Mary Addison
Born April 2, 2009
2:47 pm
5 lbs., 4 oz.
18 inches long
I am so incredibly proud of these sweet girls! Born at 35 weeks and 1 day, they amazingly needed only two hours in NICU for monitoring, and have exceeded all the expectations that were set for them.
The birth story... Per the previous post, I was admitted to the hospital on Monday, March 30, with mild pre-eclampsia. The first three days were pretty restful, just a little long and boring. Wednesday night, things got interesting. My blood pressure suddenly went up pretty high, and an IV was started to give me some medicine to bring it down. The on-call doctor from my practice said to monitor my BP through the night and not to let me eat or drink anything overnight in case we had to have an early-morning c-section. It was kind of a stressful night, to say the least. The BP monitor stayed on my arm, taking a reading every 10 minutes for several hours (pretty much impossible to sleep through!). Jeremy was working, so my mom came and stayed the night with me.
Thursday morning, my doctor spoke with the nurses about the BP situation, which had improved since the medicine in the IV. She initially indicated she did not think delivery would be necessary, so I wolfed down a few grapes and was getting ready to order some breakfast (side note: breakfast is definitely the best meal at the Women's & Children's hospital! I had a cheese omelet and fresh fruit every morning I was there.) Mom and I made all the phone calls to inform everyone that it didn't look like we would be getting babies just yet. Just a little while later, my doctor came in on her morning rounds. She explained that she wasn't too worried about the BP situation, and she thought we should just continue to monitor it for a few more days. Then she checked the readings from the monitoring session the night before (where one monitor is attached to each baby's hearbeat and one more to measure my contractions). I had been contracting pretty regularly on the monitor, but nothing painful so we hadn't thought much about it. She decided to go ahead and examine me, and I was over 50% effaced and dilated 2 cm! I could tell by her expression that things were about to change. She initially suggested delivering the next day, then thought for a minute and said, "Actually, how about this afternoon?" Talk about a roller-coaster of emotions... : ) (oh, and I never did get any breakfast besides the few grapes I had managed to shovel in!)
Mom and I got back on the phones to let everyone know there had been another change in plans, that it was indeed "baby day." Jeremy had gone home after getting off at 1 am, promising to keep the phone close by. He is a very heavy sleeper, and about the only thing that wakes him up is his cell phone. Guess who had fallen asleep in the recliner and left his cell phone in the bedroom?? It took almost an hour of calling repeatedly, but he finally woke up and heard that it was the day he would become a dad. It was a very surreal day for both of us, I think.
The morning passed pretty quickly after that, and at 2:30 pm we headed off to the OR. Just a few short minutes later, we were parents! I cried when I heard the cat-like cries coming from my babies, feeling such relief that they were born making such big sounds. After a quick look and some kisses on the head, Jeremy and the doctor took them up to NICU to get cleaned up and monitored. My surgery was blessedly uncomplicated, and within an hour and a half I was back in my room. The babies were brought to us less than thirty minutes later, looking very tiny, but absolutely perfect.
I can't begin to express how grateful we are for these two little miracles. After a pregnancy filled with so many potential complications, and despite their having been born at only 35 weeks, we have been incredibly blessed with perfect, healthy babies. Many, many prayers of thanksgiving have passed our lips in the last two weeks (along with several prayers for sanity and sleep, but that's another story!!). We sincerely thank everyone who has prayed with us and for us during the last several months...these are truly children of God, just on loan to us for awhile, and we are so happy He chose us to be their parents! Parenting newborn twins is without a doubt THE hardest thing I have ever done, but it also already the most rewarding. We look forward to all that is to come.
They are beautiful Deanna! I hope things are going well for ya'll!
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