The birth

Several of you have asked what prompted the boys' early arrival on Friday. I'll start the story by saying that Ben hasn't been out of town since late summer. On Friday he needed to go to Mankato for work (about 1 1/2 hours from our house). We joked on Thursday night about how he hasn't missed any of the hundreds of doctor appointments and it would be our luck that something would happen on Friday while he was out of town. Well, on Friday afternoon I started having pretty strong contractions (every 5 minutes) similar to the ones I would have at night but it was unusual to have that many during the day. If I hadn't been so uncomfortable I probably would have driven myself to the hospital. I called Ben around 3:00 as he was leaving Mankato and said if they didn't get any better I was going to call the doctor when he got home. They didn't get any better so I called the doctor and they sent me in to the hospital. I was having contractions about every 4 minutes and my cervix was dilated to about 2 cm. They gave me a shot of terbutaline and said if things didn't slow down in 20 minutes they would do a c-section that night. Last time I had been in with contractions the shot calmed things down instantly but this time the shot had no effect. Nurses started scurrying and we quickly realized it was go time. They called the doctor and he arrived by about 7:15 and told us we'd have babies before 8:00. Talk about QUICK. Ben was really excited and couldn't understand why I was a little more nervous than excited. Something about cutting me open at the midsection had my mind preoccupied! I was 35 weeks 3 days on Friday. The nurses, doctor, etc. asked if we had our camera. While we had some things packed at home we hadn't brought a thing. While I thought this time there was a chance they would be delivered I was still in denial. In fact I think I still am - I can't believe it's real. I can't believe they are mine and that both of them (even though they are small) were inside of me. I can't believe how perfect they are...it is such a miracle.

The boys' favorite nurse is Mary Beth - she works the day shift (7 am till 7 pm). Of course all of their nurses say that they are the cutest little boys in the nursery, but Mary Beth said this afternoon that the boys are very well tempered. She said she thinks babies are either born fussy or calm. I sure hope she is right!

Everything is going very well. The boys continue to eat pretty well. Today is Mason's last day of antibiotics and they are now reducing their IV fluids and the boys should be IV-free sometime tomorrow we hope. It will be very nice to have one less cord. Last night we gave them each their first bath (first bath that we gave them but not their first bath) and weighed them. Prior weighs 5 pounds 5 ounces so he has gained 3 ounces since he was born. We can definitely tell in his face that he has put on a few "O-Z's". Mason weighed 5 pounds 3 ounces which is what he weighed at birth. They are gaining weight so that is a great sign.

The doctors are hearing a heart murmur on Prior so they have ordered an ultrasound of his heart tomorrow. It sounds like the fact that he is anemic and his blood is thinner can make it sound like a murmur when everything is just fine. Many babies can have murmurs so we hope that there isn't anything structurally wrong with his heart. Please say a little prayer for Prior.

The placenta report came back today and we spoke with the doctor about it. They sent it in for testing after the birth because they were identical and there was only one placenta. The doctor used a lot of medical terms but essentially they concluded there was some "communication" (twin to twin transfusion (TTTS)) between the two babies' based on how each of their umbillical cords were attached to the placenta. This means there was some sharing of circulation between the two. In TTTS the donor twin becomes small and anemic (in this case, Prior), and the recipient twin becomes large and overloaded with blood (Mason). It is a very good thing it was a c-section because there could have been more trouble had the delivery process taken longer. The doctor also said we are pretty lucky there were no other issues with the TTTS earlier in the pregnancy as it can be very serious for both babies. What a blessing. All of our family and friends' positive thoughts and prayers definitely helped.

The boys billirubin scores (jaundice level) have been increasing but they are still not high enough to require the lights. They retest that every day so hopefully their scores stay down so they don't have to go under the lights.

Auntie Cara flew back home this afternoon. Thank you Cara for all of your great help! We are going to miss you and can't wait for you to come back and see us soon.

This is a video of Mason - enjoy!