Go Babies Go!

Monday::

Yesterday was one of the biggest days we have had in the nicu! First of all Abby & Will graduated to open air cribs yesterday morning! I won't lie it was a little sad to see the incubators leave the room. Those incubators had been keeping our sweet babies all warm and cozy not to mention they could lay at an incline, lay on their tummies and sides in them. And now they were moving to a flat bed with no temperature controls. So now they are in charge of maintaining their body temps more than they ever have been. We were warned to not be surprised if one or both ended back in an incubator as its hard work maintaining your body temp. And now they have to use their energy for this as well as eating from bottles full time. Yesterday was the first time anyone actually mentioned the babies going home and their nurse practitioner said the "the babies will be going home this week"! Yes...Babies. Home, This. Week! All the medical staff just keeps telling us that they are "blown away" and "pleasantly surprised" and "amazed" at how well Abby & Will are doing. They are referred to as "Rock Stars" daily! Can you tell I'm one proud mommy? I guess I really shouldn't be surprised as they have always been over achiever-the first time we ever saw them they were just over 5 weeks old and their hearts were already beating which our doctor could hardly believe! We were asked to bring up their car seats so they could do their car seat tests (they have to sit in their car seats for 90 minutes and not set off any of their alarms). So last night Vince & I took the car seats up to the nicu and got another surprise...Abby & Will got their feeding tubes out! So now the only wires they have are their monitors!

Tuesday::

Today was a big day as well! The babies had their hearing tests this morning. I wasn't very worried as they seem to respond to noises pretty well. I'm happy to report that both babies passed their tests at the earliest point they could and they passed with both ears at the same time. The tech said that that doesn't happen very often and is really rare for preemie babies and c-section babies to pass so quickly! Go Babies!

I was there for morning rounds this morning. We had a new doctor I hadn't met before and he was so so so impressed with how the babies were doing and said "Lets get these babies home as long as you are ready". I responded with heck yeah we are so ready! I don't want to jinx it but it looks like Thursday or Friday may be the big day as long as they keep up their feedings and body temps! I am also proud to say that today Will is now up to 5lbs 2 oz and Abby is up to 4lbs 15oz! By the time they come home we should have two 5 pounders on our hands!

Babies:: 1 Week Old

1 Week Old! Not how I had envisioned their 1 week picture but that's just the way it is right now. Soon enough they will be home in their anywhere chairs for these pictures. This first week was full of lots of firsts that I wish they never had to have like their first iv's, first feeding tubes and first x-rays. But they also had their first bottles which is a big deal! And they also celebrated their 1st holiday...St Patrick's Day!

Will's 1st Bottle

 Abby's 1st Bottle

1st St Patricks Day 

A & W

The babies had not been together since they were born. I think they had really missed each other. Abby snuggled right up to her brother and they slept and slept and slept. So peaceful. I could have sat there all day and just stared at them like this. And now I just can't stop looking at this picture!

William Collier

Little brother Will made his debut 1 minute after his sister at 7:17 am on Thursday, March 13, 2014! Will came out crying as well which was so such a relief! He weighed in at 4lbs 14oz and was 17 3/4 inches long. Will has been done nothing but surprise us on a daily basis. He didn't have the same bad few days his sister did. So he is about a day or so ahead of her developmentally wise but that can easily change. Monday was Wills first bottle feed and he took it like a champ! He got his oxygen off on Sunday and his iv came out Wednesday! All Will has now is his feeding tube and monitors.

Abigail Elizabeth

Our sweet sweet Abby entered the world at 7:16 am on Thursday, March 13, 2014! She came out screaming which was such an unexpected great sound. She weighed in at 4lbs 11oz and was 17 inches long! Poor Abby had a rough first few days-she didn't feel well and she sure let everyone know. She cried a lot and didn't want to be touched at all. It was so heartbreaking to see her like that and there was nothing we could do but hope it passed. Thankfully after about 3 days she started to feel better and has become quite the little snuggler. On Tuesday she got her first bottle and has been doing great with them. She still has her feeding tube for times when she gets tired. Bottle feeding really wears babies out so sometimes they need a little help. Wednesday she got her oxygen off and has been breathing great! We are hoping she will be off her iv in a few days and then she will just be what they call a feeder/grower in the nicu!

Babies:: 34 Weeks

Last Tuesday we hit 34 weeks and I felt a little bit of relief hitting one of the biggest goals of this pregnancy. The iron treatments had started to kick in and I was feeling a bit better besides the awful acid indigestion that had showed up. My weekly doctors appointment was Wednesday instead of the normal Thursday and we were excited to have our growth ultrasound. Wednesday morning started off with Ben & I laying in bed watching Paw Patrol while he played with the babies. Little did we know what the next 24 hours would have in store...

The ultrasound Wednesday showed the babies were both doing great and they had plenty of fluid. They estimated that Sister was 5lbs 4 oz and Brother was 5lbs 10 oz. We were surprised and relieved that they were over 5 lbs! Sister was still breach while Brother remained head down. After the ultrasound the nurse weighted me and I had gained 6 pounds in 6 days-I knew that was a bad sign. Then she took my blood pressure and it was the highest it had ever been in the office-something like 165/110. So all that and having a 3+ protein result in my urine sent us straight to labor & delivery. We checked into our old room 3209 and figured I would spend the night to be monitored and then be released. But yet again what everyone thought would be the plan wasn't how it worked out. My blood pressure kept rising and at 11pm I was put back on magnesium. This time I knew what to expect so that was a plus and we knew what helped me and what didn't to make it more tolerable. It was a pretty sleepless night of being miserable and counting down the hours until it would be over. But then about 6am a flood of people came charging into the room and said your blood pressures are getting worse, you officially have pre-eclampsia and the babies are coming out now. We barely had time to call our parents before I was getting wheeled away to the operating room. They didn't even wait for my doctor we had the on-call doctor, Dr Mitchell. He said he hated waiting this long (6am) he would have delivered me in the middle of the night had I not had a late dinner. Before I knew it my epidural and spinal block were in place and they were staring. A few minutes later at 7:16am Abigail Elizabeth was born crying followed by a crying William Collier at 7:17am. I got to see Will for about a minute while they worked on Abby and then I saw her for about 20 seconds before they whisked both away to the NICU.

I was back in my room by 7:40am. They skipped the recovery room because I needed to immediately go back on the magnesium for a minimum of 24 hours. That meant I was not allowed out of bed for 24 hours which meant I didn't get to see the babies for at least 24 hours. The next 24 hours are a big blur for me thanks to all the magnesium. But I know Vince was with the babies a lot and took lots of pictures and videos for me. We even FaceTimed a few times so I could see them "live"! His mom and my parents all got to go up and see the babies in the NICU that morning but Ben isn't allowed up. Since its cold & flu season only parents and grandparents are allowed in the NICU. Both the babies were doing great considering they were only 34 weeks 2 days. Both were getting nasal oxygen and were given iv's but that was pretty much it. Poor Abby was really not feeling well and she let everyone know it. I felt so bad for her. So helpless.

Friday morning Dr P decided after much debate to take me off the magnesium! But I was warned I could end up back on it. So after the mag was turned off they turned off my epidural drip and I got to get up and move to the mom/baby floor for recovery. And after the move I finally got to go see my babies 31 hours after they were born...

To say that those first few moments meeting them were overwhelming would be an understatement. Having your pregnancy end 6 weeks early is hard and having it end that early because your body failed your babies is even harder. Initially seeing your babies so tiny and all wired up is heartbreaking. The whole emergency delivery experience really robbed me of the little things I had planned on like a final belly pic and making sure to enjoy the last few moments of them kicking. Letting go of my "plan/vision" for their birth was hard too. But we are lucky. Lucky that we have a great doctor who was overprotective of me and my pregnancy. Lucky that we have 2 babies who are doing as well as they are. Lucky for all our family who have helped us these last few weeks survive all this and still are. Lucky to have such great friends for all their support and prayers. 

Babies:: 33 Weeks

33 Weeks! One more week closer to our next goal of 34 weeks! This week had 2 more iron treatments which I think I am finally starting to feel the effects of. Hopefully I'm not jinxing it but my never ending headache has been gone the past few days and I've felt better than I have in the past few weeks. My weekly doctors appointment went great compared to the last couple as we didn't end up in the hospital. My weigh is holding steady which is a good sign (gaining a lot during a week is a sign of pre-eclampsia), my blood pressure is hanging out in my "new normal zone" of 140/90 and my cervix has actually closed back up. Dr P. measured my belly and its measuring at 39 weeks. So its no wonder why I feel stretched to the max! We had a quick biophysical ultrasound to check on the babies overall well being and check their fluid levels. Both looked great and both have HAIR! So now we are wondering what color each will have and what color. For the record Vince thinks sister will have brown hair and brother will have blonde hair! I just wonder if they will have as much as Ben did. Sister is still breech-her little butt is actually sitting down in my pelvis. And brother is still head down and folded in half almost. Dr P. did say that there is still time for sister to flip so lets hope she gets on that soon!