The Twins: September 21st- Babies are here!

As of 10:44am on September 20th 2012 Baby A, now known as Anabell Joy was born via c-section, screaming the second she was out! As of 10:45am on September 20th 2012 Baby B, now known as Isabell Jean was born via c-section, grunting at first and eventually crying! Anabell was born weighing 3 pounds 4.2 ounces and 16 1/4 inches. Isabell was born weighing 2 pounds 0.8 ounces and 13 1/4 inches. They couldn't be more beautiful and we couldn't be more proud parents!

Anabell was on a breathing tube on room air but was able to be weaned down to a nasal cannula this morning. That was when her true colors came out and we realized she is our a little drama queen! She kept pulling the tube out of her nose, putting it in her mouth, and plopping her arm on her forehead like a true star! Eventually the nurses decided if she was breathing well enough with it in her mouth they would leave it, which then progressed to taking it out completely. Since this afternoon she has been completely breathing on her own with no assistance and the same air we are breathing. She has a blue light over her incubator for jaundice, also known as photo therapy, or as Jim has put it, suntanning! She was able to start feeding with my breast milk through one of her IV's today. Now that she has the breathing tube out of her mouth she is able to cry and whimper which is the saddest little sound ever! Especially when she does it when we are leaving, broke our hearts!

Isabell is still on the breathing tube but is very slowly being weaned off. The hope is she would be on a nasal cannula by tomorrow, which may or may not happen anymore. She is taking a little longer, but she is much smaller than her sister and has still been stable and doing well. Her blood pressure occasionally drops, so she definitely doesn't have her mother's currents problems, and she is on dopamine to help keep it up. They are also working on weaning her off that and once that happens she will be able to take my breast milk feedings through an IV also. She is also on the photo therapy for jaundice and enjoying her tanning time! She is definitely a mommy's girl! The first time I got to touch her yesterday her oxygen level had dropped to 79% and I held her little finger and Jim watched it jump up to 95%. It was a very precious moment for me! For how little she is she has quite the little grip and if I get my finger in there she doesn't let go! Anabell on the other hand is definitely a daddy's girl, and wouldn't hold my finger for the life of me until I guilt tripped her last night. But Jim can walk in and she instantly perks up and holds his finger! (For the record, if you look back at previous posts, this matches up to my prediction weeks ago about whose baby was whose!)

The c-section was a terrifying situation for me and resulted in me panicking a couple times. Jim wasn't allowed in the operating room with me while they put the epidural in and I squeezed the life out of the doctor's hands and still hated it. It was so painful and at one point they hit a nerve that sent a sharp pain through my leg and made my leg kick. Once they got that over with I couldn't stop asking for Jim and thought I was going to get sick from the epidural. Once he got there I was able to calm down a little but it was still a strange experience I hope to never have again! I was so proud of Jim! I seriously thought he would end up a fainter/puker when it came time for delivery! I asked him if he could see anything and said not really so I told him to peek. He stood up and didn't sit back down again! He watched both girls come out of my uterus and watched the doctor's stitch everything back up! Just when they were finishing I did get sick and that's where my trip started going downhill. I was unable to keep anything down most the day yesterday. Finally we figured it was probably everytime I tried drinking something besides water, but it was still come and go. When they first wheeled my bed into the NICU I actually threw up all over myself and my nurse! I felt so bad! She was so sweet and blamed herself for turning me around to quick, but I still felt horrible! I was able to see the girls twice yesterday but it was slow going for me and still was today too. They kept me on a magnesium drip for the blood pressure and a pitocin drip to keep my uterus contracted and help heal quicker, along with some potassium because my potassium levels have been low. I was supposed to get off the IV's at 10am this morning and get the catheter out at 6am. Well I happened to have a new nurse who ran around doing a whole lot of nothing all day. The doctors had come in a 8 and said it could all be taken off at that point, but I didn't get the IV's out until 11 and the catheter until 11:30. I was not a very happy camper! Especially after she told me 15 times she just had a to grab something and would be right back to take it off and then would come back and do something else! Argh! My blood pressure was actually really high this morning and I ended up taking quite a bit of medicine to get that under control. But since this afternoon everything has been going well. I've finally been able to not only keep liquids down but some food! My blood pressure has stabilized and now our biggest goal is just working on pumping breast milk. It was going really great but the last 2 times I've tried nothing came out. I'm hoping it was because I hadn't eaten or drank much and so when I go try again now it will come out!? Which is what I'm off to do now! Hope everyone has a good weekend and thank you for the prayers! They have obviously worked miracles and God has done more than we could have imagined. Now our NICU journey begins, but with the continued love, support and prayers from all of you it will hopefully be a short trip! God bless you all!

Love Heather, Jim, Anabell and Isabell