Welcome Baby McRae BOYS!

What a whirl wind of a couple days :) Sorry no pictures on here yet...blogger won't let me upload picture off my iPad...

 Josh and I would like to welcome Collin Donald and Carter Lowell to our wonderful family! We now feel complete! As I sit here in my hospital bed, my wonderful husband sleeping on the cot next to me, and my new handsome baby boys sleeping together in the bassinet right next to my bed, I can't help but feel like my life is complete..and has new meaning. I am filled with this over powering sense of emotion staring at my boys...thanking God for their safe arrival into this world, and for choosing Josh and I to be their parents!

 On Saturday, May 19th I began having some contractions - or what I thought were contractions. It was in my lower back and they hurt pretty bad. My mom was on the phone with me and encouraging me to go get checked out...so I called our sitter (Kathleen), who came over without question - THANK YOU - and we were off...to the hosptial :) We arrived on Saturday around 7:15 PM. I was dilated to a 3/4, so they had me try walking for an hour to make changes...Josh and I walked - but he couldn't keep up, I'll admit - I was more like sprinting! Can you tell I was ready to be done! I was dilated to a 4 and had to lay around for a couple more hours until more changes were made. Baby A & Baby B's heart rates were startingg to run together and she wasn't picking up my contractions on the monitor - but believe me, I was still having them.

Our Dr. was called in around 2:00 AM and did some checking of his own - still no changes :( NOT what you want to hear when you are 37 weeks pregnant with twins, having painful contractions and you're not dilating... I was sent home :( By this time, my mom had driven down, paid our sitter and was prepared to stay with us! During the night my contractions MAGICALLY disappeared and allowed me to get some nice rest.

It wasn't until Sunday afternoon that they were pickig up again. My mom and I did some shopping and then Josh, my mom and myself sat around and played a game on our iPhones together...I was having them pretty consistant by this point, and they were once again in my lower back and even my butt... Josh and I went in AGAIN - in hopes that this time we could stay in the hospital! We didn't tell anyone about our visit on Saturday - our family knew, but we didn't want the word to get out...after being sent home, I'm glad we didn't say anything.

 I was dilated to a 4, so we did some walking. The contractions started picking up and were SO MUCH WORSE than Saturday night's contractions. Our nurses from Sat. night were back - and totally awesome - we loved them so much! They were so much fun and were making our experience perfect! After checking me again, I was still at a 4 with severe contractions. I was starting to get frustrated because I KNEW I was in labor, but nothing was happening :( Our Dr. came in AGAIN (this time it was around 8:30 PM on Sunday, May 20th so it wasn't crazy late)...He had actally called the nurses and mentioned he noticed I was back in and wanted to know details. When he came in, he checked me and I was at a 5 - WHOA WHO, I made progress :)

He said I was STAYING :) We were SO excited! This was going to be it :)

 I think our nurse was more excited than I was - this was her first "Twin" delivery! Basically the rest of our evening went like this: Around 9:00ih I was dilated to a 6, so they started the IV and tried to get me pumped full of fluids before they gave me the epideral (AKA - The Good Stuff!). Dr.'s and nurses started arriving and things were getting moving. At this time, he also broke my water! Our nurse was running around preparing the Operating Room (I had to deliver in there in case of an emergency), be there for me, and prepare for deliveries. The other nurses had other jobs to do :) Dr. Nace introduced me to the Anesthisiologist and he started giving me my epideral...AH! Pure ecstacy! I couldn't feel anything after that :) Dr. Nace checked me out and I was at a 7 :) This was about 10:45 PM - so he was going to go get some "shut eye" for a couple hours before the big show! My nurse told me she would "check" me again in an hour to see where I was.

About 11:00 PM I informed her that I had a lot of pressure down there and it felt different. She checked me out and said, 'Oh man, it's time!"

Within the next VERY short time period, we were heading into the operating room and preparing for delivery. I will admit, I started to freak out when we walked into the OR - it is a very intimidating room - tons of equipment, big flying saucer like over head lights, machines EVERYWHERE and people running all over the place. I just wanted to make sure Josh was in there and had the camera - CHECK :) At 11:33 PM (I know this becacuse my nurse later told me) Dr. Nace said (and I quote): "Cori, when you feel the urge to push - PUSH" I felt the urge so I started pushing...and pushed, pushed...

11:35 PM Collin Donald McRae as born weighing in at 6 pounds and 17 inches long. He had brown hair that I could see immediately and was such a handsome little boy! I was crying of joy, looking at him, holding him, kissing him, lokoing at Josh - and announcing that I had a son :) AWESOME!

Within the next 8 minutes, they took Collin away from me, did something down there, and prepared for the birth of # 2 - which Dr. Nace had to break my water again...two sacs you know :)

It was about 11:45 and Dr. Nace told me the same thing, "When you feel the urge to push, push". I remember looking up at the clock and seeing it was 11:45 PM - almost midnight - a WHOLE NEW DAY...I asked, "What if I don't feel the the urge to push, can I push anyway?" He informed me that the contractions make the pushing easier, but I can still push...so what do you think I did...I pushed!

At 11:48 PM Carter Lowell McRae was born weighing in at 5 pounds 6 ounces and 17 inches long. He too had brown hair, bbut his was a little lighter. When he first came out, he was a bluish/purplish color and that made me very worried, but they informed me he was just fine. He had the milky coating all over him, but that did not stop me from holding and kissing him! Again, I iwas announcing that we had two sond - both beautiful and perfect!!!!

Within 5 minutes I swear they were wheeling me back into my room...that was fast! Painless and fast delivery - I'll take that anyday! The funny thing is, they had called in the head nurse as back up (there were A LOT of people in the room - there has to be for twins) and when she got there, they were wheeling me INTO my room - she missed the whole thing! That's how fast I was :) Sweet!!!

Everything went so smoothly and so perfectly- just the way I wanted it! I couldn't be more thankful and blessed for everything God has just given and has been giving me! WOW!!! My family has been completed to a beautiful family of 5 just like that! Josh and I didn't sleep too much that night. I started nursing right away and both babies latched on! Carter doesn't eat as much, but he is full of amniotic fluid still that he does a lot of spitting up. Collin eats more, and dos an awesome job - they both just sleep ALL day long...hopefully all night too!?!

Callie was our first visitor - and that is what we wanted! We had received the BEST advice from a friend - so when Callie came in for the first time, she came up on the bed with me - babies were not in my arms, and were out of sight. We talked to Callie about her day, why mommy was in the hospital, and where her babies were that we've been talking about. She quickly warmed up and was ready to see the "babies". We brought over the bassinet and she was leaning over observing both babies rather quickly - it was so sweet to watch her interact with them :) We had Callie hold each baby by themselves and then both of them at the same time - AWESOME pictures :) She was really into them, but then everyone started coming!

My mom (obviously as she is with Callie while we're in the hospital - THANK YOU MOM!!!), Josh's mom, my dad, my sister Heather + her 3 kids, Josh's sister Kayla were the family members that made it down to meet Collin & Carter! We did SKYPE with my sistser Heidi & her 3 boys RIGHT after they were born - that was awesome :) Then we started having so many wonderful friends coming throughout the day to meet our newest additions! We are so thankful for the amount of love our friends have towards our family!

Thank you all so much for being here for us to share in this wonderful journey that we are embracing! We couldn't be more thrilled with the turnout of our family! Some of you have asked "So what would their names have been if they were girls?" Well, you'll just have to wait - maybe Josh and I are meant to have more kids - maybe not...but should we really make that decision right now?! So the answer - we're not going to tell you!

As I finish this post - our boys are officially 1 day old! Happy Birthday Collin & Carter :) Your mommy, daddy & big sister, Callie love you so much - you be good boys and sleep through the night for us :)