How it all went down...(part two)

So, we're picking back up from yesterday.

They moved me to a labor room and I talked to the doctors about when we should call our families.  My parents live about 2 1/2 hours from the hospital and we definitely didn't want them to miss anything but we also didn't want them sitting in the waiting room all day Tuesday waiting for the babies arrive.  Dr. Gilner told me that I should probably go ahead and tell them to head this way because the babies were definitely coming and they were coming sooner rather than later.  With my blood pressure rising, they were going to see how things progressed.  But if things didn't progress quickly they would do something to move the process along.  So, we called our parents and told them to head to the hospital.

A little while after being moved to our room they came in and decided to break my water. They checked me before breaking my water and I was dilated to a 5.   An epidural was required in case of an emergency c-section on Baby B.  But, I had told my doctor that I really wanted a natural delivery so I wanted to wait until the last second to get the epidural. (I also was very adamant about trying to deliver the boys vaginally.  Which is often uncommon with twins - doc will tend to automatically want to do a c-section)

 Our parents arrived and my sister, brother and brother's girlfriend arrived and we filled them in on all the details.  I was so concerned at one point about not having any mascara on and about my face being buuuusteeed ("pregnancy glow" must be a myth....for realz).  So my mom and mother-in-law took a few minutes to "fix" me.  Which, you will see from the pictures afterwards, did not do a ton of good - I still looked rough.  But, for some reason I thought that some concealer and waterproof mascara were going to change my appearance from woman that just pushed out two babies to a cover girl ad.  Ahem, I was apparently confused.

(MiMi and Nonny)

So, annnnyway, I labored for about two hours after they broke "Baby A's" water and then they gave me the epidural.  Then they checked me about 30 minutes after the epidural and I was at a 10 and ready to push!  I think Dr. Gilner was quite surprised that I was at a ten.  She told me we had to go and we had to go right then.  That Baby A was about to make his grand debut and we better get to the OR...STAT :)  I begged Dr. Gilner to give me five minutes and she granted my request.  Our families came back in the room and prayed over me.  I just knew that I wanted God to be in the OR with us.  This was really about to happen.  We were going to deliver two baby boys.  At 32 weeks and 4 days.  And they were going to be taken to the NICU.  So I definitely needed all the prayers we could get.

Sidenote:  Praise the Lord for the dr. appt on Monday afternoon!  Since I was already in labor on Monday afternoon when I arrived, they told me I would have probably ended up at the hospital at some point in the middle of the night anyway in labor.  And, with how quickly everything progressed, we would have probably ended up having these babies in the car on the way to the hospital if we hadn't had the doctors appointment that afternoon!).

(Jordan in some tiny scrubs :)  They let him change into a different pair that were made to fit someone taller than 5 1/2 feet.)

After we prayed, they rushed me to the OR (again, just in case of an emergency c-section).  It was 5:30 a.m.  They went into turbo mode trying to get everyone ready because Crews was about to make his grand debut a little faster than thye were expecting.  There were lots of people in the OR.  A team for each baby and then medical students, anesthesiologists and a couple of OBs.  It was crazy in there.

I told Dr. Gilner that I hadn't taken any kind of class and she offered to give me the Cliff Notes version of delivery.  She give me a 2 minute overview explaining that one push is considered pushing for 10 seconds, taking a small breath, and doing that again two more times.   Then, after the two minute lesson, it was time to start pushing.

(Dr. Swammy, Me and my double chin)

(Dr. Gilner)

I pushed 1 1/2 sets of pushes with Crews and he arrived at 5:48 a.m.  They rushed him into the next room with one team of doctors.  They told me he weighed 1340 grams.  I asked how much that was in pounds and ounces and...dead silence.  No one could answer me.  Out of the twenty plus, highly educated people running around in the OR...no one could tell me. After a few seconds of silence, I asked "anyone?" and a doctor spoke up over to my left and said, I'm working on it.  She had a pencil and paper out trying to convert it.  They told me "umm...about 3 lbs.".  They checked him out and brought him back to the bed and let us meet him for the first time.  He was beautiful.  I was so amazed.  That he was mine.

(Seeing sweet Crews for the first time)

I only saw him for a quick second before it was time to start pushing again.  Tate arrived even faster than Crews.  I pushed a couple of times to get Tate to move down so I could start real pushes.  Then, I pushed one set with Tate and he came out squirming at 6:01 a.m.!  He didn't cry at the beginning but once they got him to the next room and started checking him out, I heard him start crying.  It was such a sweet noise!  Unfortunately they didn't get to bring him back to my bed because they had to take him straight to the NICU. Jordan help the door open as they wheeled Tate away so I could at least see him from afar.

(Jordan went to take a picture of Tate so I could at least see him on my camera!)

What an amazing blessing...an easy delivery!  It was the most amazing thing I've ever experienced.  I am still in wonder and awe of how our bodies are designed!  Jordan and I were both just so overwhelmed at the thought that those twenty little, perfect fingers and twenty little, perfect toes had been inside of me.  That's what we had been feeling move around in my tummy and here they were, outside of me!

(Us with Dr. Gilner - LOVE that woman!)

Okay, how about a part three?  I'll pick up with that soon :)

glorious.

Happy Thanksgiving from our turkeys!

One of Jordan's friends, Sean, has a son, Hayden, who is three or four years old.  One afternoon Hayden and his parents went for a walk.  They talked about how awesome the clouds and the sunset were that particular afternoon.

Sean asked Hayden, "Why did God create those pretty clouds?" 

Hayden answered:

"For His gwory"  (glory).

I have realized that so often I thank God for what He has given us like He is doing me some favor by blessing me.  Or for creating this beautiful earth.  Or for designing everything to work so perfectly.  But, I've come to realize that all of this - the blessings of life and family and a home, the beautiful leaves that have fallen, the awesome clouds and sunsets - all of it, is for His glory.

Two beautiful, healthy preemies that have given me a whole new perspective of "fearfully and wonderfully made"?  For.His.Glory.

In just the four, short weeks that they have been alive they have done just that.  Brought glory to His name.  Specifically in my life, I have become completely overwhelmed by just how big our Savior really is.  Just how powerful our Creator really is.  Just how sovereign our God really is.

Just how glorious our Jesus really is.  

And I know, I know without a doubt, that Crews and Tate have done the same thing in our families' lives.  When you see a little 2 lb. 15 oz. baby and 4 lb. 5 oz. baby.  Babies that are healthy.  Whose bodies work just right.  With the right amount of fluid in their ears and the ability to see and the ability to move their little fingers and toes.  You can't, not, be in awe of God.  It's impossible to see them and not see how glorious our God is.

So that is my prayer for these two sweet lives.  That their lives would bring big glory to His name.  And that this would not only happen while they are tiny, NICU babies but that all the days of their lives would be dedicated to bringing glory to our Creator.

This Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful.

Beyond words. Beyond comprehension.  Beyond belief.

Thankful that I am blessed.

But even more thankful that we serve a glorious Savior.

Because really?  

It's all for His "gwory".

How it all went down...

I want to document all of this so I can remember how the boys arrived :)


So, here's how it all went down:


On Monday, October 24th we went to a follow up OB appointment because my blood pressure had been high.  When the nurses checked my blood pressure that day it was still high and there was protein in my urine.  My doctor, Dr. Heine (yes, pronounced Hiney - and, get this, his name is Phil.  "Feel Hiney" - he's the absolute best OB ever!), sent me over to the hospital to get monitored for 24-48 hrs just to make sure I wasn't developing preeclampsia.  He told me that he was confident that I would get sent home.  That he almost wasn't going to send me over there but hated to risk it.

I didn't quite start to panic.  Especially since we had already been to the hospital two other times to stop labor.  I was upset for sure.  I was only 32 weeks and 3 days.  I did not want to deliver my babies.  But, I honestly didn't even think that would actually happen.  I figured they'd look me over for a few hours, we'd miss the World Series game, and we'd head back home with a tired husband who was upset he missed the game and an irritable me, sick of being a pin cushion for the nurses.

Once we got over there and they had me hooked up to everything, we realized I was actually already in labor.  I hadn't been feeling an increase in the contractions I'd been having since 25 weeks pregnant.  But I actually was having contractions, real contractions, every two minutes.  My blood pressure was continuing to rise and the doctors were trying to decide whether to stop labor or allow me to continue.  It's was a balance between the risks of keeping the boys in and my blood pressure rising versus delivering them and the risks associated with preemies.

 

After keeping check for a while, they realized that I was developing severe preeclampsia (my blood pressure at one point was 149/117) and decided to let me continue laboring.  They actually told me that even if I hadn't had a doctor's appointment that afternoon, I would have probably come to the hospital at some point during the night because I was in labor.  We called our parents and told them that I was going to have the babies but to hold off on coming because it could be hours before they actually got here - I know how it typically goes with first babies and I figured I'd be laboring for awhile.  Jordan and I also decided we better start figuring out the boys names at this point (I'll do a separate post on their names)- because they really were coming and we didn't know what their names were going to be!

And, finally, I had a small breakdown.  Where I realized we were talking about 32 week babies.  And NICU stays.  And a big change of plans from what I had anticipated.  But then I pulled it back together and we moved forward.  What else could we do?

(part two tomorrow.)

they are here!

The twins are here!

They arrived on October 25!

I'll write more about everything soon - but I have to go ahead and share their pictures :)

Crews Joel 

Crews arrived at 5:48 a.m. 

He weighs 3lb. and is 15.5 inches long.

Tate McKennly

Tate arrived at 6:01 a.m.

He weighs 4 lb. 5oz. and is 18 inches long.

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; 

your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

--Psalm 139:14

[I know I'm a little behind on posting.  So I'm going to start from the beginning even though it was three weeks ago :)]