They Have Arrived!

How can I even begin to put into words the life changing event that took place just three days ago? Life for Chris and I will truly never be the same, and for that we are so blessed.

I want to document and share here the story of their arrival into this world.

Monday morning I woke up around 6:30 to use the restroom. I noticed that I was having a bit more discharge than usual, but didn't think much of it. I went back to bed and woke up at 8 to begin the day. I was laying in bed eating a cereal bar talking with Chris and began to notice that I was having some odd contractions. They seemed a bit more intense and just different from what I had experienced prior. Chris kept looking at me and asking me if I was okay and I just told him that something felt different but I couldn't explain it. I then decided to get up and try to use the restroom again.

Once I stood up out of bed I felt a gush and knew that something was happening. I went to the bathroom and felt another gush, this time resulting in a puddle on the bathroom floor. I told Chris that it was time to go! He started to rush around gathering things together and within 10 minutes we were on our way to the hospital. The time was about 9:00 a.m.

In the car on the way up my contractions were becoming more and more intense. They were occurring about once every 3 minutes and they were enough to make me practice my breathing skills whenever they would come on!

We arrived at the hospital at 9:50 and I was able to walk up to Labor and Delivery. I told the nurses station that I believed I might be in labor. My contractions were still coming about every 3 minutes. They didn't seem too alarmed or concerned because I was still able to function pretty normally and even I didn't think that I was in full blown labor.

I was weighed and then sent to collect a urine sample. I then noticed that I was bleeding and realized that perhaps this was the real deal after all! I was put into an examining room and the Dr. came in to check my cervix and see how dilated I was. At this point the contractions started to become even more intense and were only about a minute apart. When she checked me she said that she could not feel any cervix at all and believed that I was fully dilated. Talk about shocked!

They quickly got a stretcher and told me that I would be wheeled to the O.R. just in case they would possibly have to do a c-section and off we went! Chris was changed into scrubs and entered the O.R. with me. Within another 10 minutes I was on the table and I was pushing. This was around 1o:30.

Never in my life have I experienced anything quite like it. I won't go into any excessive explanation, but yet I do want to document to some extent what I went through that day. I had Chris on my right side throughout the entire ordeal. He was an amazing coach and I get choked up just thinking about how incredible he was. I also had an amazing nurse on my left side who spoke such comforting words of affirmation to me to keep me motivated. Chris kept cool rags on my forehead and was so supportive and encouraging of how I was doing.

I pushed for 2 hours when Ethan Douglas, Baby A, made his debut. He weighed 5 pounds, 3 ounces and was 18 3/4 inches long. The Dr. told me to open my eyes and I was able to look down the moment he arrived and see my first son. He was so beautiful and I was completely overwhelmed with emotion and love. He was whisked away to be cleaned, tested, clipped and all that good stuff they do to newborn babies. The neonatal Dr. brought him to me all swaddled and with a little hat on his head and I was able to kiss him before he was brought to the NICU.

It was then time to begin concentrating on Baby B. They did a quick ultrasound to determine if his was still head down. He was. They positioned me and had me start pushing right away. I was exhausted. They put an electrode on his head to have an accurate reading of his heart rate. His heart rate began to drop and they told me that we would push for another 5 minutes and if he didn't drop into the birth canal we would have to do a c-section. I pushed and sweet little B was not moving. The Dr. decided that an emergency c-section was needed to get him out as soon as possible.

Within minutes I was laying on my back with my arms stretched out to my side. They had me breathing in oxygen. There was a lot of talking and commotion in the O.R. The last thing I remember they switched my mask and out I went.

I woke up in the recovery room and was told that my other son, Grayson John, had been born. They had discovered that my placenta was starting to separate from the wall of my uterus and they think this played a large part in his dropping heart rate. I was just so relieved to wake up and know that he was safe and sound in the N.I.C.U. and that the entire ordeal was over.

Chris came in to the recovery room and spent time with me feeding me ice chips. He recounted for me some of the minutes that I was unable to remember. He was placed outside of the operating room in a chair for the c-section and said that it was intense watching people rushing past him to get into the o.r. Grayson John was born at 12:53. He weighed 5 pounds, 2 ounces and was 19 inches long.

After I was awake and alert they wheeled my entire bed into the N.I.C.U. so that I could see my boys. They laid Ethan in my arms and I was able to hold and kiss him. Due to the positioning of Grayson and the bed I was able to touch and reach out to him. They were special, surreal moments and I was in total awe. The nurses took pictures of our first few minutes together. I was a Mom.

I was then wheeled into my hospital room where I have been ever since. Later on that evening they had me get up and I was able to be wheeled down to see the boys again. This time Chris and I were able to talk with the nurses and get to know more about how the boys were doing.

The nurses and their doctor have been nothing but amazing in taking time for us and answering any and all of our questions. We are encouraged to spend as much time as we want in there with the boys. It is open to us pretty much 24/7.

Yesterday I was able to hold Grayson for two hours in my arms skin to skin. I had tears rolling down my cheeks as I felt his heart beating next to mine and as I placed my hand on his back and felt it rise and sink with each breath.

The boys are doing incredibly well considering their early arrival just three days ago. We know that they are in great care and feel very optimistic about their prognosis. I love seeing them every day and having time with them.

We are so in love. Chris and I were saying today that it is amazing how much love we can have for these two little boys that we barely know. It goes beyond rational thought and human words. I have never felt such an incredible love and protection over anything in my life quite like this.

Thank you for your continued prayers for them. Please keep them coming. We know that the days ahead may be filled with highs and lows until the day they come home to live with us. We leave it in God's hands and know that in His perfect timing they will.