And Then There Were Four

Or six if you ask either one of my dogs who seem to feel a little neglected since we brought our precious girls home but I promise you, they're NOT!

I cannot believe it has been almost 3 months since our little angels decided to grace us with their presence.  I remember it so vividly.  It seems like just yesterday we were driving to the hospital with that crazy butterfly feeling in our tummies knowing that very soon, we would be looking into the eyes of our daughters.  So, here we go...our birth story went a little something like this:

Dr. Peterson had been telling me that it could be any day now so yes, we were prepared for this.  On Friday, November 4th, I hadn't been feeling all that well. James and I spent the day together running errands and having lunch at Mission Burrito.  I went home afterwards, took a nap and then got ready for the Women's Conference that was being held at my church that night.  Keep in mind, I signed up for this two day event with the understanding that I would get a re-fund if anything happened.  I really enjoyed hearing Jen Hatmaker speak (if you aren't familiar, check her out) and am thankful I was able to attend at least one day of this event.  Several conversations on this night consisted of "pregnancy/baby talk" and even discussion of "water breaking."  Oh you know, because that only happens on TV right?  Even still, I had this huge fear of my water breaking in the middle of the sanctuary at church.  Or at Starbucks where we landed for hot chocolate and sweet conversation after the event!

Well, my water did NOT break at the church...or at Starbucks...but it DID break when I got home!  I was going about my normal routine, getting things ready for the next day and such.  I went to lay in bed with James so we could have our usual Netflix, Law & Order marathon (yes, we're cool) when I felt something.  I looked at James and told him that "that wasn't normal."  I made him come around to my side of the bed to help me because I was a little scared to move.  He helped me stand up (put a towel underneath me just in case) and it just started pouring out....so much so that we went through TWO towels!! According to James, I could have just been peeing on myself OR my water actually broke!!  It was such a crazy moment...I had been dreaming of this day, wondering when and how it would happen.  It was finally here and the strangest peace came over me....thank God for that ;)  James was so cute!  I could tell he was slightly panicked..."Ok, it's time....I need to get dressed, we need to pack a few more things, etc. etc."  I was laughing and I told him it was okay, that we had time.  I wasn't in any pain and knew there was no reason to rush. And yes, tmi here (I want to remember every detail though), I had to poop and since I had this huge fear of doing so during labor (which I think I did....but even though a nurse was about to answer me honestly, Dr. Peterson, as promised, told me I didn't ;), I decided I had time to do so before heading to the hospital.  So I pooped and James shaved, we packed the few missing items we had left, got dressed and headed to the hospital.  My dogs seemed awfully confused!  Little did they know that life as they knew it was over!

As we're driving to the hospital, we call our families and our best friends.  I told them to wait before heading this way so I could make sure that my water actually did break.  I mean, what if James was right and I was just peeing on myself. Okay, I knew he wasn't, but I just wanted to be sure!  James drops me off at the ER.  I go in and tell them that I'm in labor-WOW, that was weird! Luckily, we pre-registered so we didn't have to deal with a lot of paperwork. They call someone who comes and picks me up in a wheelchair.  I, of course, thought this was a little silly because I was totally able to walk.  Since this is how they do things, I just sat back and enjoyed the ride :)

At first, they took me to a small room where I changed, was examined, and was asked several questions.  Heather arrived and I was so thankful to have my best friend there, not just for the support but to share in this special time in our lives.  It was confirmed that my water did in fact break and that I was in labor. I was having contractions at this point but I honestly couldn't really feel them. I am so thankful that Dr. Peterson was on call this weekend...I couldn't imagine anyone else delivering my babies!!  Apparently she was on her computer at home and saw my name come through the system before they even called her. She immediately called to check on me and was there in no time.  Seeing her brought another sense of comfort to my heart...all we had planned on and prepared for was finally here and I was so grateful to have her by my side.

Here is my last belly shot of the pregnancy~I am 35 weeks and 5 days pregnant here!!

After all the formalities were taken care of, Dr. Peterson asked me if I was ready and I told her YES...and I meant it!  They wheeled me into another room where I spent the next 12 hours or so.  I was able to sleep a little during this time but I mostly sat and dreamed about the little ones I was about to meet. Because I was still only dilated to about a 4, they gave me Pitocin to help speed things up (you only have so long after your water breaks before it gets dangerous for the babies).  Although I was having contractions all this time, I honestly never really felt anything more than a little cramping.  But when the guy with the epidurals came through, I didn't turn him down (I had this fear of him not being around and me missing out).  So, I went ahead and got this taken care of.  Part of me wanted to feel some contractions just for the experience...but the other part of me is so thankful that I avoided the pain and had such a pleasant experience.  I do remember my left leg being less numb than my right.  I kept asking them if that meant I was going to feel labor....apparently I was a little scared ;)  Sometime after this, my mom arrived.  I am so thankful for a mom who was willing to drive 3 hours in the wee hours of the morning to sit and wait.  Unfortunately, my dad was out of state and although he immediately caught a flight home, he missed the delivery by about 5 hours or so.

So, there was a lot of waiting at this point.  Like I said, I slept a little but I mostly just sat and anticipated their arrival.  The nurses continued to monitor me and my girls.  I had to turn from side to side often...for my comfort but mostly for the safety of my babies.  I did get sick at one point...I think this was due to the fact that I had not eaten since 6ish the day before and had been given several medications (they had to give me an antibiotic for "strep b" because although I was tested at my last appointment, the results had not arrived yet).  Yes, my husband slept through me puking my guts out.  After this, my throat burned extremely bad.  They gave me some medicine to help with the nausea.  Dr Peterson came in several times to check on me.  At one point she asked how I was doing and I told her that I was so hungry and asked her if I could please eat something (the ice chips and water just weren't cutting it).  For obvious reasons, she couldn't let me BUT she did say I could have some jello and juice.  I jumped on the offer and she brought me back strawberry jello (since it's her favorite it must be mine as well ;) ) and an assortment of juices.  Strawberry jello and apple juice~nothing had tasted so good in all of my life!  Crazy right?!  It really did help tide me over until I could eat a real meal.

At some point, they couldn't find Emeri's heart rate so they had to stick a monitor inside of me and put it on her head so that they could continue to monitor her.  Again, so thankful for that epidural because I didn't feel a thing ;)

At another point, Dr. Peterson did one last ultrasound on me to make sure the girls had stayed put!  Thankfully they were both still head down~the perfect position to have a vaginal delivery.

At around twelve pm, the nurses had me take a few practice pushes.  I am so thankful they were willing to coach me because classes and all, I couldn't remember what I was supposed to do!  Heck, for a long time, I thought I would be having a c-section, not pushing two babies out!  They had to give me medicine (some really sour tasting stuff) at this point too because my heartburn was so bad that it was excruciating to push (weird, huh?).  I was getting a little worried because Dr. Peterson had to check on some patients at another hospital and hadn't made it back.  I remember asking them several times if she had arrived  yet.  There was no reason to worry though because she showed up right on time and shortly after, they started wheeling me to the operating room.  Now this is the point I got scared.  I really hadn't been up until this point, but I had the sudden realization that I really did have to push these two things out of my HOOHOO!  YIKES!!!      

Here are a few pictures we took before heading to the operating room...love that I have these to help me remember this special time in my life!

Me and Mom

Me and Heather

Me and my cheerleaders ~ seriously, they were an awesome support system :)

Getting sweet kisses from the hubs :)

We are so excited that we're about to be a family of FOUR!! 

Me and one of my many nurses~they were all super sweet!!!

Me looking rough...even though I really don't' feel that bad.

It's getting closer....maybe that's why I have the oxygen mask on?! ;-P

We get to the operating room and it's so surreal.  The room is full of people: my doctors, several nurses, the anesthesiologist, etc.  They had to have people on hand just in case I had to have an emergency c-section.  I couldn't feel my legs, but I was expected to move from the bed I was in to the operating table. Somehow I managed.  They got me positioned and everything in place...it was time to start.  I just love my doctor and the nurses that I had-they were so incredibly encouraging that I felt like I could do ANYTHING!  They kept telling me how great I was doing which only made me want to push harder.  When I remembered how Dr. Peterson described pushing to me, it was smooth sailing from there!  At one point (for both babies) Dr. Peterson asked me if I wanted to feel their heads.  I said "okay" and proceeded to try and do so.  But remember, I couldn't feel anything so this proved to be a little more complicated than I thought.  Dr. Peterson put my hand where their heads were and this was one of the most incredible feelings ever :)

5 sets of 3 pushes later and my sweet little Emeri Faith was born.  It was the most incredible feeling in this world.  Although I felt no pain, I could feel when she came out of me.

Apparently, I assumed wrong when I thought I would get a break in between babies.  Nope, Dr. Peterson IMMEDIATELY broke my second water sack and had me start pushing again.  I now understand the reason for this.  If we had waited any amount of time, this only gave Avari the chance to turn which could have resulted in a c-section.  Obviously, I didn't want to have to do both!

1 set of 3 pushes later and my sweet Avari Hope was born.  I can remember immediately asking if they were okay.  I then asked if Emeri had a club foot. Although this was no longer a concern towards the end of the pregnancy, it was obviously something that remained on my mind.  They reassured me that the girls were perfect....but I already knew this :)  With tears in our eyes, James and I just savored this precious moment.

The excitement must have gotten to James too because he realized that he had forgotten to take pictures.  I didn't mind though because he was by my side just as he should have been, sharing in the joy of our firstborn babies, holding my hand and being my rock!  So, Dr. Peterson had a nurse take some pictures for us while she was stitching me up (yes, I tore a little).

Emeri Faith~born on November 5, 2011 at 1:22PM weighing  5 pounds and measuring 18 inches long

Avari Hope~born on November 5, 2011 at 1:25PM weighing 5 pounds and measuring 18.5 inches long 

Daddy holding his baby girl for the first time (Emeri)

He's already so in love!

Introducing the sweet Emeri Faith to mommy

Holding BOTH girls for the 1st time (scary!!)

First family picture :)

I LOVE my sweet family of FOUR

SO in love with my sweet angels

Me & my girls!!

After we had our photo shoot and I was fixed up, they headed to the nursery to get the girls cleaned up and get some stats.  Although we didn't think this was allowed, they let James carry BOTH girls all the way down the hall.  Apparently this freaked me out a little bit because I yelled out, "BE CAREFUL!!"  My doctor and the nurses got a kick out of this and teased James for the rest of the day telling him to "Be careful!"  Hey, what can I say?  I'm a new mom and he was carrying my tiny little babies all the way down the hall.  Yes, I was nervous ;)

The nurses examining Emeri

Emeri only weighed a few grams less than 5 pounds so they rounded up

Look at Avari's black feet...gotta love those sweet footprints :)

Avari weighed exactly 5 pounds...I beat my older sister ;)

Sisterly love~we just can't stand to be apart!

Loving our snuggle time!!

Dr. Peterson checking on our girls

She's only the BEST doctor in the whole world!!!

After they took me back to the room I was in for the duration of the labor, the whole family came in to celebrate!  My mom, Jan, Ricky, Kristin, Kevin, and Heather surrounded my bed as we all talked about the beautiful process.  I truly appreciate all of the love and support that filled my room that day!  And of course, they brought gifts: cute little A&M outfits for the girls, picture frames, etc.  Oh, and I can't forget to mention the BEAUTIFUL necklace that Heather gave me right before I delivered.  It is something I used to dream about being able to wear, a necklace with Emeri & Avari engraved on it with their birthstones hanging from it.  Luckily they were born in November just as Heather had suspected ;)

Because I was starving, I ordered a chicken caesar salad.  Ask me if I could eat it?  Nope...I guess it was too soon after because although I was starving and so excited to be eating caesar dressing again, I couldn't even do it.  Not long after this, we were finally able to bring the whole family into the NICU to meet our girls....what a special time for all of us :)

Checking out miss Emeri

James and Miss Avari (deliriously happy?! ;) )

Miss E sure is popular :)

Aunt Heather & Miss A

Nanna & Emeri~she is in love

I can't believe I'm sharing this picture but I want to remember it all.....who knows why I'm making this face....maybe it was the 14 hours of labor?!

My dad came in that evening.  After my parents ate dinner and we gave the nurses time to change shifts, we went back to the NICU to visit with our sweet angels.  I think my dad quickly fell in love just like the rest of us :)

Admiring my sweet Emeri Faith

Look at those tiny little feet!!!

Dad meeting Miss Avari for the first time!

Sweet angel~Miss Avari Hope

See...told you he was in love :)

Dad meeting Miss Emeri for the first time!

Me admiring (gracefully?!) Miss Avari

Feeding Miss A~I can't stop staring!!!

And neither can he :) ~ Emeri Faith

Unfortunately, the girls did have to go to the NICU for 5 nights and 6 days. Because they were born a month early, they weren't able to regulate their body temperature and were struggling to eat.  Avari immediately had to have a tube put in her nose for feeding.  Emeri was obviously taking this twin thing pretty seriously because it wasn't long and she had a tube in her nose too!

This is the one and only complaint I have about my entire experience~having to leave my girls!  Don’t get me wrong, I understand that they needed to be in the NICU for a few days to help them get to where they needed to be so that we could bring them home.  I understand that we couldn’t properly care for them the way the doctors/nurses could at the hospital.  However, I don’t understand why ALL hospitals do not have a room that mothers can stay in while their babies are getting the help they need.  

I was released from the hospital on Monday night at 11:59PM…this was the latest time Dr. Peterson could get me.  She tried, oh how she tried to get me an extra night so I wouldn’t have to leave my girls but it just wasn’t possible (I truly appreciate her effort though).  There was nothing wrong with me that would keep me in the hospital for an additional night.  So, what did we do?  We were discharged at 11:59PM that night and turned right back around and went to the NICU so that we could feed our girls and spend a little more time with them before heading home.  We were allowed to be in the NICU any time except during shift changes (which happened twice a day).  We got home around 3AM that morning and let me tell you, there is something so unnatural about leaving the hospital without your babies when they’ve been apart of you for the last 8 months.  I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much in my life (I’m sure the nurses thought I was crazy).  James was so sweet and even offered to rent us a hotel room so that we didn’t have to go home without them.  I was tempted to take him up on his offer but thought it was silly to waste the money when we only live 5 miles from the hospital.

So, the next few days looked a little something like this: we’d wake up, get ready, and head to the hospital for the 9:00AM feeding.  We’d leave, go home so I could pump, grab breakfast, & return for the 12:00PM feeding.  We’d leave, grab lunch, go home so I could pump and take a nap, and then return for the 6:00PM feeding (I wanted to go back for the 3:00PM feeding but one of the nurses said that she was worried about me and encouraged me to get some rest).  We’d leave, grab dinner, go home so I could pump, and then return for the 9:00PM feeding.  Although I would have preferred to continue like this throughout the night so I could be with my babies, I knew I had to get some rest (all the while still waking up every 3 hours to pump).  This was our life for almost 3 days straight.  While it was incredibly difficult, I tried to keep in mind how fortunate we were to have had such a short stay in the NICU.  There were 2 other sets of twins in there who's parents had been doing this same thing for several weeks.  Our girls were actually the “big” babies in the room.  My heart goes out to those families!  During these days we were able to do most things the nurses were doing.  We were able to check their temperature, change their diapers (although James preferred to let the nurses do this ;) ), and feed them.  I was able to work on breastfeeding (this is a whole other story) and we were able to do kangaroo care (skin to skin contact).


Here are a few pictures of life in the NICU:

Emeri warming up~it's nice and cozy in here :)

Emeri grubbing :)

Look at that skinny little face!!

Sweet Avari all snugly in her warmer

Avari getting her grub on....just in a different style

Aunt Heather feeding Miss A

Look at that sweet baby!

Momma feeding sweet E

Love that sweet face!

Uncle Ricky loving on Emeri

I think he's in love...but then again, who isn't?! :) 

Momma & Miss E enjoying snuggle time

Love the hand on the face....just like in the ultrasound pictures

Already has a sense of humor....look at that tongue sticking out!!!

Daddy and Miss E having sweet snuggle time

Sweet angel from above

Kisses from sweet Emeri

Mommy and Miss E

Emeri Faith 

They sleep JUST like their daddy ;)

Avari Hope

Sweet Smiles!!

Bright eyes

Silly girl 

Just can't get enough of them!!

Goofy like her daddy ;)

Miss A and her Nannie

LOVE my family!!

FINALLY out of our heaters and next to my sister :)

Daddy & Emeri

Sweet face!!!

Sweet cake from the hospital

Robin & Jenn admiring our girls

So thankful for great friends!

Clint & Lance visiting the girls

Uncle Dennis loving on Miss Emeri

I think he's in love 

It's Miss Avari's time for some loving

Uncle Dennis & Miss E

Soo sweet!

Ohh...I could just eat them up (never understood this phrase until now ;) )!!

Mommy & Miss A w/ Dennis & Miss E

Ohh...look at that face!!

We LOVE Dr. Peterson!!

Little Miss Avari

Little Miss Emeri

Abbie loving on Miss Emeri

LOVE our sweet friends!!

Abbie loving on Miss Avari

Look how tiny Miss E is!!

LOVE

DISCLAIMER:  I sound TERRIBLE in all videos.  I don't know what it is...I try so hard to sound normal but instead, I sound like I am talking through my nose!

FYI:  You can see in these videos how terribly bruised Emeri's head is...this is because A) She was so low the ENTIRE pregnancy & B) Dr. Peterson had to turn her stubborn self several times so that I could deliver her face down instead of sunny side up :)

Chatting w/ Miss A

Emeri taking a bottle

Avari taking a bottle

Emeri has the hiccups :)

There were several tests our girls had to pass in order to get released from the NICU.  By Wednesday night they had moved down a level and by Thursday afternoon they were released into our care!  I think Dr. Peterson had something to do with this.  Being the AMAZING doctor that she is, she came several times over the week to check on me and my girls.  They had planned on keeping them until the weekend but after she talked to the NICU doctor, we were able to take them home (just one more reason we LOVE Dr. Peterson)!!

Besides the day I found out I was pregnant and the day they were actually born, the day we brought them home has to be one of the happiest days of my life!  Of course I had to dress the girls up in their “going home outfits” since they were finally getting to “go home!”  I figured the nurses would think I was silly but they were really sweet about it and even helped us get them all gussied up.

It’s funny because we got the girls home, took lots of pictures, looked at one another and said, “Now what?”  We weren’t sure what life was supposed to look like now that we actually had them home with us.  But you know what, it didn’t matter because our family of four was finally home….exactly as we should be :)

Little bitty clothes for a little bitty Avari!

Little bitty clothes for a little bitty Emeri!

Me & my girls!

So excited to finally be going home...

...and maybe a little bit scared ;)

We're ready mom!

Miss Avari in the twin mobile!

Miss Emeri in the twin mobile!

We're home!!!

Miss A

Miss E

Miss A~enough with the pictures already!!!

Miss E~please just let us sleep!!

LOVE these girls!!

So tiny!!

Me and my girls

Told you we haven't forgotten about our pups :)

Our new family of 6 :)

Our little miracles!

As weird as it sounds, I sometimes get sad when I think about my story….not because I’m not thrilled with the outcome, but because such a sweet time in my life is over.  Although I'm sad to see my first ever birth story come to an end, in all reality, I realize this story has really just begun.  A year ago, I was so depressed because I didn’t know if I would ever be a mom.  Now, I just stare in awe at my girls and thank God for being the one in control of my story.  I COULDN'T have written it more beautifully myself.  I will cherish these memories always and yes, I can’t wait to do it again (ya know, if it's God's will and all) ;)