Reminisce

The past few days I have been feeling very nostalgic. With the twins birthday coming up, I can't help but think about where I was a year ago. Those memories are a mixture of gratitude, relief, stress, and happiness. So like my Dad always says....let's reminisce

June 5, 2008: I checked into the hospital with preterm labor. I was 27 weeks which was WAY too early to be having babies. So I staying in my bed hooked to machines on countless drugs, absolutely miserable! It was three weeks of constant labor. I would start contracting and then the nurses would pump me full of drugs only to start over in a few hours. It was not the most pleasant experience. The positive thing was that the doctors were able to delay the birth long enough to give me the steroid shots that speed the development of the lungs. This was a HUGE blessing and both of my girls were off the respirator the day after they were born.

June 22, 2008: Finally the labor was too intense and the doctors didn't feel that they could stop the delivery any longer. So we geared up to have the twins. It was scary and exciting all at the same time. At 10:37 pm they wheeled me into the operating room (just in case). With a full staff of NICU nurses ready to sweep the babies off and my OB-GYN and my loving husband we started. Little Emma was born at 10:42 with barely half a push. They rushes her into the next room because she was in respiratory distress. With Emma delivered I got to start on round number 2. Elli was a little more difficult because when Emma was born, Elli's cord followed her out. This created some problems and Elli was not cooperating. The nurses prepped the C-Section table and prepared to move me over. My wonderful doctor was determined to get little Elli and with a little grit and lots of pain, Elli was born. It was only 6 minutes, but it was sure a long 6 minutes! So at 10:48 both twins were here. They weighed 3 lbs. 3 oz and 3 lbs. 5 oz.

I didn't get to see the twins until later that night because they were still in respiratory distress. About midnight they wheeled me in to see my little angels. They were so tiny and looked so weak hooked to all those machines. I can not explain the emotions that filled me as I looked at their little bodies. Mostly I was just so grateful that they were here and they were alive. I knew that everything would be okay.

The next two months were filled with ups and downs. Elli did great in the NICU and didn't have hardly any problems but Emma was another story. She had countless blood transfusions, tests, and bloody stools. She was a really sick little girl and they couldn't really figure out what was wrong. Finally after two weeks of tests they decided that she has two bowl obstructures and that she would need surgery. They transported her to Primary Children's where she under went surgery. She stayed there for a little over a month before being transfered back to McKay in Ogden.

Obviously this is the extremely condensed version of the twin's birth (you wouldn't know that by the length of this post) But in short it was a long, emotional road. There is not a day that goes by that I do not thank my Heavenly Father for giving me such beautiful girls. They are both healthy and strong. It really is a miracle. Everytime I look at them I think about how grateful I am for the blessing they are in my life. This time a year ago was one of the most challenging experiences of my life, but I wouldn't trade if for the world. The things that are the hardest and we sacrifice the most for are the things that matter most.

Happy Birthday Emma and Elli!

Elli

Emma