Yes, They Really Are Here!

Yes they really are here!  I am not sure where to even begin so I guess I’ll start by relaying the events of our boys’ birth.  This is going to be a long story, but it will explain why you didn’t hear from us for so long.

We had a pretty good idea that we were going to have to deliver the babies on Monday, August 27^th due to my preeclampsia.  My kidneys and liver starting to drop in function and my blood pressure was slowly going up.  Given that I was only 31 weeks and 5 days this was not good news.  We were praying that our boys had made it to 4 lbs and would be doing well enough to be delivered this early.  We had been told to expect them to be either in the NICU or the Special Care nursery until they are at least 38 weeks.  Knowing your babies are going to be in the hospital that long without you is a very sad/scary thing.

Before heading to Labor & Delivery

I was taken down for delivery around noon and they started me on Magnesium to help the boys’ brains and prevent any bleeding, as well as help my blood pressure after the delivery.  Magnesium is a very helpful supplement, but unfortunately when you put bags and bags of it into your body it makes you feel like you have the flu.  I actually tolerated this pretty well before my surgery (not so much after.) 

Next came the epidural for my c-section.  I think I was more apprehensive about the epidural than the actual surgery, but it went in just fine.  I spoke to the anesthetist about having issues with being able to feel things while being under anesthesia, but I don’t think he took me quite seriously.  He had already done 9 deliveries that day and I’m sure he had heard it all, so I was expecting his response to be the one I typically get.  Although, he may have started to believe me once they started the medicine and could not get my right leg to go numb.  I still had no problem lifting up all off the table moving it around.  They were confused by this and ended up spending extra time trying to deal with it before they gave up and wheeled me into surgery. 

Of course after that, I just KNEW I was going to be able to feel it when they started to do my c-section, and sure enough I did.  They had to stop 3 times and give me injections of local anesthetic, which baffled my anesthesiologist.  (There was a curtain between me in the doctors, so there was no way they could question that I was actually feeling the scalpel.)  I am not sure why this is always so difficult, given that research has shown that people with naturally red hair have a higher pain tolerance than others (due a specific gene) and that they require more anesthesia. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/the-pain-of-being-a-redhead/  This was all over the news years ago, but apparently anesthesiologists haven’t caught up on it or they don’t believe it.  I think they may believe me now though!

Yes, I am a natural redhead

In the meantime, the operating room was being crowded with bystanders.  They sent down a team of 4 people from the NICU for each of the babies on top of the 6 people already in the room.  Once they finally made the incision it took two minutes to get both boys out.  I only got to see their little faces as they left the room, but they were beautiful.

 

This is So Obviously Jett 

Jett Lawson Conway was born at 4:11 pm and weighed 3 lbs 11.6 ounces.  He was 16.5 inches long.

Canon Alexander Conway was born at 4:12 pm and weighed 3 lbs 11 ounces.  He was 16 inches long.

After my surgery everything got pretty difficult for awhile.  I lost a lot of blood for multiple reasons and due to the fact that I was already severely anemic (from being pregnant with twins) they had to give a blood transfusion.  Next I started having problems with oxygen levels and fluid in my lungs.  That’s on top of my high blood pressure, the pain from my c-section and the magnesium making me feel like I had the flu.  My awesome medical team decided it was best to keep me in Labor & Delivery for an extra day.  I had too many issues to move to post partum, but they didn’t want to have to admit me to ICU.  The nurses in this area don’t normally have patients who have already given birth, but they were so good to me!  I had someone in my room round the clock and the best care imaginable.  They were truly sweet and obviously concerned about me, I can’t tell you how much I appreciated their care.

Poor Ross didn’t have it easy either.  We couldn’t afford for our house to be delayed even further, so he was trying to deal with that while packing for the move and seeing me and the boys every chance he got.  He also had to have my sweet cat Isabelle put to the sleep the day after the boys were born, due to her diabetes getting progressively worse.  He had brought her up to the hospital so that I could hold her a few days earlier and it was extremely sad for both of us.  She was such a great cat for the 10 years that I had her and I still cry every time I think about her.

The hardest part of all was not seeing Jett & Canon.  They did take me up to the NICU twice in my bed, but after awhile I was too sick to move.  For the first two days I probably saw them a total of about 10 minutes.  

Aaron seeing Canon for the first time

Both Boys Have Really  Long Fingers & Toes

Sweet little Canon
Luckily, the NICU here has webcam program where I could get online and watch them.  That helped immensely!  Both boys were doing wonderfully for 32 week old babies.  They were both put on CPAP machines that gave them oxygen, but they were just on room mix air, which is what we breathe.  Other than that they didn’t need much assistance.  Both were on IVs and the other typical garb for a preemie, but nothing else, which made their mom & dad very happy!  We are more than happy to take all the other difficulties to have healthy little babies!  We thank god so much for them every day!

More updates soon to come on Jett & Canon with better pictures!