One Month Old

Hmm.. Where to start? Umm, my twins are one month old already?!?! they turned a month old yesterday (the 26th). Where has the time gone for us? I have heard that time flies when you have children, but my guess is two newborns make you skip time altogether. Haha.
It has been a week since we have had the twins weighed. Gage was 7.7 and Zoey was finally up to 6 pounds even. I can definitely tell they have put on a few ounces since then. We are having some growth spurts this week as well. He seems to be moving up to 4 ounces and she is moving to 3. So cute how she is a tad behind him in the growing process. She must not want to be the bigger child! I finally took them for our first outing without help yesterday.. Yep, all on my own. It was a challenge as I am not completely healed from the c-section so I did get a little sore. Luckily, it was a small adventure to try on a Maid of Honor dress. They slept most of the time.
 As far as babies go, not much to share. We all know they eat, sleep (well mine don't sleep as much as some), and poop. Their sleeping habbits are better than others at night. Occasionally we get a 2 1/2 - 3 hour stretch, but for the majority of nights it seems every two hours. Since they keep upping their intake amounts of food we are hoping they  will start sleeping longer stretches soon. Could you imagine feeding two newborns every night? Well, it happens in this house! The trick is to wake the sleeping baby when the others one wakes to eat. Hey, it seems bad to do, but if we didn't there would probably be no sleep in there at all!

Now to Derek... He seems to be doing okay. Some days are better than others. As I did blog about this previously on what was wrong with him. He had his second round of Rituxan last week and he felt better than the week before. Not as tired as the first time he did it. For those of you familiar with this medication, yes, it is an infusion used on cancer patients for chemotherapy. It was scary to think about him having to go through this, but his degree of infusions aren't going to cause hair loss and such. Mostly just fatigue. His eye seems to look better than others some days. It still is not cleared up and he has pains in his head still. We will continue to hope for his body to go into remission so we don't have blindness or worse (we won't consider this option). He has two more rounds left and we will figure things out from there. Still thanking the doctors in my head all the time for catching this before it was to late. Who knows how long we have before this kind of stuff reaches our major organs. It's the scariest thing we have ever had to deal with... I guess we finally got our miracle babies so that should show our strength as a couple and determination not to give up!! Love him soo much and keep hoping for the day he wakes up completely feeling better and not have to deal with any issues with his eye or any headaches. Heck, it would be a record to go more than 3 days without a bad morning.

Anyways, signing off for now. Will bring updates on Derek's progress (if there is any) when we know more. Here are a few lovely pics for those who haven't seen!!

Our new family

Getting ready for our first outing

Tummy time turning into nap time!

Photos

Here are some random photos of the twins. Can't ever seem to get enough of them!

Twins are 12 days old/ Derek's Health

Can't believe my babies are 12 days old already. Where has time gone?!? I know people have said how exhausting having one baby can be, but two is possibly a nightmare... Although they are very much loved! They say the first 6 months to a year with twins is a big blur and now I know why. There is very little sleep when you have to meet the demands of two different newborns. The only thing that keeps you going is seeing their precious faces at 3 a.m and that gives you the energy to keep pushing through the next day.
So much has happened since the day babies arrived. Adjusting to the new lifestyle and also adjusting to news of Derek's health. The day after babies were born he spent the day at the U of I hospital doing testing and scans since he got a positive white blood cell test back for Anca. After much testing and anxiously (scarily) waiting the results, we learned that Derek has Wegener's Disease (not Wagner's). We weren't sure of the severity as worst case could lead to death if it reaches kidneys and lungs. The whole week babies and I were in the hospital was very scary not knowing the outcome of things . After x rays and scans we learned that it has only affected the face so far. They are watching him closely to make sure he doesn't lose vision in his left eye as it keeps getting wonky. This disease can cause blindness and is a possibility for him if not careful. Starting this month he will be undergoing infusion treatments at the chemo center to help try and put things back into remission. We are hoping this all works out so he can just be medicated to maintain his health and enjoy life a little more with babies. He has been struggling every day to feel good and even get out of bed at times. Going to work is a great challenge, but he does what he can. We are unsure if what the future holds with this, but are hopeful that things will get better. For now, we hold on tight an are in for the ride.. I will try and keep things together with the help of others for the days Derek will be ill and unable to help out or work. No time to panic, but to keep strong and move forward!

For now, I am going to enjoy my family we have finally been blessed with and sleep as much as possible!

They're Here!!

Our little miracles have arrived!! We are beyond thrilled and glad to finally have them to hold in our arms.
We arrived at the hospital on 5 am Tuesday March 26th and had our babies just two short hours later via C-section. I was very nervous about the whole process, but once I heard their cries it took all my fears away. Gage Michael Kasal was born at 7:11 am Weighing 6 pounds even and 18 inches long. Zoey James Kasal was born one minute later at 7:12 am Weighing in at 5 pounds 2 ounces and 17 1/2 inches long. We spent the next 3 1/2 days in the hospital healing and enjoying everything about them. My focus was nursing as much as possible, but also enjoying all the nurses who waited hand and foot on me while I could!
These babies are the most precious thing we could have ever asked for in life. We are  beyond thrilled to share the news with everyone while enjoying every minute of their new lives. I have always loved working with children, but this is a whole new amazing ball game!