They're here....

Well, I know most of you know already.. that Gabriella Ildiko (6lbs 2 oz) and Alexander Anastasios (5 lbs 14 oz) were born on May 17th, 2009 at 2:58 and 2:59 PM.
We all came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon.

I promise to write a more detailed post on the labor and our first days.... sometime this week, hopefully. As you can imagine, we are trying to get settled in now and don't have much spare time.

I can say that Gabi and Alex are beautiful and healthy and I never could have imagined that I would/could love them so much. I wasn't thrilled with them in utero.. :-) but I can't get enough now.
As for Daddy.. oh boy.. he also cannot get enough. Also, I am amazed by how Alex took onto fatherhood and all its responsibilities so well. He is so hands on and so much more daring then I am and has definitely changed more diapers so far as well. He has taught me more than any book so far.

I have to mention that Mama has been here since the pre-term labor scare and I have no idea what I would do without her. I don't know when I'll be able to let her go home. She is an absolute star and life saver. But I shouldn't be surprised... it's just times like these where you relaize how lucky you are to have such an amazing mother.

OK.. more later..

Here are some pictures. (sorry, they are out of order.. I don't have time to reaarange them now)

36 weeks pix

I had my 36 week Dr.'s appt today. Babies still look great. Their heads are VERY low down.. sonographer lady predicted any day now.. I guess that's the reason I am in so much discomfort... yaaaoooow!
The 'big' news is that I am 3 cm's dilated and 100% effaced (have been totally effaced for over a month now)!! So, we are just waiting for the contractions to come on.

My legs (one in particular) are very, very swollen.. all the way through the thigh. Hence, 2 trips to the ER in the last few days. Alex was concerned about a clot so I had ultrasounds done on my leg to check for DVT (deep vein thrombosis). All checked out clear.

So, now we wait....

35 week pix

We made it this far...


































My Mom insisted on this skin-bearing one. My first nekid pose ;-)

34 week pix!!

Finally... a peak at Baby A

Baby A finally decided to present himself after months and months of incognito...
To compare, I thought it would be neat to post the latest picture I have of Baby B (from 28w 5days):

Baby A (33w)














Baby B (28w 5d)

32 1/2 weeks!

Ok, so we made it this far.. next goal is 34 weeks.

I haven't posted belly pix in a while.. so here are a few...

Baby Shower #2

Last Saturday (3/28) was my baby shower that my Mother-in-law hosted.
It was absolutely amazing, delicious and beautiful!
I was told by many that it was the mother of all baby showers :-)

As Alex and I pulled up in front of the house about 1 hour before the festivities were to commence, I couldn't help myself and shed tears. There were flower arrangements, decorations and balloons all over, outdoors and indoors.

Some wonderful relatives spent days helping my MIL with the food, flower arrangements and decorations. And at the Shower, certain (poor :-) friends were assigned tasks (or took it upon themselves) to help run things smoothly. I cannot thank everyone enough!

We received an abundance of wonderful, generous gifts. But more importantly, seeing so many of our friends and relatives, that took the time to honor us and made the trip from all
over, was priceless!

As I was busy trying to spend as much time with everyone, as possible, I asked others to please take pictures with my camera and videos with my new Flip Video Mino Hd (love it!!). I will post a sampling of some pictures below (out of order). (I am sorry I don't have pictures of everyone!)
In my current bed rest condition, I have yet to edit the videos, so those will have to wait.