In talking w/ a friend of mine today, I guess I didn’t fully grasp just how of an amazing experience it was having kids.

I told him that I could have written a novel about just the 15 minutes prior to delivery and the 15 minutes during and right up until the delivery of our twins. The emotional rollercoaster you go on is almost unexplainable in words. You’d never understand unless you were there or its happened to you. It all started by getting to the hospital at 7:45am, 2 hours till delivery time (babies had went breech, so a c-section was the only option). By 9:00 Jen was all done being monitored, IV was in, drip was started, and the delivery nurse was giving the run-through about what was going to happen, all starting the cycle of how our life as we know it was going to drastically change. Just past 9:45 and they walked Jen down to the O.R. I could only imagine all the thoughts going through her head as she was going from very pregnant to a mom all in about a 30-45 min period. But she’s strong, and she knew both kids were already very healthy, so I think it put her at comfort. Plus, her OB was the one that started that practice years and years ago, so having somebody she was not only comfortable with, but one that was able to talk her through everything while being the utmost professional was great for her, and me as well. So they take her away and tell me to get on the scrubs and such, and we’ll be back in 15 minutes to get you. So as you sit in a room by yourself with nobody checking in on you, knowing your wife is less than 50 feet away, but you cant see her, talk to her, comfort her, it was disconcerting. You just sit there and watch the clock, waiting for that nurse to step in the room and call you down to be with your wife. About 5 minutes into it, your mind starts wandering. How am I going to be as a father? How will our kids be? Are they healthy? Is mom ok? The whole time you keep looking up at the clock, it almost looks stopped. I’m sitting there in my scrubs, in COMPLETE silence, all alone, mind wandering, all I wanted was information. How is my wife? How are my kids? Are they all ok? Then a nurse walked in and mutters ‘We’re ready for you’ You walk into the O.R with her to find the BRIGHTEST light you’ve ever seen in your life. Almost bright to the point where you cant look up. The sounds of the O.R., the beeping monitors, the suction running, the doctors chatting like its no big thing. Then the nurse sits me down by the head of Jen’s bed, next to her head, right next to the anesthesiologist. I’m watching him check his monitors, watching her heart rate and other vitals, talking to the doctors. I have an issue in which if I hear backround noise, I cant quite pickup on all the conversations that are going on. Seeing that there was no less than 6 or so medical staff in the room talking to one another, I was having an issue picking up what was going on. Plus with emotions going crazy, the light, seeing Jen looking so helpless, it was a lot to take in. And knowing you’re minutes away from parenthood, this was the apex of the emotional roller coaster…. and right as I’m at that moment you hear the doctor say ‘here is baby 1… a girl, and the dr breaks the tension of the room with ‘Jen, your baby girl has a big butt!’ I smile, Jen smiles…. but, we don’t hear a cry right away. Just a little peep, almost like a chick. The nurses and neo-natologist check her over and help clear out her lungs, and then she cries. We were both holding there, just waiting for it, it seemed like FOREVER while in actuality it was probably a minute or so. Hailey has joined us. 10:18am. Just one minute later you can see Jen wiggle a bit from the dr positioning her, then ‘ah, baby 2’ and then an immediate cry. He didn’t give us as much as a scare as her. He made his presence felt. After a few minutes of the dr’s doing their thing, the nurses doing theirs, Jen looks at me, I look at her and we both have a smile from ear to ear… we’re parents. The nurse then stops by and asks me “would you like to cut the cords?” Me being somewhat squeamish I thought twice about it, but Jen smiles and says ‘do it’, and I’m glad I did. Both babies are still a mixture of pale white and bright pink, but they look up at you while they’re warming and right then you get your first experience w/ them as a parent. After that I was quickly shuttled out of the O.R. with them as the dr’s finished with Jen. I got to carry Tyler out of the O.R. to the recovery room. It was probably the proudest moment of my life. Makes me feel awesome just writing about it. They got warmed up a bit, another checkup and the doctor comes walking out and says Jen will be with me in recovery in a moment. As they wheeled her into the recovery room we just looked at each other and knew what each other was thinking… like I said before, I think it was ‘wow, we’re PARENTS’

I just sit back and think now that in the time it took me to write this was longer than the time it took us to be a true family. Its simply amazing. Emotional, crazy, awesome, wonderful, yet amazing…..

Love you Jen, Hailey, and Tyler…. Dad

Jen delivered just 60 hours ago and it seems like it was just about 12 hours ago. Time is flying since there is never downtime at the hospital. If you dont have family/friends visiting its nurses. If its not a nurse, its a tech, not a tech, a doctor, room service…. etc. you get the picture. busy busy busy.

For that reason we get even less sleep than if it was only just two kids (listen to me ‘only 2 kids’) I guess thats how you feel if you see moms/dads in the hallway having problems with 1 kid. Now double that, *ding* thats us. We’ve been pretty lucky so far. The hospital has a new ‘naptime’ policy where at 2-4pm they dim the lights, and try to limit visitors and dr visits during that time. They also encourage kids to the nursery so mom/dad can get some sleep in. Today we napped for about an hour + since the first time we got here. As much as we want the kids to be with us, we’re no good to them if we cant stay up and help them.

Speaking of the kids, they’re doing well. Day 1 they werent really feeding all that much, but now both Tyler and Hailey have really taken to the formula. I have *no* idea how moms that have had c-sections would be able to breast feed 2 kids. Even w/ just me feeding with the bottle it takes 5-15 mins per kid to get them full and burped, at anywhere from every 2.5-4 hours, and they said that breastfeeding they eat more often. Thats just insane, and really tough of mom seeing she just recovered from major surgery herself. Jens doing awesome. She’s walking around now, and we just took a stroll through labor & delivery to see whats goin on over there.

Everyone here has been so awesome, and so helpful. They even encourage us to take the kids to the nursery at night so we can sleep. They’ll be plenty of time to spend sleepless nights at home. Although it was far from home, I think Jen made the right choice by picking Edwards. The dr’s and nurses have been great. We’ve even seen some faces we’re familiar with from the pre-labor trips we made here, and even our instructor from our Managing Multiples class.

They even have a professional photography service that comes through to take pictures to capture babies first week. We ended up getting a cd of awesome images. Here they are http://mikecompton.com/pics/thumbnails.php?album=55

Well its late and I think we’re going to take advantage of our baby-free evening 

Jen says HI and thanks for all the love, support, and generosity that you’ve showed us and our new babies. Hailey and Tyler really appreciate it that they’re so loved by everyone.

What an AMAZING day we had. We’ve been waiting for our two monkeys to show up for soooo long now. Jen has been nothing short of awesome holding onto these 2 kids for so long. And we couldnt be happier. They are incredible. BEAUTIFUL

They were delivered at 10:18 and 10:19 this morning respectively.

I’d like to announce Hailey Marie (6lb, 7oz!!!! and 19 inches long) and Tyler Michael (5lb, 130z, and 17.75 inches long) They’re both doing really well, as mommy is doing just as good as them. Crazy to think that after seeing just how uncomfortable she was.

It was an amazing thing being a part of their births. I even got to cut both of their cords. They just had their first baths and both of them have filled a good share of diapers already.

Tyler was able to pick up on a bottle first try, and Hailey took a bit, but they’re both eating healthy now, and you should see these kids BURP, make me proud!

We’ve had a good share of people with us today to help us celebrate our little bundles. They nodded off for a bit, but they’ve enjoyed all the love and attention.

Here are some pictures of them, as you could imagine there definitely will be more to come

http://www.mikecompton.com/pics/thumbnails.php?album=54

Jen had a dr. appointment and ultrasound today and everything is going GREAT.

they estimate baby A at 5 lb, 11oz, and baby B at 5lb, 8oz, so monkey 2 has seem to have caught up to his sister pretty well now

Jen is doing AMAZING at handling these kids. Its been a big strain on her, mentally and physically. I cant even imagine how tough it is having all that going on to your body at once. Its to the point where its almost too uncomfortable to walk, not being able to find a comfortable position to sleep, sit, etc.

Its just such a wonderful time for us. The dr. said the babies are doing *excellent*, as well as mom. She really hasnt had any complications w/ the pregnancy, and the fact that she still hasnt delivered yet (today is 36 weeks, 6 days, almost unheard of for twins), the chance that the kids wont have to spend any time in the NICU is looking to be pretty good.

We’re just really looking forward for our 2 monkeys to join us shortly. And the fact that all is well w/ them so far is so encouraging.

Just want to say thanks to Jen for being such a great wife, and already a great mother to our kids even before they’ve joined us.

Love you baby, and cant wait to meet our young’uns soon

ok, so I havent kept up on this blog, gimme a break, 2 kids on the way!!!!

so here goes. we finally finished the house. painting *done*, deck *complete*, landscaping *done (for this year anyways)

now the important stuff.

Jen’s pregnancy is going well. All her ultrasounds/tests/doctor visits have gone perfectly. It seems that the two little monkeys are getting closer to joining us though. Jen is 35 weeks this friday, so probably at any point over the next 3 weeks her and I will be PROUD parents of two amazing kids.

Summer hasn’t been the same as past. No vacations. No weekends away, etc. All we’ve been concentrating on is getting ourselves and our home ready for 2 kids, and I think we’re there. Well, we’ll NEVER be ready for it, but I think we’ve done the best we could so far.

I’ll TRY and keep up w/ any updates as I have time

looking back over the past 5 or 6 months……. its not that much hasnt happened, its just that I havent had the time/effort/patience to write a 3 page update on whats new with us.

I still really dont have that time/patience thing going on, but here it is anyways!

to start, Jen and I have been trying to conceive for the good part of two and a half years, and as of January…….. WE’RE PREGNANT! Well, I shouldnt say WE, although I look pregnant at times, Jen is actually the one we’ve decided will carry our baby. It’s the greatest thing to know that after 2+ years of trying that its finally our turn. It was starting to get disheartening knowing lots of friends/family were having kids, yet the people that wanted them most couldnt seem to be that lucky. But finally its our time, and we’re ready for it. Our home is in order, our finances are in order, and when we moved we had kids in mind. Although we liked our last home, it just wasnt the area in which we thought would be good for kids to grow up in. Now we’re in a great little tucked away subdivision of new homes, mostly younger families like us, that will be a great environment for kids.

That being said (the kids part….) the news is ***drum roll please*** we’re having a girl!!!! (Oh, AND a boy, thats right, you read that right,  TWINS!) Without asking Jen I could probably go on record as saying that was the happiest day of our life together to know that we’ll not only be parents, but parents of twins! I’ll admit, it was a shock as well as a great suprise when we went for the Ultrasound last Friday, since we didnt know thats what we had in store. After the first 5 seconds of initial shock on both of our faces, then the ‘glow’ set in. Such an amazing thing, and even better, we’re having a boy and a girl, exactly what we had both hoped our family would end up as.

Now that we’ve had a weekend to let the shock wear off, we’re really just thinking of how lucky we are in so many senses of the word. We’re too now able to start the family that we’ve wanted since the day we were married. Dont get me wrong, I know its going to be insane having two infants around that will take up 99.9% of our time, but that completely trumps the month after month knowing that there goes another opportunity to start our family.

Well I know that one post doesnt make up for 5 or 6 missed months, but the news from this one should make up for it

So here is it: Baby A and Baby B *note, they already have names waitin’ for them too*

It’s weird how you have such highs and lows all in one 2 day weekend

Saturday everything sucked since my home computer decided it no longer wanted to startup. Changed out the motherboard/power supply, computer fires up, and now disk is corrupted. nice. Good thing I’ve been burned by this before and have everything backed up to my server, so I hopefully wont lose any music/files or more importantly, pictures that Jen and I have from vacation, honeymoons, family events, etc. I really didnt feel like re-installing this week, but it looks like that’s how things go.

The BETTER part of the weekend was downtown. We spent the afternoon at a Germanfest, then off to the Bears game. It was an up and down game, Bears scored first and then ended up trailing most of the game. We had *awesome* seats too (thanks Jen!) so we were like 20 yards from all the action. 4th quarter, Bears are down 14 points w/ 9 minutes or so to play. People are starting to leave. Bears hold on defense then block a punt… so on and so forth. Here it is 4th down, 25 seconds to play in the game, Bears at the goal line. Pass to Berrian. TDDDDDDDDDDDDDD. PAT made, all tied up with 20 seconds to go. Broncos get a nice pass down the field to get them to midfield, next play, false start, 10 second run-off. we’re going to OT. Bears win the toss and march all the way down to the 20, line up a Robbie Gould FG, GOOD! Bears win, after being down 14 points with 9 to play. Offense looked horrible, defense looked horrible. Special teams once again saves them. It was a great game to be at! So much fun!

And to top off the good weekend, today is Jen’s birthday! happy bday sweetie!

Its been so long since Jen and I were able to get away for a day and do something enjoyable on the weekend. Normally its housework, laundry, yardwork, or some birthday party, etc

This weekend we had tickets to go see Dane Cook at the United Center. But before we went to the show, we figured we’d stop for some dinner in Chinatown. It was goooooooood. Went to Royal Dragon on Cermack/Wentworth. I’d recommend it. And at 6:00 on a Saturday night, there was hardly anybody in there. Some sweet & sour chicken, sesame chicken, and chicken fried rice! Then back to the car to find I had about thismuch space to try and get the car out. Made it out w/o using the other peoples bumpers and on our way to see Dane. Traffic sucked as downtown chicago traffic normally does, but we made it there just before showtime, only to find out he didnt end up going on stage for another 45 mins or so. Awesome show though, Jen and I were near tears for most of it. Then the LONGGGGGGG trip back home. It was a really enjoyable evening though.

Then sunday was just putting the Halloween decorations away, and beginning to bring out the fall/xmas stuff. Before you know it the xmas decorations will be up. And trust me, we have TONS of that. probably 8 large bins of stuff!

So tomorrow is the last day of our vacation. Orlando has been AWESOME. Weather has been good, only rained hard one day, rest of the time we’d get a 5 min sprinkle and its over. We’ve done just about as much as two people can do here in a week. We managed to get to every Disney park, Universal Studios both parks, and 3 different outlet malls. We’ve also taken just about FULL advantage of the resorts amenities we’re staying at. Pool time, playing some games of pool, playing tennis, shooting some hoops….. I think the only thing we haven’t done is go to the resort owned restaurants.

Ah well, time to get all our stuff together to start getting ready to come home. That kinda sucks, but I think we’re ready. We’re both completely exhausted (as evident by Jen falling asleep at 7:00pm today, then again, I guess us taking FULL advantage of a restaurants Happy Hour didnt help that situation!

we’ve taken probably 100-150 pictures while here, and probably could have taken 300+ but we actually spent more time ENJOYING the moment than taking pictures of it.

By the way, if you’re ever down here looking for an awesome dinner, Ohana at Disney’s Polynesian Resort is a must (thanks to Derek and Kevin for the suggestion, it RULED!)

check out our vacation pics at Vacation Pics

look at the ones starting with “Orlando”

Jen and I have been crazy busy lately. She’s been working tons w/ being short on co-workers at work. I’ve been on a project or two that’s been keeping me busy.

I’m in 2 softball leagues, so that’s been keeping me out 2 nights a week, and Jen’s had something going on seemingly just as much as me over the past 2 weeks… concerts, baseball games, etc.

We’ve pretty much been passing each other like ships in the night the past two weeks. This week will be more of the same w/ softball for me.

We moved her parents into a new house this weekend, so we’re both f’in sore and tired from that. I made her dad promise me that if they move again, that the early 90′s big screen tv he’s got HAS to stay. Holy crap that was heavy. But all’s moved in now, so now that craziness is over.

Jen got a new Equinox, so at least it’s something I fit in now. Nice car.

That’s all for now. Back to being sore