Dear Family,
Ok, here's the skinny, and then I'll get to the details.
The
kids were delivered via C-section last night, both were born on May
19th 2013. They are 29 weeks and 3 days along. Meaning they are about 11
weeks, a little more than 2 months, early - And then there were five.
Greyson:
Born 11:49 pm
Weight 1480 Grams
Length 39 cm
Apgar:
6 then 8 ("how healthy" scale 1-10 with 10 being best, measured at
birth and then 5 min later to give an indication of their transition)
Maxwell:
Born 11:51 pm
Weight:1180 grams
Length 39 cm
Apgar: 5 then 9
Babies are happy and mom is fine.
Now for the story.
Addie and I had visited the hospital at about 6pm on
Sunday, and were on our way to leaving by about 7:30. I got home and got
Addie ready for bed, and she was out like a light. Eventually I got a
phone call from Katie at about 9:30, and she told me that she had
started having some contractions at 8:30 and they were getting stronger
and closer together. Talking her through a few contractions I got the
inkling that I needed to go visit her. Before I voiced that Katie told
me that she felt I should probably come up to be by her side. So we hung
up the phone and I called the Lukers to tell them that I would be
calling in the favor I needed to have them watch Addie while I went to
the hospital. Having played this game before I made sure to grab my
PJ's, a pillow and a blanket. Hospitals say they have these things, but
the cheap and ill working imitations at comfort leave much to be
desired.
I got to the Hospital at about 10:30 pm. Why is it always
the beginning or middle of the night when kids start having the big
issues? I've told Katie to put in a request with the next kids that they
need to let us have a great nights sleep, and then come around noon or
so the next day. We'll see if that helps. Katie's contractions were
indeed getting stronger, and the resident Maternal guy (yep a guy) came
up to talk to us. He said we needed to check if Katie was dilating at
all. If she was then they would likely deliver the babies tonight. If
not that meant there was a good chance the contractions would stop. On
checking her he discovered that she was dilated to 5 cm. 10 is what is
expected for a normal baby delivery. With our small kids, it would be
less, and most mom's will understand 5 cm is pretty far along...Glad
we're in the hospital!
We had decided previously that, for the sake of our
kiddos, we would probably do a C-section if the kids were under the
optimal weight for vaginal birth, 1500 grams (about 3 lbs 5 oz). As we
were pretty confident that neither of them were up that far, C-section
was decided. We moved to the Operating room. I got to wear a hair net
(what for I'm not quite sure yet), a mask and a full body white suit
thing. They prepped Katie up, gave her a "spinal" (something with a
little more kick than the regular epidural). And prep'd her. The had her
lay down and I sat on a chair at her left shoulder. There was a little
cover I could peek over, which I did a couple times. Katie had wondered
whether I might pass out and encouraged me not to look. I wondered a
couple times whether she would be right, however, I did find the
procedure fascinating. I can't stand watching this stuff on a camera,
but there's something just surreal enough about the real thing that it
didn't bother me at all.
They started the operation at 11:40 (Katie had requested that they be born the same day, I had thought it would be fun to have different days, but Katie gets what Katie wants:)). They pulled Grey out, he came out head first. I watched him come out all the way. I could tell he was about 15 inches long and told Katie, I saw them cut the cord, pass him to the nurses and he disappeared through a window in the opposite side of the room from me straight into the NICU. We were relieved when we heard him crying in the other room. Not near as loud as our Addie, but a cry all the same. Max was a little more stubborn, and they ended up pulling him out by his feet. He looked remarkably smaller than his brother, but as they laid him on Katie's lap to cut the cord he gave a soft cry. As a concerned parent that is a sound that makes you cry because it speaks volumes. Then the cord was cut and Max was whisked away through the same window.
They started the operation at 11:40 (Katie had requested that they be born the same day, I had thought it would be fun to have different days, but Katie gets what Katie wants:)). They pulled Grey out, he came out head first. I watched him come out all the way. I could tell he was about 15 inches long and told Katie, I saw them cut the cord, pass him to the nurses and he disappeared through a window in the opposite side of the room from me straight into the NICU. We were relieved when we heard him crying in the other room. Not near as loud as our Addie, but a cry all the same. Max was a little more stubborn, and they ended up pulling him out by his feet. He looked remarkably smaller than his brother, but as they laid him on Katie's lap to cut the cord he gave a soft cry. As a concerned parent that is a sound that makes you cry because it speaks volumes. Then the cord was cut and Max was whisked away through the same window.
I stayed with Katie while they took the placenta's,
stitched up her uterus then her tummy. About 15 min after Max had
disappeared a nurse opened the window just a crack to tell us the kids
were looking very good, and that everything was stable. Katie was then
wheeled back to a recovery room for observation. I stayed with her long
enough to make sure she was ok, then I took my camera and went to see my
sons.
Each boy was in his own little incubator. There are, as I
understand it, 3 forms of respiration help given to newborns.
Respirators, Bubble CPAP and Canella. Respirators physically force air
into the lungs on a regular basis, and is the most invasive to the kids,
which can present problems. CPAP, is a lightly presurized oxygen that
is presented to the kid, and just helps so their lungs don't colapse.
The last is esentially the oxygen tubes. When Katie had her water break
they gave Katie sterroids that would promote the development of the kids
lungs. That has apparently done it's work as the boys do not need
respirators. They are on CPAP, and it looks like with how healthy they
are they will be able to move away from that by tomorrow or the next
day.
Katie and I did visit them again this morning, We're able
to touch them. You never stroke a premie baby, but they do enjoy the
pressure of a hand. Katie was so happy to see the result of all the
labor and pain we've gone through to this point. Katie is doing well.
She's walked from the bed to the bathroom. They're getting her taken
care of and expect that she will be discharged on Thursday. She will
need to take it very lightly as she transitions from Hospital to home.
Everything seems to be healing up nicely as far as her.
As far as the boys, they are stable, but they are not out of the woods. There is a lot of development that takes place between 29 weeks and 34 or even 36 weeks. Current prognosis (standard) is that they will be here until their original due date of August 1st. Now that they're here it will be a constant round of ups and downs as the NICU doctors work their magic. Milestones to watch for are the removal of CPAP breathing, the eye check, which checks to make sure their eyes are developing and have not been affected by too much oxygen. Putting on Weight, continued health etc.
As far as the boys, they are stable, but they are not out of the woods. There is a lot of development that takes place between 29 weeks and 34 or even 36 weeks. Current prognosis (standard) is that they will be here until their original due date of August 1st. Now that they're here it will be a constant round of ups and downs as the NICU doctors work their magic. Milestones to watch for are the removal of CPAP breathing, the eye check, which checks to make sure their eyes are developing and have not been affected by too much oxygen. Putting on Weight, continued health etc.
If anybody wants to visit the babies in the NICU know a few things.
- Katie or I will need to be there with you.
- Nobody under the age of 14 is allowed in the NICU except Sibblings.
- No more than 4 people can be bedside at a time including us a parents.
- You will need to "scrub" up to your elbows every time you enter
- You need to be 24 hours free of any sickness or you will not be allowed into the NICU
- Please call us to work out any times, but give us a week.
Visiting Kaite is much simpler, but will be limited as we will probably go home on Thursday.
We
love you all very much and are grateful for your prayers and thoughts.
Hopefully we'll be bringing home some kiddos in a couple months.
-Aaron, Katie, Addie Grey and Max.
1 comment:
We would love to bring meals by as needed. Please let Jack or I know what we can do to support you.
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