Catie & Carter are Here!

Our little girls were born yesterday morning at about 8:50a.m. one minute a part. Carter Elizabeth weighed 4 pounds 2 ounces at 17 inches and Catherine Margaret weighed 3 pounds 13 ounces at 15 inches. They are beautiful, have all of their fingers and toes, and have no major health issues - for that we are truly blessed and happy. However, they are very small and Carter is having trouble breathing, so they have been in the NICU since they were born and are likely (we are told) to be there for at least 2 weeks. Its been a surreal, somewhat unexpected experience:

We arrived at the hospital at 6:30am for a c-section scheduled for 8:30. When Will was born, the hospital was extremely busy, we barely saw anyone while we waited and then had a flurry of excitement right before they took me into the OR and performed the delivery about 4 hours late. This time, it was very quiet, I was the only OB surgical patient, had time to talk to all the various doctors and such, and was wheeled into the OR at about 8:20. Before the c-section, I had small crampy-feeling pains, and apparently was having some very small contractions. My OB, Dr. Risinger, said that it was very possible yesterday was the day I would have gone into labor and required the c-section anyway! (Both girls, like Will, have been breached for the last month or so.)

I was nervous and scared when they wheeled me toward the OR and got me prepped with the spinal. It really is nerve-wracking to be a surgical patient! But everything went well. The spinal was not the worse thing in the world to go through, and I was very numb quickly. At about 8:40, they started the procedure and Ellis came and sat next to me. Having his hand on my shoulder during the surgery calmed me down a lot. Then, at about 8:50, I heard them announce that Baby A's sac was being ruptured and - lo and behold - we heard a great cry from Carter Elizabeth and heard the doctor laughing because Carter apparently peed everywhere when she came out (Just like her brother!). We did not see her yet as they took her to the bassinet in the corner of the room that we could not see. Then, one minute later, we heard them announce that Baby B's sac was being ruptured and there was Catie. We did get a little picture of her before they took her to her bassinet to be checked out.

Catie was taken out to be weighed by the NICU nurse and was a tiny 3 pounds 13 ounces. Ellis left the surgery room with her to check out the weight and, meanwhile, another NICU nurse told me that Carter was doing fine but was having some trouble breathing so they were going to have to take her up to the NICU. Ellis came back in with the other nurse, and we learned that Catie would have to go up too because she was weighing so small. The little incubators they have in the NICU would keep Catie warm so she would not lose any weight burning calories to keep warm in the regular nursery. They wrapped Catie up and Ellis held her for a short visit with Mommy before she went to the NICU. We only briefly saw Carter before they took her up -- she already had tubes on her to help her breathe.

Dr. Risinger said that Catie's placenta was a good 1/2 to 1/3 the size of Carter's. She was very glad we went ahead and delivered yesterday because it was clear to her that Catie was done growing and Carter probably was too. It made me feel better to know that we had done the right thing in scheduling their delivery when I was exactly 35 weeks pregnant.

Throughout the day yesterday, Catie continued to do well, but Carter was having trouble breathing. Both of their lungs are fully developed, but Carter's little sacs on the lungs (can't think what they are called) would not inflate and operate like they should. Interestingly, because of Catie's small size and impending stress in my womb, Catie's lungs likely developed quicker than Carter's so she has done better on the outside than her sister. (Babies under stress develop their lungs quicker.)

After the surgery, Ellis went with the girls to the NICU and kept me posted with texting or coming down to talk to me. My parents, after having waited on Will to wake up and take him to school, were at the hospital about 8:30 and Ellis' mom and sister and our niece, Kate, arrived a little thereafter.

The rest of the day is a big blur as I slowly began to accept that my little girls would be in the NICU a whole lot longer than a couple days. I was in my postpartum room by about 10:30. I could not get in a wheelchair to go upstairs to the NICU until I had feeling back in my legs and could get out of the bed. But at least I could begin pumping a tiny bit of breastmilk around noon because that is the one thing I know that I can do for them. I recovered just fine from the c-section - didn't take any pain medication until around 8pm. At about 4:30, our family had left and it was just Ellis and me and he took me up to the NICU to really see my girls for the first time.

Ellis prepared me a lot for what I would see, so I was not that "upset" to see them in their little incubators. I reached in and touched both of them, and I got to hold Catie for a good 20 minutes or so. She is just absolutely precious - opening her eyes, grasping fingers. She looks just like Will did when he was born. Oh I just love her. I still have not held Carter yet because she has the CPAP across her face to help her breathe. Because of all of the stuff on her - the CPAP and tape and such - we still do not know exactly what she looks like. She alludes me even after she comes out of the womb. :)

Here are some sweet pictures of the two (which I'm sure you are all more interested in than all this birth story info!):

Catie

Carter

We visited them again at about 9:30pm. Its weird to have actually slept last night because I cannot have babies in the room with me. We can go up anytime except during shift changes at 7-9 am and pm, but its hard for me to get up there. I am hopeful that I will be much better today and able to go see them much more frequently today. I called at about 4am and both girls had great reports. They took the little tube providing a little oxygen through Catie's nose off last night. Carter continues to be on the CPAP (poor thing - I just want to rip that big tube OFF of her). Their labs looked great. Both girls have a little bit high bilirubin levels so they added some light therapy for both of them last night. I can't wait to go check on them in about an hour!!

One thing we know for sure is that the girls are not identical because they have totally different blood types. Also, although all I can really see are Carter's eyebrows, I can tell that she looks different than Catie.

Although they are doing well, the NICU staff keeps telling us they generally tell everyone that the babies will not come home until their due date. This is May 4th and I have a hard time believing they will be there THAT long. But, realistically, it sounds like it will be a good 2 weeks. Its hard to grapple the fact that they will not be coming home with me when I get discharged and that I will be home without my girls, pumping breast milk, and visiting the NICU day in and day out. I just want them home!!

My parents brought Will by last night to visit Ellis and me. It was so wonderful to give him a huge hug. He is confused, asking where the girls are. I guess he will have to continue to be because it is very hard to describe to him what is going on. No children under 16 are allowed anywhere near the NICU, so he can't even see the girls through a window - just pictures.

I will certainly update as I learn more today. I cross my fingers that they continue to improve throughout the day and we get more information on what we are looking for, etc as to when they can be released. Hopefully, the girls, at least Catie, will be able to get some breastmilk today (they are just getting fluids right now) and this will help them start to grow even better.