Well Matt told his side of the story just hours after the babies were born. I however, haven't been quite up to it. One week later, and before I forget, here's what I remember:

Friday, January 23rd Matt was over at his parent's house sleeping (he's been working a night shift at ARUP for a couple of months for their fabulous insurance) and I was just hanging out at home. I couldn't seem to make myself do anything due to the HUGE belly and aching everything. Not sure if I've mentioned it, but being 37 1/2 weeks pregnant with twins is awful. I mean it. Just plain awful.

OK, so as I was saying, I basically sat around all day watching movies with my kids and feeling sorry for myself. I had been having random contractions for a month or two but seemed to be having more than usual that day and they were slightly more intense. By 3 or 4 in the afternoon I started thinking I was definitely having more contractions than usual, but I got started with Alex and Isaac so I wasn't sure what going into labor on my own felt like. So I did what any modern mom does when she has a question: I googled it. Google said false labor would go away with excercise and real labor would get worse. So I had the boys put on their coats and we went for a walk (waddle) around the block. I ended up having to stop for every contraction because I just couldn't walk through them and this is when I really started getting my hopes up. So when we got home I got out a paper and started writing down when and how long my contractions were while I read to the boys. To my surprise they were about every five minutes and 30 to 40 seconds long, so I called the hospital. I told the nurse about my contractions and asked how bad they were supposed to hurt. She said that was irrelevant and to come in so they could check me to see if I was dialating. Irrelevant? OK, the U of U hospital is not right around the corner, but maybe they'd say I was in labor and keep me... maybe.

Then I got to do what I'd never done before and had always wanted to do, the whole "it's time, let's go the hospital". So I went next door where Matt was sound asleep and opened the door. I said "Matt, wake up. You need to take me to the hospital". He jumped out of bed and started freaking out. Not the most serene wake up call.

So all Matt wanted was to get pulled over and have a police escort to the hospital but the poor guy didn't get his wish. He was speeding down the freeway wondering what the fastest way to go would be. When we got off the freeway Foothill was foggy and jam-packed for what we assumed was a basketball game but really turned out to be a gymnastics meet. So all the way Matt is cursing the U basketball team to lose because of the traffic. Suddenly he decides to cut through the neighborhood and starts taking corners on two wheels (now this part may be a little exaggerated, but that's how it felt to me being in labor and all).

We finally did arrive at the hospital at about 7:00 and Matt wheeled me up to Labor and Delivery. They started by monitoring my contractions and the babies heartbeats for a while and I'm thinking "Could you please check me and see if I'm in labor? Please don't send me home. I will seriously cry my eyes out if you send me home." When the nurse came in to check me I told her Wednesday I had been dialated to a 3 and about 80% effaced and please, please don't send me home. She checked and said "Well, you are now dialated to a 6 and 100% effaced you're not going anywhere". I started to cry then. I was so relieved.
Matt documented the rest pretty well. The epidural only worked on half of my body so my right side wasn't happy, but the doctor did get it working OK right before the actual delivery so that was good.

At about 1:00 AM on January 24th we were told we were heading into the OR for delivery (standard procedure with twins "just in case"). So all 15 or so of us crammed in there and once I started pushing Elsie made her entrance into the world not much longer at 1:25 AM. Now I didn't know how they were getting Daxton out until that night. All along I had been assuming they would turn him but my doctor assured me it would go faster to just deliver him breech. What he didn't mention was that pulling him out was going to make me wish for death. Oh my word, having someone reach up inside me and pull my baby out is the worst pain I have ever felt in my entire life. I was literally screaming in pain and the whole 3 minutes lasted for about 3 eternities. It was awful. I guess the one good thing about it was I had no idea Daxton was having any problems until Matt told me later. I don't think I could have handled it. So then the doctors took care of me and Matt went with the babies to the nursery where they continued to work on Daxton until he was breathing well. That was the night. It was one crazy ride.

One funny thing one of the doctors/med students/whoever said to me the next day was that the thing he remembered most from my delivery was as soon as I was done delivering the babies I asked for a sandwich, right there in the delivery room. I guess from his view it was funny, but I thought that was a legitimate request. I mean, I didn't have dinner and they don't let you eat at the hospital, who wouldn't be hungry after all that?

Now here we are, one week later. I already love my two precious babies so much and can't imagine our family without them. They are really good babies: eat, sleep, poop, repeat. And my boys have been great little helpers and love their brother and sister. All in all, life is perfect.

Many have asked what in the world all that stuff coming out of Elsie's head is??? Well, when Jenny was in labor, she developed a slight fever. The staff was concerned that this infection could be transmitted to the babies. After birth, the babies received a periodic IV for 48 hours. Due to the tininess of Elsie's hands and lack of vein protrusion, the nurses elected to place the IV directly into Elsie's head. Thus, the unicorn.

After the allotted time and proper anti-biotic application, the IV needle was removed and I was able to get one more pic off before we went home. This is my favorite pic of the two of them.

First of all, we want to thank all of you for the kind, kind words of love and encouragement. Some of your comments brought tears to our eyes and we are so grateful for wonderful friends like you. Thank you so very much.

Here are a few pics from day one!

Stats: Daxton (Left: 7lbs 2 ounces), and Elsie (Right: 6lbs 3 ounces). That's right people, she was carrying 13lbs and 5 ounces of babies and only gained 38lbs during the entire pregnancy. How awesome is Jenny!?

The Story...

So, I am sound asleep. It is 6:20PM, Friday January 23rd. For those of you who don't know, I am working graves to have really good insurance in case needed for when these babies arrive. Anyway, it's 6:20 and the middle of the night from me. The door crashes open, the lights flip on. In a gasping voice, Jenny rumbles "We're going to the hospital... get up." She waddles out of the room. The realization, although slow at first, begins to escalate and suddenly I fly out of bed as if stung by one hundred bees. Jenny's contractions were intense and about four minutes apart. She had called the nurse and was told to come in right away.

"Really!!? For real?!! Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!" Both Isaac and Alex were induced so Jenny and I were able to take our sweet time getting to the hospital. I'm not going to lie. I have always wanted to speed down a road, swerving through traffic, and if anyone dared say anything I wanted to yell "She's having a baby!" You can't really do that when induced. So, in all honesty, my first thought was "Sweet! I get to go really, really fast!" So we flew to the University of Utah Hospital and arrived in record time, no thanks to the womens gymnastic team who had a well-attended meet that night!

Upon arrival, we went to the check in station where Jenny received an answer to prayers in that she was dilated to a 6 and 100% effaced. Jenny started to cry when the realization struck that these babies were coming in a few short hours and her difficult journey was rapidly coming to a close. There was a light at the end of the tunnel (no pun intended!).


After some intense contractions, Jenny was given an epidural which is highly, highly encouraged with twins, especially when one is breach (feet down for the dudes). After reception, only the left side of her body went numb. Like a trooper, Jenny suffered through intense contractions for nearly 5 hours. Half her body was fine... the other half was becoming more excruciating with each intensifying contraction. Finally, the anesthesiologist came back in, readjusted some things, and 20 minutes later, Jenny was able to attain some much needed rest for the big event after 5 hours of basically no epidural.

About an hour later, (12:30am or so) Jenny was checked again and the attending gave things a green light. Nurse after nurse began filtering into our room until 12 people, dressed in full OR garb, wheeled my ailing Jenny to the OR room.

From there on, things went very quickly and everything was quite a blur so I will attempt to piece it all together. Elsie was head down and blazing the trail. After three HUGE pushes, Elsie made her way gloriously into the world. The nurses whisked her away and the doctors attention turned quickly to Daxton who was breach and already making things difficult for his parents.

This is what I recall. When I glanced over, I saw the doctor with his entire arm inside my wife going after Dax's feet. He finally got hold of him and began pulling him out. When babies are breach, arms and head can become obstructed during the exit and Dax fell prone to this scenario and became stuck with just his legs protruding from my wife. Acting quickly, the Doc used forceps and skill to tuck arms and head in and after one long minute of struggling, Dax made his entrance as well.

But all was not well. At first light, Elsie yelled out a shout of something, but Daxton wasn't making a sound. He wasn't breathing. The nurses quickly went to work applying compressions and oxygen. At one point, I saw a nurse shake her head. My heart nearly exploded. Then after a full minute or two of excoriating anticipation, Daxton erupted with a cry and I nearly fell to the floor. Jenny had no idea any of this was happening... and it was a good thing.

And now a little about Jenny... I can't believe what she had to go through. Elsie was an incredibly smooth experience that was similar to the births of our other children. 3 hard pushes and Elsie had arrived. Dax was excruciating for my poor Jenny. To see those doctors have to reach, pull, twist, rip, stretch my sweet wife to extract Dax was an incomprehensible experience for me. I can't believe she survived. There was no leading up to it. The doctor rigorously pulled Dax out in three minutes which, Jenny will confirm, were the three longest minutes of her life. No human should be capable of enduring that pain. This, for me, was much different than just a normal child birth (not taking anything away from that). Simply put, to see a breach baby get stuck, and then survive a vaginal birth was a very sacred, hallowing experience. Words simply fail...

So there it is in a nutshell. I guess it is a pretty big nutshell. So now it is 6:05AM, almost 24 hours later and our lives have changed forever. The babies and my wife are beautiful and are receiving some much needed rest. I feel very blessed that things went so well and I'm excited to complete one chapter and begin another in the lives of the Baker Family!

Matt here.

So.... I was thinking last night...

Here I sit in a quiet house. It was just after midnight. Alex and Isaac had gone to bed because we simply told them to. They sleep through the night (except for the rare nightmare that might disrupt Isaac's unconscious slumber). They wake in the morning and get themselves dressed. They can even make themselves breakfast, clean their own rooms, etc. In fact, Alex made a Key Lime Pie last night that was to die for... Smooth sailing...

But the reality of it all is much different.

The final countdown has begun.

On Sunday, we walked to church (about a mile) trying to induce Jenny. At the very latest she will have these babies next Tuesday, but they could come any time now. So what will it be like when they arrive? Isaac is six! He is a little guy now. Alex is all grown up as well! Will we remember how to do it all? One baby is tough enough, but two? What will it be like?

When contemplating the whole scenario it is really quite daunting. Our kids are older and we could be on the home stretch. But in a few short hours, this will all change. No more sleeping through the night. Can I really change a diaper again? How will we juggle four schedules? How will we take care of two babies at the same time? And that says nothing of breast-feeding! (I will try and sneak some pics of that sight)

Anyway... I am not sure what this post is really about... except to say that the twins are coming. One week of sanity (if you can call it that) is all we have left. Are we nervous? Of course! Are we prepared? No way! Will our marriage survive and our family stay in tact? Hope so. Are we ready.....?

Bring it on.

Things I have overheard or that have been said to me lately (all, by the way, from perfect strangers):

"When are you due?"
"4 1/2 weeks"
"No honey, they miscalculated. You're overdue."

At Carls Jr. waiting to order there were about 4 or 5 workers talking in Spanish and one says to me "are you having a girl or a boy?"
I said "both"
They all started clapping and one guy says "I told you" to the others.
Later I get up to get a straw and the same guy says to me "Don't you get up to get anything. If you need something you yell for Miguel!"

"Are you due yesterday?"

"How many babies do you have in there?"

Overheard.
"Look at that poor thing."
"Oh my, she can't have much longer."

"When is your due date?"
"February 10th"
"Are you serious? You are huge!"

"Can you breathe?"

I get gawked at everywhere I go and hear these kinds of things. It's funny to me because you know, I am huge and I paid a lot of money to be huge. So bring it on. At least it's not a fast food gut.

In case anyone is wondering, I am currently measuring 46 cm for my uterus (six weeks overdue for one baby), and I have a 50 inch waist around. I have also gained a whopping 37 pounds. My next pictures should be much cuter than these as they will hopefully be of two sweet little babies. That is, if they ever decide to come out...

So Christmas has come and gone and no one got hurt. Which is, in my opinion, the most accurate assessment of a successful gathering these days.

It was fun having family come in from Minnesota. It is a rare treat to have the whole family together as my brother and family live quite a ways away. We only get together once a year (if that) and our time together is filled with boundless enjoyment... There were only a few near disasters coupled with a couple of misses in the communication field, but overall I think it was a success.

But this isn't what I REALLY want to blog about.

Check out this family picture. Do you see the hottie on the far left? No, not me (I know that was what you are all thinking), but the smoking hot babe in the black? So Jenny is 100 weeks pregnant and I am amazed at how amazing she looks. When she is walking away from me, I still think "dang" and it is only when she turns and knocks over the glasses on the table with her ginormous belly do I even realize she is pregnant! She is truly a beautiful, pregnant woman and I can't believe how lucky I am to have her forever. She is very aware of her "robustness", but as everyone can see in this picture, she is, simply put, a smoking hot babe!

Big truly is beautiful! (I have been trying to tell people that regarding my size FOREVER!)

Thanks for being mine, baby, and thanks for suffering through this difficult pregnancy for our family.

Isaac: "Mom, where is the jail?"

Mom: "It's at the point of the mountain on the way to Thanksgiving Point"

Isaac: "Can we go there?"

Mom: "Why?"

Isaac: "I just want to see what a real live bad guy looks like!"

Mom: "It's not like a zoo where you go and look at all the bad guys in cages."

Isaac: "I thought they were all locked up".

Mom: "They are."

Isaac: "So can we go and look at them?"