♥ Welcome babies! Mommy loves you. ♥

Hello my friends.  I am sorry that I haven’t been able to write, but it was a crazy week.  I went into the hospital on Sunday with contractions and our babies were born Monday, April 12, 2010 at 10:31 am and 10: 34 am. :-)  I will not go into all of the details of what happened in this post.  I just want to celebrate that they are here, very healthy and are growing and improving every day.  I have been able to hold and snuggle each one of them, they are perfect and precious, but are just wee little babes who will need some support and time to grow.

MrBeep has been incredible.  Through everything, no matter how scary, he was my rock.  He went with the babies, on my request, and stayed with them while they were being tended to by the NICU staff.  He came back to the OR, kissed me and told me everything I needed to know.  He comforted me during the worst of the storm.  I will be forever grateful for his love, strength and kindness.

I'm doing very good. Physically I did excellent with the emergency c-section and while I am a little tired, my pain levels are low and I can walk around, get up, etc. without much discomfort. I have only taken a few ibuprofen a day, no need for anything stronger. I'm not trying to be superwoman, I just am not in much pain. 

The wee babes are doing very well (all things considered).  They are 100% breathing on their own without any support. Their IVs will be out tomorrow. They will also be on 100% breast milk by tomorrow. The NICU staff started them with just colostrum and IV fluids, eventually transitioning to all mothers milk.  They increase the milk every day and decreasing the other fluids. They are tolerating the milk in their tummies just fine.  They are adding weight and we hope will continue to grow and do better every day.

They were both born at 17" long. One was 3 lbs 3 oz at birth and the other was 3 lbs 5 oz at birth. They were officially at 29 weeks and 3 days. We've got a lot of growing and developing to do, but will take each day at a time until it is time to go home.  We don’t have names picked out just yet, but have narrowed the list quit a lot and should have their names picked out this week.  For now, we still just call them Wiggles and Pip.

The neonatologist doctors at the hospital tell us they are doing great, the nurses too.  Docs said to estimate that they will go home around their due date, this should be mid-June.  Keep us in your good thoughts and prayers. Thank you for checking on me.  I would get a few updates on my phone, but had no easy way to communicate in the hospital.  Here are a couple of photos and video.  My little girls have sweet faces, adorable expressions, and big blue eyes. 

 
Baby A – aka “Wiggles” she looks just like her Daddy’s baby photos.  She has his nose.

 
Baby B – aka “Pip” looks like her Mommy’s baby photos.  She has my nose (poor kid)

Some times I just pour tears of relief and joy when I watch them.  Like sunshine through the clouds on a stormy day, they swell my heart until I feel I may burst with overwhelming love.  The universe has so much in store, we never know how our lives unfold, but today I thank the universe for my sweetie love girls and my wonderful MrBeep.

28w3d - Good golly growing babies Batman!

Thank you all for checking on me.  I am out of my routine (with my babysitters hovering) and am trying to set aside time for writing and reading and commenting.  Also, I’ve been lying low for the last week or so.  Skulking around and just relaxing, trying to make it to 28 weeks and I did it.  I’m so happy about that.  Getting through the goals you set in your mind gives such a great sense of forward momentum, that you are doing something right (even if that thing is just laying on a bed, being a lame lazyass). 

My first goal was 12 weeks (I’m sure many have been there or are getting there).  It went by slowly then quickly.  Strange bursts of time that surprise you when viewing a calendar, then sometimes days that seem to go on forever.  The next goal was 16 weeks, just because it was another month down and I could get amnio and results to help set my mind at ease.  I was so fortunate to finally get good results and know that I’ve got two little grrl monsters baking away.  I made my next mental goal to be 20 weeks.  I had a tough and frightening time of that with the emergency cerclage, but in the end realized just how fortunate I was to have it caught just in the nick of time.  The next mental goal of 24 weeks was really tough and scary.  There were hospital visits and bleeding and so much time spent alone with my nightmarish thoughts.  That was the worse of it all, but I got through it.  It’s interesting because we all have that “24 weeks = viability” idea stuck in our heads. 

DrGav once told me at 23w while I was leaving the hospital, “Traci, we have a way to go, you need to rest, be a princess on the couch.  It’s against my DNA to deliver babies before 28 weeks.”  My ObDoc pretty much echoed the same thing.  28 weeks was their mental goal for a minimum time for babies, not 24.  I understood why they would know this so much better than me.  They’ve seen the difference.  I made 28 weeks my next firm goal.  We got my rotating shift of babysitters and I have kept very strict to my bedrest.  Last week I saw DrGav at 27w6d for an office visit, he came to my exam room dressed in scrubs, he seemed very concerned and a little grim.  He let me know that I was doing fine, the cerclage was holding and the babies were looking good, although their amniotic fluid was still a little high.  He told me what medicine to take to help and then he said, “OK Traci.  Congratulations on making it to 28 weeks.  You’re doing a great job, please keep up the good work.  I’ve got to go now, wish me luck.  I have to run off to deliver a baby that is only at 25 weeks.”  My heart dropped into an abyss for that woman.  I looked at DrGav and could tell he was genuinely sad and worried.  I gave him a hug and wished him luck.  He accepted the hug and squeezed my hands and he was off.

Hitting the 28 week mark has taken a great burden of despair and worry from my mind.  Also much of my physical pain and crampiness has been gone for a couple of weeks.  Finally another bit of encouraging news came today at my growth ultrasound.  The babies measured 3 lbs 5oz and 3 lbs 6 oz.  They are in the 90th percentile for growth and while some of this may be due to my gestational diabetes, a lot is also from sticking to the high protein twins diet the clinic has me on.  I am still a little underweight (at 28 weeks, I have only gained about 20 lbs) but DrGav said not to worry abou6t this because the high protein and the babies size is more important than just weight gain.  We also were able to see and measure the grrls practicing breathing.  Each one gets the hiccups from time to time.  These are all good indicators of their progress and pushes me to believe that soon this will be over and I’ll have a crazy time keeping up with crying and feeding and nappies and cuddles.

I have made my next goal 31 weeks (3 weeks away instead of 4), then 34w (DrGav’s next goal) and finally 37w (aka “full term”).  I’ll take any, but I hope for all.  Sending out much love to all of you watching clocks and calendars.  I love to cheer when we reach milestones.   WOOOOOOOOOT!