So I have outside babies....part 2

I remember the moment I heard that first cry - it was the sweetest sound I have ever heard in my life.  They told H to stand up and he took a couple of pics, then the peds team took him to the side to clean him off and do the apgar test.  I craned my neck around to try and see them.  Then they called H to come over to take some pics, but the anesthesiologist quickly called him back because baby girl was making her debut!  It took a moment and then I heard her squack!  I swear she's my little bird, she makes the cutest bird like sounds that melt my heart.  They did the same thing, H took a pic and the peds took her aside.  I lay there just hoping I would get a chance to see them before they'd be whisked away to the NICU, knowing there was a very good chance that I might not.  Then the peds doc brings L over and I got to see him and give him a kiss, it was incredible to meet my son.  Then she took him back and brought E over and I got to give her a kiss.  I will cherish these moments forever.  I may not have got the labour and delivery I wanted, I may not have got my skin to skin, I may not have been able to snuggle them and BF right away - but at least I got to meet them before they went to the NICU and I went to recovery.

My mom came to be with me in recovery while I sent H to watch over the babies.  He texted updates and pics to me.  It was so hard not to be with them, but thank goodness for modern technology or I would have gone crazy!  I spent about 2hrs in recovery, then back to my room.  It was about to be a long night of wishing I was with them and counting the hours until that happened.  The next morning I had mores tests done and every moment felt like eternity waiting to get to the NICU.  When I finally got there, it was amazing to finally get to be with them.  We got to do our skin to skin and that was probably one of the very best moments of my life.  Holding E so close to me, I could feel my heart and soul just filling with more love than I could have ever imagined.  That was my daughter!  Then to look over and see my husband holding his son - be still my heart, I just couldn't be any happier.

The next couple of days were rough.  My preeclampsia worsened, my potassium levels were a mess, they were concerned about my kidneys, my BP was all over the place - it was kind of awful.  I felt awful and it was hard to spend as much time in the NICU as I wanted because they kept needing me for more tests.  After a couple of days, things finally started to improve, with my health, and with how much time I could spend with the babies.  I was finally on the road to recovery.

L&E are amazing.  They have been breathing on their own since birth (yay for longer cooking and steroids!).  They had a little jaundice, which wasn't a huge deal and is so common, but it meant they had to be under the phototherapy lights all day, which made it hard to snuggle them.  I also started pumping right away, but it was so tough trying to recover from my health issues and the c section, plus the fact I'm pumping and can't actually BF.  I'm not even going to get into the two least helpful NICU nurses who basically gave me grief about not producing enough milk on day 3 and how my babies are hungry and I need to pump exactly ever 3 hours so I'm doing it wrong.  It was all the stuff a newly post partum mom with babies in the NICU wants to hear.  Let's leave it there.

Anyways, today, they are 9 days old and doing amazing!  They have both now surpassed their birth weights, (E was 3lbs,7oz, and L was 3lbs,14oz).  They basically need to fatten up and learn to breast/bottle feed in order to come home.  The doctor said perhaps in another 10 days, before next weekend!!  I couldn't be happier!!! I know that's not set in stone, but it gave me such hope and happiness.  The nursery here is all ready, we're just missing the babies!  There is so much more that I could say, but I am out of energy and I've already been crazy long winded, haha.  It has been a tough week being a NICU mom who can't drive yet, but we're hanging in there.  Here are my munchkins :)