Gobble gobble....

We had all the family at our house for Thanksgiving, and we are truly thankful that all could be here with us to celebrate new life, love for family, and a great year.

Hope all is well with you and your family and that you had a great Thanksgiving too.

Melton's x 4

At last.....

(hope your speakers are on)

They're home!!!!!!

It's been an eventful couple of weeks, but we've all made the right decisions so far. Max and Molly have gained all of their weight back and then some, are able to maintain their body temps at room temperature, and don't have any other problems that the Dr's or nurses can see. They’ve had a few shots to help them ward off infections prone to early babies, and we’ll monitor everything about them.

We're excited about the coming months, to see them grow and begin to discover their world. It's going to be great to have all of our family under one roof, and to see what Lucy and Ebby think about their new brother and sister.

We've tentatively planned a routine, hoping that we haven't missed anything. The nurses have been able to keep their feeding schedules relatively close for us, so we don't expect to have one baby eating one hour, and the other one the next. We know it won't be easy, but we’re prepared to do whatever it takes to ensure their health and happiness.

Hope all is well with you and your family, and we'll keep you updated on how everything goes.

Melton’s x 4

Baby love...

It's been an eventful time since Max and Molly were born. We slept, we didn't sleep. We ate, we didn't eat. But above all else, we've learned a lot about taking care of twins and about what kind of parents we want to be. We're very lucky to have Grammy Bucko here with us, we probably couldn't have made it without her.

We ended up having to admit Molly to the NICU on Friday the 14th because she was having trouble maintaining her body temperature. It was a minor setback, but her admission was for the best. Betsy and Max were discharged and we began our adventure by bringing him home. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to maintain his body temperature at home, and after a quick visit to the E.R., he was admitted to the NICU as well.

Molly's weight dropped from 4 lbs 11 oz at birth, to 4 lbs 2 oz when she was admitted to the NICU. Max's weight dropped from 5 lbs 3 oz at birth, to 4 lbs 8 oz at his admission. The reason for the weight loss is they were using all their energy to stay warm, instead of storing fat. The NICU nurses, Julia & Terri, told us they were just early enough that no matter what we did, it was almost certain these problems would arise.

Both of them have made great recoveries in the past couple of days, maintaining their temps and gaining most of their weight back. They've been in temperature controlled isollettes since their admissions, helping them to gain as much weight as possible without continuing to lose more weight. They'll be moved to open air cribs tomorrow, to see if they can maintain their temps at room temperature. This will be their last test before coming home, and we're all excited to see how they do. We understand if they don't pass, they'll have to go back in the isollettes for a little while longer, but we're prepared to do whatever it takes to ensure their health.

We're still pinching ourselves to make sure it's real, and we couldn't be happier with how well they've done. Betsy is feeling great and is going to be an awesome mom.

We can't wait to introduce them to you all. Hope all is well with you and your family.

Melton's x 4

Born 2 be wild...

Max, Molly, and Betsy, continue to impress everyone here in the hospital. Betsy has moved from the observation section of post partum, to full recovery post partum. She's feeling good and is getting around great in the room. We've taken a couple of walks in the hall and she's not had any troubles.

Max and Molly continue to feed every 3 hours, sleep really well, and potty lots! Both are regulating their temps well and we're free to have them in our room as much as we'd like. We've kept them here with us during the day and evening, and send them to the nursery during the night. The nursery nurses have been great, bringing them to us when they're hungry, and updating us on what's happened while they were away.

We're expecting to go home on Thursday, giving Betsy one more day of recovery than we originally had planned. We're excited to go, and Grammy Carolyn will be with us to help with all that Max and Molly will need.

Hope all is well with you and your family.

Melton's x 4

Happy Birthday!!

Holy cow, what a wonderful day. November 9th, 2008.




Maxwell Dean and Molly Elizabeth were born and everything is great!!!


Max is 5 lbs 2 oz, 17 3/4" long, and was born @ 1:20 p.m.

Molly is 4 lbs 11 oz, 18" long, and was born @ 1:22 p.m.

Both were screamers right from the start, and both came back to our room right away.

All 5 grandparents were present, crocodile tears were everywhere, and we're all still on cloud nine. The grandma's hugged and cried, and the grandpa's sniffled and smiled. Dr. Schroeder said we made the right decision and said their birth was as close to perfect as could be.

We expect to come home Wed mid-day, giving Betsy a little more time to recover here in the hospital. She's had a helluva day, she did an excellent job (was talking pop-culture with the anesthesiologist during the section!!!!!) and had both kids feeding within 3o minutes after birth.

I'll keep you all posted how everything goes in the next couple of days.

See ya!

Melton's x 4

Birthday!!!!!

Max is 5 lbs, 2 oz, 17 3/4" long. Molly is 4 lbs 11 oz, and 18" long. Betsy is doing great and did an awesome job and we're all very proud of her. Neither kids had to go to the NICU, both regulated their temps right away and were very vocal!!! Molly has the "lip thing" already figured out, and I'm sure she'll use it get get to our hearts every time. Max becomes very anxious when Molly cries, so I'm sure the protective insticts have already kicked in!

We'll post more pictures when we have time. Just wanted to let you all know all is well.

Hope all is well with you and your family.

Melton's x 4

Patience is a virtue...

Betsy has been admitted to the hospital because of high blood pressure, as well as strong contractions. She's 35 weeks 6 days as of today Nov. 8th, and the big event could happen at any time.

Dr. Schroeder wants to continue to evaluate her and watch the kids, and believes that we'll have a good idea of what we're doing on Sunday. We're both very excited, anxious, nervous, and a every other adjective that you can think of.

Lucy and Ebby are getting excited about meeting their new brother and sister, and have gotten extra curious since Betsy hasn't been home for a couple of days. Betsy's parents have come down to help us out, as well as babysit the grand dogs.

We'll keep you posted as to what we find out tomorrow, we're crossing our fingers for more good news!

Hope all is well with you and your family.

Melton's x 4