The Girls are here!

So Tuesday I woke up, well got up (because there was no sleeping Monday night) at 4:30 to take an all important last shower before my final monitoring session. The girls were monitored for the last time and I was taken down to L&D where everything happened soooo fast. IV's, catheters, ultrasounds to check the positions and all of a sudden the OR and the thing I dreaded the most- spinal...Which was awful! They must have tried it 5 times- I say they because it was actually the student, not the actual anestesiologist who was attempting it. He would hit bone and hit my siatic nerve 3 times...worst pain ever. Finally the actual dr tried it and got it in 2 attempts- the one that actually worked bearly hurt...ugh! Everything was still going so fast- they tested me for pain and I had non so they started the section- i was wondering where the heck nick was and he was wondering what the heck was taking so long! Finally he got in there, sat down for about 3 sec (or what seemed like 3 sec) and then we heard the best sound in the world- Lailey crying as the Drs pulled her out (8:49am, 4lbs 4oz, 17 1/2in). They hunted around for Kennedy and she was born at 8:51 am, 3lbs 9oz, 16 3/4in- no crying at first but Nick says she started when they put her on the warming table. Nick was able to peek over the drape for both girls, thinking that he would get a little woozy, but ended up being just fine (DAD POWERS!). We also got a picture of the umbilical cords and the knots and twists. We were really really lucky by the looks of it..




Sorry if that grossed anyone out... I got stitched up and went right to recovery for a few hours. Don't really remember the rest of the day, but I do remember getting wheeled up to the NICU, where I almost threw up on our brand new babies :( People told me lots of things and I tried very hard to stay awake while they were talking but I'm pretty sure I kept drifting off! Oops. Came back to my room and slept on and off for the rest of the day. I think Nick did to, but he ran up to the NICU a few times to see what was going on.


Kennedy was on the vent for a couple of hours, but then ripped it out herself, was put on some oxygen, but that too was removed soon has been breathing room air since. She is in an isolette and is only on the feeding tube and IV fluids. Lailey was on the vent until last night and now she is on a C-Pap. They also moved her from the warming table to her own isolette...steps in the right direction. Both are tolerating feeds well, which they increase by very small amounts every 12 hours. Today I got to do what they call "kangaroo care" (they put the baby on your chest- skin to skin for about an hour) with Kennedy. They say its very important for very small babies. Nick got to hold Lailey- the first time she has been able to be held! Hooray!



Kennedy:





Lailey still on the vent- she looks sooo angry, she looks better now, but I don't have a picture of that right now:


I have had a recurring fever which has been attributed to nothing so far. Possibly a UTI, possibly a reaction to the surgery in general. So they put me on an antibiotic and resting has helped. Hopefully it goes away soon. All I can say is thank god for Percistat (sp?) :) Hope to be home on Saturday!

Birthday Eve

ARGH! 8 hours from now I will be on an operating table! More nervous than excited, unfortunately...thus why I am still awake. Tried to stay busy all day so I didn't really have to think about it. Lots of visitors today which helped pass the afternoon. I am excited to see what our daughters look like! I think they will have Nick's (big) nose (....don't tell him ) and he thinks they will be bald but grow up to have blond hair and blue eyes. I ordered "NICU approved" preemie clothes and they came today (great timing!) so that was fun to open - they're soooo tiny and cute! Now the girls can be fashionistas in the NICU! Hoping and praying that everything goes smoothly tomorrow...off to try to get SOME sleep....

31 weeks

This past week has been a bit more eventful than the past weeks. On Saturday (also Nick's Birthday), our wonderful friends organized a benefit for us which turned out to be a ridiculous success. The "benefit team" received an overwhelming amount of donations/baskets and I was bowled over by all the people that came to show their support! Nick and I were both speechless- people are unbelievably generous, even in these tough economic times, we just couldn't believe it!! Everyone raved about how great the event was and how well planned it was - I'm thinking our friends should be professional benefit planners!!

On Monday morning I had my NST as usual, however I was startled when the resident crashed into the room with the portable ultrasound about 2 hours after. He said he notice some repeated drops in one heart rate and wanted to just check things out. He said everything looked ok, but just wanted to be on the safe side and sent me to Labor and Delivery immediately. There they could monitor me for 4-6 hours straight and look for more decels. Nick rushed from work and , from what I've heard, started everyone talking...my mom even heard (at her school in ATTICA) that I was in labor! Ahh the telephone game is always interesting. My Dr came to L&D right when I got there and told me he thought the resident was being extra cautious, and if he (my dr) looked at the tracing, he would NOT have sent me to L&D. This annoyed me. I didn't mind the continuous monitoring, but I did mind that I had to have an IV put in because I couldn't eat (in case I had to have surgery)- all seemed a little excessive, since I wouldn't have even been there if my dr would have seen the strip first!! So after 5 hours of continuous monitoring, no food or drink and a lovely IV in my hand (which had to stay there fro 24 hours), they sent me back to my room b/c they found nothing concerning. So initially it was a bit scary, then a bit annoying, but I guess this is why I have lived in the hospital for the past 45 days.

Today the sonogram was initially concerning, however ended up ok. Baby A measured 4lbs 6oz, and Baby B measured 3lbs 10oz (both measured 3lbs 4oz two weeks ago). The peri was very concerned with baby b and her lack of growth, compared to the amount of growth that baby a experienced. So, the peri remeasured at found baby b to be closer to 4lbs 0oz. Phew. She says they are both acting fine and do not appear to be in distress - both practice breathing, moving etc...so she doesn't "think" we need to be worried. That's the crazy thing about this pregnancy...nobody knows anything for sure...not by any fault of the drs, just the nature of the problem. ugh.

Nick and I were having several discussions and concerns about when to deliver. Our OB wanted to do it right at 32 weeks while everything looked good. He says, why push it? Which made sense, however one of the perinatologists suggested, if everything looks good, why not wait til 34 weeks and gain the benefit of being bigger for delivery. So, we continued to think long and hard about it...however after the scare on Monday, and noticing more frequent decels during the strips, we both believe our question was answered for us. Get 'em out so we can stop worrying about what's happening from hour to hour. So we were initially scheduled for 4/27 at 3:30, however I didn't really want to wait ALL day...so I asked if there was another day with an earlier time. Was scheduled for 4/28@ 10:30, however today, our OB came in and said there was an opening on tues 4/27 at 8:00am...So, that's the day! Less than one week! GULP....

30 Weeks

Today we're 30 weeks +1day! Made it through another week! A few scares this weekend, all of which turned out to be ok. First was leg pain, which they automatically think -BLOOD CLOT, and sent me for a venus doppler. Results came back negative, just random pain I guess. Also we had one scary heart rate acceleration where one baby's heart rate was over 180 for longer than 20 minutes. I freaked out, and didn't like that the nurse was ridiculously calm- she said just to wait a few more minutes (which seemed like 100 hours watching that monitor). And, huh, it was like this may have happened to someone else before, because, as she predicted the heartrate dropped back to a normal range. Phew... Other news we received this week was that the dr wants to deliver the babies exactly at 32 weeks which will be April 27th. Says its better to get them out healthy once they hit this milestone than wait and possibly contend with an incident in utero, which would not be caught until the next monitoring...Seems logical to me, so Lailey's and Kennedy's birthdays will be a week from Tuesday (April 27, 2010), if everything goes as planned!! So, I'm trying to keep occupied so I don't have to think about the actual delivery...I think the surgery is what is freaking me out the most, weird. Growing a little tired of daytime tv...and WHAT HAPPENED TO RACHEL RAY?? It's not on anymore...soooo disappointing! If anyone knows where she went, please fill me in! Biggest event of the week: trip to the cafeteria to get a real drink...not water or Shasta! Maybe I'll eat there next time-at a REAL table in a REAL chair, where my food hasn't sat in a cart for an hour! Whoa, that's craziness.

April 7, 2010

29 Weeks and 1 day today. So far I've been inpatient for 4 weeks, 3 days, 9 hours and 34 minutes. Not that I'm counting. So many little exciting things happened last week! We got to move to a new room next door to my old one, which feels remarkably larger than my other room, even if its only by a couple of feet. The weather was so nice and Nick was able to take me outside a few times. Jenkins even brought the dog so I could see her while I was out there! Got to see my nephew on Easter while I was outside, however the nurse that we told wasn't thrilled with the idea. I'm not really sure why because there are kids in the lobby every time I go down there...not really sure what the difference is. Got to eat a whole TON of Easter food from sisters-in-laws- sausage, pierogies, mac & cheese, broccoli salad, LAMB CAKE, ham, 1000lbs of chocolate...mmmmmm delicious. I am attributing all this good food to the good news we got at the sonogram today- girls are weighing 3lbs, 4oz. Dr Mcdonnell said this was an average weight for one baby and it was on the bigger side for twins! She called them "superstars" because they looked like they were doing so well! Both babies were still practice breathing and Nick was able to come to the sonogram since he has the week off! So happy!! This place was starting to wear on my patience, but after today's news, I feel renewed and feel like there IS a point in me being here...not to say that I'm not ready to get outta here, just feeling a little less down about the whole situation.