the girls 1st photo shoot!

I love how our hospital takes pictures of the baby's before they send them home! :) it's so fun for the parent's to have some adorable looking pictures of our kiddos!!

Maysen is in the pink and Maelle is in the brown!
they were so adorable today when we took these pictures...Maysen kept trying to eat Maelle's head and Maelle kept grabbing at Maysen's ears or nose or anything else she could get her little fingers on!

don't you just love how they're snuggling, though??

Both Maysen and Maelle got some photos of just themselves, too!
Here's my little "fiesty one" Maelle Kay!

and here's a picture of my little laid back baby doll- Maysen Ann

aren't they just adorable little dolls??

so...the reason we had the photo shoot today is that we're probably gonna be able to go home tomorrow!! Yay!! I'm extremely excited and can't believe it's come up so quickly. :) This morning the nurse and I decided that we'd try to feed one baby and let the other one have a bottle and then let the other baby nurse the next time and the girls have done so well with that new "plan" that they both got to loose their IV's and they both are getting in more than the amount of "food" that the doctor's wanted for them! Right now Maelle is doing her carseat check- a 1 1/2 hour test to see how they can handle the stress of the carseat. Maysen will do hers after the next feeding (at 11), so I'm hoping that I'll at least be able to sleep a tiny bit tonight, but it's not looking too likely! (they have to come in about every 5 min to see how they look in the carseat and chart their heart rate, breathing and a few other things...kind of annoying and not quite so conducive to sleep as one would like) :)

a day in the NICU

Tonight my family came up to visit me and the girls...it was AMAZING!! I don't think you realize how much you'll miss your kids until you're away from them. I think that by far the worst part of the NICU stay with the twins has been feeling so torn between being with Hailey and Jackson or being with Maysen and Maelle. (not to mention that I just miss Korey) I know that I need to be up in the NICU with my little m and m's to help them get better at breastfeeding and get closer to being able to come home, but it is hard to be away from the rest of my family.

So, it was a welcome sight to see them coming off of the elevator this evening!

they enjoyed hanging out up here, too- it has a fun toy room and Hailey loved the excuse to sit and watch videos on our laptop! Jackson on the other hand just enjoyed climbing around and exploring the room and making mommy and daddy chase him around to keep him from getting tangled in all the wires! :)

Maysen sucked on her thumb this evening...I guess she wanted to show off since her Daddy was here visiting! :)

we had to start supplementing today...it was a little bit of a sad decision for me, but I do want to do what is best for my girls and I want to do whatever it takes to get them to come home as soon as possible! Plus, on a "fun" note- it gives Korey a chance to feed his baby girls- something he had never gotten a chance to do with either of the other two kids! (here he is burping and feeding Maelle- Maysen's in the background getting burped by the nurse)

doesn't he look like a pro who's done it a million times?? :)

It even gave Hailey a chance to be a part of the action! She absolutely LOVED being able to hold the bottle and bragged on the way down the elevator about how she fed the babies! (she kinda looks like a pro, too, doesn't she??) She's helping Daddy feed Maelle and then the nurse feed Maysen.

In case you're wondering...the nurse willingly filled in for me by feeding Maysen her bottle so that I could get a few snuggles in with my baby Jack! :) I think he missed his mommy and I know that his mommy missed him!!

we're hoping that the girls IV's will be able to come out tomorrow and that their billirubin counts stay the same or get lower so that the blankets can come off soon, too. Other than that they're monitoring them for apnea and or shallow breathing (Maysen had one episode last night where she stopped breathing and needed some stimulation to get her going again), but unless they get significantly worse in that area we shouldn't have to worry about it. I'm tandem nursing the girls, which is super fun and a lot less time consuming, but then we're also giving them a bottle after each feeding and then I'm pumping to try and build up my milk supply and get them some milk to mix in with the formula that they're getting in the bottles- so, we spend a significant amount of our day feeding them, but I'm assuming that's just going to be life with two little eaters around, so I'd better get used to it! :)

pictures of our newest sweeties!

Sorry about the other post, ya'll...not sure what happened to it, but here are some pictures of our sweet little baby girls! :)

Maysen Ann (4lbs 13oz, 18 1/2inches) and Maelle Kay (4lbs 14oz, 18 1/2 inches)

they were born at 2:52 pm and 2:58 pm and were both born naturally! (we did have to deliver in the operating room, just in case there was a problem with baby B, so we could do an emergency c-section fairly quickly and easily)

Thankfully, though, they both were head down and my labor was the "easiest" of the three I've had! :) And, apparently delivering twins vaginally without an epidural or other "helpful" drug is a rarity in our hospital, because we literally had nurses and OB techs fighting over who got to be in the room with us. (no joke, Korey and I actually witnessed two ob techs arguing over who got to scrub up to be in there) The best part, for me, though, was that our doctor was so excited to be a part of it and our nurse purposefully stayed past her shift to help deliver our girls!! It was definitely great for us to have her there, as we both just loved her and she was super encouraging and helpful the whole time. (she was the same nurse that we had for Jackson, so we felt like we "knew" her)

Here are Korey and I with our baby girls! (doesn't Korey look all cute scrubbed up and ready to go?? I almost laughed our girls out when he first put his hat on because he thought it was a bonnet and it was so cute and funny! (I guess there could be worse things than laughing during the pangs of labor) ;)

this is the most I got to see them before Korey, my sister and the girls were wisked away to the NICU. Originally they said that they didn't have to be up there for long, but they have been up there for over 24 hours, now, and we're not expecting them down before we head home.

Definitely the saddest part, for me, was that Korey and Felicia were with the girls upstairs and I had to be downstairs all by myself for about an hour...they were worried that with my uterus being so big and shrinking so quickly that I'd bleed out, so I had to lay in bed on pitocin making sure that my uterus was continuing to contract and getting smaller!

About 3 hours after the girls were born their families all were up to meet them...unfortunately none of them were allowed to hold the girls, but they all enjoyed meeting them for the first time- especially big sister Hailey! :) One of the best parts of mine and Korey's day was showing Hailey her baby sisters...she even sang, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be" and had Korey and I almost in tears listening to her. When she was leaving I was staying to feed the girls for the first time and she was so sad that she couldn't stay and help me feed them! ;) It was adorable and such a welcome relief after her reaction to Jackson when he was born.

Here's Hailey meeting Maelle and then Maysen hanging out and looking at us! :)

Hailey did come up, again, this morning, with my Mom and Dad and got to hold Maelle! Can you tell by the big smile how happy she was to be there holding her! :)

Daddy got to hold the girls some more today, too! We've actually spent a good portion of our day up in the NICU, either having visitors see them or just holding them ourselves! Both of them nursed well today, so that was a great thing, but they're still hooked up to their IV, so it's hard to get them too close together! (but, Daddy did figure it out) :)

isn't that the sweetest picture of Korey holding the two of them? that's Maysen on "top" and Maelle on the bottom! :) It seems like the two of them have taken turns being awake, but we've been having a hard time getting them to be awake at the same time...although, I'm sure that will change by the time we take them home- they'll both be up screaming in the middle of the night in no time! :)

tomorrow, tomorrow....

we get to meet our sweet girls tomorrow!!

I don't know if I'm more excited or scared, but I definitely have the jitters today! (and so does Korey...we're both really antsy and have a lot of nervous energy)

Hailey is absolutely excited enough for all of us, though!! She can't get enough hugging of my belly and she's been talking about meeting the girls all day! In fact now that we have a set day we've been talking about her meeting them and she is very excited to rock them back and forth and sing I'll love you forever I'll like you for always to them! ;) Isn't that cute?! As for Jack...well, I think he's excited not to have a huge belly to contend with when I hold him, but other than that and running around saying, "baby" and holding a baby he doesn't seem too excited! :)

I think I'm mostly excited to just have a little bit of my body back and finally get to snuggle with my little girls. I'm so curious to see what they're gonna look like and to be honest, I'm a little excited to see how it's going to be to hold two of them and nurse two of them...it'll be a new and exciting adventure!! :)

speaking of adventure...check out these two different pictures...the first one is the first pregnant picture I took and the second one is one that we took yesterday! Can you believe the difference?? I can't! It's amazing how much a body can change and grow in just 20 short weeks! (yup, that was my belly at 17 weeks- crazy small!!) :)

please pray for us tomorrow and in the upcoming weeks- I'm a little nervous (ok, a lot nervous) about how labor and delivery is going to go! I am going to try it all natural and pending any problems we should be good to go, but just pray that baby B does well, as she's the one that it will be the "scariest" for and that we don't end up needing a c-section. If we do need a c-section I will have to be put out for it, as I've chosen to forgo the epidural again. And, we will definitely need and covet your prayers for when we bring the girls home! It is going to be a huge change and challenge for all of us. Pray especially for Hailey and Jack to deal well with the babies taking their "places" on mommy's lap and in my arms. Pray that Korey and I would be able to get some rest and be able to rest in the Lord and His strength as we navigate this new adventure of 4 children! :)

a lot to be thankful for this year!

cute little babies...my one and only niece, Mackenzie!

my sweet and helpful daughter, who loves her cousin

little girl hugs...and tons of practice for Hailey before her sisters get here

our wonderful neighbors who love our kids almost as much as our kids love them!

my amazing, sweet and wonderful sister!! I just can't say enough about how great she is and how helpful she's been throughout this pregnancy...I just love her!

my cute little girl who loves to eat ice and snow

can't say enough about how much I love and am thankful for these two cute kiddos

my sweet baby Jack- his smile and cute little facial expressions are actually too cute and they help him get away with way too much!

I feel like every Thanksgiving gets better and better and I have more reasons to be thankful for than the year before, but truly, this is the most blessed Thanksgiving that I have ever experienced! God has blessed our family above and beyond this year- with more blessings to come!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving, all!!

this is the last time...

ya'll are ever gonna see my belly this huge!! (hopefully) ;) so, you'd better enjoy it...hahaha!!

I wasn't gonna use this picture, because I accidentally cut off my head, but I thought it made my belly look so huge that I thought you all should get to see it in all it's glory- one last time!!

this giant belly is, according to our specialist, carrying over 10lbs worth of baby! Can you believe it?? I, for one, really can't!! But, when he said that I did feel slightly more vindicated in all the whining I've been doing! :)

my favorite part about these pictures is looking at them and thinking about what I'm going to look like in a week from today when I have no babies, no placenta and no amniotic fluid in there! (oh yes, you did read that correctly- we finally have an induction day- Friday, November 25th will be my daughter's birthday, unless they decide to come earlier and surprise us) The doctor decided to induce us because the girls have run out of room to grow and so, at 37 weeks they will be "old" enough to be considered full term and, therefore, are at a greater risk staying inside my belly where they don't have room to move and grow than they will be in outside of my belly where they can stretch out! :) Apparently not so great things can happen if one twin squishes another twin (not horrible things...just things like needing glasses, maybe having scoliosis, that sort of thing) At our appointment on Thursday our doctor also took me off of bedrest and for that I will be eternally grateful to him. I was able to do some of the things that I have been dying to do all along, but have been unable...one of the biggest and apparently most important to her, was holding Hailey! I came home from my appointment- picked her up, hugged her and then just about lost it when she uttered these words, "oh momma- you pick me up, now! I miss you. You love Hailey", as she nestled her little head into my neck and snuggled into my arms! I had no idea that the simple act of being able to hold and carry my oldest child was so important and I'm so thankful that God allowed me to be able to do it before I go into labor and bring home the babies! (as we all know...even if you are allowed to carry 30lbs after giving birth...it's not comfortable or easy) I think this has been a very long and hard pregnancy on my whole family and I can't wait for it to be over! I know that it won't be any easier once the babies come home, but I'm excited for the next "leg" of our adventure and super pumped to see what God has in store for our family! Mostly, though, I'm just so appreciative and so thankful for all the wonderful people He has put in my life and how wonderful and supportive they have been throughout the last 7 1/2 months! Korey has been the greatest- no guy has done more for his family or his wife than this one has done! He has totally taken care of us, doing his work and mine and I really can't thank him enough for it all! Hopefully I won't ever complain again when he leaves us to go hunting, because he deserves a break and a little bit of peace in his life! :) (my only regret is that I never got my hunter's safety so I don't have an excuse to go with him and sit quietly in a tree stand, or wade quietly out into the water) :)

will I be counted faithful?!

On Wednesday I went into labor early- at 34 weeks and 5 days I was convinced that I was going to meet my girls! And...I was a wreck...I called my mom sobbing, I called Korey barely coherent and poor Hailey was convinced that I was not ok!! (despite how many times I told her I was...apparently actions speak louder than words) That did not stop her from using my "impared state" to try and cut the dogs tail off with scissors, stick stickers all over her brother and the wall, dump milk and ranch dressing on the table and demand to watch a movie..nor did it stop Jackson from having a gigantic blow out diaper all over his pajamas! (so much for being ahead of the game) ;)

Good thing for me, God's faithfulness does not change regarding my state of mind and my faithfulness. Like all the other "scary" things that have been a possibility for our girls during this pregnancy, God saw us through, and faithfully brought about a wonderful outcome- one that had no earthly rhyme or reason.

When we first got in and got hooked up the nurses became convinced that we were not going to be able to stop labor and weren't even sure we should try, but thankfully, our doctor was on his way home from Gander Mountain (yup, that's why he and korey get along) and stopped by to check me out for himself! He was willing to at least give it a try and gain us even a day or two more of the girls being in the womb, as opposed to in the NICU. (every day in the womb is considered 3 less days in the NICU, so even a day or two is a big deal at this point) Even our doctor, though, didn't give us much hope of not meeting our little ladies! Korey and I entered into the nightime hours with a lot of fear and trepidition- I feel like I barely held my tears in check and at some points I'm not sure all the shaking and racing heart was from the drugs, it coulda been my absolute panic of meeting our babies sooner than I was ready for! They did give us two different doses of a drug called terbutiline that is supposed to calm the contractions down and stop them...it had some not quite so fun side effects, but I would gladly do it all over again for the great outcome that they, along with the nubane, had on my labor. Not only did it stop the labor (after I had dialated about 1/2- a full centimeter more), but my uterus that had actually moved forward- moved back up, something our doctor said he had never seen before!

I was and am convinced that it was only an act of God that allowed our baby girls to stay in the womb! We still don't know how many more days the girls will hold off, but we are just thankful that today we made it to 35 weeks and are praising God for each day that I get to stay pregnant! And, to be honest, I wouldn't put it past God to give us a whole nother week or so with them! :) I just hope and pray that this time I will be faithful and will trust that the timing is God's.

34 weeks 4 days...

and counting...

the reality of bringing home our girls is definitely setting in these days!

Hailey and I packed my hospital bag this afternoon and she put a sticker on day #18 today, (that means 18 days until I hit 37 weeks) tomorrow Korey is coming with me to the doctor and we're going to chat about our timeline and the details surrounding the delivery, I'm doing my first biophysical profile on Thursday and I have to do it at the hospital- just in case the girls don't look so good and we don't get to come home!

It's just crazy how the homestretch is finally here...and, like with each pregnancy- I'm starting to get that feeling that I'm uncomfortable enough that, regardless of how much work it's going to be to bring the baby home and how scared I am of the labor and delivery- I'm ready to be done being pregnant. So far I've gained over 40lbs (that's all I'm gonna say about that...) ;) and my poor back is killing me carrying it all around, but it's the funny stuff that's getting hard to do, such as wash the dishes...who knew that standing sideways at the counter to wash dishes would seem like a good idea! :)

two peas in a pod

We're so proud to announce that our two little peas, Maelle Kay and Maysen Ann, are here!

They arrived, naturally (woohoo!! thank God!!),

November 25th

Maysen was born at 2:52pm , weighing 4lbs. 13oz

and her sister joined her just a few minutes later at 2:58pm , weighing 4lbs 14oz .
Mommy is recovering well and loving the few snuggles she's gotten with her little girls!

And, Daddy couldn't be prouder to have two more little princesses to add to his family! :)

Both girls are doing well and would love visitors, but as of right now they are hanging out in the NICU- hooked up to the IV for low blood sugar and their body temperature being monitored, so they aren't allowed any kid visitors (as of now...). We are hoping that they can come down to our room tomorrow, because they did a great job of latching on this evening!

For all of you who are interested I'll have to tell you more about their birth in the coming days, as I'm exhuasted at this moment and wanna get some rest until we head back up to try and feed the girls again!! :)

a Dad, his little girl and a duck

I think the smiles speak for themself on this one...no words needed!! :)

our "new" normal

For the Konietzki's it was always a weird day if we just stayed home all day or didn't have friends over and that had been our routine...but, since the kids have been basically stuck here with me for the last month we've developed a new kind of routine! In fact, it's one that I have really grown to love and am gonna kind of miss when life gets crazier and more hectic after the girls come! I know this table doesn't look like much...and there are the leftovers from breakfast on it, but it has been one of my favorite parts of our new routine! Usually Jackson either goes down for a nap (like the last few days) or he gets down from the breakfast table and plays with books or toys on the floor or in his bedroom, while Hailey and I sit at the table and write in our "journals" together.

there's a country song that Korey loves and the chorus says, "she thinks we're just fishing" and it's about a father and his daughter just sitting by the shore, her talking and him listening and to her they're just fishing, but to him it's so much more- it's about creating memories that will last him forever, it's about spending time with his favorite girl. And, that really sums up how I feel about sharing my special "quiet time" with my firstborn each morning. (forgive me if I sound a little sappy with this...it must be the hormomes talking, 'cause I was actually in tears this morning thinking about how this sweet, special time is going to end soon) I know that to her, she's just coloring and putting stickers into her kitty journal for a 1/2 hour while mommy writes in her journal, reads her Bible, and talks to God, but to me it's so much more! I hope that I'm teaching her that taking the time out of your day to sit and talk to God and listen and learn what God is saying to you is of the utmost importance; I hope that I'm helping her learn- earlier in life than me- that being too busy for a little bit of quiet and rest each morning is wrong; I hope that I'm showing her that no matter what is going on around me, no matter how chaotic life may seem- when I open my Bible it's just me and God- nothing else matters at that moment; I hope, above all else, I'm teaching her that no matter what else I screw up in my life and how horrible of a mother I may be at times that I can always go to the Word of God and get some refreshment and some encouragement and start my day off on the right foot!

There have definitely been a lot of changes in our life in the past month- actually, now that I think about it, it has been over a month since I've been put on "house arrest" and as my time grows to a close (Friday is the last day) I'm finding that I feel a little bit of nostalgia towards this time of rest and peace in our house. It hasn't been the easiest of times, but it has definitely been one of those great growing experiences and, for sure, a time that God has used to show me what is important and what isn't. (and much to my surprise- a spotlessly clean house was so far down on the list that it's not even visible to the naked eye...weird, huh? ;)) I remember once a friend told me that she only planned to go "out" and do stuff 2 days a week, because she liked to be able to be home with her children and that she found that the more she stayed home with them the better she liked them and I always thought that that was just a personality difference of ours, but now that I've actually been forced to stay home and "enjoy" my kids at home, I've found that I, too, seem to enjoy my kids more when we're at home and when our routine is more relaxed and less planned out! I guess that's a good thing to learn before the twins come, because I think we're going to be doing a lot of staying home and I'm glad that it's not something that I'm going to hate- but, something that I actually find myself looking forward to! :)

trick or treating!

Little Baby Jack all dressed up and ready to go!

We took Elmo and Princess Elmo trick or treating last night!

It was so much fun and they were so cute...

I couldn't get the kiddos to pose without me holding them, so I had to sit and hold them to get a cute picture...at least I thought it was cute, 'til I realized that I look HUGE with my giant belly behind Jackson! :)

Hailey enjoyed pushing her little brother in the stroller from house to house! It was just too cute

When Hailey found out that Jackson was going to be Elmo for Halloween, she was so upset and wanted to wear the Elmo costume, so we found her her own Elmo costume, but, then when it came right down to it she wanted to be a princess, so she got to be princess Elmo...ahh...what can you do about the changing mind of a two year old, huh??