Week 36, Day 4

Well, where to begin? We got up last Thursday morning, got dressed, and got ready for the hospital. We stopped by Publix on the way to pick up some snacks. We learned our lesson that food after 6pm can be hard to come by if you don't want to leave the hospital. The check-out girl asked when I was due. We laughed and said today!

Once we got to the hospital they checked us into a Labor and Delivery room, but it was only for the pre-operative prep work. They took my vitals, checked the babies' heartbeats, and gave me an IV. Since the spinal can cause nausea, they also gave me a cocktail of anti-stomach acid medications. Unfortunately that made me feel kind of bad, but only for about 15 min. J donned blue paper scrubs, a mask, and shoe covers.

My nurse, Sarah, (whom I've had at least during two previous visits) held my IV and wheeled me into the operating room. J had to stay outside in the hall until me and the room were ready. I sat with my legs off one side of the operating table while the anesthesiologist gave me a spinal injection. There was a brief kind of pain or burn at the injection site that shot down my back, but otherwise it wasn't bad at all. By the time they administered the shot and had me lay down, my feet were already numb.

My arms were kind of spread eagle on two support platforms. In my left arm was my IV, with a blood oxygen monitor on my finger. The other arm had a blood pressure cuff and a hand available for J to hold. The operating room was amazingly cold. The nurses piled 3 layers of warm-from-the-dryer blankets on my arms and upper body. Meanwhile other nurses worked on getting my belly sterilized and ready for baby extraction. They put pressure cuffs on my calves to help maintain blood flow.

Once everything was ready and a blue sheet was in place by my head, they let J in to sit near my head. About this time I was feeling kind of weird. My body from the chest down was numb to pain but I could still feel pressure. I started to get kind of freaked out that I couldn't move my toes, even though I could sort of feel them. I just had to stop thinking about it and get a grip.

Before I knew it, they were making the incision. Baby A, named Alexander James, was delivered at 2:30pm. He weighed 6lb 5oz and was 17.5in long. He immediately started crying and peeing. I could hear the nurses laughing as they tried to dodge the flow. The wailing was soon made a duet when Baby B, named Zachary Kenneth, was delivered at 2:31pm. He weighed 5lb 14oz and was 18in long. Just like his brother, the pee flowed. While the nurses were dealing with that, Alex peed again while being weighed. There was all kinds of baby comedy going on. hehe

The time it took the OB to sew me back up was much longer than it took to have the babies. During that time my blood pressure went low and I started feeling dizzy. The anesthesiologist was quick to respond with some medication to get it back up. Another side effect of the spinal was my uncontrollable shaking. It was pretty strong in my arms and looked like I was freezing, even though that wasn't the case.

J had the video camera out and was trying to capture everything going on with the babies. Both of them continued to cry at the top of their lungs until the nurses bundled them together. Immediately they went silent and were content. Our greatest hope was realized when both babies got a clean bill of health. Neither needed to spend any time in the NICU or nursery. We were going to the Mom and Baby Room as a family! J got to hold the babies (still sharing the same blanket) while they got me ready to be wheeled to the room. For the actual journey, though, I got to hold them for the first time. It felt great to have them in my arms, but a little scary since I was still shaky. J and I were both stunned at how much they weighed together - over 12lb of baby is a lot!

We spent about 30 min in the room together while the nurses finished their inspection of the babies. The only thing of note was that Alex had a little low of a body temperature. He was placed in a warmer to help correct it. Later I held him skin to skin and finally got his temp control working right. We also did our first breast feeding then. It went well and both babies seemed to get some milk.

Pretty soon family was allowed in, including all of the nephews. It was fun watching everyone holding them and getting to know the newest additions. I was on a couple of pain medications plus the residual spinal so the exact details of their visit is a little hazy. I took the time to kind of relax while everyone else was tending to the babies. After the last family member left, the nurse came in and gave the boys a sponge bath and washed their hair. They didn't much like the first part, but the hair washing was a big hit. hehe

Over the next 3 days, J and I learned all about swaddling, diaper changing, breast feeding, pumping, and general baby maintenance. While the boys did do a lot of breast feeding in the beginning, it soon became obvious that they weren't really ready to handle that. We spent over an hour trying to get them to suck - the latching on was easy. A lactation consultant helped us get on a schedule that involved continuing to try to get them to breast feed while supplementing them with formula and pumping/feeding them what colostrum I could produce. The boys eat every 3hrs or sooner if they look hungry. They seem very happy and healthy with this set-up.

A pediatrician from Parkside came to evaluate the babies every day we were in the hospital. While they look pretty identical to me, except that Alex is a little bigger, the main difference the doctor found was that Zach has a dimple at the base of his spine, where his behind starts. It's no concern medically, though we do have to be sure it's clean during diaper changings.

We all came home on Sunday, 3 days after they were born. During the day they sleep in a pack 'n play in the living room. We've been changing them on the coffee table and generally hang out with them on the couch and chair. At night they sleep in the co-sleeper in our room. We change them on the bed. Our routine is that I'll take the hungriest looking baby and check his diaper. If it's dirty, I'll change him. Then I'll try to breast feed him. If it looks like it's working, great. Otherwise J starts making up a batch of formula. I pass the first baby off to J for feeding and get started on the second one's diaper. Our boys love to eat, so J is normally finishing up with the first one's burping by the time the second one has a clean diaper and is ready to go. I'll start pumping while the second one is eating. J helps me at the end of pumping. The whole process takes us about an hour, giving us around 2hrs between feeding sessions to sleep, eat, or take a shower.

This has been a mega-length post but I wanted to add some cute pictures, too. While they were in the hospital, they had their first pictures taken. You can view them here, with the option to buy (Password is R0T5L9V8S8 if you need it). Be sure you use the dropdown box to view all of them. Half are under Alexander, while the rest are listed as Zachary.

I need to go pump now but will be back later to add more pictures!