Sisterly Love

This afternoon I went in Madalyn's room to wake her up from a 4 hour + nap. She was still asleep and when the door creaked she rolled over and opened her eyes. She looked up at me and in a very cute, very sweet, very loving voice asked "Is Baby Samuel and Baby Hannah home yet?"

It was so sweet yet broke my heart. It's hard knowing that Mark and I aren't the only ones who miss our babies tremendously. Madalyn has not been able to see Sam or Hannah as she's not old enough to get into the NICU. We show her pictures quite often, and we hear her playing with her babies and talking about "Sam and Hannah." So, I know she knows something is going on. She will tell you that the babies are in the hospital because they are too little to come home - which is also super cute!

She's going to be a great big sister and I can't wait to be able to bring those 2 little peanuts home to meet her! She'll definitely be mommy #2!

3 + 2 = FIVE!!!

The last picture of me pregnant - 30 weeks.



Life has taken a drastic change since I last posted on this blog. We moved everything from our old house to our new house on Thursday, May 7th and we closed on both houses on Friday the 8th. Monday the 11th I had a random doctors appointment and ended up being wheeled over to Labor & Delivery. I was admitted and our babies, Samuel Charles and Hannah Elizabeth, were born on Thursday, May 14th at 30 weeks gestation. I was released on Sunday and came home to enjoy our new home - sadly, without the babes.

For those of you that don't know the story - here's the basic gist... I went in for my sono / appt on the 11th and found out that I was dilated 3-4cm. The perinatologist said that my Dr would probably want me admitted and the next thing I know I'm being wheeled over to L & D, sobbing the whole way. I was admitted and immediately put on magnesium sulfate to try to stop labor. I went through this whole process with Madalyn when I had pre-term labor with her so I was used to all the meds they put me on and the protocol. I was checked again after being admitted and the nurse said that I was then up to 5cm dilated and 70% effaced. She said I also had a bulging bag of water. Next thing I know, everyone is running around and tensions were high. I actually thought that the babies were going to be making their entrance that day. One of the pastors from our church was there and prayed with us. I was put on more IV fluids and given my first dose of surfactant (steroids) for the babies' lungs. This would help them tremendously if they were to be born early.

I was in the hospital battling with contractions (some very strong ones) until Thursday morning. I was only on the magnesium sulfate for a day but then I was also given a shot of terbutaline. This also helps to try to stop the contractions. I also received the second dose of the surfactant for the babies' lungs. Contractions came and went. I was told that I would be in the hospital until the babies were born. Ugh. I knew it was what was best for me but it was so hard to (1) be away from Madalyn and Mark and (2) not be able to relax and enjoy our new home. At times I was extremely discouraged but I continued to remind myself that the Lord was in control.

Thursday, the 14th, my doctor came in to check me. He said I was still at 5cm but that he could make it 7cm which meant that I could be ready to give birth at any time - my body was heading in that direction. He said he could also feel Hannah's head. He said that at that point he didn't want to just keep feeding medicines into my body if my body was ready for babies to come out. He wanted to check with the perinatologist and he said he would get back to me as soon as he decided what to do. About an hour and a half later, my nurse came in and said that they were going to do a C-Section at 3pm that afternoon to prevent any kind of emergency situation. They wanted to make the birth as stress free for the babes as possible and because they were so small and Sam was breech they were going to have to do a C-Section. I started crying and when Mark came out of the restroom he knew exactly what was going on.

My C-Section took place around 5pm that evening. Everything went as smooth as could be. I didn't freak out too much and I felt absolutely nothing. Hannah was born first at 5:30 and Sam was born at 5:31. She weighed 3lbs 12oz and was 16.5 inches long. Sam was just a little guy at 2lbs 11oz and 15 inches long. Both came out crying as loud as they could (which was an enormous relief for Mark - breathing is key at this point). They were in the OR a little while before going upstairs to the NICU - so we knew nothing was seriously wrong or they would've been wisked away immediately. I even was able to kiss Hannah before they took her upstairs. I was able to go up to the NICU after recovery and see the babies. Both were breathing room air and had only a C-PAP on - this was just to regulate the pressure in the lungs to help open and close. Because they were so small, they tend to "tire" out when breathing so the CPAP helps them with that. Praise that they weren't on any oxygen though. Both were off the CPAP machines by about 3 days old.

Since I've been released from the hospital, we've been at the hospital at least once every day. It's been hard to work around schedules and being with Madalyn as I'm trying not to "push" her to the side but we're making it work. Every day that they've been there has been a step in the right direction.

Just today when we went in to see them we got great news! Both babes are now above their birth weight which is awesome! Praise God! Babies typically lose weight after they are born and for little babies like ours this can be really scary. But today we learned they are beefing up! They are eating every 3 hours now and have even increased the amount they are taking. This is good news because it means that they are digesting well. They both are still under bili lights for jaundice but this is common in preemies. Hopefully now that they are eating more and digesting it better, this will go down quickly. They are doing great and are absolutely ADORABLE! Big Sister Mady talks about them all the time and constantly tells everyone she sees that she is a Big Sister now! She can't wait for them to come home.

It will still be about 4 weeks or so before they are able to come however it could be quicker... we'll see. They will start trying to take bottles here in the next week or so. Hopefully before long they will be moved from the isolet (baby in a box) and moved into cribs - then we can hold them whenever we want (right now we can only hold them once a day during a feeding).

I'll try to post updates more often now that I'm at home and feeling good. I am not feeling any pain right now - just a little tired from pumping every 3 hours. Other than that, I'm doing well. I have to admit that it's good to be home however it's really hard to leave my babies at the hospital. I do know that the Lord has a plan and that they will be home soon. We'll be able to look back on this time as a small blurp on the radar.

Thanks for all of your prayers and encouragement! We appreciate all that everyone has done for us! You are all so special to us!!!

By the way, I wanted to say a HUGE THANK YOU to my husband! While I was in the hospital for a week he spent 50+ hours unpacking and setting up things in our new home so that when I came home I wouldn't have to do anything. Doing this along with taking care of a 2 year old is definitely taxing and so I wanted to thank him! I love you baby!

The first time that Daddy got to hold his SON!

Mommy holding her newest daughter for the first time.

Mom and Samuel
Daddy and Hannah (both sound asleep!)
My baby girl - keeping me company at the hospital!

Big Girl Bed

We've been wanting to transfer Madalyn over to her "Big Girl Bed" for a while now, but with packing and moving it just hasn't worked out. My cousin graciously gave us the twin bed that her son used when he was little (since he has since moved to a bunk bed), and we've been storing it at her house until the last possible minute. We just didn't want to move it twice before we got into our new house.

Anyway, we have the bed now and it's in storage here. Saturday night we were on a packing spree and decided to take down Madalyn's crib. We simply put her mattress on the floor and called it her "Big Girl Bed." She went bananas. The minute we got the crib out of her room and put her blankets and such on her new bed, she started asking "Will you tuck me in, Mommy? I want to go to bed." We definitely were not putting her to bed at 4:30 in the afternoon! ha! She asked the rest of the evening if it was time to go to bed yet. Finally at 6:30 we gave her a bath and the go-ahead to get into her Big Girl Bed. It was so cute. She was so excited. We did explain to her that there were 2 rules that she needed to obey; (1) she was not to get up in the middle of the night - she had to stay in bed (I didn't want her running around playing) and (2) in the morning, when she woke up, she was to ask if she could get out of bed. Mark and I went back and forth on this one and decided this would be best right now. I wasn't too hip on her walking around at crazy hours in the morning.

The first night in her bed went better than we had expected. She rolled off the mattress once at 12:30am to which she was yelling from her room, "Mommy, will you tuck me in again, please?" Other than that she was in her bed the whole evening. Sunday morning Mark heard her asking if she could get up at 6:30. We have a rule in our house that we don't get her out of her bed until 7am so Mark told her that it wasn't time to get up. At 7 she asked, from her bed, "Mommy, may I get up please?" I went in and she was still laying in her bed. Yay! It was a good night.

Sunday afternoon was the second test as it was her first nap in her bed. We again went over the rules and she did exactly what we asked! I'm so proud of her!

If she is this excited about a mattress on the floor, she is going to be super excited when we put up her real bed and get her new bedding and such. I can't wait!!! On the other hand, it was sad to take down the crib - my little girl is growing up!!!