New pictures of Maggie and Silas:

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Wishing you and yours the very best...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

One Month Old

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Wow, has it really been over a month since these little “spider monkeys” were born. Here is the link to the latest pictures, which includes a visit from three very cool grandparents and friends throughout Richmond. Life for the WB Clan has been amazing, exhausting, and full of surprises. Sharon and I still find ourselves in a continual state of wonder and laughter at how we ended up at this crazy place. We apologize that the latest blog updates have been infrequent and short, but hey we blame it on a serious need for sleep. Thank you all for your cards and support in this very exciting life change.

Our Complete Family

Today Maggie came home and we are all very ecstatic.


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So here we are, a week into the lives of our beautiful babies and we couldn’t be more in love. The last week and a half has been quite a journey and we are rapidly learning that parenthood is the craziest rollercoaster ride that Disney World doesn’t offer but heartily endorses! I was admitted to the hospital over a week ago because of contractions and spent six days undergoing tests and monitoring, wondering when these babies were going to come out of me, while being more impressed than I should have at the quality of the hospital food.
After much scrutiny, the docs decided on Monday November 2nd that babies needed to come out that day. At 5:14 pm, Silas Hauck Hollowell and Maggie May Hollowell arrived in this world in rapid succession. Silas weighed in at 5 pounds, 12 ounces and 19 inches long, while his sister Maggie came in at a mere 3 pounds, 3 ounces and 15 inches long. Yes, that is a wide discordance in weights; don’t worry, we are confident that Maggie will make Silas pay for his in-utero greediness for a long time.
Needless to say, Maggie’s petite size put her into the NICU where she is currently spending her days and nights trying to put some weight on so she can come home and have a sit-down with Silas about his need to learn to share. She is doing well in the NICU, although she has a habit of eating slowly and in a persnickety fashion (as they read this, my parents are saying, “Like her mother!“) which means that, while she takes most of her food by bottle, she sometimes has to be fed through a feeding tube. She was originally on an IV providing her with fluids, but has been able to be taken off of that, which we hope she can stay off of. She has fortunately never needed respiratory support and has been doing well maintaining her body temperature so she will hopefully be moved from an incubator to a regular crib soon.
We have no time frame as to when she can come home, because she has to achieve the perfect storm of weight gain, body temperature and food intake before the medical staff approve for her to be strong enough. No worry, though, if you know anything about women from the May and Hauck clan, you know that we come from tough stock and Maggie has already proven herself to be a resilient little lady! While it is challenging to have her so far away in the hospital, especially since my visitations are limited to when someone can drive me there while Keith stays home with Silas, the blessing is that this gives us the opportunity to acclimate to having at least one baby at home-- so challenging in its own right, I can’t imagine what two at the same time would have been like! We will find out soon enough!!
We got to take Silas home this past Friday and have been having a fantastic time learning the ins and outs of sleepless nights and the relentless desire to insert his feet into my mouth on every occasion allowable. Keith and Silas had their first football Sunday together, lamenting the pitiful state of affairs of that football team to our north. Silas has been refining his sleeping skills and has thoroughly impressed us with his ability to pee while simultaneously getting his diaper changed. Meanwhile, Keith is learning the indispensable arts of burping Silas after his feedings and swaddling in the dark.

We are very fortunate to have such a wonderful support group of family and friends that have helped us with assistance and well wishes. People have been so generous to provide us with homemade meals, takeout, groceries, diapers, positive vibes, transportation, and kindness that we could have never lived without. Our friends and family are the essential glue that holds us together so that we can feel like this is manageable. We are the luckiest White Bear clan in the world!!

The Final Countdown

Well this was a very interesting week for The WB Clan. Around 4am on Wednesday morning Sharon started feeling contractions and decided to wake me up from a sound and pleasant slumber only to find out that we were going to the hospital so the doctors could monitor her progress. But alas after a few hours of monitoring and shooting Sharon up with morphine but - although that sounds awesome- unfortunately the drugs did not agree with Sharon much like the time she was unlawfully given an Ambien and hallucinated about Southwest airline bag handlers.
So we stayed at the hospital where we were told that although The Twins are trying desperately to enter this crazy world, well mainly the boy who is now head down and within inches of claiming freedom, it is not time yet! We are trying to hold off on birthing these little ones because at this point, every day is a chance for them to get bigger and healthier. However, we are in a really good place and ready to roll since both babies are at or over four pounds and Sharon is well into her 35 week, we are told that term for twins is around 37 and on average most twins are born around 34 weeks.
I know some of you were hoping for Halloween babies, but it looks like the only thing spooky about us is our dog in a ridiculous squirrel outfit. For now Sharon is staying in the hospital trying to add as much time as possible to this whole pregnancy thing, I am sleeping at the hospital on a cot and then working during the day, and The Twins are getting ready to change everything.

Still Growing

Phew, this whole pregnancy is tiring; well I should say looks exhausting. I have no idea how anyone can do something so amazing and with such style. Here is Sharon at 34 weeks and counting, and trust me, I do mean counting. However, to my surprise and Sharon’s astonishment, our doctors are telling us that we might be able to make it at the very least another couple of weeks before dos babies arrive. We are hoping to get into 36 weeks to help assure strong healthy babies, and by the look of things, all is going extremely well. During this week’s ultrasound the paleontologist (Sharon doesn't like it when I call him that because then it means that our babies are going to grow up to be dinosaurs) calculated our little girl at 3lbs 8 ounces and Mr. Big Man at 4 lbs 14 ounces. We are currently completing final arrangements around the house and having long talks with the 3 cats and dog about the major changes they will soon experience. For those that all following our blog outside of Richmond, the weather has been beautiful and although Sharon can not make it to the pumpkin patch this year or even hand out candy, she will be making super scary noises from our second story window and Millie will be sporting her swank squirrel outfit from petsmart.

This week my sixth period class threw me a surprise "baby daddy" shower. I was very touched by how excited they were-- part of me thinks that they just wanted a reason to have a party in class. We skyped Sharon ( Don't worry, I gave her ample warning!) so they could see her and say Hi. She was very embarrassed but happy at the same time.

More next week!

What a grin!

Hi all! Now it's momma's turn to write a post. So, we had our weekly ultrasound on Thursday and this is a picture of our little boy! How cute! We can't decide if this is a smile on his face or he is just drinking in all the tasty amniotic fluid in his sac (I'm guessing it tastes like bubble gum!), but I like to think that he is smiling while thinking of all of the tomfoolery that he and his little sister will cause once they arrive.

The ultrasound went well; they both are still in there and growing. The reason for the weekly ultrasounds is because Little Girl is smaller and therefore at risk of losing placenta support more quickly. By keeping an eye on her growth and movement, we can know whether they can stay in longer or need to be delivered. Don't you worry, she is doing just fine, as she likes to demonstrate by pushing her head out the right side of my body as though I am birthing an alien through my ribs. So far, so good, so in they stay. We are now 33 weeks along and are hoping to reach 35 or 36 weeks if possible. Now, whether I can last that long is another story entirely.

Truthfully, as far as my condition, I am doing fairly well, considering the circumstances. I have not gone completely crazy yet. (Insert your favorite Yellow Wallpaper or Hitchcock's Rear Window references here.) I am living in my Lazy-boy recliner and am getting bigger by the minute. I miss my job as well as having freedom of movement to do everyday things. Keith has done a wonderful job taking care of me. He brings a cooler of food upstairs for me every day so I don't have to go downstairs and he keeps his cool when he is stuck with the housekeeping and grocery shopping. I tell you, though, there are days that I would give anything to switch with him-- give him the giant heavy belly and swollen feet and the recliner and I'll clean the whole house!

It is surprising how heavy these babies feel inside me and how much physical strain this experience puts on the body, but I know that it is all for a wonderful cause and that it will eventually come to an end. I am trying to enjoy sleep while I can, because I know that it will never be the same in a very short time. As some of you know, I love sleep more than chocolate, so we are in for a very rude awakening. Literally.

As the babies' arrival becomes more imminent, we are making the last preparations in the house and the nursery. We are so thankful to all of the family and friends who have been so generous with their support, gifts and donations of baby items to help us prepare for the madness that is about to unfold. Stay tuned!

Why ello Girl

Here is our little girl to be at 32 weeks. She is finally catching up to her brother in terms of size and strength. In the past, she would let her brother kick her in the head but oh no not anymore! Now she uses all of her ninja skills and jabs at his head, well that is when she is not sticking her entire body out of Sharon’s right side. A week ago she weighed in at 2.11 lbs. and her brother or the “little man” as Sharon calls him was at 3.7.
We are very happy that we have made it to the 32 weeks point and according to the doctor it actually looks like we might be able to make it to 36 or 37 weeks. We are told that they will induce around 38 weeks so here's hoping…
The house of WB has been as busy as has Sharon’s belly lately. It is so cool watching the epic battle between sister and brother unfold with the depths of Sharon’s body. One of the funniest things we saw was when dude changed his entire position to face down as if he is knocking at the door ready to seize the day. We have also been arranging the nursery and installing super radical appliqués on the nursery walls thanks to Joey D. Keith also put in the firat car seat today after much cursing, head scratching and near panic attacks, only to be followed by comments such as well as “wow that really wasn’t that hard” and “I am the car seat king”.
All in all things are totally happening.