, "Is he going to have a press conference every time he gains a pound? When I hit 4 pounds I didn't even get my own blog post." Good point Aiden.

Current Statistics:
Gavin - 5 lbs; 17.5" long
Aiden - 4 lbs, 6 oz; 16.5" long

Movin' On Up

On Tueday night the boys moved to some new digs. They finally scraped together enough rent money to move to the trendier open air cribs. Although both boys enjoyed their time in the warm and cozy isolettes, they agreed that it was time for a change. Gavin explained, "We can both be pretty stinky babies and the isolettes really trapped in the smell of those poopy diapers." Aiden seconded the sentiment, "Warm air plus dirty diapers, you do the math. It was NOT good."

At first they remained at 3310 Comfort Ct., but found it to be not so comfortable out of the isolettes. "We realized that we had some really noisy neighbors. We think of ourselves as pretty laid back guys, but there were some older babies in the neighborhood who were screaming and crying at all hours of the night," Gavin exclaimed. The boys hadn't realized just how quiet those isolettes had been. At the same time Aiden put it best when he said, "We are over a month old now, and that means trying new things like moving into a crib." Although happy in his crib, Aiden was skeptical of his noisy neighbors.

So the boys went hunting for a new room and found a delightful little place at 3306 Rock-A-Bye Rd. Although the room is smaller, it is in a much quieter neighborhood of the NICU. "Our view isn't spectacular, but this place is just temporary until we can move to E. 18th Street with Mommy and Daddy," Gavin stated. He had no trouble falling asleep in the new locale.

Daddy Rocks!

Preemies are at a higher risk of developing problems with their retinas so yesterday evening Gavin and Aiden had their eyes examined. Although necessary and important, the exam is not a very pleasant experience. Their eyes are dilated and numbed with drops prior to the exam so they are not in pain, but their eyes are held open with a tool and a bright light is used. Both boys were troopers throughout the exam. Gavin went first and although he was upset during the exam, and who wouldn't be, he calmed down quickly when he was placed in Ian's arms. Then it was Aiden's turn and he responded the same way. When Aiden was finished, he got to go see Daddy too. Ian got his first experience of holding both boys at the same time. Notice I have not mentioned where I was during this whole ordeal. I opted not to watch and instead used the convenient and true excuse that I needed to go pump. When I returned to their room I got to see the sweet sight of Ian holding both boys who were contently sleeping in his arms.

Both boys passed their exams and have normal retinas. They do not need to see the eye doctor again for another year.

Ian relayed to me that their "twin sense" did not suddenly appear during their eye exams. Both boys slept while the other was crying 2 feet away. Incidentally, the doctor has twins of his own at home. Ian inquired about their "twin sense" and the doctor said he first noticed it with his twins around the age of 4. (You hear that Steve, you still have a few years before the mind tricks start. I would still recommend that you take Christa's advice and learn to tuck your tail now because both boys have one heck of a grasp.) If the boys do happen to have their "twin sense" now and are communicating through ESP, I can imagine a conversation from last night like this:
Gavin: Boy, this is awesome hanging out with Daddy together.
Aiden: He sure is comfy to sleep on.
Gavin: I really like that he has a bald head. I feel like he really understands us.
Aiden: I think Mommy would look funny with a bald head, but Daddy makes it look good!

You might spend too much time at the hospital if...

I was getting in my car to leave the hospital one day last week when I noticed a small sheet of paper under my wiper blade. At first I thought it was an advertisement of some kind, but upon further examination I realized that it was a parking violation issued by hospital security. It stated that I did not have a parking tag and that I had parked in a restricted zone. I found this to be baffling because I was parked on a level of the parking ramp that I had parked on many times in a space that appeared to be completely ordinary.

When I got home, I told Ian what had happened. We decided to ask a security guard about it the next time we saw one. On Saturday night we finally saw a guard and remembered to ask. I explained where I was parked and asked if some levels were off limits. He told me that visitors could park anywhere in the ramp. He asked for my license plate number, make, model and color of the car. He remembered giving me the violation and explained that employees are not supposed to park in the ramp. After seeing my car parked in the ramp repeatedly without a sticker, he assumed I was an employee trying to get a better spot. He apologized profusely and hoped that the violation had not inconvenienced me too much. Ian and I found the whole situation to be quite amusing. Clearly, my car and I spend A LOT of time here.

Wonder Twin Powers...Activate?

To begin with, I have to share that the boys have had an awesome week. They both started nursing this week and are up to two full feedings a day (they are still receiving milk through their tubes the other 6 feedings). They have also been packing on the ounces this week. Gavin is up to 4 lb, 11 oz and Aiden is up to 4 lb, 4 oz. Aiden officially joined the Four-Pounder Club on Wednesday (He is not only the president, but also a member...he he).

Now back to the original subject of this post. So I have been thinking a lot about the "twin" thing lately. I have been carefully watching them to see if they have started to develop their "twin sense." You always hear stories about the connection twins have, and how they are able to feel when the other one is in pain or in trouble. So far, I would say the boys have zero "twin sense." I witnessed Gavin completely asleep without a care in the world while Aiden was wailing not three feet away while getting a new IV. Actually, "twin sense" wouldn't even have been necessary in this situation because they were in the same room. Gavin was simply oblivious to the fact that his little brother was very distressed. I am not putting down the little guy, because Aiden has been equally clueless. I have visions of them getting into trouble together when they are a little older and Steve, our cat, having to come meow messages to me like Lassie. Then again, I have a feeling that Steve would just watch them get into trouble and then decide to take a long nap before alerting me. He is that kind of cat.

As the boys approach being 4 weeks old, their personalities have really started to develop and they are very different. Gavin seems to be quite laid back. He isn't easily bothered and sleeps more than Aiden. This became very apparent when I realized at first how few pictures I had of him with his eyes open. His periods of wakefulness have increased, but he never looks too worried or concerned. If we could get into Gavin's head, his thoughts would be something like, "I get to come out and eat now, cool." Gavin is chillin' while fueling up on some milk through his looped tube.


Aiden is the complete opposite. He seems to be awake more than Gavin and is constantly checking out his surroundings with a wide-eyed look. Aiden has been dubbed "nosy" by some of the nurses for always needing to know what is going on. Sometimes he seems so concerned about what is happening that he furrows his brow, which makes him look very serious. Aiden often looks at the nurses and seems to be thinking, "Who are you and what are you doing to me now?" Aiden ponders the meaning of life while being held.

Despite their differences, I have faith that the boys will eventually hone their "twin sense" and use it to play Jedi mind tricks on Steve the cat. Sorry Steve.

In Both Gavin and Aiden You Find I-A-N

So my friend Ann pointed out after the boys were born that both their names contain the letters needed to spell "Ian." I thought that was pretty darn cool, especially considering it was unplanned and neither of us had noticed it on our own. We put a lot of thought into the boys' names. Early in my pregnancy we had bounced around some names, but we didn't get serious about names until we knew that they were both boys. We both really liked the idea of giving them Scottish names and began our search for the perfect monikers.

Ian was especiallly active in looking up names on the Internet and emailing or texting me his suggestions. I know it may be hard to believe, but not all of his suggestions were Scottish or serious. Some favorites, which many of you may have already heard, were D'Juan & D'Wayney (inspired by NCAA basketball) and Zeus & Jesus (Spanish pronunciation). The latter pair prompted by the idea that you could say "Hey Zeus" and they would both come.

My students were also very interested in the naming process of the boys and gave me daily suggestions. Some of my favorites were Walker & Texas Ranger, Dwight & Michael (one class loved the show The Office), and Anderson & Propes (the last names of the band teachers). Ian's coworkers Wendy and Mikkie suggested Rod & Tod, but we were afraid the hair products that would accompany their obligatory mullets would bankrupt us nor did we believe we could find two matching 1989 T-Top Pontiac Firebirds.

But in all seriousness, Ian took a very active role in the naming process. It was Ian who first found the plethora of websites that listed Scottish names. It was also Ian who first suggested the name Gavin, which we both fell in love with immediately. We tried out a number of names with Gavin, but there were none that even compared to Aiden. Once we had found those two names, we never wavered. To us, they were the perfect names. They are even more perfect now that we know each of their names contain the name of their father.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish Ian a wonderful first Father's Day. He is already a fantabulous father, which I always knew he would be.

Happy Father's Day to Grandpa Paul and Grandpa Neil!

And last, but not least, Happy 3 Week Birthday Gavin and Aiden! You've come a long way babies!

[Photos: Top - Ian with Gavin, Bottom - Ian with Aiden]

We Used to Have Stinky Babies

This week Gavin and Aiden have been lean, mean, pooping machines. They have pooped in the following places: their diapers (which we encourage), the legs of their sleepers (not encourged), on the nurses (not encouraged, but entertaining because Dee gets so upset with herself for not changing them quick enough), and on their bedding and/or isolette (these are some very talented boys). As of yet they have not pooped on either of their parents, but I know it will happen the next time I change one of them because I dared to write it in this blog.

As you can imagine, both boys were getting quite stinky from all their hard work so it was determined that they would get their first tub baths. Since both Gavin and Aiden have extremely busy schedules, we sat down with the boys and their palm pilots and scheduled their first bath for yesterday, Friday, at 12:30 pm. It fit perfectly between sleeping and eating.

The boys were bathed separately with Gavin taking the lead. Ian got the honors of washing Gavin while I took a couple pictures (okay, more like 20). At first Gavin was skeptical of the whole bath thing, but did relax and seem to enjoy the experience. In fact, he was so relaxed that he, yep you guessed it, pooped in his bath. After his bath was finished, Gavin seemed to especially like being dried off in warm towels.


Aiden was more on board with getting a bath from the beginning than his brother. In his usual curious nature, Aiden was wide eyed during the whole event trying to figure out what we were going to do next. I bathed Aiden while Ian was on camera duty. Aiden was in no rush to finish his bath and thus, did not feel the need to relieve himself in the tub. He also thoroughly enjoyed being placed in the warm towels.


Statistics update:

Gavin is up to 4 lbs, 4 oz











Aiden is up to 3 lbs, 8 oz

Gavin may be $7.82 here, but in England he is 4 pounds!

That's right folks, our little baby is now tipping the scales at a whopping 4 pounds! It was a big day for Mr. Gavin who said in a press conference this morning, "This is just so unexpected. Yesterday I was 3 lbs, 14 oz and today I am 4 pounds. I really could not have done it without the support of my fans." Aside from his weight, Gavin is also sporting a new length of 17 inches.

Little brother Aiden, who also had an impressive weight gain and is now 3 lbs, 5 oz, expressed his pride in his big brother, "I am just so glad that he made it and I can't wait to join him in the four-pounder club."

The sudden weight gain of both boys has caused quite a stir among the other babies in the NICU. While both boys admit that they do receive fortified breast milk, their are shocked and hurt that some of their fellow NICU babies have spoken to the local media about the possible use of illegal performance enhancing drugs like HGH. When asked about the allegations, Gavin and Aiden referred all question to their close personal friend and adviser Barry Bonds.

To the Batcave, Aiden!

When Gavin and Aiden are not eating, sleeping, or pooping, they have very busy lives preparing to be superheros. The first part of their training centers around the "caves" that they sleep in (very similar to the Batcave). Their incubators are covered in blankets to simulate the womb. Although it makes them less visible, they both seem to enjoy their dark, warm, little caves. It should also be noted that the boys' Batcaves are equipped with wheels. This came in handy when they had to be moved out of their rooms during a tornado warning on Saturday. The boys, of course, slept through the whole ordeal.

Aiden and Gavin are working on honing their superpowers while in their caves. From the sounds I hear from his cave, Aiden seems to be working on some kind of animal inspired superhero. He appears to derive his power from hiccuping, which allows him to emit a high pitched noise that sounds very similar to either a frog or a whimpering puppy. If anyone can come up with a fierce superhero name linked to a frog or whimpering puppy please let me know because right now I am at a total loss. Aiden, pictured to the left, in his Batcave before his fashion epiphany.


While Gavin also uses the power of hiccups, his skills cannot compare to his brother. Gavin uses his time in the Batcave to work out, usually done simultaneously with sleeping, a difficult feat already. His workouts are characterized by lots of stretching and yawning paired with some pilates and jujitsu. Above, Gavin relaxes after an intense training session and dreams of keeping the streets of the QC safe for all babies.

Once they pair their skills, Aiden and Gavin will clearly be unstoppable.

Anything You Can Do...

In their first act of sibling rivalry, Aiden decided that enough was enough and he no longer would wear just a diaper when big brother Gavin (by one minute) got to wear clothes, even if there are ridiculously too big. So last night Aiden made the decision to got dressed for the first time (well, the nurse decided, but don't tell Aiden that). After an unsuccessful first attempt, the truck sleeper was simply too big to even consider wearing, the nurse found a sleeper that was just right for our little Peanut.

Of course today he is wearing another over sized outfit like his brother, but for one night the little brother prevailed as the hipper dresser of the two, determined only by the fact that his outfit fit.

The Opposite of Fat Guy in a Little Coat

This week Gavin has been branching out into the world of newborn fashion. Since he no longer has his nasal oxygen cannula or his IV, he has started wearing clothes. The first outfit the nurse brought for Gavin to wear looked tiny until she got it on him. Then it looked huge! He was swimming in the little sleeper. This reminded me in a complete opposite way of the scene from Tommy Boy when Chris Farley puts on David Spade's coat and sings the "Fat Guy in a Little Coat" song. If Gavin could sing, I am guessing his tune would be something to the effect of "Small Baby in a Gigantic Sleeper." Picture him rolling back and forth as his sings.

Perhaps I am spending too much time at the hospital...

A Week in Blur...

The first week plus of the boys' lives has been a bit of a blur. Ian and I have been doing our best to absorb all the information being told to us so we can pass it on to all of our family and friends (Thanks for all the phone calls, emails, cards, flowers, and presents!) while at the same time the information was constantly changing. Thankfully the information was changing for the better each time.

Here is a brief synopsis of what the boys went through their first week:
*On the ventilator, off the ventilator (repeat for Aiden)
*Under the bilirubin lights for jaundice, off the bilirubin lights (repeat for Gavin)
*Caffeine for both boys. (Yes they got caffeine while their mom was still being good and abstaining.) Although they are both off caffeine now.
*Nasal cannulas for oxygen (Gavin came off his today, Aiden is still on his)
*Losing weight, gaining weight (see bottom for current stats)
*IVs in, out, in, out (for Gavin, Aiden still has his for a few more days)
*Getting fed breast milk through their feeding tubes, increases in feedings
*Moves - first from a table to an isolette (incubator), then the big move when Aiden got to join Gavin in his room. Room 3310 - Comfort Court (Each room in the NICU has a cute baby related street name.)
*Peeing on the nurses, on their bedding, on the scale (Gavin)
*Trying and successfully pulling out a number of different tubes and wires
*Being held by both mom and dad (the best part of the whole week!)
*Acquiring very appropriate nicknames from the nurses:
Aiden - "Peanut" by Nurse Dee (for being as small as a peanut)
Gavin - "Porker" by Nurse Hillary (while he was on the scale having his weight checked, Hillary discovered that he had gained even more weight since the previous night)

As of today, here the new statistics for the boys:
Gavin: 3 lbs, 12 oz, 16 1/4 inches long
Aiden: 3 lbs, 2 oz, 16 inches long

Photos: Top - Aiden under the bilirubin lights, Second - Gavin on the bilirubin blanket (he was under the lights the first time), Third - "Porker" on the scale, Last - The little "Peanut"

Ready or Not, Here They Come!

On Sunday, May 25 at 1 am I awoke to some pain in my stomach. I thought that maybe I was finally having some Braxton Hicks contractions or perhaps my stomach was paying me back for the real ground beef hamburger I had had for dinner. Either way I got out of bed and decided to use the bathroom. I returned to bed only to have the pains resume a few minutes later. I was starting to grow a bit suspicious at this point and wondered how real contractions would feel if the false ones were this strong. On my second trip to the bathroom I felt the "gush" that everyone describes and started to get the feeling that there was nothing false about what was happening. I woke Ian up and we called the doctor. He told me that I better come to the hospital to make sure my water had indeed broken (I am not sure he really believed me that I was in labor). As we left the house, Ian and I had to laugh at how ill prepared we were. I hadn't even started packing my hospital bag and we still had one week of childbirth class left. Then again, who packs their hospital bag at 31 weeks?

We arrived at the hospital around 1:40 am. It took the nurses quite a while to pick up both boys' heartbeats on the fetal monitors. Ian was given the job of holding one of the monitors on my stomach while also helping me breathe through each of my contractions, which were getting progressively worse. When the nurse finally checked me I was already dilated 5 cm and it was clear that I was having the babies. Dr. Naylor came in and asked, "What happened?" I was thinking, "Isn't that what I should be asking you?" I had just seen him on Friday and everything had appeared to be fine then. He decided a c-section was in the best interest of the babies, even though Baby A (Gavin) was "locked and loaded" as our childbirth instructor would say.

They made the final preparations for the surgery which took probably another 40 minutes. Right before I was taken to the OR the doctor checked me again and I was already at 7 cm. Clearly the babies wanted out and were not going to wait. When I got into the OR, I was given an epidural, which thankfully put an end to the contractions. Ian was brought into the OR and kept me company during the procedure. We had quite the crowd in the OR with two ob-gyns, an anesthesiologist, a neonatologist, and probably 9-10 nurses.

The adventures of Gavin and Aiden officially began at 3:23 and 3:24 am respectively. Gavin weighed 3 lbs, 11 oz. and was 15 inches long. Aiden weighed 2 lbs, 15 oz. and was 15 1/4 inches long.

When the whole procedure was done and both boys were in the NICU, Dr. Naylor said to me, "You know, if you really wanted to get out of school all you had to do was ask." Ha ha.

[Top photo is Aiden, bottom photo is Gavin]