The Babes

So I was reminded again that we haven't done an update on the babies except that THEY ARE HERE!!!!!!!!!!!! Which in and of itself is amazing. We have had so many nurses come in to congratulate us who have worked with me over that last 7 weeks. We've shown almost all of them the picture of the infamous umbilical cords and they reiterate to us how much a miracle it is to have these 2 sweeties with us!

So here is a little of the big delivery to start. I woke up on Tuesday to use the bathroom a little before I was supposed to monitor. As I was getting out of bed I had an accident and was frustrated. Used the bathroom got cleaned up and we did my regular monitoring. It wasn't until after monitoring that we realized it was my water that had broken and not an accident. I mean, I'm pregnant, I hadn't used the bathroom in like 6 hours, I was getting up as it all happened, so really there was no reason for me to think that my water broke, but plenty of reasons to think that I'd peed all over. After monitoring I leaked a little again, and as I was getting ready for the day I just kept having little tiny leaks, so we finally called the nurse. It was during shift change actually so I made Zed (who thankfully had slept here that night) get the charge nurse to come down since I didn't know yet who my day nurse was. She confirmed that my water broke and the day turned crazy immediately.

After realizing that we were about to have babies we quickly got in our very last maternity pictures of me at 31 weeks.

So Zed thinks it's hilarious how my maternity shirts didn't cover my belly anymore

He also was always super impressed at how big my actual belly was.

We got a hold of my doctor who made it very clear that this was an emergency c-section and we needed to get into the O.R. ASAP. The risks we were facing were that 

1- I was going to begin active labor. Since I'd been having contractions for a week+ anyway, having my water break could put me into active labor and could compromise the babies' health with a tear to the blood vessels with the Vasa Previa.

2- With less fluid in the sac the cords are a lot more likely to compress quickly and begin to cut off blood flow to one or both babies.

We needed to deliver, and it needed to be immediately. 

Zed, all ready to assist!

I got to see both boys after their initial assessments and then they were whisked away to the NICU

Ok, so this is super gross, but so many people are interested. It is the cords after delivery. There are 2 actual knots and everything else was completely twisted. This is after it was placed in a bucket and my DR retrieved it to lay on the table for pictures. but all of the cords that aren't in those 2 knots was just twisted around each other. CRAZY

 So as for delivery it was incredibly fast. I was wheeled into the O.R., got my spinal (ps, it's not the same as an epidural and is super painful to get), and then we got right to it. Zed said there were about 11 people in this teeny tiny operating room. We had 2 NICU teams and then the few people that we needed for me. From the time the nurse knew my water had broke to the time we had babies was less than an hour.

So Tuesday morning I got my two boys. Amazingly healthy, considering their young age.

Mike was born first and weighed 3lb 5oz, Will came out at 3lb 10oz. They were technically born at the same time on the clock, with a 25second difference. Legally we had to change Will to the minute after so that the computers could differentiate. Having two baby boys with the same last name born at the same time was causing troubles with technology I guess.

I spent most of the rest of the day trying to recover. Zed went down to spend time with the boys as much as possible while still being here for me. I was slow to recover from the spinal and the meds. But late that night I was finally able to stand without feeling like passing out so they let me take a wheelchair down to see my babies.

Mike, he has about as much hair as Zed

Will

Mike. He seemed more mellow before birth, but since then he is almost always moving and active when we visit him.

Will is a lot more mellow since coming out to the world. He is a little bigger than his brother, but is also a sweet little thing.

I had some time with Will while he had his eyes open. I love when they are a little more alert, but no matter what they always are listening and responding to our touches.

Will

Will's tiny foot. Both boys are under their today to get their bilirubin numbers better.

Will with his mask on.

Mike has his mask on and is waving to all of his fans. He is going to have such a fun personality I think.

Mike's tiny foot. His were the feet that kept hanging out in my ribs the last couple of weeks.

I also got a picture with Mike's little hand in mine. Both boys love to hold our hands. It's pretty much my favorite too.

These boys are doing great right now with the help of the constant NICU nurses, doctors, and specialists. They are eating with feeding tubes and they will be getting stronger.

We are so so so grateful for the prayers on our behalf and for our little ones. I know that Heavenly Father has been looking out for these guys so closely. He loves them. There is such peace around these sweet spirits. I am so grateful to have them here in such great health. I thank my God for his willingness to let Zed and I care for these 2 amazing boys. 

Zed and I are super busy now. We try to keep up on our rest, but it's been rough. He is up with me to help me with the equipment when I pump every few hours. He delivers it to the NICU for me and cleans the equipment. We also try to spend time with each baby in the NICU. Plus eating meals. Other than that we try to grab some ZZzz's but we are super busy. We will get back to updating you on these little miracles when we get some more opportunities!!