In a sudden rush of events, we found ourselves with two brand new additions to our family last Tuesday. A lot of people have wondered about their arrival and how it all happened, so allow me to enlighten you all....
The morning of Tuesday July 8, 2008 was nigh unto the typical morning around our house. Though my alarm had been going off for over a half hour, Maggie finally woke us up a few minutes after 7:00. Still feeling the effects of the sicknesses we all contracted during the prior weekend, we were hesitant to get out of bed. Megan had a doctor’s appointment for a non-stress test, so she showered first. Our shower head was acting up and had absolutely zero pressure. I showered next and got it to give me just a little more pressure by playing with it. I quickly dressed and was off to work by 8:10 because I had a site meeting in Draper at 8:30. As I was leaving Megan threw Maggie in the tub.
As I was pulling off the freeway about 6 minutes later I got a phone call from Megan. I have never heard her be so frantic. I couldn't understand a word she was saying and was assuming that something was wrong with Maggie. After a couple of minutes she was calm enough to tell me that the tub faucet wouldn't turn off and that it almost flooded the house. Adding to the hysteria, she couldn't find her cell phone to ask me what to do. She eventually remembered where the house shut-off valve was in the basement. As she ran down the stairs, her increased girth got the best of her, and she lost her center of gravity, falling forward down about 4 stairs. She caught herself but mostly landed on her belly with her knees and feet still on the stairs above her. She was able to turn the water off without flooding the house, but something in all that emotion of hysteria opened additional valves within.
After my meeting I rushed home and was able to comfort her for a minute while inspecting the busted valve. It was toast and there was no other shutoff than the main house valve. She had placed band-aids on her rug burned knees and arms, poor thing. I resolved to call our home warranty and get the valve replaced immediately. I jokingly told her that she jinxed us the night before when we told our friends Dave and Kristin that we were the fourth family to live in our semi-new house and Megan said it wasn't even possessed as far as she could tell.
I went back to work and called the home warranty people who said they would have a crew there in less than 8 hours to fix the dang valve. Megan called and said she was on her way to LDS hospital for her appointment and that she was feeling some contractions. Her mom had come to watch Maggie and had told Megan that she looked lower, like the babies had slid into delivery position. That wasn't quite what we wanted to hear because we weren't in the least bit ready. Megan was 35 weeks and 2 days along and our bags weren't packed, nor was our nursery ready.
While in the hospital Megan called and said that due to her spill that morning she needed to stay and be monitored longer. She was worried because she parked in 2-hour parking on the street. Eventually the nurses and doctors declared that she was in labor. They gave her a shot of something to see if it would stop, and it wouldn't. They told her to go move her car because she was going to be there a while.
So 35 weeks prego with twins and in labor, the nurses made her go out and move the car. How ironic is it that as she approached the car, there was the city parking enforcer writing her a ticket? He said, "This car has been here longer than 2 hours". And she was like, "I know! I've been here for like 5!! I'm in labor and need to park it somewhere else." To which he said, "Well, I’ll take this ticket back but I’m really not supposed to". What a dork. Megan got in the car and started sobbing. What an emotional day, and this was only at about 1:30 pm.
She then called me and told me that she was admitted for delivery and that she was being given pitocin. The only problem was that I was racing home to meet the plumbers to fix the faucet. I met them and frantically grabbed a bag of stuff. They were there for like 5 minutes and then said that they needed to go back to Salt Lake for a part. So Megan's dad came to house sit and wait for the plumber as I raced up to the hospital. I called my dad and brother to come to the hospital so we could give Megan a blessing. We all met there at 3:00 and gave her a blessing. Megan was getting her epidural as I got there. Looking for a doctor, I said "are you just the anesthesiologist?" I think he got mad and offended by that. Whoops. Sorry, it had been a crazy day.
The nurse told me that at 2:40 they had given her penicillin which needed 4 hours before delivery to fully kick in. So we waited, expecting to deliver around 6:40. Soon my dad and brother left us and a little while later Megan's parents and brothers came up. We joked around a bunch, which made Megan’s monitors go funny from all the belly laughter that she was doing.
At about 7:00 they told us that her doctor was out on a date for her anniversary and that we would wait for her. Finally, a few minutes after 8:00, the doctor showed and assessed Megan and told her to wait some more while she changed. At about 8:45 the doctor came in and broke Megan’s water. Almost instantly Megan’s contractions heightened and became very painful. Worried that the epidural was wearing off, Megan requested more. A few minutes later we were rushed to the operating room for delivery in case anything went awry and a c-section was needed. Megan’s mom and I were able to accompany her in the operating room, but we had to wear these sweet suits.
It took about 3 contractions to get Coleman out. He was born at 9:18 and weighed 5 lbs even and was 19 inches long. We didn’t get to really see him as he was rushed to a warmer bed and was given oxygen. Nine minutes later William slid down and was born after 1 contraction. He was 4 lbs and 13 ozs. He was also whisked away so we never heard how long he was. The boys were rushed to the special care nursery without us getting to touch them. Megan returned to her room having delivered nearly 10 lbs of baby, but saddened by not being able to see them.
Soon Megan’s family left and we were left alone. It seemed like it was about midnight before they moved Megan to her postpartum room. At that time we passed the nursery and were able to touch our boys. They were so small and were being monitored for heart rate, breathing rate and blood oxygen levels. They had IV’s in their hands and were on a CPAP machine that was similar to a sleep apnea machine. We just wanted to touch them, but the nurse said that being 5 weeks early, their skin is underdeveloped and that they don’t like rubs, but just solid contact. Did I mention yet that I don’t really like that nurse?
Anyway, it was about 2:00 pm the next day before we were told that we could hold our babies. Megan was able to do Kangaroo time with the boys, which made her feel a lot better. We had a lot of visitors that second day and lots of people saw the boys through the windows, but only Megan and I have held them. They are way fun to hold and they love to just cuddle up on my chest in little balls. The like my red shirts more than my blue shirts.
Since then they have been off and on and back off of the warmer beds, and are now getting decreased amounts of forced oxygen and air through a nose tube just like the football players. These guys are just days old and are already super manly!! We get to go and hold them and help change their diapers and feed them every 3 hours as much as we want. Megan nurses them and they are really good eaters! That’s what we expected. We want to see the chubby sagging baby cheeks that I had when I was little.
They were under bilirubin lights for a day and 2 nights, but are better now. Maggie's been playing with cousins. We owe a lot of thanks to our families who are doing a ton to help us out.
On Sunday we were able to sneak Maggie into their room. Maggie gave them loves, helped with binks and kissed their heads. It was fun to have our family all together finally. She wanted to be the big sister and hold William, but he’s too small and there’s too many wires and tubes hooked up to him. I can’t wait to see them all wrestling on the ground in a few months.
Sunday morning we talked with the pediatrician who said that they will be done taking antibiotics on Wednesday and then after that, if they keep gaining weight and are off the oxygen for 2 days, they can come home. So we need everyone to pray for them and specifically for their little lungs and respiratory systems, so that they will be sustained on their own breathing by receiving the proper oxygen amounts that they need. The pediatrician estimated that they will be in the nursery till they are a week and a half to two weeks old. We can’t wait to bring them home. They are adorable!
