Babies update

The babies are doing pretty well. Micah still has a bleed in his brain but the Dr.'s say it's not critical yet. He is off of the ventilator and has been for about a week. He's holding his own really well. He's also having feedings through a tube that goes into his little tummy. He started at 1mil every 12 hours. Now, he's eating 5 mil every 3 hours. He is gaining weight which is good because they both lost a bit of weight and were little like Ethiopian babies.

Micah boy looking very healthy.

Mattea is doing alright. She has a PDA which is a vessel in the heart that normally closes at the end of pregnancy. Hers didn't close so the Dr.'s are trying to get it to close on it's own with meds but if it doesn't close then she will have to be taken up to Primary Childrens Hospital for surgery. Along with the PDA comes a heart murmur which will hopefully clear up after the PDA is fixed. She has been put back on the ventilator because of the PDA makes it more difficult for her to breath on her own. She is a lot more alert than Micah usually is. We've never seen Micah's eyes whereas we see Mattea's all the time

Mattea saying hello to her Mommy and Daddy

Look out world!

Look out world... here we come. We, the very proud parents of Micah and Mattea are happy to inform you that both of the babies are doing very well. Micah had a few seizures as a result of blood on his brain which looks to have stopped and cleared up. Micah is still on a ventilator but the nurses have talked about removing his ventilator tube. Mattea was taken off of the ventilator today (Sunday) at apprx 2:30. She is doing really well and it's nice to see more of her little face.




The nurses and the staff in the NICU are so loving. They have made our babies name tags for their Giraffe's (special isolate).

Here is our Micah boy. Everything still looks a little scary to an outsider but it's looking a little better.

This is just a special picture of our angel boys face.

Again, the nurses and staff are great and here is Mattea's name tag.

Here is Mattea. She's off of her ventilator but still have a little tube going down into her belly. She does look pretty skinny in this picture. We love the little bows that they put on her.

We're able to touch our little ones now! We always ask if they are stable enough first but it's not very often that we can't touch them. This picture was taken today. It's Sterling touching Mattea's little head. She always responds when her dad touches her. Yesterday she was kicking his hand.

Thanks to everyone for all of your prayers and well wishes. Ourselves and our babies are definitely receiving blessing from our Heavenly Father. We're very grateful for all we've been given.

Suprise Arrival!

On December 8th 2009 at apprx 12:20 PM Micah Sterling Cluff and Mattea Hope Cluff decided they were sick of being with just Mom and wanted to meet their Dad. Yessiree bob, they were born at 27 weeks 5 days by C-section. Both babies were ventilated right away. We were expecting that and weren't suprised to hear or see it happen.

Micah was the first to appear. Truth be told he was almost pulling himself out once they cut through to him. I felt the water break and then heard the Dr's say, "Wow, he's grabbing the forceps with his hand." They pushed his little hand back in and then pulled the rest of him out.

(Micah shortly after birth in the NICU)

Our son was born weighing 2 lbs 10 oz. Tiny, yes we know. However, that's a pretty good size considering how early they were. Micah has a significant amount of hair considering how early he was. It looks pretty blonde actually.

(Micah a little later)

Our daughter was born one minute after her brother weighing in at a whopping 2 lbs 5 oz. Mattea is our little fighter. I could hear her crying (oh so softly) in the operating room which was kind of nice to hear. We heard from the NICU Dr later that night that Mattea was actually breathing room oxygen and wasn't using the ventilator. They mentioned they may be taking her off soon.

(Mattea a little later in the day. Her left arm is up by her head. I think it's cute)

Mattea also has a lot of hair considering her age. Her hair is darker than her brothers.

(Mattea shortly after birth in the NICU)


Side note: Fear not friends and family! We will still be having baby showers. I estimate they will be happening in January. More news to come.....

I've escaped!!!

Yes! I've escaped! My Dr came into my room the Tuesday evening before Thanksgiving and gave us the good news that I was being sent home on bed rest. Yay! We were so happy. So, we loaded up the car with all the things we had brought (ALOT), went to my Mom and Dad's to pick up Pedro. We decided to take one picture together to documents our stay in the hospital.

Sterling's family needed to get a family picture done so his Mom could send out Christmas cards. Sooo, with me being on bed rest we decided to have everyone come over and make it a do-it-yourself family photo. We borrowed my Dad's very nice, expensive camera and this is what we got.

Our little family... soon to increase significantly with the twins.

A lovely belly pose. Yes, it's very large. I went and had an ultrasound done and the tech told me I have 1.5 times the amount of amniotic fluid in each of the sacks so essentially it's almost as if I'm carrying triplets without the 3rd little human in there. Because they have so much fluid they never hold still. I feel bad when the nurses have to track down their heart beats and put me on a monitor.

And....lastly... the entire Cluff clan. Minus all the babies on the way. Sterling's little sister Brittney (in the dark brown sweater) is also pregnant. We've got three little babies coming within 3-6 months of each other. Fun huh?

Micah and Mattea will have a couple cousins their same age becasue my brother Kim and his wife Leslie just had their 3rd baby (a girl, Carmendy) right before Thanksgiving. Lots of blessing all around us.

Hello from a hospital bed

Yes, I am stuck in the hospital until I deliver Thing One and Thing Two. I'm not hurting, the babies are safe, but as a precaution because I wasn't even aware I was having contractions or dilating I have to stay. I'll be here for Thanksgiving and that kind of stinks but I can't complain too much. My brother and his family (in Texas) are stuck in a hospital for the 2nd Thanksgiving in a row. I do get sad but I have some really great family and friends that visit me.

My mom knits cute little beanies but they are pretty big. I told her she should figure out how to make teeny tiny beanies. Well, she came in and presented me with the cutest little preemie beanie you've ever seen. She's only done one so far but she's gonna make another one.

Sterling "wearing" the beanie my mom made for our babies.

Konni at 25 weeks (in the hospital, obviously.)

The beanie in proportion to a coke can. Cute huh?

Bed rest and surgery...

Well, on Thursday after work I went into my Dr because I had the tiniest bit of bleeding. Well, he checked me and said my cervix was "softening" and he thought I was dilated to a one. He sent me over to get a vaginal ultrasound to see what was going on. When I got in and they had the probe in for like 15 seconds the cute little tech printed and two pictures and said...."I'll be right back. I need to go talk to my Dr." Oh crap! What's going on?, I though to myself. Well, the Dr comes in and says, your dilated to a 3 and your cervix is paper thin. Oh and by the way, we think you have an infection and it might be in with the babies so we're going to shove a huge needle into your sons placenta guided by ultrasound to pull out some amniotic fluid. If there is an infection in with the babies we have to deliver now and if there isn't we are going to stitch your cervix closed. Then he tells me.... "Your not going home!" WHAT? I'm 24 weeks pregnant I'm thinking to myself. my babies weigh like a pound and a half. They won't live if we deliver them now. So, I text Sterling and tell him he better come.
Long story short, apparently I had been having contractions and wasn't aware. There was no infection so I went in the next morning for surgery to sew my cervix closed. The Dr came in after and said the membranes were poking through and he could see one of my sons feet. So, he had to blow up a little balloon to push that all back in and then stitch my cervix together. He said it was very successful especially considering he could see my sons foot.
They have put me on medicine to stop the contractions, given me steroids shots to help the babies lungs mature and I'm on bed rest in the hospital. My Dr said, "we're gonna take it a week at a time." when I asked how long I'm gonnna be in here. Home sweet Hospital.

By the way, we've decided to change Michael's name to Micah. I just didn't want to name him completely after Sterling's dad. I wanted to pick out a name that we both chose and Sterling finally conceded. Micah is Hebrew for Michael anyway so we really didn't stray too far.

Thanks for reading folks.... I hope your having more fun than us.

Let us compare!!

I'm very lucky to have some wonderful mother role models. First of all my mom is fabulous. Sterling's mom is great and I have three amazing sister-in-laws that are great example






Ok, So, this is my beautiful sister-in-law, Leslie, at 33 weeks pregnant. I am on the right at 21 weeks pregnant. Difference? Yes, I'd say so. I'm significantly larger but more then 10 weeks behind her. Granted, I am having two and she was thin when she got pregnant.s.

Home and Belly

21 weeks and counting!!! Yup... they have moved in and are making themselves known.

The first time my belly stuck our further than my chest.

I haven't posted any pictures of my new house because it has been a disaster. I really am happy about our new house and wanted to show everyone what it looks like. The inside is still a mess. we're getting there slowly but surely.

This is a picture of the front. Those little white things are little Halloween Ghosts that still in the lawn. They're super cute. Also, there is a stair well that leads to the basement apartment behind the little fence in the center. Sterling's little sister and her husband live down there. They just found out they're expecting now too. We're gonna have 3 crying little mouths in one house. Exciting huh?

M&M

We've not put up pictures of the babies since they were little blobs. Well, they look like humans now. They have little faces, arms, legs, and everything else they are supposed to have.

This is Mattea Hope Cluff. The only good pictures we have of her look like this. She's pretty shy and is usually hidden by her brother.

We like this one of Mattea because you can see her little arm. We only have 2D ultrasound pictures of her because she's squished bu her brother all the time and is difficult to see.

This is Michael Sterling Cluff. He loves to be in front of the camera. His pictures are in 3d because he moves too much to be seen really well in 2D. When we move over to look at Mattea he likes to get in the way.

Here is a common view of Michael. He likes to keep his hand up by his face. They both do actually. I know the 3D pics are kind creepy but to us it's really fascinating to see.

Anywho, thats all for now. We're hoping to get started on their room and get it cleaned out, painted and set up. We're only going to put up one crib for now. I've been told that twins have a hard time being in different cribs at first anyway. Wish us luck. We're past half way now!

1st meal

Well, we've been in our house for over a month but I did document our first dinner in our new home. It was the first Sunday we were here. We made burritos and had sparkling cider. Cheap, I know. But we just bought a house for crying out loud. It was a lot of fun.

I still haven't unpacked most of the boxes that were in storage. I've lived without that stuff for so long that I dont' even know what is in them or what I need them for. I am just so tired and lazy between work, school, and my pregnancy. I've lost a lot of my lap to my every growing belly so it's difficult to bend over to go through boxes. I've got to get it done now or it's gonna be worse. We've also got to get the babies room done asap. It's currently a storage room with a a crib and a bassinet up against the wall. We've got a long way to go.

Pregnancy

We havn't updated the blog because we've been moving and workin in our new house. However, I do have some pregnancy pictures so you can see how we have changed during the pregnancy.

Sterling at week 13. Looking pretty good I would say.
Konni at week 13. At the "Is she gaining weight or is she pregnant?" stage

Sterling at 17 weeks. Doing very good at not gaining much weight. Good for you honey!

Konni at week 17. Yup, definately something in there. I know. I don't look very happy in the picture but I really am. I've still gained less than 5 lbs so far. I'm trying not to gain too much because I was already big before I got pregnant. We'll see how well it works.

Multiple Blessings

We have been trying to get funded on this home we fell in love with for almost 2 months. It's been rediculous. We figured we were either REALLY supposed to be there or REALLY NOT supposed to be there. Well, We found last Thursday that we were finally approved. Sterling had been working so hard on this and was so stressed out that I decided to fo to Fetal Foto's in Murray to see if we could determine the gender of our babies. Well, the results are in and we're having a little girl and a little boy. The little girl was being really stubborn/modest so when watching the video you didn't know what she was until the very end of the video. I brought it home and had Sterling watch it when he got home. He thought that the 2nd baby was a boy and was kinda down about it because he wanted a daughter SOOO bad. When the words, "I'm a Girl!" popped up on the screen he turned and looked at me with big eyes, dropped jaw, and a BIG smile. We're happy about both of our babies and can't wait to meet them.
We've been working on the house and we will be moving in this coming Saturday. It's going to be so great!

Almost 11 weeks

Well, I am 10 weeks and 5 days along in my pregnancy. We went to the Dr last week and had an ultrasound done. Sterling kept popping his head in front of the screen so I couldn't really see much. He said they were moving all over the place and could see the hands and legs. He was so excited it was so cute. He'd move a little close to the screen every time and say "That is SO cool!" with a BIG grin on his face. They printed out pictures for us but all you can really see is a white line that is one of the babies spines.
The Dr wasn't able to see us that day because he had to run and do a delivery so, today I had to go in and see him today. He took me to do another ultrasound which was a lot more clear than the last one. I could clearly see the arms, legs, and heartbeat. I got to hear both of my babies heartbeats. They were very strong. I saw some movement and the Dr said the baby that we were focusing on was kicking. It was so amazing. Now that I think of where the other baby was in relation to Mr/Ms kicker I think he/she was kicking it's sibling in the head. So, I told Sterling that if one of them comes out with brain damage we'll know why. They are so big now. They take up all the room in the sack now. Their little legs are all scrunched up. I've heard you can find out the gender at 13 weeks and my next appt in at 14 weeks so maybe we'll find out then. I hope so. Sterling's mom keeps buying us stuff but she doesn't know whether to buy baby girl or baby boy.
Now that I'm pregnant I sometimes wonder why I wanted this so much. Things like today remind me why I wanted it so badly. I've been very lucky that I've only vomited 1 day of all of my ten weeks and 5 days.
We'd like to thank all of you who have kept us in your prayers. We're very grateful for what the Lord has blessed us with. We hope all if well with all of you and will continue to pray for you all as well.

Presenting......

Baby 'A' and Baby 'B'. We usually just refer to them as "the kids". I finally had Sterling scan a one of the ultrasounds we have of them.
From what I understand they actually look like humans now. They have grown their little arms and legs and move them and everything. We are very anxious to find out the genders. I keep having the strangest dreams that I give birth to puppies and chipmunks.
I don't know if I should be popping out yet but I feel like I kind of am. I felt really fat last sunday when I went to church.
Everything is still the same with Sterling and I. If anyone knows of any companies around that are hiring I would love to get into a new job.

How many did you say?

Well, we had an ultrasound a week ago and have seen both of our kids. Yes, that's right...I said BOTH. We put in two embryos and they both stuck. We're having twins. We were nervous because each sack could still hold more than one baby. We've seen the heartbeats and only 1 heartbeat per sack. Sterling is having a hard time accepting this. He has moved on to "I-need-a-new-job-and-a-2nd-job" mode. I've tried to show him it's not going to be that much more expensive. We can buy most of the items 2nd hand. We're both very nervous but coming to terms with it. Don't get my wrong...we're very excited and getting more excited the more we see the babies. Our due date is March 8th but twins usually come early so they'll probably be here in Feb. I'll post pictures of the ultrasounds later.

Valedictorian!!!

Sterling finally graduated. He is officially done with school. He graduated with a 4.0. Obviously he was Valedictorian.
Here he is after the commencment.

Sterling with me and my parents

Sterling with his family except one of his sisters.

Giving his speech. He didn't memorize it or print it out. Nope. He read it from his cell phone. That's my husband. He did a really good job. I was really proud of him.

Ripped from my ovaries!

So on Friday the 12th we went in and had the "Egg retrieval" done. We injected a large dose of HCG which releases the egg from the wall of the follicle. Then we went into the office and I was put under after they got me all set up in stirrups. (a position i've never fallen asleep in I must say) At that point they go in with a vaginal ultrasound to navigate and go in through my abdomin with a need to suck out the eggs from the follicle. After the retrieval they let them rest for a bit and then do ICSI which is just injecting the sperm into the egg. I was told that it would feel like cramps. That was kind of an understatement. It felt like the worst bloated cramps I've ever had. I would dread going to the bathroom because it hurt. 3 days later I was feeling better. My sister-in-law even bought me flowers and gummy bears. It was really sweet.
The day after the retrieval we got a call from the Dr's office. We had retrieved 6 eggs and the nurse told us that 5 of them had fertilitized. Sterling was so excited. His words..."My boys are studs!" Lol. Sure baby! Whatever you say!
Today, Wednesday, I am scheduled to get pregnant. Yup! It is possible to pin point the day you get pregnant. It only takes about $15,000 and me turning into a human pin-cushion. I do have pictures of the day we did the retrieval but It's not really flattering. I was pretty pale after the procedure. My lips look blue.
Anywho, wish us Luck!!!!

Baby Ingredients!

There are a few people that know that Sterling and I are going through IVF (invitro fertilization). Sterling has been giving me a shot every evening before bed. The needle was just and insulin needle at first. It wasn't that bad. Sterling was out of town the first night I was supposed to start the shots so I did it myself. We have since moved up to a cocktail of medicine and uses a bigger needle. In about 10 days we will start progesterone shots, which from what I understand are pretty painful especially when you have to do them every day. I'm very much so feeling like a pin cushion. For the last week I have been going into the Dr. every other day to get a blood draw and and ultrasound. Luckily the ultrasounds are showing that I've got about 30 follicles (we call them baby ingredients) in each ovary and about 13 that are progressing the way the Dr's like. Next week (the 2nd week in June) is when we will be doing the egg retrieval. They will put me under and surgically remove the eggs that are mature enough and then they will do ICSI (insert Sterling's sperm into the egg (more baby ingredients)). We'll wait for about 3-5 days and then implant 2-3 of what they call blastocycsts. (we call these baby scraps) So, I've contemplated not telling anyone and decided to ask all of you for your prayers. We're ok with whatever the Lord has in mind for us and feel optimistic about this process. Thank you in advance for all of you thoughts and prayers and we'll let you know.

Belated Easter

We had a wonderful Easter. I woke up and made a nice Easter breakfast for everyone in the house. We had hashbrowns, eggs, bacon, and french toast. We had a nice family breakfast with each other, Sterling's parents, and his two little sisters. We got ready for church and taught our primary class. It was great. We had a couple of beautiful musical numbers in sacrament meeting. Typically I get an Easter dress but we're saving for children (either adoption, or fertility treatments), and a down pmnt on a home. I looked for an easter dress for like 3 hours one day but I had decided I didn't want to spend more than $30. I didn't find anything I liked so I settled for a nice shirt I found on clearance. I went to put the shirt on to get ready for church and had found that it was WAY too big. I ran the shirt upstairs and my mother-in-law and sister-in-law pinned it for me and then Chelsea (my sister-in-law) took it in. It was a good 3 inches too big. It turned out great. I was just as happy with my Easter shirt as I would have been with an $80 Easter dress.

When we got home from church we went out in the front of the house and took a family Easter picture with the daffodils. I LOVE daffodils. Obviously we had Pedro in our family picture because he is our "kid".
Grandma and Grandpa Cluff came for Easter Dinner. We had yummy ham. Mom and Dad had a Family Home Evening planned. A special video about Jesus Christ with a talk from President Hinckley. We had a great family discussion afterwards and then bid Grandma and Grandpa farewell. We took a family picture after the movie to document our lovely Easter.
Bottom Left to Right: Dad Cluff, Brittney, Lindsay, Chelsea
Top Left toRight: Jeff, Mom Cluff, Sterling, Konni, (Pedro), Grandma Cluff, and Grandpa Cluff.
It was really great to see Grandma and Grandpa. They always give big hugs when they get there and when they leave. Grandpa is so cute. He's this really tall 6'4' man that gives the best hugs to everyone and everyone loves to get his hugs. They shared some really great stories from their missions.

So many children left in our care

We have so many people that care about us and want us to have our own children. They tell us that they recognize what good parents we will be. Maybe that's why so many people tell us if something should happen to them they want us to take care of their kids. When Sterling's little sister was pregnant they told us they were going to put us down as legal gaurdian to their children in their will.
We have some friends...Bob and Cher, who are the parents of little David, pictured below, they have left David in our care if something should happen to them. They asked if we would be his "God Parents". We get to watch him pretty often and love this little guy. He's so cute. We had him Friday and Saturday this week and gave him a hair cut. He's getting so big. So, basically, all we need is for some people to die for us to get a kid. j/k. totally j/k

Baby David. He's a tank. before he was crawling it took a lot out of me to haul him around. Cute picture of him... not so flattering of me.
Sterling is so good with David. David always has a big smile for him. Sometimes when he's playing his computer game he even lets David sit on his lap and play with him. He's gonna be a great dad....someday.

David is just a movin'. This little man decided he wanted to get around on his own and started crawling. It wasn't a gradual learn how to crawl either. Sometimes when he gets away from me I've got to jog to catch up to him.

We bought him this little einsteins tunnel to play in when he comes to our house. He LOVES it.

Conference and Sterling's B-day

Conference!!

Yes, that's right folks that time of the year has come and gone. Conference is one of my favorite time of the year. My dad takes us all out to eat at a nice restaurant on Saturday after the priesthood session. This time we went to Red Lobster. Yummy! Then on Sunday morning we have the most delicious breakfast. Hashbrowns, eggs, toast, bacon, sausage(usually like 2-3 kinds), cinnamon rolls, and fruit. My dad is THE BEST breakfast maker in the world. Then, we sit down together and watch/listen to conference. Kirk (my brother) and Marnie came down from Logan with all of their kids except Trulan. He had to work. I love when they come down. While we had most everyone there I asked my family to take a big family photo that I could post on our blog so Kim (my brother) and Leslie could see and know that we were thinking about them since they live in Texas. It wasn't until we were all done taking the photo that I realized that most of the woman hadn't done their make up. Including me. Oh well. (Kim, if you will look closely at Kris on the top right you will see that in both of the pics like this he is giving you the "sexy" look. Goof ball)

Bottom Left-Right: Cabren holding Pedro, Bryson, Kiana, Kirk, Marnie holding Kambrie

Top: Konni, Holden, Sterling, Keri, Mom, Dad, Kris, Rosa.

We retook the picture because Kiki just had to touch Peddie and Kambrie was covering half her face.

Kirk, Marnie, Kambrie, and Cabren listening and coloring during conference.



I went up to take a picture of my dad "listening" to conference up in his room but he had just woken up. If the man would let us help with breakfast he wouldn't have to wake up at 5 am to start breakfast.

Poor Kiki was sick when they got to the house. She started throwing up right after breakfast. This was after she threw up and was feeling better so she decided to color with me, Bryson, Holden, and Kambrie. Kambrie and I colored her a "get well soon" picture. It was really cute. It was a precious moments picture of a little girl dressed up like a nurse feeding a spoonful of medicine to a sick little puppy.

This, ladies in my nephew Cabren. I would say that he's a hottie but that's a little wierd coming from his aunt. So, I will just say that he is growning up to be very handsome. Trulan is very handsome as well but he wasn't there for me to take a pic of him. Anywho, keep your hands off. He's only 15. Pedro was so cute. He jumped up on Cabe'slap and just sat there with him for a while.

Bryson, my cute little nephew. He's getting so big. He's turning into a little man. He came and sat on the floor with us and colored as well.

Kirk nick names all of his kids. Hold is Moochie because when he was little he would walk around the room and kind of Mooch off of people for treats and stuff. I remember going to the hospital when he was born. This time was the first time he was able to go to the priesthood session and then out to dinner with us because he turned 12 in February. He's a very impressive young man. He ordered some fish that he had never tried before when we went to dinner. I would have never done anything like that when I was his age.

I was taking a picture of Sterling "listening" to conference the same way my dad "listens" to conference up in his room. The spirit must have whispered to him that I was taking a picture because he opened his eyes right as I was taking the picture.

Kiana started feeling better at the end of the morning session and got up to cuddle with Pedro. She's so cute with him. If he is within touching distance she has to be touching, or petting him.

Sterling's B-day!

On conference Sunday Sterling turned 26. Well, he likes to call it the 1st anniversary of his 25th b-day. Nerd, I know. Ever since he decided he's balding he doesnt' want to get older. It's a good thing something started to age him because I don't think he could hold it together again if the gas man came to the door and asked if his mom or dad were there when he's 30.

I gave him this shirt for his b-day. It's a really pretty dark purple. He looks nice in it. I got a small for him so he didn't look like he was wearing a tent. It fits his body much better but the sleeves are a little short and the neck is a little tight when he buttons it all the way up.

It's a good thing there were only like 12 candles because he wouldn't have been able to blow all of them out. He couldn't even get all 12 of the ones on there.