Welcome Jeremy and Nathan

The long wait and anticipation has finally ended and our beautiful boys, Jeremy & Nathan are here! My pod no longer has 2 peas so the name of my blog has changed. I will do my best to post stories and photos about the new members of our family. However, as you can imagine, finding the time for posts might be a bit challenging. Let's catch up...

The birth story

February 23rd was not only the date of my intended induction, but clearly the day that the boys decided they wanted to enter this world as well. I ended up going into labor at home at 4:00am; a mere 4 hours before my induction. I woke up to a strange cramp that turned out to be a contraction which then lead to my water breaking. I woke up Mark and told him it was 'time' and then for some reason was inspired to take a shower. I think in my head I wouldn't be able to shower again for quite a long time so it was best to get one in right then. Mark and I started timing contractions with his new downloaded app for his iphone (very handy!). The contractions were about 4 minutes apart so we called the doc... she told us to make our way to the hospital. We ate a quick breakfast and headed off.

We arrived at the hospital and checked into labor and delivery. My favorite nurse was assigned to me so I knew we were in good hands. I changed into my hospital gown and got hooked up to fetal monitors within minutes. It didn't take long for the nurse to give me warning that she didn't like what she was seeing with Baby B (Nathan) and how he was responding to contractions. She said that a c-section would probably be likely. This news was a little scary considering that Baby B was potentially in jeopardy. We then waited for the doctor to arrive for her opinion.

In that amount of time, I labored to about 6cm and decided that I had experience enough of labor pains... bring on the epidural! I was very proud of myself that I was able to make it as long as I did without pain relief. However, I was in awe of how quick and effective the epidural was. Within about 15 minutes, I felt nothing. A miracle!

About 20 minutes after the epidural, the doctor came in to notify us that a c-section was in fact necessary. That's when things started moving incredibly fast. Suddenly I was being whisked away to the operating room. Barely enough time for Mark to call my parents to get them to the hospital. The anesthesiologist came back to turn up the power on my epidural. Within minutes I was numb from the chest to my toes. Mark changed into scrubs and before we knew it I was being wheeled down the hall to the operating room. The good news is that on my way, we passed my parents who were in the hall and had just arrived.

The surgery was completely painless and quite bizarre! All I could do was look at Mark since all the action was blocked by a curtain at my neck so we couldn't see anything too scary. The weirdest part was that I couldn't feel anything and literally didn't even know if they started surgery. All of a sudden, I heard a baby cry and I thought 'Oh... someone just had a baby!' Turns out that it was actually Jeremy! And 2 minutes later, I heard Nathan. What an experience!

Both babies were brought to me so I could meet them and announce their names for the first time. They were both perfectly pink and shockingly different looking. I was stunned that we ended up with a brunette and a blond, but how fantastic!

Jeremy Daniel was born at 9:51 am, 7.1 lbs and 19 inches
Nathan Louis was born at 9:53 am, 4.4 lbs and 19 inches

Both babies brought their own surprises. For Jeremy it appeared that the month of bedrest might have in fact benefited him more than his brother. He went from 5.11 lbs to 7.1 lbs in just a month!

Nathan was his own miracle. After analyzing the placenta, it was determined that Nathan's umbilical cord wasn't actually connected to the placenta. He was actually getting his nutrients through the membranes in the uterus which explains his challenged size throughout the pregnancy. The doctor and nurses were in awe that he did so well considering his compromised situation. Even more surprising, he was born very healthy with no apparent problems except his size.

We were moved to post op for documentation and recovery which is where I got to finally see my babies, Mark and my parents. Eventually we were moved to our room which we were to live in for the next 4 nights. Since Nathan required extra care, we were moved to a 'suite'. Jeremy and I were in a regular room with a queen size bed and bassinet, but connected to my room was another room where Nathan was cared for by his own nurse. Such a great set up! I was able to see Nathan from my bed and once I could walk, I could spend time at his bedside. The first couple days, Nathan was hooked up to an IV so he could get his sugars up and he was also connected to a heart monitor just to keep an eye on him. After a couple days it was determined that he could get off the IV and switch to bottle feeding (he was far too small to handle breast feeding)

Jeremy did fantastic at learning how to breast feed and even got to sleep in bed with me a couple nights since he was a bit fussy.

I found my recovery to be pretty easy from the c-section, but it might have seemed easy since I was so distracted from a terrible rash I developed a few days before by delivery. This rash is called PUPPPs and it common in mothers that have gained excessive weight, are pregnant with twins or pregnant with boys for some reason. My body was covered with a rash and welts that were ridiculously itchy. I was miserable! I guess it took my mind off the surgery recovery though.

At the end of day 2, it was determined that both babies had jaundice. Both kids were placed under lights for a couple days which was tough to watch, but the kids handled it really well.

As for discharge, we were told that Jeremy and I would be discharged on Friday. However, we were told that Nathan would likely need to stay a day or too more due to his size. If that was the case, we would have kept our room and been able to stay with Nathan, but Jeremy and I would no longer have a nurse assigned to us. But, Friday morning we received great news... Nathan was ready to be discharged with us! What a surprise! And how scary that we were going to be sent home... who says that we're responsible enough to handle 2 infants on our own?

So we started packing and got the kids ready for their circumcisions. My mom and I went into the room with the kids to be with them. They did great! Just a little crying when they got the numbing shot, but after that, not a peep!

We were sent home that Friday afternoon... 2 new parents scared to death and 2 beautiful babies. Let the fun begin!