The "Y"s Have It

Thank you to all for your opinion on the middle names. The "Y"s have it! We will be going with Young and Yoomie for their names. The bad news is we procrastinated a bit too long to get them on their birth certificates...now we have to file for an official name change. We missed the deadline by one day!! We now have to go to Oakland, fill out paper work, pay a huge fee and apply for the middle names to be added. I'm going to pretend that it's official already and maybe get around to the application sometime within the year...

Here is a new picture of Timothy Young and Cameron Yoomie...the last one in their premiee clothes...they are growing so fast!

Sleep when they are sleeping

The advice in our twins class, from doctors and friends have all said try to sleep when they are sleeping...that's one piece of advice we can easily take.

First Outing...Sunday Church

After going back and forth on whether to go try to make it to church this morning, we decided we would give it a try. I haven't been out of the house in about 10 day and was in need of a little fresh air. We thought the twins were on a solid enough schedule we could plan a feeding before we left and be back by the next feeding. All we needed was the weather to cooperate and we would be set. We woke up this morning with no rain and decided to give it a try....let's just say we'll do better next week...

The twins got off their schedule at the 6am feeding b/c of fussiness and general laziness in feeding, so they weren't ready for their 9am feeding until 10am. I figured we need to start getting ready a little earlier than normal, which we did, but not early enough. To make a long story short, church starts at 10:15 and we left the house at 11am. We got there just in time to hear the tail end of P. Phil's sermon. We had doubts about going at around 10:45 but decided we would see it through and learn from it. I really wanted to be in church today just to worship God and give thanks for His amazing gifts to us. There is something gratifying about being in a large worship setting that allows you to be more humble at what the Lord has done. So I'm glad we made the outing and saw it through.

Next Sunday we'll start getting ready an hour earlier...

Here are a few pics we've taken the past few days. The first on we call their "raise you hands and praise the Lord, Hallelujah!" pose. Enjoy!

Eyes wide open

Several people have commented that Timothy always has his eyes closed in the photos...that's because he always has his eyes closed. Cameron is much more alert more often than Timothy...not sure why. She is also the fussier one of the two. Timothy is so relaxed most of the time, he just kinda eats, sleeps and poops. We have them on somewhat of a schedule now, feeding every three hours. Young and I alternate feedings so the other can nap/rest. We are two days into this schedule so we'll see if we can all keep it up.

We did manage to capture a few shot after dinner time last night. Here are a few photos of them both, eyes wide open.

Middle Names

OK, so the answer to the million dollar question, do we have middle names yet? The answer is no. We just can't decide...so we'll let you all participate. We have two finalist. We would like their middle names to begin with the same letter...let us know what you think...

Timothy Young Ko
Cameron Yoomie Ko (u-me)
(Korean names)

OR

Timothy Luke Ko
Cameron Lucy Ko
(Luke and Lucy mean "bringer of light")

Bath time

Today was Timothy and Cameron's first bath...or rather, sponge bath. They had deep cleaning baths in the hospital but this was their first one at home. Of course neither took to the idea very well as you can tell from the pics. But it's nice wash them all up, comb their hair and be fresh and clean...I love the smell of babies...

Before and After Delivery 2/14/08

Sorry to digress from our ever growing children, but I wanted to post a few photos of their birth date. It was all such a blur to me, I finally had time to go through the hundreds of photos Young took that day. I thought some of them were kinda cute and thought I would post them. These are of us waiting to go into delivery. Once the doctors decided to deliver the babies, we were put into scrubs and prepped for surgery. My best friend Monique made the trek over the Bay Bridge at 4am so she could be there for the deliveries. LOVE HER! She made the wait a bit more enjoyable, as we got bumped back a few hours because of an emergency that came in just ahead of us.




There are also a few, not so glamorous photos of me in the recovery room holding the babies. I can remember the sense of "oh my gosh, these are mine" when they placed both babies on me.

Waterboarding? Please...

So if you have been watching or reading the news recently, you might have heard about the controversy regarding a form of interrogation technique called Waterboarding. Many are calling this torture.

Well, I'm not sure nor do I want to first hand what that's like, but I'm pretty sure sleep deprivation needs to be added to that list.

We are currently on a 3-hour feeding schedule which means that throughout the night, we are feeding Timothy and Cameron every three hours. Each feeding including diaper changes lasts about 1 1/2 hours. Translation? Not much sleep. We are constantly counting how many minutes of sleep we can get after each feeding.

In any event, please enjoy some new pics in the 4th day of life of Timothy and Cameron.

Holding Hands

Here's a video we finally uploaded of Timothy and Cameron holding hands the day they were born.

Homecoming

Shhhhh... they're sleeping.

Today was a big day in the Ko household. We added two new ones into our home. At around 2:00pm we packed up the car and the entire family including Timothy and Cameron left Oakland Kaiser and headed over the Bay Bridge into SF.

The drive was very peaceful and surreal. It was amazing Sara and I got to the hospital just three days ago and were now heading back to SF with a full car.

We came home and slowly but surely started to get adjusted. I quickly realized that the initial setup in our nursery wasn't quite going to work out and had to make some minor adjustments.

To help us get settled in, the Busbee ladies and Monique stopped by to help us. Considering how far away our families are, it's such a blessing to have a community of good friends that will be there for you.

We can't thank the staff at Oakland Kaiser enough for the wonderful care they provided us. We would like to especially thank Erin and Bihung for their caring nursing and advice.

Sara is experiencing some side effects from the anesthesia and is having some bad headaches. Please continue to pray for her speedy recovery.

We look forward to seeing our two loverly kids grow and share our lives together. I often have 'father' moments where I see a glimpse of the future with our little ones. Hopefully, we'll be able to share these with you through this blog.

Now back to trying to get some sleep before our midnight feeding.

Babies Day 2

Timothy and Cameron are in their second day of life. Mother and father are doing well, albeit exhausted. But we definitely have great motivation.

Cameron has little bit of jaundice. They are keeping a close eye on her to make sure that she is on the right track. She is definitely daddy's little girl. She squirms around a lot and you can tell she is going to get into all kinds of mischief.

Timothy is the silent type and sleeps really well. When he is awake, he has a very intentional and deep thought look about him. He is a spitting image of daddy and mommy - definitely Asian looking though.

Both of them look around from time to time as if in a daze. Amazingly enough, they have very dark blue eyes. Apparently, all babies are born with blue eyes but they change colors over time.



We want to thank all of our friends for their calls, words of encouragement and prayers. We want to specifically thank Yang who stopped by today to provide some badly needed food and relief for daddy.


We are expecting to go home on Sunday. Thank you for all your offers for help (meals, etc.). Please contact Stephanie Gluch (danandstephinsf@yahoo.com). She is organizing the meals calendar.

They're Here!

Introducing, Timothy and Cameron!

More to come on their amazing journey, but please enjoy some images of the wonderful brother and sister.

Boy Timothy was born on 2/14/2008 9:40AM at 6lbs 6oz. Girl Cameron was born on 2/14/2008 9:41AM at 4lbs 14oz.

Mom is doing well and is in recovery. Please keep everyone in your prayers. Specifically that the babies will learn to nurse.

Hangin' With Friends

Young and I had a great weekend last weekend of seeing alot of our friends and enjoying one last date night out together before the twins arrive. Here are just a few photos of us with friends, trying to get that "one last time" before time is scarce. Some of the photos are from an Orson work party. For those who don't know, Citizen Cake is opening a new restaurant called Orson. It's scheduled to open on the same day as our delivery, February 26. They had a small work party there is weekend just so we could all see the new space. It was nice so see all my work friends...



ps...I had another easy doctors apt. yesterday...everything is still going well. We are well on our way to 38 weeks!

just the two of us...for now

As we draw closer to the arrival of the twins, I realize a few things...very soon, we will we have TWO children, it won't be just the two of us anymore and I will no longer be pregnant. Don't get me wrong...I'm much more excited about the kids than I am the pregnancy. I haven't been one of those women embracing mother nature's course. But since we are blessed to be having twins, this is going to be it for me and mother's nature's course. Having said all that, I thought it might be nice to capture a few pictures of Young and I, just the two of us, during this time. I wanted everyone else to see how Young loves on my belly and how he likes to listen tho the heartbeats. I asked my good friend and photographer extrodinaire, Sharona, to take a few shots of just the two of us...for now.

Week 37...Full-Term

We have made it to a full-term twin pregnancy...praise God! (A normal, singleton pregnancy is 40 weeks, a twin pregnancy is 37) At this point the babies are fully developed, breathing in and out, sucking their thumb, opening and closing their eyes and packing on the ounces/pounds as in baby fat. Brace yourself for the belly shot...I am quite large right now and not very mobile. We are still on schedule for a Feb. 26 delivery unless I go into labor before, but no signs of that right now. On one hand I want to babies to come now so I can see them, hold them and be able to move around. On the other, I know each day they are inside is much better for them and the more sleep we get. We are just trusting the Lord will bring them out in His perfect timing! (soon, Lord, soon!!)


Oh, and Happy Birthday Lisa Yemma!

Fetal Hiccups

One of the more adorable aspects of the babies is when they get hiccups. My doctor says it's from swallowing the amniotic fluid as a result of them practicing breathing. Each baby gets the hiccups about 3 times a day...so a total of about six episodes of hiccups in my belly. It's very cute to see my belly bounce up and down in a rhythmic pattern. The larger the kids get the stronger the hiccups are...so after about 3 minuets of cuteness I try to move around the scare them and try to stop their little hiccups.

On another note, some of our good friends, Bobby and Gwen Evans, had their new baby girl today. She is 4 weeks early but doing well, as is mom. She came into the world at 1pm weighing 5lbs 4oz. Praise the Lord! But I can't believe she had her baby before we had ours!!

Stll Growing Strong

My NST was a little early this week b/c of scheduling issues...and all is well. The twins are still breech but have moved a little apart so monitoring was easy this time...except the fact that Timothy was sleeping and not really moving around. They had to use a few tricks to make sure he would move around a bit. But he is doing a good job at practicing breathing. Their lungs are fully developed by now too. Both babies have plenty of fluid and are gaining lots of weight...each one is around 6 pounds now. Timothy is probably over 6 and Cameron right at 6 pounds. (that's over 12 pounds of baby I'm carrying around!!) And of course all that weight reflects in my weight...I've packed on an extra 5 pounds in just a week. I hope the weight comes off as easy as it was to put on...

We have officially scheduled our c-section date for February 26th!!! We tried to get Feb. 22..Young thought it would be fun to have 2 babies on 2-22. But that day was booked and Dr. Mandel wasn't available. While the 26th seems far away, it's only three weeks. And while everyone, myself included, thought I would have had these twins by now, I'm thankful for a little extra time to finish getting ready....I think a manicure and massage are on the top of my list!

Did You Ever Wonder...?

Have you ever wondered what the end of your belly button looks like, or if there is an end to your belly button? I often times have wondered that myself.

Well no longer. As the little critters pushed Sara's belly out of their way, her belly button became shallower and shallower until now where it is clear that we are at the end of the belly button. Another great mystery solved through the amazing thing we call pregnancy.

But alas, for every mystery on which pregnancy sheds its light, others are born.

Week 36!

I never thought we would make it this far. Since the time we found out we were having twins, all we've heard is how high risk the pregnancy is and we'll likely deliver early and have preemies. At this point, if I go into labor, they will deliver the babies and they won't be preemies. We are so blessed that I've had such good care and taken precautions to carry full term. Young and I have been praying all along for a healthy pregnancy and healthy babies...once again, the Lord is faithful!

We had a successful non-stress test yesterday to monitor heartbeats and movements. It was another long visit of trying to find two heartbeats. As the nurse said...the kids are "pig piled" on top of each other. Both have shifted again and are now breech but crossing over each other. So Timothy's head is on the left but feet are on the right and Cameron's head is on the right but feet on the left. They cross at their stomaches which means their heartbeats are one on top of the other. It's easy to find heartbeats on the ultrasound but the monitors can't pick up two. So it took the nurse and two doctors, again, to find two heartbeats. They finally just let me go after an hour b/c the kids were doing well practicing breathing on their own...I guess that's just as good as movements.

It's hard to believe we still have a few more weeks to go...