Birth and then some

So it's been over a month since my last post and what a month it has been! The last 6 weeks have been a little crazy, but we are hopefully settling into some kind of routine (namely feeding, burping, and changing babies--rinse and repeat!). I'm going to recap the last 6 weeks mostly for my own sake, but feel free to skim or read this in its entirety.

DECEMBER 10th:

We arrived at the hospital at 7:30am for our scheduled 9am c-section. The boys were still breech so a c-section was necessary. I got really nervous as they were getting me prepped for the c-section. I had all kinds of nervous energy that I needed to get out, but all I could do was sit there while they put in an IV and all that stuff. Once they got me into the operating room however I calmed right down and was good to go.

{Getting ready to have some babies!}

{Nathan all prepped in his awesome disposable scrubs--meant for a much smaller person :)}

The c-section went well and at 9:46 little Andrew was born followed closely by Gavin at 9:47. Nathan got to peek over the curtain and watch them be pulled out. The weirdest thing about the c-section is that they tie your hands down to keep you from accidentally or reflexively getting involved in the surgery. So I couldn't hold the boys, but they laid them on my chest for a few minutes so I could see them.

{First Family Photo}

{Momma and her babies}

{I love this picture. It's hard being born!}

After that the boys went down to the nursery with Nathan in tow to be weighed and bathed and all that good stuff. Both of the boys were having a hard time keeping their blood sugar levels up (fairly common problem when the mother has diabetes) so they wouldn't let them leave the nursery. To top it off I couldn't walk yet because of the c-section so I couldn't go down to the nursery to see them. It was a full 36 hours before I made it down to the nursery to hold Gavin (torture!). Andrew managed to keep his blood sugars up long enough to come to my room for a short visit, but then took a turn for the worse and had to stay in the nursery. I tell you what I had to keep reminding myself as I sat alone in my post partum room that I did in fact have two babies! Nathan split his time between me and them and took lots of pictures and videos so I could at least see them.

{Me and Andrew--finally getting to hold one of my babies}

For the next few days Nathan and I camped out in my room and went down to the nursery as often as possible to spend time with the babies. I was discharged on the 13th but neither of the boys' blood sugars were stabilized enough to go home so we opted to stay at the hospital one more night in hopes that at least one baby would be able to come home with us the next day. Andrew was fully stabilized the next morning so we got to take him home with us. Gavin was making steady improvements at maintaining his blood sugar level, but wasn't quite ready to be discharged. Leaving him at the hospital while we went home was sooooooooooooooo heart wrenching. Seriously hormonal new mother + leaving baby in the hospital = blubbering mess. They assured us it would likely only be another day or so until Gavin was ready to come home. Well one day turned into two and then three and then four. Finally on Saturday we were able to bring Gavin home and have our little family all together. Yeah!

{Best present EVER!}

{Baby Burritos}

Monday morning I had an appointment to have my incision checked (just a routine visit when you have c-section). After inspecting it my doctor put me on antiobiotics because there appeared to be an infection in the skin surrounding my incision. I was to call back in a few days if the infection didn't get any better. And well it didn't get better and it itched like crazy so I called back and the doctor had me come in again to get checked out. Well after taking a look at it he decided I needed to be admitted to the hospital so I could be put on IV antibiotics. They were concerned that the infection wasn't responding to oral antibiotics and didn't want the infection to progress futher. I was so sad to be heading back to the hospital, but Nathan and the boys roomed in with me in our incredibly small hospital room. 36 hours later on Christmas Eve they discharged me. The infection had only improved slightly so they kept me on high doses of oral antibiotics and told me to call in if things got worse.

So we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas at home, but the day after Christmas the infection started to spread. We called in to the doctor and he wanted us to go to the hospital again for another round of antibiotics. I was starting to get freaked out at this point and was soooooooo sad to be headed back to the hospital. The most confusing part was that besides the itching I felt fine: no temperature, pain or soreness. This time we decided that Nathan and the boys would be better off at home. So we called my visiting teacher (also a mother of twins) and she and her husband came and watched the twins while Nathan took me to the hospital.

{I made the twins birth announcement while I was in the hospital. It helped pass the time!}

Soon after we arrived the doctor on call and a few of the residents came to check out what was going on with this infection. After taking a look at it the doctor on call was pretty certain that it was NOT a bacterial infection, but rather a skin yeast infection. So all those antibiotics they'd been pumping in me were just making it worse! They still had me do 48 hours of IV antibiotics, just in case, but also started me on medication to treat the yeast. By the end of my stay there was slight improvement and once I got home and was off of the antibiotics and only on the medication for yeast the infection cleared up entirely in a matter of days.

So while I watched a lot of HGTV and TLC to distract myself Nathan was at home solo parenting the boys. He was awesome! Finally, at 1am on December 29th I was discharged from the hospital and I am happy to say we haven't been back since. Hip hip hurray!

{Sweet little ones}

About a week later Nathan headed back to work and I took on the task of taking care of the twins full time on my own. So far so good!

{They generally sleep through each other's crying--so funny!}

While we didn't have the transition to parenthood I was hoping for I am so grateful that we are all healthy and doing well at this point. All that craziness seems like a distant memory. I guess that's one good thing about sleep deprivation...it clouds the mind:) In all seriousness we absolutely adore our little guys who are now 6 weeks old (I can't believe it!) and smiling (adorable!). They come alive a little more everyday and it is so fun (albeit exhausting) to get to be a part of their lives.

{Happy to have my arms full of babies. Hard to believe we ever fit in the same body!}