Birth Story

I'm incredibly exhausted, but want to write a brief story of how/why the boys were born so early.

I had my weekly doctor appointment on Tuesday. My (stupid) medical insurance denied paying for more weekly BPPs at my doctor's office so I had to go to the hospital to have it done before the doctor appointment. My mom took me to the hospital at 8:30 am. I was admitted and had the quickly ultrasound done (which, by the way, the boys got another 8/8!). I was done and at the doctor's office by 9:15 for my 10:15 appointment. I figured I'd get in early an Mom and I could get some breakfast during my weekly outing.

We waited for an hour and a half because Dr. McKernan had two deliveries. I was next in line when the office manager came out and said that Dr. McKernan had an emergency delivery and that we could see another doctor or the PA if we didn't want to wait. Since I thought everything was fine with me accept that I was really exhausted after having to walk through the hospital and wait in the doctor's office for so long, I said I would be seen by the other doctor in the office. I'd seen him before and really liked him, so I didn't think it was a big deal not to see my doctor in one of my last prenatal appointments.

They took my blood pressure (which is usually 110/70) and it was 140/90. I just figure that I needed to go home and lie down after being out for so long. The doctor came in and asked if I was having any vision problems, pain under my right breast or headache. I said no but he said he wanted me to go to L&D triage to get some blood work done and be monitored because he thought I was at risk for preeclampsia.

At this point, I was getting pretty crabby and just wanted to go home. I went back to the hospital and waited in triage for almost an hour before a nurse came to see me. They did some blood work and hooked me up to a blood pressure machine and Mom and I waited. And waited. And waited. After two more hours (and by this time it was around 2:30), Mom went out to the nurse's station to see if my lab results were back and if she could take me home since my blood pressure was back to normal. Dr. McKernan was there and said he was just looking at my chart and would be in to see me in a few minutes.

He came back to see me and said, "Well, I'm going to make your day and we're going to deliver these babies!" Ummm...what the heck? I was beyond stunned. I was packing up to go home! He said that my lab results came back abnormal and that I was at risk for preeclampsia. He said he didn't want to risk me going home and getting sicker (I was sick?) and perhaps having a seizure. Totally stunned....I was totally stunned. By this time, it was 3 and he wanted to deliver the boys by 5!!

I called Eric who was at school studying (he had a big standardized patient exam the next day) and told him to go home and get my back and come straight to the hospital. He made it by 4:45 and had time to get into the OR gear they had for him. What a whirlwind of a day!

I was incredibly nervous going in to have the surgery mostly because I didn't want to be awake knowing I was being cut open. When I got into the OR, some of the monitors didn't work and they had to fiddle with them until they got them to turn on (made me SO nervous!). But, the anaesthesiologist was great and did an excellent spinal block. The entire procedure was very unpleasant though. I felt like I had a ton of bricks on my chest and couldn't breathe. And I was given pitocen which made me shake like a leaf! It was awful! Dr. McKernan and Dr. Luley (the doctor I'd seen in the office that day) did a great job. Carter was out quickly and cried right away. Brandt (who was transverse in my belly) was a little more difficult to get out because his shoulder was stuck, but also cried right away. What a relief!

Eric went with the boys to the NICU and I was taken back to the recovery room. Because of the risk of seizure, I was put on magnesium sulfate (refer to the week 29 posting) and had to endure the recooperation of the surgery plus the nasty side effects of that crappy stuff. I got really sick and was throwing up all night and couldn't sleep. When I thought I had a break from the nausea and vomiting, the nurse wheeled me to the NICU so I could see the boys in hopes that by seeing them, I'd feel better and be able to sleep.

In the morning, Eric came to the hospital before his exam and we went to see the boys and I got to hold Brandt for the first time. Robert and Melissa (friends from Midwestern) showed up and Robert and Eric went to school for their exam. Melissa was such a help and stayed with me while I moved rooms to post partum and got me started breat pumping. Thank you again, Melissa!!

The next few days were spent sleeping, pumping, and teaching the boys to feed from a bottle and then from the breast. I was discharged from the hospital last night and had to go home without the boys. How heartbreaking! Going home without them was the hardest thing I've ever done, but I know they still need to be in the hospital.

They continue to do great. They went from being in the NICU to cobedding in an incubator and are now cobedding in a crib. They are eating almost 60 cc's each per feeding. Until they show they can maintain their own body temperature and are gaining weight, they have to stay in the hospital. We hope they will be able to come home sometime this week!

Thank to to everyone who has been praying for us. The Lord has truly blessed us with these precious boys and is watching over them. We are so grateful to Him as He touches these boys with His healing hands and can't wait until we can bring them home!

Introducing Carter and Brandt!!

Big News!!!! Carter John Groen and Brandt Roger Groen made their arrival even earlier than the scheduled c-section on June 8th at 37 weeks. The boys were delivered by cesearean on May 26th at 5:16 and 5:17 pm when I was 34 6/7 weeks pregnant. Carter weighed 5.2 lbs and Brandt weighed 5.2 lbs.

Carter

Brandt

Even though they were so early, their lungs were fully developed and neither needed oxygen. The have quickly learned how to suck/swallow/breathe in the past few days and are hardly needing formula now (they couldn't go straight to the breast since they were so premature and had to learn how to eat first). I was released from the hospital yesterday and we hope the boys will be able to come home sometime this week!

3d pics of Baby B!!

Yesterday during my BPP, the technician got a good shot of Baby B and was able to produce a 3d image of him. We were able to see Baby A awhile back in 3d and it was so exciting to see his little features, but Baby B was not in a good position to get a 3d image of.

Below are some of the pics from yesterday. He's soooo cute! I think he has Eric's nose (since it doesn't quite have the ski slope characteristic as mine has!) and he definitely has Eric's lips! Look at those things!

My latest obsession....

There is a reason for the lack of posts in the past few weeks! Everything is fine with us and we've slowly been getting all the last minute things done in preparation for the babies' arrival. However, I've been engrossed in something! Here it is....

Yes, that's right, I've been reading the Twilight series. I'm obsessed! I finished the fourth book yesterday and just started reading Midnight Sun, which is Twilight, the first book, written from Edward's perspective. I've heard of these books for a long time, but didn't really know what the big deal was about them. My Bible study girlfriends lent me the entire saga when I was in the hospital and I've been reading them ever since.

I should probably be doing more preparation reading for the births, keeping in touch with friends before I'm too busy with the babies, or finishing up my projects for the nursery. However, I've been too engrossed with the lives of Bella and Edward and their forbidden relationship!

Anyway, soon I should be able to get back to the real world. Well, unless I reread all of them!

We made it to week 32!!!

Today, I am officially 32 weeks pregnant. Can I get a whoop whoop?!!!! Just a few weeks ago, Eric and I were praying that I'd make it to this point. Here I am! I'm so happy to say that the contractions have decreased. I still get them frequently throughout the day, but they don't occur near as much as before. Now, I would be able to deliver at Arrowhead, which means the babies most likely wouldn't need to be in a NICU. Yaaaaay!

Week 31 Doctor Appointment

I'm so glad to report a normal and uneventful doctor appointment! Yaaay! Thursday morning Eric and I went and had the biophysical profile (BPP) done. It was kind of a boring ultrasound where they just watch each baby's abdomen and listen to the heart, measure amniotic fluid, and then watch for each baby to take practice breaths for at least 30 seconds each. The tech caught Baby A "breathing" pretty quickly, but Baby B decided he wasn't really in the mood to show off his breathing skills until the end of the ultrasound. The nerve wracking thing is that you only have 20 minutes for the babies to show their activity. Luckily, Baby B finally decided to practice breath for everyone and both babies got an 8/8 for the BPP! Yaay! This was important because if they hadn 't received 8/8, it would've meant back to the hospital for us for more monitoring.

After the BPP, we saw Dr. McKernan. He just told us to keep doing what we're doing (umm...and by that, do absolutely nothing!) and not be afraid to come back to the hospital if we need to. He said that sometimes people need a second or third dose of the magnesium sulfate to "reset the uterus"....he explained this had to do with resetting the receptors...I'll leave all that for Eric to understand! I just hope that I don't have to go back, my home recliner is much nicer than the hospital bed!

We are so grateful for a normal and uneventful doctor appointment! Oh, and if I can make it to Wednesday, I'll be 32 weeks pregnant and will be able to deliver (and both me and the babies would stay) at Arrowhead Hospital. Here's to making it to Wednesday!