Lexa, my long-legged angel from heaven. 4 pounds, 2 ounces.
Geneva, my brown clown. Look at that expression. Some things never change! 4 pounds, 10 ounces.
Lexa in the delivery room
Geneva being born. I'm sure she'll never let Lexa forget she is 1 minute older!
One year after the best day of our lives! I can't believe it has been a year. In some ways it feels like yesterday as I still remember every detail, & in other ways it feels like a lifetime ago. I can't believe I actually lived 28 years without them. I always wanted to be a mother & sure didn't want to wait as long as I did for my dream to come true...but it was all so worth it!
May 25th, 2009... I woke up, Day 6 in pre-term labor. 32 weeks, 5 days pregnant. I was in a lot of pain & just tired of being in the hospital. The doctor had just rounded & was actually going to discharge me that afternoon as they couldn't keep me on the mag sulfate any longer because it is too dangerous for the mother. Nurse Judy brought in my breakfast tray (As Patrick constantly points out, I was never too tired or hurting too bad to eat my breakfast!) I remember the nurse saying, "It's going to be a great day...it's a holiday so don't make me work too hard!' Boy she picked the wrong holiday to work! A few minutes into breakfast, I felt a weird sensation..."Patrick, get Judy, I think my water just broke." Judy came in with the test strip to determine if it was in fact amniotic fluid. As Patrick frequently tells the story, yes while she was getting her supplies together I continued to eat! Hey I was feeding 3 people. Well, the test turned colors, but I didn't need to see that...I could tell by the look on nurse Judy's face, she turned ghostly white, "I'm going to get the doctor. Your sac has broken." Here comes Dr. Birch who is on call (thank God). She checks me, first time in days as they were scared to check me...I am dilated to a 7 cm.!!! Yes, I had been dilating all night. I asked the doctor, "so the babies are coming today" "Yeah, like in a couple of hours!" I asked if I would get my epidural soon. "In 5 minutes or so.", she responded. The doctor went ahead & broke the rest of my water. Patrick likes to recount this gross story in detail as he cannot believe I was carrying around all of that fluid. Even the doctor said it was the largest amount she had ever seen. I cannot describe the instant relief I felt with all of the pressure gone. Things were moving so fast!! I calmly asked Patrick to hand me the phone. I called my mom who was so very graciously housesitting/dog & cat sitting. I told her, "Don't panic, but my water just broke." Then I called my dad to let him know he needed to make the 3 1/2 hour trip to the hospital. Patrick made the rest of the quick calls. The nurse brought Patrick some surgical scrubs to put on. We were about to head to the delivery room as they didn't want to deliver a high-risk pregnancy in the birthing suite. The anesthesiologist headed into the room within a few minutes. I was hoisted onto the side of the bed & the big needle went in to my back. No problems until the doctor said, "Hmmm that's strange... a little blood." Freaked me out!!! Within a few minutes I was becoming numb so it must have worked. I was transferred to a new bed & off to the delivery room. I started feeling a little foggy but remember the very bright lights & all the people...each baby had their own team of nurses ready to go plus my doctor, the anesthesiologist, & neonatologist, all in all 15-20 people in the room. The plan was to try for a vaginal birth. It was about 11:00 a.m. & I was already a 10 cm, time to push. I remember Judy & Patrick holding my legs & everyone screaming at me to push. I was pushing & pushing as hard as I thought I could, but with the epidural it was hard to judge. 1 1/2 hours went by with little progress. I was just too exhausted to keep going. It had been a long few days & I didn't have any energy. Come to find out during the C-section, the girls were both wedged in the birth canal & no matter what, it just wasn't meant to be. So a C-section was inevitable. I was SO disappointed & terrified of having surgery while awake!! One of the nurses ushered Patrick out of the room while they prepped me for surgery. I remember all of the noises of the tools. I remember staring at Patrick through the window. I was so scared. I kept telling the nurses over & over again, "Don't forget my husband". I was so afraid they would start without him. They transferred me to the OR table & I kept saying over & over again, "Don't drop me!" Patrick came back in & Dr. Birch informed me she was about to start cutting. It would be about 10 minutes & they would be here. It was about 12:45 p.m. I recall the tugging & pulling & Dr. Birch commenting on how tight my abs were! Patrick said, "that's Jazzercise for you." Dr. Birch said, "Here comes Baby A." I heard Geneva's cry & looked over where her warmer was & saw her jet black hair. It was 12:59 p.m. 1 minute later, Lexa's piercing cry. I never saw her as her warmer was positioned outside of my line of sight. But Patrick told me she was long-legged & blonde. No one was really talking to me as they were all busy doing their assigned jobs. I kept asking, "are they okay? are they okay?" I was so relieved that they were crying, breathing, & looked big to me for preemies. It seemed like forever as they were closing me up. Patrick was whisked away to the NICU & I was left with the anesthesiologist talking me through things. I would like to point out here that despite Patrick's advice not to eat breakfast, I never got sick!! :) I was then taken to the recovery room for about 2 hours. Patrick came to check on me in brief increments to update me on the babies & all the people in the waiting room. I finally got into a room & was able to see video of the babies from the nursery. It was such a mixed feeling as I hadn't seen or touched my own babies. It just wasn't natural. All I could do was think about the burning sensation in my abdomen & the let down as this was not the birthing process I had dreamed about. It was a long, emotional night until I was finally cleared at 11:00 p.m. to see our babies. The nurse got me in a wheelchair & I wheeled down to the nursery. The beds were fairly far apart & I remember already being torn...which bed do I go to first? Good thing the nurse decided. I touched Lexa's hand & told her I was her mommy. Then Geneva's. I finally got to meet our babies. It was the best moment of my life. I was saying hello but it was as if I already knew them. Happy Birthday to our miracles.
Welcome to our Memorial Day Birthday party...
Yummy cake for the adults
Side view of the cake
Geneva's smash cake
Lexa's patriotic cake
Geneva quickly getting into her smash cake
Lexa starting to get into it
Nothing like a handful of frosting to clean up, guess where that went...the hair
Red, white, & blue beard & mustache
Typical Geneva, wanting what her sister has.
Geneva playing with Noah's Ark, lots of NOISY animals (thanks Mom!)
Our bookworm happy to have a new book
Mommy & Geneva
Lexa modeling her dress & the fact that she is now walking everywhere
Pop & his three grandchildren. He loves them so much.
