Two months have passed since the last time I wrote. Unfortunately, I have had to create priorities over the course of the past number of weeks and writing new blog posts did not fall on the top of the list. Instead my priorities have been feeding babies, holding babies, visiting babies, sleeping as much as possible,and spending what little time I could with my husband.
Yes! Babies have arrived! Only three days after my last post, on October 29th, I was wheeled into an operating room for a C-section at 8:00 am. I was 32 weeks and six days pregnant. At 8:10 am, little Chloe Joy entered into the world followed by her bigger sister, Nellie Paige, at 8:12 am. Chloe weighed a petite 2 lb. 14 oz. while Nellie weighed a “whopping” 4 lb. 7 oz.
With a quick glimpse of them both and a chance to plant a small kiss on Chloe’s cheek, they were whisked off to the NICU each with their own team of doctors and nurses. Hours later, after the first grueling hours of recovery, I transferred into a wheelchair to go see the girls.
Then began our NICU journey.
The girls were champs! It continued to be evident that God had His hands on these two little lives. Our little Chloe, who we weren’t even sure we’d get to meet, came off of the (CPAP) oxygen support the very day after birth! Glory to God!
Here’s a brief summary of their progress.
The first week of life they passed a lot of milestones. They were stable enough for skin to skin time with Dean and I, IVs came out, they were taken off of oxygen support entirely, they enjoyed their first baths, and they got to wear clothes for the first time!
The next week they started learning how to nurse, passed their birth weights, and lost their umbilical cords. Nellie even got upgraded to a crib out of her isolette because she was keeping her temperature up on her own.
The third week was a rough one as they both were struggling to keep their oxygen levels up, and ended up being put back on high-flow oxygen support. They both did get to try their first bottles though.
The fourth week was spent working on their stamina to nurse and bottle feed. Chloe was able to graduate out of her isolette, and toward the end of the week they successfully tested Nellie off of her oxygen support! Thanksgiving Day was the last full day that Nellie needed help keeping her oxygen level stable.
The fifth week drug out as the twins continued to improve but still struggled to have enough energy to nurse and bottle feed all the time. One week after Nellie, Chloe was tested without her high-flow oxygen. She was never put back on it! Praise the Lord!
Right at the beginning of the sixth week, the nurse took out their feeding tubes as a test. The trial was if they would eat well enough on their own to still gain weight each day. Every morning, I anxiously arrived looking at their board to see what their weights had been during the night. They both successfully continued to gain each night, and by Friday, December 7th, they were discharged from the NICU! What a joyous day!
The best way to sum up my NICU experience is to imagine a roller coaster ride. Some days the ups outweigh the downs and other days the downs outweigh the ups. It really is a hardcore opportunity to practice being optimistic and positive. I found that even in our situation, which was nothing compared to the gravity of some of the other family’s circumstances, it required a very intentional choice to count the blessings.
When your child or children lay in front of you and the constantly fluctuating numbers on the monitor above them reflect how stable their life is, it becomes taxing and exhausting. Even though you get used to the dings and the alarms, it’s never restful sitting there watching your baby’s oxygen level rising and falling, rising and falling.
It’s been three weeks since they were discharged and being home has never felt SO good! Strangely enough all those days in the NICU are quickly becoming like a dream. Chloe and Nellie have been steadily gaining weight and are proving to be content and happy babies the majority of the time. Chloe is over six pounds, and Nellie has passed the eight pound mark. We have SO many blessings to count! These two little girls were the best Christmas packages we could have imagined!
It’s hard to imagine now that we might not have ever gotten to hold and love and enjoy Chloe (Baby A) if things had gone differently back at 25 to 30 weeks. The prayers of the multitudes who were lifting these little girls up have been answered! They truly are our miracle babies! THANK YOU to all who prayed for them along the way! You are a part of their story!
Blessings in the New Year!
–Amanda
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