SHARE HOME > SHARE YOUR STORY > ALL SHORT STORIES |
My Two Tiny Miracles
Amcwherter - 06:03am Jan 27, 2012 EST
I'm a young mother of one year old twins. As I think back through the last year of our lives, I am awestruck by the amount of grace the Lord has bestowed upon my family through, what I call, his "intentional accident". it is the belief that all things happen for a reason that has gotten me through this past year.
My husband and I wanted children, we just wanted to wait until he after he graduated from college before starting a family. You can imagine our shock when we found that I was pregnant (despite oral contraceptives) during spring semester before his last year of school. Our first OB appointment was fairly boring, a lot of questioning and family history. We both chuckled when the nurse asked about twins. Twins don't run in our family, so the thought of having twins was quickly dismissed from our minds. My doctor decided a sonogram was a good idea, me being on contraceptives, to determine how far a long I was. I probably don't need to tell you that there were two heart beats present on that screen and I was measuring 15 weeks, although they established that I was only 8 weeks along, due on Christmas day.
The pregnancy seemed to take forever. I was very anxiously awaiting the arrival of my twins. I read every bit of material that I could and prepared myself in every way that I knew how. I praise God that I had a great pregnancy. I constantly felt the need to get everything done "right now". Toward the end of my pregnancy, I felt as if my time was running out to get everything just perfect for their arrival.
Although my doctor warned me about the probability of preterm labor and what to expect as far as premature infants, I placed that as far from my mind as I could. I was determined to make it to term and carry happy, healthy babies.
October 25th was a typical Monday. I had spent the weekend at my younger sister's college watching her cheer for their big homecoming game. My husband was slightly unhappy with me for not taking the time to rest, but I assured him that I felt great and had not strained myself in any way. I got to work around 7:30 am and began training a new employee. I leaned across her to point out something on the computer screen when my water broke. Sheer terror ran through me. I was 2 months early, I knew the twins hadn't had enough time to develop and I began to panic.
My boss was phenomenal. She got me calmed down and to the hospital in no time. We then found that I was already dilated to 4 cm. my doctor and the nurse immediately began discussion on different scenarios. The decided to keep me on antibiotics for a few more days to give them time to administer steroids to aid in the development of my twins' lungs. That all sounded fine and great to me except the fact that I'm allergic to quite a few antibiotics. During the discussion, the monitors I was hooked up to started beeping incessantly signaling that my daughter's (baby B ) heart rate was dropping. Plans quickly changed. My husband was tossed a pile of blue scrubs as I was wheeled out of the room.
Everything happened so fast, in no time I was numb from my neck down and being strapped down to a table. It seemed like mere seconds passed before I could hear my son's screams. They didn't even have him out and he was already announcing his presence. The nurses checked his vitals and said he was insanely healthy for a 3 lb 7 oz little guy. They handed him to my husband who lowed him down to m face so I could see him. He was beautiful, a half inch of glowing white hair all over his head, tiny little blue eyes, and the tiniest skinny fingers I had ever seen. My little Adam Man.
Meanwhile, the other team of nurses were retrieving my daughter. I heard her scream and saw my husband stand up to look at her. I remember feeling so relieved, screaming = breathing. He said she was tiny and had jet black hair. One of the nurses asked if we had a name. Grace. They took her up to the NICU without weighing her. They assured me they'd keep me updated and that they wanted to get her stabilized as soon as possible. I could go up to see them as soon as I could feel my legs.
Waiting to get feeling back in my legs was hell! I just wanted to be with my babies. My husband stayed in the NICU with the twins while I rested and waited. An eternity later (6 hours), I got to take a trip up to the NICU (catheter in tow) to see my little people. Adam was perfect, so peaceful and relaxed laying in his isolette. He looked strong. Gracie had her own room next door to his. I peered into her isolette and cried. She was tiny to me, swaddled in pink fleece. All I could see of her was her chest working so hard to breathe and her dark hair. A CPAP mask covered her entire face, hiding her tiny features. The card on her isolette said her name, birth date, and weight 3lbs 1oz. Not as small as I had thought.
I spent my days in the NICU jumping from room to room. While admitted to the hospital, my nurses had a heck of a time tracking me down for my medication and rounds. While with Gracie, we spent a lot of time rocking and singing softly. She responded better to touch and gentle encouragement. Her progress was slow. Adam was a trooper, he like to be held, but also loved to stretch out and bask in the warmth of his glass box. He was off his CPAP within 24 hours and breathing room air in no time.
After my discharge from the hospital I spent every waking minute in the NICU. I would arrive around 6 or 7 am and head home around 7 or 8 at night to rest. My husband would stop between classes (they were born right before the start of his last semester) and after school. He would head home before me to take care of our dog and cat and to get some homework done.
The days were long, sometimes tiring, others were more eventful. It was much nicer once the twins could share a room. As soon as Gracie could breathe well enough with a nasal cannula, she moved in with Adam. We then learned she had a minor brain bleed. After scans and tests, the doctors agreed that it would go away on its own and there was little evidence of swelling. She wavered back and forth with her breathing, some days it seemed like we'd never get to leave. Her neonatologist also found a murmur in her heart, that he believed to be connected to some of her progression issues. I broke down. I felt like I was losing her slowly. It seemed like we would take one step forward and two steps back for a while.
After 4 weeks, The day before Thanksgiving, Adam was able to come home. Bringing him home without Grace was awkward. It felt unfair to her to leave earlier each day to head home a care for Adam. This also complicated things simply because my husband and I were used to sleeping at night, now we were up every 2 hours with Adam and back at the NICU each morning for Gracie with Adam in tow.
Teaching Gracie to eat from a bottle was tricky. She's always done everything on her own time (still does to this day) and she thrives on attention. If Grace wanted to be held, the moment I set her down, she'd hold her breath and her monitors would go nuts. As soon as I'd pick her up again, silence. She definitely knows what she wants and how to get it. The stubborn little muffin was able to come home 2 weeks after Adam on December 7th, the day after my husband's birthday.
The first few weeks with both twins home was chaotic. Getting a routine down that worked for the four of us was tough. Of course my husband and I just fell in line to whatever was demanded by our children. Nights were rough, the twins woke up every four hours, but offset each other by two hours. Each night befor embed, we'd each pick a baby and get up with that baby all night. That way we each got as much sleep as possible. If my hubby had a test in the morning, I would sacrifice my sleep for him to help his grades.
After about 2 months of having them home together, they began sleeping from 10 pm to 5 am and life was then good! They've always been great sleepers and to this day still sleep from 7pm to 6am, giving my husband and I plenty of time to recuperate and clean up the tornadic wreckage they've left behind for the day.
Adam and Grace are now 15 months old and on the verge of walking. We feel very blessed to have such happy healthy children. Weighing in at 22 lbs and 17 lbs. They are tiny bundles with huge hearts & we couldn't imagine our life any other way.
I'm a young mother of one year old twins. As I think back through the last year of our lives, I am awestruck by the amount of grace the Lord has bestowed upon my family through, what I call, his "intentional accident". it is the belief that all things happen for a reason that has gotten me through this past year.
My husband and I wanted children, we just wanted to wait until he after he graduated from college before starting a family. You can imagine our shock when we found that I was pregnant (despite oral contraceptives) during spring semester before his last year of school. Our first OB appointment was fairly boring, a lot of questioning and family history. We both chuckled when the nurse asked about twins. Twins don't run in our family, so the thought of having twins was quickly dismissed from our minds. My doctor decided a sonogram was a good idea, me being on contraceptives, to determine how far a long I was. I probably don't need to tell you that there were two heart beats present on that screen and I was measuring 15 weeks, although they established that I was only 8 weeks along, due on Christmas day.
The pregnancy seemed to take forever. I was very anxiously awaiting the arrival of my twins. I read every bit of material that I could and prepared myself in every way that I knew how. I praise God that I had a great pregnancy. I constantly felt the need to get everything done "right now". Toward the end of my pregnancy, I felt as if my time was running out to get everything just perfect for their arrival.
Although my doctor warned me about the probability of preterm labor and what to expect as far as premature infants, I placed that as far from my mind as I could. I was determined to make it to term and carry happy, healthy babies.
October 25th was a typical Monday. I had spent the weekend at my younger sister's college watching her cheer for their big homecoming game. My husband was slightly unhappy with me for not taking the time to rest, but I assured him that I felt great and had not strained myself in any way. I got to work around 7:30 am and began training a new employee. I leaned across her to point out something on the computer screen when my water broke. Sheer terror ran through me. I was 2 months early, I knew the twins hadn't had enough time to develop and I began to panic.
My boss was phenomenal. She got me calmed down and to the hospital in no time. We then found that I was already dilated to 4 cm. my doctor and the nurse immediately began discussion on different scenarios. The decided to keep me on antibiotics for a few more days to give them time to administer steroids to aid in the development of my twins' lungs. That all sounded fine and great to me except the fact that I'm allergic to quite a few antibiotics. During the discussion, the monitors I was hooked up to started beeping incessantly signaling that my daughter's (baby B ) heart rate was dropping. Plans quickly changed. My husband was tossed a pile of blue scrubs as I was wheeled out of the room.
Everything happened so fast, in no time I was numb from my neck down and being strapped down to a table. It seemed like mere seconds passed before I could hear my son's screams. They didn't even have him out and he was already announcing his presence. The nurses checked his vitals and said he was insanely healthy for a 3 lb 7 oz little guy. They handed him to my husband who lowed him down to m face so I could see him. He was beautiful, a half inch of glowing white hair all over his head, tiny little blue eyes, and the tiniest skinny fingers I had ever seen. My little Adam Man.
Meanwhile, the other team of nurses were retrieving my daughter. I heard her scream and saw my husband stand up to look at her. I remember feeling so relieved, screaming = breathing. He said she was tiny and had jet black hair. One of the nurses asked if we had a name. Grace. They took her up to the NICU without weighing her. They assured me they'd keep me updated and that they wanted to get her stabilized as soon as possible. I could go up to see them as soon as I could feel my legs.
Waiting to get feeling back in my legs was hell! I just wanted to be with my babies. My husband stayed in the NICU with the twins while I rested and waited. An eternity later (6 hours), I got to take a trip up to the NICU (catheter in tow) to see my little people. Adam was perfect, so peaceful and relaxed laying in his isolette. He looked strong. Gracie had her own room next door to his. I peered into her isolette and cried. She was tiny to me, swaddled in pink fleece. All I could see of her was her chest working so hard to breathe and her dark hair. A CPAP mask covered her entire face, hiding her tiny features. The card on her isolette said her name, birth date, and weight 3lbs 1oz. Not as small as I had thought.
I spent my days in the NICU jumping from room to room. While admitted to the hospital, my nurses had a heck of a time tracking me down for my medication and rounds. While with Gracie, we spent a lot of time rocking and singing softly. She responded better to touch and gentle encouragement. Her progress was slow. Adam was a trooper, he like to be held, but also loved to stretch out and bask in the warmth of his glass box. He was off his CPAP within 24 hours and breathing room air in no time.
After my discharge from the hospital I spent every waking minute in the NICU. I would arrive around 6 or 7 am and head home around 7 or 8 at night to rest. My husband would stop between classes (they were born right before the start of his last semester) and after school. He would head home before me to take care of our dog and cat and to get some homework done.
The days were long, sometimes tiring, others were more eventful. It was much nicer once the twins could share a room. As soon as Gracie could breathe well enough with a nasal cannula, she moved in with Adam. We then learned she had a minor brain bleed. After scans and tests, the doctors agreed that it would go away on its own and there was little evidence of swelling. She wavered back and forth with her breathing, some days it seemed like we'd never get to leave. Her neonatologist also found a murmur in her heart, that he believed to be connected to some of her progression issues. I broke down. I felt like I was losing her slowly. It seemed like we would take one step forward and two steps back for a while.
After 4 weeks, The day before Thanksgiving, Adam was able to come home. Bringing him home without Grace was awkward. It felt unfair to her to leave earlier each day to head home a care for Adam. This also complicated things simply because my husband and I were used to sleeping at night, now we were up every 2 hours with Adam and back at the NICU each morning for Gracie with Adam in tow.
Teaching Gracie to eat from a bottle was tricky. She's always done everything on her own time (still does to this day) and she thrives on attention. If Grace wanted to be held, the moment I set her down, she'd hold her breath and her monitors would go nuts. As soon as I'd pick her up again, silence. She definitely knows what she wants and how to get it. The stubborn little muffin was able to come home 2 weeks after Adam on December 7th, the day after my husband's birthday.
The first few weeks with both twins home was chaotic. Getting a routine down that worked for the four of us was tough. Of course my husband and I just fell in line to whatever was demanded by our children. Nights were rough, the twins woke up every four hours, but offset each other by two hours. Each night befor embed, we'd each pick a baby and get up with that baby all night. That way we each got as much sleep as possible. If my hubby had a test in the morning, I would sacrifice my sleep for him to help his grades.
After about 2 months of having them home together, they began sleeping from 10 pm to 5 am and life was then good! They've always been great sleepers and to this day still sleep from 7pm to 6am, giving my husband and I plenty of time to recuperate and clean up the tornadic wreckage they've left behind for the day.
Adam and Grace are now 15 months old and on the verge of walking. We feel very blessed to have such happy healthy children. Weighing in at 22 lbs and 17 lbs. They are tiny bundles with huge hearts & we couldn't imagine our life any other way.
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
