Two for the Price of One

My sister Annette had her twins last Thursday, October 16. Lincoln Wirth was born first at 9:50 AM and Annika Grace was born a minute later at 9:51. Annette was able to carry these babies to full-term (which is 38 weeks for twins). I was really surprised. When I found out that she was expecting twins, I really thought the twins would come early, anywhere from week 32-35. Both babies (which were delivered by C-section) were 5 pounds. Lincoln was 18 inches long and Annika was 19 inches.

Lincoln, just a few minutes old and Annika, one day old:

The twins (Annika is the one by her dad's hand), and Annette's selfie with her babes:

Annette took the babies home from the hospital after just two days. There is no nursery at the hospital (only a NICU), so babies sleep in the same room as their mother. This means that the nurses come in all night to check on the mom and the babies, which means there are frequent interruptions. I know from personal experience just how hard it is to get a good night's sleep in the hospital. Now that they are home everyone is getting more sleep, although the babies are waking up multiple times a night to nurse.

Annika's name is pronounced like "Hanukkah" minus the 'h'. She has red hair and when I was Skyping with Annette yesterday I noticed that Annika has a dimple in her right cheek. I adore dimples, so seeing that Annika has one gave me a little thrill. Lincoln is named after my grandpa–Lincoln's great-grandpa–Warren Wirth Zimmerman (my mom's dad). Grandpa is one of the best men ever, so Lincoln is lucky to share his middle name with such an amazing man.

Kimball and Rebecah are both loving the twins. They've been looking forward to the arrival of the babies for many months and were both so excited to meet the twins. The brothers and the sisters:

The twins on the day they came home from the hospital. They look tiny in their car seats! Even though 5 pounds is a respectable weight for a baby (especially a twin) I think they look minuscule. In the next picture Annika is the one yawning:

Joseph feeding Annika a tiny bottle, and another one of Little A:

Rebecah and Lincoln, and Lincoln mid-yawn:

I know it's out of order, but I wanted to include this picture of Annette a few days before the twins' arrival. She was mighty uncomfortable by this time and felt huge, but I thought she looked great, especially for having two babies inside of her. I kept getting after her to make sure she had Joseph do a pregnancy photo shoot at the very end. My instructions were to take at least 20 pictures for "posterity's sake." I got five pictures. It wasn't 20, but I was satisfied. ;) I'm a picture hound, I freely admit it! I just know that you can never go back and recreate history, so that's why I'm so crazy about taking pictures and documenting life.

I'm so grateful for the safe arrival of the twins, but am disappointed that I won't get to meet them until next summer since they live all the way in New York.