The twins have arrived!! {part 2}

Our twin girls, Anna & Audrey, have finally arrived.  They are such a delight.  We are happy that they are healthy and at home, being that they were born five weeks early at 34 weeks 6 days.  But those first few days after our unplanned delivery were difficult to say the least.

Knowing that most likely these babies were going to be born early, we had prepped ourselves for the new babies being take neonatal intensive care (NICU).  We figured if they were going to go it would have been right away, like after Dylan's birth when he was whisked to the NICU moments after birth.  We were prepared for that.  We had made it more that 24 hours with out something going on.  Both of us were excited that the girls were doing so well for being early.  We had been told later in the morning on Friday, September 14th that Anna had been having a hard time keeping her temperature up during the night and she was having labored breathing that was affecting her eating.  The NICU nurse at St. Anthony's was fighting for her to stay there, but she got overridden by our pediatrician.  Anna was taken to the NICU at Porter Hospital.  My heart just broke.  Audrey was doing just fine - eating, breathing, everything was just great.  I didn't like the fact that my babies were going to be split up.  At this point other than the brief moment we got to take some pictures, I had not had both babies with us at the same time.  I still was not able to tell them apart either because I had not been able to compare them, unlike Brian did since he was up there with them right after the c-section while I was in recovery.  I knew everything was going to be fine.  Still I was a complete mess, post-pregnancy hormones SUCK!!! It was hard to watch my baby be wheeled off to one hospital while Audrey and I stayed at another.

I got released from the hospital on Sunday, September 16 but Audrey had to stay another night.  That might have been the hardest night ever, feeling like I had abandoned all five of kids in different places.  It didn't help that Lucas, Emma and Dylan were mad at us for not bringing 'their' babies home.  Audrey did get to come home on Monday night.  It was a big deal at home.  Emma was jumping for joy that she had a sister!

Anna took a little longer.  She had some problems breathing.  Which then caused some issues with her eating.  She progressed a little each day but it took her until Friday, September 21 to come home.  Again it was a big deal.  The kids were so happy to have their other sister home.  Mom and Dad were even happier to have all five kids under one roof! 

We are very lucky that we had minimal issues with having twins early.  God has blessed us immensely.   My heart goes out to all those who have had premature babies and all the obstacles that they have to encounter before bringing their babies home.

Thanks for reading.  I hope you have enjoyed our birth and bringing home babies story.