This will be the last of the pregnancy blogs! A little bittersweet but hey! we will be back to mom blog instead.
We left off with me going to my postpartum room and Arley still in the transition room. Mitchell stayed with her as they put her on oxygen and then tried weaning her off. She just wasn't able to hold her oxygen levels up though and they made the decision to send her to NICU. Exactly what we were trying to avoid. On their way up to NICU they stopped by our room and let mee hold Arley for a few minutes since at this point I really hadn't seen her much at all. It was short lived before they put her in the isolate bed(the ones that look like an incubator) and took her away. Having two babies is hard enough but then having one and your support person not in the same room, let alone on the same floor as you is rough. Since there wasn't much else to do, Haisley and I settled in, did some skin to skin and bonded. I got updates by text from Mitchell throughout the day. That evening my mother-in-law brought the big girls to see us and meet Haisley. The first thing Sawyer said when she walked in the room was, "Umm where is my other sister baby?!" She was quite concerned that I only had one when she knew there were two in my tummy. It's not easy to explain to a 4-year-old that her other sister was in a different part of the hospital and she wasn't allowed to go see her. Mitchell came down to my room while the girls were there visiting. That was the most I got to see him all day.
I won't bore you with all the details of our hospital stay. I got to go up and visit Arley a few times, which was a little difficult because I had to wait for a nurse to have time to wheel me up to her room and while I was up there if Mitchell didn't come stay in my room with Haisley then she has to go to the nursery. We tried to coordinate to where that didn't have to happen. But that meant Mitchell and I really didn't see each other much at all because we didn't want to leave either girl alone. We were hoping Haisley and I would get discharged the next day, mostly because I wanted to be home for Brooklynn and Sawyer's first day of school but also because it would be alot easier to visit Arley and also who wants to sit in the hospital?! Because the twins were born before 37 weeks and were less then a certain weight, they would have to pass a car seat test before they could be discharged. Basically this meant they have to be strapped into their seat for 90 minutes and not have any issues holding their oxygen levels above a certain number. Well, Haisley failed hers which meant we weren't going home in time to be there for the first day of school. After a whole lot of tears.. and a nap Mitchell and I decided to keep the girls home an extra day so that I could be there for their first day even if it wasn't everyone else's first day. They redid Haisley's carseat test at midnight and she passed which meant we would be able to go home the next morning. As soon as we were able to get discharge papers for both of us, Mitchell took us home. He went back to the hospital to stay with Arley overnight.
For the next couple days, there was a ton of back and forth to the hospital, coordinating who was where with the big girls, when I had to pump so we could take milk to the hospital for Arley, trying to get Haisley to eat enough, reminding Sawyer and Ellisyn they have to be gentle with mommy and with baby, etc. We were determined to get Arley home as soon as possible. To get discharged from the NICU there are specific goals they have to meet and maintain for 48 hours. This is really where we had issues. I don't want to talk bad about NICU because I truly do think that for babies who need it, it's wonderful to have. But mine really didn't need to stay in NICU, not like they wanted her to. Originally the doctor told us to not expect her to come home before her due date because that's just their general practice! Uhhh NO! She was there to get her oxygen levels where they should be and she was able to do that within the first 24 hours. For some reason after that they stopped trying to wean her all the way off of oxygen and just left her on 1 liter. Another issue we had was that they did IV nutrition, later moving to tubes feedings with breastmilk but that they wouldn't let her try to nurse or have a bottle. This was one of the other goals she had to meet. Had to be off tube feedings and be able to take a certain amount in her bottle at each feeding. Once she was taking a bottle no problem they still wouldn't pull her tube, "just in case." Mitchell waited around to talk with a doctor about these things because at this point they were just holding Arley there. After words were had they finally took her off oxygen and pulled her tube. Then we just had to wait 48 hours. That 48 hour mark was at 11:45 on Saturday night. Of course they tried to tell us we would have to wait til Sunday morning because they didn't want to discharge that late at night. Mitchell told them, that was there fault for waiting to wean her until that late and that he was walking out at exactly 48 hours. I think it was 11:50 when they left the hospital. Mitchell and Arley got home a little before 1:00 am. We put the twins next to each other in their sleeper basket and all was right in their little world, back together where they belong.
Time for the real fun to begin as we all adjust to life with newborn twins, two kiddos in school, recovery and being a family of 7!!
Notes: - Because we are now 6 weeks out and I don't want to go into all the details of recovery or make a whole long post about it. C Sections.. man not fun! I had not just the pain, burning and swelling in the incision and my abdomen but my legs swelled. My feet did not fit in any shoes or sandals, moving my ankles or toes was extremely painful. My permanent anklet is now a little extra permanent. It actually cut into my skin and I now have a scar where it was which is actually about 2 inches above where it normally sits. Yes I know, I should have cut it off. I was stubborn.
-Never take for granted the people, friends or family, in your life that jump in and help without being asked. While I was in the hospital I did not have to worry about if my girls were okay, not for a second. And was never made to feel like I was burdening anyone while they were taking care of them. When we came home, thanks to a sweet friend from church, we didn't have to worry about cooking dinner for 2 whole weeks. She set up a meal train and the people, some of which I had never even met before, who signed up kept us well fed! With everything else we were adjusting to and figuring out, it was such a blessing not having to worry about making dinner.
-Being an almost exclusive pumper, especially when you have always nursed your babies, is a tough pill to swallow. Because they were born so early and we had the NICU stay and whatnot, the girls still don't have nursing down well yet. Arley will latch and nurse some, Haisley will try but doesn't stay latched. Neither are nursing well enough to get a full feeding, but we continue to try. I am pumping every few hours, which makes going anywhere a little more difficult because I have to time my pumping and their feedings. It's a bit exhausting.
-Lastly, even though we are exhausted and possibly a little delirious at times, we are so very in love with our babies, not just the twins but all 5 of our girls! Life looks very different now days but it is wonderful and we are so very blessed.
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