They Are Here!

Our precious babies are here!  Meet Natalie and Noelle, the new loves of our lives!

They came a little earlier than planned but we are so excited they are finally here!  We were in the hospital almost 7 days, came home for a day, and then went back for two more days before finally coming home for good.  I figured a timeline is easier for me to tell you about our extended hospital stay so here it goes!

Monday, 2/9
5:00pm: went to doctor appointment at 36 weeks to discuss an induction date for the following week, found out my blood pressure was slightly high at 142 and anything over 140 is sent to the hospital for monitoring

6:45pm: arrive at the hospital for monitoring, expecting to go home after a few hours

10:30pm: admitted to the hospital for further monitoring, expecting to go home in the morning.  I even asked if they could get my labwork done early so I could get to school on time!

Tuesday, 2/10
8:30am: told the doctor wanted the lab work to be repeated at noon and would decide what to do next after that.  By now I am completely bored and trying to save my phone battery.  Watched lots of HGTV

10:30am: got a call from the doctor's office scheduling my induction date for Monday, 2/16!  Texted everyone the good news!

12:00pm: retook my blood for more labwork, still thinking I'm going home later on modified bed rest till the 16th

3:30pm: doctor came in and said that she and the high-risk doctor decided to keep me and induce me the next day since we were only a few days away from the 16th.  Called Ben on my phone with 2% battery telling him to be at the hospital by 6pm!

4:30pm: ate my last meal for the next few days...torture!  I ended up not eating solid food again till Thursday night, over 50 hours later!

5:30pm: took my last shower for a few days...totally noticeable in the following pictures!

9:00pm: doctor gave me meds to start the process for induction the next day, spent the night trying to get comfortable and get some sort of sleep

Wednesday, 2/11
7:30am: the nurse gave me some wonderful drugs to ease my discomfort...I was feeling great after a few minutes!

9:00am: Induction process started!  Expecting two beautiful babies later today!

11:00am: received my epidural and felt wonderful!  The epidural allowed me to enjoy labor (as in not feel it at all!) and anxiously await the arrival of our babies!

Afternoon: was checked on periodically, labor was slowly progressing, when asked how I felt, my reply was hungry, was kept entertained by my parents, mother-in-law, Ben, and HGTV

10:30pm: labor still progressing slowly, baby A wasn't far enough down to safely break my water, was ordered to rest in hopes she would come down a little farther

Thursday, 2/12
2:30am: Baby A has come down far enough, doctor broke my water and said we would check on things around 5:30am, if no progress, then we would discuss a possible c-section

5:30am: labor had stopped progressing, doctor said it was time to do a c-section and they'd be back in 15 minutes to get me!  I thought they meant later that day.  I quickly woke Ben up and had my mom call my dad and mother-in-law to let them know.

6:00am: wheeled into the operating room and prepped for a c-section!

6:22am: Beautiful Baby A, named Noelle, was born! 4lbs, 12.6oz, 17 3/4" long

6:23am: Gorgeous Baby B, named Natalie, was born! 5lbs 0.8oz, 16 3/4" long

7:15am: taken to recovery for a few hours and later to our postpartum room where we stayed the rest of the time

Friday 2/13-Sunday 2/15
- spent lots of time with our two new bundles of joy, showed off our babies to many visitors, and tried to rest as much as possible!

 

Meeting grandma for the first time! (Still thinking of what she wants to be called)

 

Uncle Kevin took off work to come meet them!

 

Pop Pop and Noelle

 

Uncle Derrike, who came from Philly to meet his nieces.

 

Meeting their future first grade teachers.

 

Aunt Chessie worked really hard to get all of her work done so she could come home on Friday to meet her nieces!

 

Nana

 

Great Aunt Sharon

 

Cousin Heather and Great Aunt Vicky

 

Uncle Kevin's girlfriend, Lisa

 

Aunt Chessie came back!

 

Lots of snuggles together!

 

Poppy and Noelle

 

Nana and Natalie

-went home Sunday afternoon!

 

Big sister Riley meeting the girls for the first time.

 

Two very tired parents.  Momma needed a shower badly!

 

Settled in for our first night!

Monday, 2/16
11:00am: the girls met their great grandmother (my grandmother) and a few of my cousins, one who we Facetimed from Australia!

 

Meeting their great-grandmother!

 

Meeting cousin Sawyer and Madison.

2:20pm: had their first wellness visit with the pediatrician, both girls had low body temperatures prompting us to go back to the hospital to the ER.  In an infant, low body temps can be a sign of infection

5:30pm: arrived back at the hospital and was sent to the pediatric ER, babies had to have bloodwork and spinal taps done to be tested for infections

9:00pm: girls were admitted and taken to the pediatric ward where we stayed for the next 48 hours.  The girls got antibiotics and we waited and prayed for all of the tests to come back negative.

Wednesday, 2/18
1:00pm: so far all of the tests came back negative and the girls' had been showing that they could regulate their body temperature, so we were discharged early with the promise that if the last few tests came back with something, that we would be right back to the hospital

Thursday, 2/19
10:00am: doctor called to report that all tests came back negative...Praise God!  The doctor thinks that their low body temps were due to them being preemie babies and that they just needed some time to learn how to regulate their temperatures

So that's what we have been up to for the past few days!  Lots going on and now we are home, hoping to stay here for quite awhile as our babies grow and the weather warms up!  I'll be back later to post a gazillion pictures of my two little cuties...yes, I'm becoming "that mom" who shares pictures of her babies to everyone!