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It’s finally time for me to introduce the new little members of our family! Check out my precious twins’ Baby Photos and get to know their personalities.
![Meet the Twins! My Husband and I Holding Our Newborn Twins, Ashton and Brooks](https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/newborns2.jpg)
Meet the Twins!
I’m so excited to finally share some photos of the twins with you! If you follow me on Instagram you may have already seen several, but we finally have our newborn photos back and we love them!
So allow me to officially introduce our identical twin boys, Ashton and Brooks. We are smitten! They were born Friday, February 2 via emergency C-section, about a week before the scheduled C-section. Ashton was born at 5:23pm weighing 4 lbs 10 oz and Brooks was born at 5:24pm weighing 6 lbs 5 oz. They are both healthy and doing great! They’re about a week away from being 2 months old and have both gained about 3 pounds since birth.
Photos by Hayley Jo Photography
The first 7 weeks have certainly been a handful, but we’ve been very fortunate to have great help from family in the area and from my mom, who has been staying with us since they were born, with the exception of one week. Such a big help!
Despite the sleep deprivation, it’s been so fun to see them grow and change so much already. They have such personality! Ashton is the more serious and curious one and Brooks is totally chill and happy as long as he’s got his milk. Brooks has also started rolling over in just the last couple of days, which is fun to watch. They are such sweet little love bugs.
My Experience Having Twins
But lets back up just a bit for those that are interested in their arrival into this world/their birth. I mentioned above that the C-section came early. They were born just why of 36 weeks. Well, the end of the pregnancy was quite a doozy. I’ve always had low blood pressure and did throughout my pregnancy up until the end. By the last month or so, my blood pressure had risen and I was so swollen I couldn’t wear anything on my feet other than the hubs’ very big slippers. No joke. We even tried to go out and buy some women’s slippers for me, but nothing fit.
As you may have read in various blog posts, during that last month we had two doctors appointments a week for monitoring the boys since they were mono-di twins. One was an ultrasound with the perinatologist and the other was an NST for monitoring their heart rates with my OBGYN.
Well that final week, the OBGYN called a couple days ahead of my NST appointment and said there had been some elevated levels in my last blood test and my blood pressure was borderline (and actually was too high if I did anything other than sit on the couch), so they wanted to do a 24 hour urine test to test for preeclampsia. So we did.
Then the night before our NST appointment, something shifted for me. It’s hard to say what it was, but I just had a feeling that this was the end. That it needed to be the end. I’m kind of stubborn and kept going with all the things I could, even baking, up until the end. That last week though, I had finally stopped and that last day, I knew something had changed.
The next morning, I told the hubs that I really felt like these babies needed to be born by the end of the weekend (it was Friday). I was concerned for them. We went to the NST appointment and they monitored the twins and they were perfectly happy, but the hubs wasn’t totally convinced. I had started downplaying things a bit and feeling like maybe I’d been a little dramatic that morning. But the hubs knows I don’t cry wolf and make a big deal out of things, so he brought up my earlier concerns to the doctor. The doctor initially was going to let me go home and then call later about the urine test, but changed his mind a few minutes after he left the room. We were sent to the hospital for further monitoring and to wait for the results of the urine test.
Well, several hours after getting to the hospital, the doctor came into the room and told us that she’d been totally expecting to send me home. My blood pressure was borderline but ok, and the babies were totally fine. However, they look for a protein level in the urine to be under 300 and mine was above 4,000! I would be having a C-section two hours later. Pretty much as soon as possible.
We had about 20 minutes to cry, get our head wrapped around everything and call our moms so they could get to the hospital and let everyone else know what was happening, and then it all started. IV’s and epidurals were put in place and it all happened so quickly from there. The twins were born healthy and we were thrilled!
Ashton
Brooks
The whole C-section and birth experience were kind of rough for me and quite different than I’d expected. I don’t know if it was because of the preeclampsia, but the epidural they gave me was so strong I could hardly breathe during the entire procedure. I threw up on the table several times and they had to give me some kind of “upper” multiple times because my blood pressure got so low. It was hard to focus on the birth because I had to work so hard to breathe. I felt very out of it for hours, even in recovery. I then had issues with pain medicine that kept me in more pain than necessary a few times. Having not ever had a major surgery before, I’ll say that recovery was very painful and not easy, though it slowly got better and by about day 10, I felt pretty good.
So after two nights in the hospital, everything was going relatively smoothly. Then on the third night, the boys went for their carseat tests that the hospital does to make sure they can handle being in their carseats before they can leave. During the test, Ashton’s heart rate sped up to over 300 bpm so he was rushed to the NICU. After getting his heart under control, we were informed that he has SVT, specifically Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. It was very scary and led to a week long NICU stay while they adjusted his medication, but overall it is quite manageable and something that could resolve itself within his first year. Looking back, we are thankful that they found it when they did. Had we not known about the condition, it could have been bad. But so far he’s done extremely well and the cardiologist is very happy – as are we.
Coming home from the hospital with just Brooks and having to leave Ashton behind in the NICU was maybe the hardest thing ever. It was awful. I knew I needed to be there for Brooks, but also wanted to be there for Ashton. Talk about tearing my heart in two! The hubs stayed at the hospital with Ashton for the next several nights, while I was mostly with Brooks. I was able to go visit Ashton during the day, but with the preeclampsia, I wasn’t healthy enough to be there for long. My swelling and blood pressure actually got worse before it got better, and I kind of think the stress of Ashton being in the NICU had something to do with it. We didn’t have a full understanding of his condition initially and it was scary and stressful.
Once we finally got both of them home, it was a big relief. Yet, postpartum was so much more than I expected. I was so thankful that the twins were both home with us, but the “baby blues” hit me like a ton of bricks. I was totally overwhelmed by having two babies and all that entails and also from the massive change I noticed in my body post-pregnancy. I had a moment where I realized I would never be the same and just cried. Not to mention it took just over 2 weeks for my milk to come in, so I was pumping like crazy trying to get anything I could and felt like a cow. It’s totally amazing to me how having a baby – not to mention two – TOTALLY turns EVERYTHING upside down. There is no way to prepare for it, just like people had always said. It completely overwhelmed me.
After a fair amount of prayer, I finally had a moment a few weeks later where I realized that fear and being overwhelmed had kind of gotten the better of me. Since then I can’t say that I haven’t had those moment of being overwhelmed at all, but it’s much better. I feel much more joy than fear and am enjoying becoming a mother – I say “becoming” because I truly feel like I had to become one, it wasn’t an overnight thing. The hubs says I’m too hard on myself, but none-the-less, that’s how it feels. Babies are a massive learning curve and I’m finally starting to feel like I’m catching on. Yay!
So now we are trying to figure out what life might look like with two babies. The hubs is back at work after 5 weeks off and I’m trying to get back into the groove of working a bit. Finding the time is hard with the twins, so we are slowly working through what that looks like and getting the right help in place. Most importantly though, we are loving on our boys and enjoying every minute with them we can. I love looking into their beautiful little faces, feeling their warmth and soft skin, seeing them grow and get so strong, kissing them all over and so much more. I love being their mom and can’t wait to experience all that it entails. After such a long road to get here, I am so thankful the Lord saw fit to make us parents to these two sweet boys and hope to never take a bit of it for granted.
Thank God for your life and kids. Your testimony is inspiring
Thank you so much!
Congratulations on your beautiful boys. They are so adorable. I’m so glad you are all ok. Thanks for the sharing your practical and pregnancy experience.
Praise God!!!
Congrats on your 2 Baby -Loves, what a great blessing for you and your hubs 🙂 .This is my 1st time coming to your site, but I feel in my heart that Ashton and Brooks are the Blessed Ones because they will have you as their mother. May the Lord our God continue to smile upon you and your family and keep your Baby-Loves as the Apple of His Eye, in the Palm of His Hand and the center of His Will.
Thanks so much Tracey!
Congratulations! I absolutely love your blog and how real you are about your pregnancy and delivery. I am 16 weeks pregnant now and got through morning sickness by enjoying your baking. Thank you!
Thanks so much Kay! I’m so glad to hear you enjoy the blog and congratulations on your pregnancy! Such fun times ahead!
You boys are handsome little guys. My son and his girlfriend Kirsti just had mono mono twin girls. She delivered at 32 weeks a few days before the planned c-section. Her instagram is @kirsti.joy.90 if you want to connect. I am going to try your chocolate espresso cake.
Thank you! And so amazing! Mono mono is definitely scary – glad to hear things were ok!
I hope you enjoy the cake!
Congratulations on your beautiful boys! I’m so glad you are all ok! Your faith in God is inspiring and encouraging. I just want to tell you that I was born with a heart condition and, by God’s goodness, I am 16 and am living a happy and healthy life, so I know that God will take care of little Ashton’s heart. May God continue to bless you and your family!
P.S. I love your blog!
Thank you so much Lily! I’m so glad to hear you are healthy! My brother was also born with a heart condition and now healthy. I know God’s got his hand on Ashton as well.
I’m so glad to hear you enjoy the blog!
Congratulations on your beautiful babies they are so adorable,
All the best for the family. Thanks for the photos you a great couple. Keep us posted with more photos.
Regards
Charmaine Prinsloo South Africa
Thank you so much!
Ahhhh!!
Congratulations Lindsey & hubs!! One of my brothers is named Ashton and my best friend is named Brooks….so cool!
Glad you are doing okay, take some time for yourself and just enjoy your twins! Babies grow up way too fast! Take tons of photos and videos, you won’t regret it!
Thank you, Tobi!
You will find your groove and things will fall into place. You’ll look back and wonder what you were worried about. Your sons are adorable, congratulations to you and your husband. My niece had two sets of twins 11 months and 23 days apart, you’re gonna be fine. LOL
Thanks so much, D’Andrea! Things are normalizing a bit these days and we are having fun with them! Two sets of twins that close – amazing!
I’ve been praying for you to have two healthy boys and that you would be able to carry “to term” since you first posted about this. So glad everything worked out. God has blessed you indeed.
Thank you so much for the prayers, Teresa! God has definitely given us a huge blessing with these boys!
My friend. I loved reading this post and hearing more details about your experience. I can’t even imagine what that must have been like to have Ashton in NICU. And let me tell you- when you say “becoming a mother”.. I get it. Totally felt the same way with Avery. It’s a learning process that is hard, but as you also say, wonderful at the same time. Love you so much!
Yes, I remember you going through it and understand so much better now. 🙂 Love you friend!
So precious! What a wonderful gift from God.
Thank you, Sally!
Congratulations on the birth of your twin boys!!! I have fraternal twin boys and as I read through your post I got a bit nostalgic thinking about those crazy first weeks/months of parenting twins (mine are 9 now!) It is definitely not easy but give yourself some grace and take as much time as you need to figure it out. And, take all the help you can get! 😉 I hope someone (maybe lots of someones) have baked you some delicious desserts to help get you through! Hugs from one twin momma to another!
Thanks so much Amy! I’m definitely accepting plenty of help and it’s been a life-saver!
Congratulations, they’re beautiful! My first son, who I had through IVF, spent a week in the NICU. It’s so hard but I hardly ever think about it now! Enjoy your boys. Being a mom to boys is so fun!
Thanks so much, Jane!
Omg I have been waiting for this update since the nursery update! I am so glad to hear they are healthy and they are beautiful! My baby brother was born with heart conditions (holes in his heart) and had heart surgery at 6 months old so I am so so glad Ashton is okay. Congratulations on two beautiful babies!
Thanks so much Rebecca! Ironically, the day the nursery post went up was the day they were born. Good thing I posted it when I did, ha! My brother was actually born with a heart issue as well, they just didn’t find it until he was much older and he had open heart surgery at 15. I’m thankful they’ve found Ashton’s so early and are treating it.