EBS: Twin Edition, part Deux

Recovery:

A lot from recovery that morning was blurry.  Like I said, I remember bits and pieces about things that happened.  I was thankful the babies came on Friday rather than Saturday since Dr Heaps would be out of town.  He wasn't sure who would come see me - I don't like uncertainty.  He said they babies will be in NICU for a minimum of 7-10 days, and that I would be discharged on Monday at the earliest, though he wants to keep me until Tuesday.

I was very shaky and the only pain I had was from my jaw.  I'm thinking that I must have done a lot of teeth clenching that morning. I was also very groggy.

People were coming in and out of the room to check on me.  It was hard to rest.  The neonatologist came to update us on the babies.  I don't remember anything that he said - I barely remember his face.

I groggily posted of their births on Facebook and my phone promptly starts exploding.

Late Morning/Afternoon:

I call my parents to talk to them.  My mom says that she will be arriving around 4pm to help with Charleigh.  Chad leaves and takes Charleigh with (obviously) so that he can pack a bag.  (Yeah, never got my hospital bag packed - and I was honestly certain that we would be sent home after an hour or two anyway. HA!)  All the nurses tell me that I'm doing wonderfully, and that if I continue to do well they will take me to see the babies later in the afternoon. My friend Meghan came to visit, bearing sweet little mittens for them and a nice plant for me.  I felt special having a friend visit - last time we didn't get visitors.  There was a knock at my door - one of the receptionists at my MFM doctor's office was bringing me flowers, some beautiful roses.  She told me that she'd seen Chad and Charleigh this morning.  The flowers were from another sweet friend, one of the girls that I met BECAUSE of our journey - it was one of the kindest gestures ever.  (To receive flowers from somebody that you've met only once, who is still struggling to conceive.  I love our little TTC community). We also received flowers from Chad's parents.  

Around 430-ish, they come get me to get up and go see the babies.  I got to hold them both and do skin-to-skin.  I felt badly because chad was in the room with Charleigh, waiting for my mom to arrive.  I got to hold them first. Both babies are doing well considering their prematurity.  They are both are on CPAP machines, have multiple IV's, and neither has been able to receive feelings.  There are tubes everywhere - I know that will make Chad nervous. But they look good.  They're so small.  Baby A, Campbelle, weighs 4 pounds, 5 ounces.  Baby B, Coleson, weighs 4 pounds, 8 ounces.  Their nurse ensures me that they are doing well and tells me how impressed everybody is with my recovery.  After 30 minutes or so, my IV alarm starts going off and I decide I need to get back to my room as mom should be there any minute.  Just as they were getting ready to wheel me out, Chad arrives at the door.  My mom has obviously arrived.

We all sit back and talk about the day's events.  We are all exhausted.  Charleigh is ready to melt down any second.  Chad leaves to take Mom & Charleigh back to the apartment.  My poor mom has to sleep in our dirty sheets.  She tells me she will start some laundry for me, since I don't really have any clothes to wear - I'm concerned about wearing my maternity yoga pants over my incision.

I FaceTime Daddy, and I'm very obviously still doped up on all the medicine.  After Chad returns we attempt to get some sleep - he slept pretty well, though I was in and out.

Saturday 11/14/15:

My catheter and IV has been pulled, so I'm allowed to ambulate.  We went down to the NICU for a brief update before Chad goes to get Mom & Charleigh.  Babies are doing well - Coleson is off his CPAP, and they are starting feeds.  The Neonatologist arrives at the NICU,  he tells me that I must have one hell of a high pain tolerance. (I laugh, if only he knew). 

Apparently I've been the talk of the unit the last twenty four hours because of all the commotion I caused.  Nurses were coming to check on me left and right - apparently there were so many of them involved in the drama that ensued.

My friend Crista came to visit, bearing a bag of snacks.  It was nice to have company again, especially since I was alone.  We talked about the previous day's events. And, I obviously thanked her profusely.  I'm not sure how we would have managed had she not been able to help out. 

The on-call OB, Dr Cumberbatch arrived to check me not long after Crita

Chad, Mom and Charleigh arrive.  I attempt to take mom to the NICU to see the babies, but it was shut down due to  procedure.  Chad ran some errands while we sat around and talked.  Eventually it was time for them to leave.  When Chad returned he brought me some clean clothes and he helped me shower so that I could feel clean while visiting the babies.

Babies looked good - but Coleson is following in his biggest sister's footsteps and is having difficulting tolerating the feeds.  I tell the nurse what we had to do with Charleigh so she could pass that along, just in case.  We both took a baby and did about 30 minutes of skin to skin while they got their tube feeding - I took Campbelle and Chad took Cole.  After they were done we went back to the room and Chad went to pick up some dinner.

We both passed out after dinner from sheer exhaustion. My night, however, brought a turn of events...