This picture was taken on January 19, 2013. I was 32 weeks pregnant with the twins. It was the day that Stephanie and Carrie threw me a baby shower. So many people came and showered me with love and gifts and made me feel so much more prepared for the twins to come. It was such a fantastic day! However, by the end of the day I was feeling awful. I was so incredibly swollen and my body just hurt. That night something was different though, I couldn't tell you how but I was just feeling really awful. I tried to go to church the next day and I couldn't stay. I came home early. I was getting more uncomfortable, swollen, sore, tired, and not to mention grumpy. Monday was a holiday and everyone had plans except for me. Tyson was coming down with a nasty cold so he and I stayed home. My stubbornness got the best of me and even though I felt awful I was so tired of looking at the laundry that needed to be done, that I spent the entire day doing laundry. I way over did it, and by the end of Monday I was feeling even more awful and grumpy.
Sleeping at night was impossible. I couldn't get comfortable, I couldn't relax enough to fall asleep. 3-4 hours a night was about it. Going to sleep on Monday night I really hoped since I was so exhausted I would actually sleep. Well, by 3 or so in the morning and still wide awake, I decided that I would go sleep on the couch. I finally fell asleep somewhere around 4.
January 22 at 5:00am I was woken to my water breaking. It was the scariest moment of my life. I was 32 weeks along, I didn't know what to expect, but I knew babies weren't supposed to be born 8 weeks before their due date. I woke up Trevor and my parents and rushed to the hospital.
The plan was to give me the steroid shot to help develop the babies' lungs and keep me pregnant for at least another week. I wasn't having any signs of labor so they thought that would be best. The plans changed a few hours later when the doctor thought it would be best to wait no more than 48 hours and scheduled my c-section for then. He was afraid of infection.
No more than a few minutes after we had that conversation with the doctor, I started having contractions. For some reason they weren't being picked up on the monitor so I'm not sure the nurse believed me that they were getting really bad. She walked in one time, less than an hour after they started, and I was in so much pain I couldn't breathe. She checked things out, YEP I was in active labor! I was dilated to a 4 and contracting every 3-5 minutes. This is when everything happened so fast. The nurse came in and said I was scheduled for the next c-section and 10 minutes later I had an epidural. An hour later I was being wheeled to the OR to have my babies. I couldn't stop crying. I was so scared for the babies. I didn't know if they would be ok or how everything was going to play out.
I had never had a c-section before, but this was planned. I had an appointment the Friday before all this happened and the doctor and I had a conversation about what could happen when you have a normal birth with twins. The first baby could be totally fine, but then some pretty scary things could happen with the second baby. We talked about it and planned for me to have a c-section. I didn't know at the time how huge that decision was but it saved my little baby B from what could have been a terrible delivery.
January 22, 2013 at 2:54pm Maysen Lynne was born. She weighed in at 4lbs 3ozs and 17 1/2 inches long. I didn't get to see her before they hurried her into the NICU. I prayed like I had never prayed before that they would be alright. The second I heard her cry while being worked on in the NICU, just through the window, I could tell she was a fighter and that she would be ok. I still had one more baby to go. I could feel the doctor struggling to get her out. The comments he was making were making me a little nervous. Before she was even born he made the comment that if we hadn't chosen to have a c-section it would have been an emergency c-section to get her out. He struggled for a bit more, she was VERY high up, doing the splits and breech. He finally pulled her out, butt first. So at 2:56 Maddilyn Ann was born at 4lbs 4ozs and 18 inches long. They held her up for me to see her for just a split second before they handed her through the window to the NICU. I looked in her eyes and I could see she too was going to be a fighter, just like her sister.
I felt so much peace after they were born. I could hear them crying. The nurses were making comments that they didn't even need oxygen and were breathing room air. This was a shock to all and a testament that they were going to be fine.
A few hours later I got to see them for about 10 minutes on my way to the recovery room. I could only touch their hands. They were so incredibly tiny. I looked at them and couldn't believe they were here. It sort of seemed like a dream, but they were healthy and they were going to be ok. We had a long road ahead while they had to stay in the NICU but my prayers were being answered.
Looking back I can see the hands of the Lord in so many events that led up the their birth and after. It just adds to the proof that they have a purpose on this Earth. Part of the purpose is their story. The story of how I got pregnant. They story of being born 8 weeks early. The story of being 4lb preemies. The story of being in the NICU. Who knows what is next, but I feel so blessed to have them here. Healthy, and happy. They are pretty sweet little girls!
I will continue to document their story with more posts.
These pictures were taken a few days after they were born. I will post pictures from the first time I got to see them. These were just ones that I had here right now.
Maysen (she's almost always in purple)
Maddilyn (she's almost always in pink)
