Two Miracles

This morning at 4:45 am I woke up and realized that I might be in labor. By 7:00 the nurse said I was ready to deliver and basically ran out of the room. I shocked everyone--including myself. By 8:00 am I was on the operating table awaiting an ultrasound report to know the babies position. The doctors scrambled to the hospital in time and I think I had about 10-12 people "hopping" around the OR getting ready. There were 2 doctors (one per baby), 2 nurses, and the staff (doctors and nurses) from the NICU ready to take the babies. I think there were 3-4 per baby. The anesthesiologist was there too behind me waiting to hear if I would be put under.

We welcomed the happy news that the boy was turned head down and ready along side his sister! They told the anesthesiologist that he could leave (I was glad to see him leave) when I refused the epidural and both babies arrived by 9:06 am. I'll admit after our baby girl arrived at 8:52 am, I felt spent and a little tired that I would need to do that again. After only a few minutes, our baby boy arrived at 9:06 am. They both are nearly the same weight at 3 lbs 10 oz, 17 3/4 inches long (girl--Sydney) and 3 lbs 10.5 oz, 16 1/2 inches long (boy--Ethan). Their heads look pretty good size, but their bodies are pretty tiny. Their breathing looks pretty labored and they tend to skip a few breaths. I didn't see them really until an hour or so after delivery when they wheeled me into the NICU. They both have dark hair and we've seen Sydney's dark eyes. Ethan hasn't shown his eyes to us yet.

It is pretty hard to see such tiny babies hooked up to so many tubes, but they are ours and we feel so blessed. We've shed our fair share of tears today, but we are still excited and hopeful that we'll be able to hold them soon and take them home with us within the next weeks or months.

We can visit them in the NICU often, but there are no windows and very few visitors are allowed. So, we can only show them off via photos and video. We didn't bring our camera cord with us, but have some video I'll upload a little later. Thanks for your love and prayers--we have felt the presence of many angels sustaining us this week as we've prepared for their early arrival. We'll have time to get our babies' room ready at home for a few weeks while the great staff of doctors and nurses take care of our very little ones.