and Reagan Wilke
These little ones decided to join our family early! They just couldn't stay away from the fun. :)
Tyler and I were watching Cowboys and Aliens on Friday night (the 6th) when my water suddenly broke. I wasn't sure if that's what had really happened, so we went to the hospital to get checked out. Sure enough, my water had broken. The nurse told us that we wouldn't be leaving the hospital until the babies were born! Quite a shock to us - I was only 33 weeks pregnant. I didn't even have a hospital bag packed yet. Poor Tyler made two or three trips home that night. :)
My doctors/nurses did everything they could to stop my labor, but the medications only slowed its progress. They were hoping to keep me pregnant until 34 weeks (when the babes' lungs would be better developed), but our kiddos wouldn't hear of it! They came so fast that I only had time for one steroid shot (to help their lungs develop faster. Two doses is protocol). We were admitted to the hospital about 10:30pm Friday and they were born Saturday by c-section at 10:40am (Austin) and 10:42am (Reagan).
It was Austin's water that broke, which makes sense - he was Baby A and the farthest down. And as my luck would have it, his water broke about an hour after I took my Lovenox (my blood thinner). See, the problem with Lovenox is that I can't have an epidural while on it - and I had originally been told that I had to wait 24 hours for an epidural so the Lovenox could leave my system. Thankfully, the anesthesiologist did some research and my dose of Lovenox was low enough that I only had to wait 12 hours. I was so grateful for this. If I had to wait 24 hours these babes would have come while I was under general anesthesia - a thought I did NOT like.
I labored for 12 hours without an epidural. All I had during that time was medications to slow my contractions. Generally speaking they helped reduce pain, but not quite all of it. :) Suffice it to say that I was grateful for my epidural when it came! Once I had my epidural, they wasted no time getting me into surgery. (I think I was dilated to a 7 or so at this point and had been progressing at one centimeter an hour.) The surgery itself was just fine - but I did NOT like being numb up to my ribcage. It's a strange feeling not being able to clear your throat or cough. Epidurals also make me shake violently (I shook before and during the c-section and probably for 3-4 hours afterwards), but all in all totally worth it.
And this was our end result:
Two peas in a pod! (Reagan is always on the left and Austin is always on the right.) Austin was 4lbs 12oz and Reagan was 4lbs 9oz - quite a bit different from the estimate the perinatologist had given us earlier that week.
These sweet babes are adorable! One of the nurses told us that Austin is very caring; he likes to snuggle with his sister or will put a hand on her when she starts to cry.
Holding hands. My heart melted when I saw this.
Tanning. Austin likes to sleep with his arms up - something he gets from his daddy. Luckily both babies are off the bilirubin lights at this point. Neither of them likes the eye covers and would rather be swaddled.
Both babes are still in the NICU but doing well. Both had assistance breathing after birth but were taken off their ventilators/CPAP by that evening, which is amazing for their age. They've gone through "tanning sessions" to help with their bilirubin and are being fed via the orange tubes you can see going into their noses.
The big factor keeping them from coming home is eating. Because of their young age, they can't coordinate sucking, swallowing, and breathing. We're currently working on that and as soon as they master eating, they can come home!! This process can take weeks, depending on how well the babes do.
Thanks to everyone for your support, thoughts, and prayers. Keep them coming our way so that our little ones can be healthy, strong, and come home soon!
:)
