After 7 1/2 long and trying months our sweet boys came into our world December 1, 2010! Though they were 6 weeks early we are so grateful that they are very healthy little boys! We are so in love with them!
The last few weeks of the pregnancy I had been battling with issues of preeclampsia. The Doctors were watching me very carefully since my blood pressure had moments where it would spike etc. They had told me to look for other signs as well. As the weeks went on these other symptoms also started to appear. One thing they had told me to look for was upper gastric pain around my liver. Doesn't that just sound pleasant?! Well, on November 27th around 4am I woke up in terrible pain so I called the Dr. and he said to go in to the hospital to be looked at. When I got there they did lab work etc. and saw that my liver enzyme level was elevated so they decided to keep me.
The next few days were a very long roller coaster ride. One hour I would feel fine and the next I would feel awful and my blood pressure would spike. They decided that it was best not to send me home at this point but to keep me from then until to boys came - whenever that may be. At this point I was only 34 weeks so they were trying to hold off on delivering the boys as far as they possibly could to give them a better chance to have less complications with their lungs etc.. They said that every day that they kept them inside of me that would keep them out of the NICU for two.
Around 9pm on November 30th I started to have the awful upper gastric pain again. They came in and gave me a shot of staidol (sp)for the pain. It helped for a while (as well as made me say all kinds of crazy things - like telling Jordan that my Best friend lived in a bubble gum machine house that was blue and she needed to be nice and stop yelling at her Chinese neighbor about her rug. She doesn't even have a Chinese neighbor- nor does she live in a bubble gum machine!ha!) But once the meds wore off the pain was still there. So they tried to give me another pain medication around midnight but it didn't do anything at all. At this point (around 4am) it was getting much much worse so the nurse decided that the Doctor needed to come back in and these babies needed to be born before my liver literally burst.
By 4:45am the Doctor was there, our parents were called and we were headed back to the operating room. It all seemed very quick to me and I was so excited that not only would I be meeting my sons but would also no longer be in pain. Well, that kind of pain at least - c-section recovery is a whole other story! They did the spinal and gave me a few different shots of antibiotics in case my liver decided to cause problems during surgery. All of the med combinations they gave me so fast made me throw up which was def. not easy or fun when you are tied down to a table laying on your back. Poor little anesthesiologist man who had to hold my head since Jordan wasn't allowed back there yet! He was very nice about it though ha!
At 5:55am Kohen James was born weighing 5 lbs 4 ozs and a few seconds behind him at 5:56am Kennan Mills (pronounced KEN-nan not KEE-nan) was born weighing 4 lbs 9 ozs! As soon as they pulled Kennan out I could instantly breathe again- it was amazing!!! ha! I even said out loud "Oh my goodness I can breathe!" Which made the doctors and nurses bust out laughing! After having to receive a few shots internally because they were having trouble stopping the bleeding because of my Raynoids syndrome I was all sewn/stapled up and headed to recovery. Our sweet boys were sent to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) since they were so early to be evaluated.
After 10 (very looooooong!) hours (I had to be put back on the magnesium sulfate to soak up the toxins from the liver etc. so I had to wait to be able to see them.) I was finally able to be wheeled down to see my sweet boys in the NICU. Jordan was able to go down there a few times throughout the day to see them so he was bringing me back pictures but it was so wonderful to finally be able to go down there myself and see and touch them in real life! I had waited so long to do that!
The Doctors were amazed that they were so healthy and doing so well to be only 34 weeks (and boys, who apparently usually don't do as well as girls.) Kohen had to be on Oxygen for about 8 hours and they both had to have feeding tubes put in but other than that they were perfectly healthy! They had the feeding tubes because there little brains weren't developed enough to think to breath, suck and swallow all at the same time in order to eat. They had the tubes in for about a week and a half until the little light bulb in their brains clicked! Once it turned on they did wonderful! The Doctors wanted to see that they could do it for every feeding for two whole days and then they could come home sweet home!
For the first few days I was completely convinced that they had switched the boys at birth! Kohen who was "Baby A" was supposed to be the smaller of the two but he turned out to be bigger as well as other little things that had me completely convinced they swapped them ha! Since Kohen had the 2 vessel cord we knew that would tell us who really was born first so we asked the nurse to look at the lab report of the cords. Ha! It showed that Kohen really was born as "A" not "B" so they didn't mix them up. (Though I am still skeptical! ha!)
The report also showed that the boys cords were tied together in an incredibly tight knot. Not only were they tied together but Kohen's also had a separate knot in it. This is something that could have made the outcome of my pregnancy very different. We are fully convinced that the Lord allowed me to experience the liver problems in order for these boys to be born before anything happened to them. The Lord definitely had his hands on these little men as well as myself. We are so grateful for His protection!
I was released from the hospital on Sunday the 5th. It was so weird leaving the hospital without my boys. I was not a fan of it! I was so thankful and happy that my parents and siblings (and "Essie" who came flew in for the weekend!)were able to come up and be with us during the first part of my recovery and for the boys stay in the NICU. My Mom was such a huge blessing taking me to the hospital everyday and helping out around the house and with Kelsie and different things. I could not have made it without her!
The first few days of my recovery were really rough. I never knew that it could hurt so bad to wash your hair! Never before have I cried while taking a shower. Thankfully each day got a little easier as far as being able to move. My iron levels dropped incredibly after delivery and they had a hard time getting them back up. When I left the hospital they were at 6.7 (Normal is 10-12) they do a blood transfusion when you get down to 6.5. I am on iron pills 3 times a day and hoping when they recheck it at my 6 week checkup it will be back up a little. They said it could take up to 3 months to get back to a "normal" level. It is definitely not helping me feel energized. I feel exhausted all the time. Between this and 2 newborns I should turn into a zombie any day!
I am still battling these awful headaches. I am hoping in another week or two when the hormones are a little more regulated I won't be having as many! (fingers crossed) My stomach/incision still hurts a lot but seems to be getting a little better. I just can't wait for the day I feel normal again! I am going to celebrate!
On December 13th we were finally able to bring our sweet boys home!!! It was such a great day for us! We were so grateful that the long journey of growing these little men and their arrival had all led to this very special day! This is what we had been waiting for for so many long and hard months! It was a priceless day!
Since they are preemies the Doctors have told us that our first few months will be a little different than most babies. We have a list of cans and cants and have to be extra careful to protect them from germs and illness. It may take them a little longer to do certain things as their little brains are actually 6 weeks "behind" their age but the the doctors told us that by the time they are a year you will hardly be able to notice that they were 6 weeks early and they should then be able to do things just like any other little ones. We are just praying for the Lord to give us the wisdom we need in order to help them grow and develop into the wonderful little men they are going to become.
We are so thankful to the Lord for these little men and for the privilege of being their parents! We love them so much and can't wait for all of the wonderful memories we are going to make as a family! Thank you all for your love, support and most importantly your prayers for us throughout the journey we have had getting to these sweet little "brudders!" Their little lives are a testament to the prayers of God's people and the Lord's faithfulness in answering them.
We are forever grateful.
At home with Big Sister Kelsie!
She was SO happy and excited!
All dressed up and ready to go!
She loves her Daddy!
At home with Big Sister Kelsie!
