As most of you now know, Kyle and I are officially a mom and dad! Words cannot describe our experiences this past week. First of all, we are thrilled to finally meet our little girls. They are perfect in every way, and we feel as though we cannot love them enough. It truly is a love like no other. Second, we have been on the emotional roller coaster of our lives this week, as well. Sophie and Campbell were born on Friday October 22nd, 2010. I was 35 weeks to the day. I went in Thursday for my twice weekly non-stress test. At my doctor's appointment a few days before, my blood pressure was a bit high, and I had gained (are you ready?) eleven pounds in 2 weeks. Was I eating ice cream and donuts at every meal you ask? No. I'm fairly certain that about 7 lbs. of that weight was water. I was definitely starting to swell up, and it happened fast. This is one of the big signs of pre-eclampsia. My doctor didn't seem too worried. Just that he wanted to make sure my blood pressure was closely monitored at my non-stress tests. So Thursday at the NST, my BP continued to climb. The nurse had me give a urine sample, which contained a trace of protein (another sign of pre-eclampsia). She also drew some blood which appeared to be borderline. She called my doctor, and he decided that I was far enough along that it would be safer to take the babies now than wait for me or them to get sick. I was shocked to say the least. I had no bags at the hospital, and Kyle was at work. Fortunately about mid way through my visit, I called him and told him to get up to the hospital quick as I had a feeling we might be getting some big news. About 15 minutes after his arrival, we get the news that we will be having the girls that night. I started to panic and kept trying to wrap my brain around the fact that I would be meeting them in 3-4 hours. Kyle was so excited, but the mom in me just started worrying that they might not be ready, and I just wanted healthy babies. At about 4:00, Dr. Shanbour called us and said that they had had a record-setting crazy day in labor and delivery and that he could do the C-section at 9 or 10:00, but he thought it would be better to wait until 6 am the next morning. I happily agreed (this meant I got to eat dinner, and I was starving). I also needed just a bit more time to try to mentally prepare myself for this. So we spent a sleepless night at the hospital, and 6 am came very fast. So off we go to the OR. For those of you who have experienced C-sections, it's the most fast and furious thing I have ever experienced. I was in the OR by 6:00, and we had babies less than 30 minutes later!
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| Campbell Jane Nevels 5 lbs. 7 oz. 18 in. long 6:27 am |
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| Sophie Kay Nevels 4 lbs. 12 oz 18 in. long 6:28 am |
Aunt Sara also did a wonderful post about their arrival.
As I write this, both of our girls are still in the NICU. I could write many things about our experience with the NICU this past week. I will sum it up by saying it's been the single most difficult experience of my life. There is nothing normal about having a baby(ies) and having to go home without them. I have shed more tears of grief, joy, and love this week than in my entire life combined. I'm overwhelmed with love every time I look at my girls, and at the same time, grief because we have not been able to bring them home. Let me also say that I know without a doubt how fortunate and blessed we are that they are perfectly healthy, and will only spend a little over a week in the hospital. I know many other moms have and will spend many weeks and months with their babies in the NICU, and my heart breaks for them. The only issue our girls have ever had is getting the hang of feeding. As preemies, it's very difficult at first for them to maintain the strength to keep their body temperature warm and eat enough for them to gain weight. Who knew these 2 things could require so much energy? They were on oxygen for the first day, and taken out of their incubators on the second day. The most difficult part of this week has by far been the many instances of false hope. At first, we believed we would be able to take them home with us, then it was going to be by Wednesday, then Friday, then tomorrow, and now we are cautiously optimistic it could be Sunday evening. We just need our girls to take their feedings well through the night and into tommorow. They have done wonderful overall, and we pray with everything in us that they will continue the trend through tomorrow. We by no means want them to come home before they are ready, but it has been the biggest test of patience for us to acknowledge that we cannot control their readiness. Kyle has been phenomenal throughout this week and my rock. I realize more each day as I watch him with the girls that he is already an incredible father, and these girls have melted his heart. He has taken on the dirty diapers and feedings like a pro.The other night he whispered to me before falling asleep that he can't believe he ever wanted a boy, and this of course melted mommy's heart.
I will end this by saying thank you to all of you who have said many prayers for our little miracles. We have felt all of your support and love, and we will be forever grateful for it. A special thanks to our amazing families. You brought us food, gifts, love, support, and shoulders to cry on during such a wonderful and challenging week. All of the texts, phone calls, and facebook comments have warmed our hearts and sustained our hope. Above all, we know without a doubt that God has had his arms around our girls and us this week, and we pray he will continue to.
We can't wait to share so many more wonderful pictures and moments of our girls with you.
xoxo
