Ammon and Ellis, Welcome to Planet Earth

Wednesday, August 3

Mari was due to be induced today. The babies are big and Mari has been extremely uncomfortable, so the doctors decided that it would be fine if the babies were taken a little early (she’s at 37 weeks).

Around 3am, she started having painful contractions.  Although she’s had contractions from time to time throughout the pregnancy, these felt more regular.  But by the time she considered calling the doctor, it was nearly time for us to go to the hospital, so she waited.

The attending nurse took her time setting up until she measured how far along Mari was.  Then she called for help and hustled to get everything ready.  The doctor was very excited to see that Mari was in labor already without the need to be induced.

Mari decided to have an epidural, because she wasn’t sure if she’d have to get a C-section, but when she got the epidural, her contractions slowed appreciably, and we waited for a few hours for the contractions to increase again.  Mari was pretty comfortable, especially compared to when she gave birth to Desi.  She thinks the epidural she got with Desi was faulty.

Around noon, they took her to an operating room, because the normal delivery rooms did not have the equipment for delivering twins.  By 12:20pm, Ammon was born, but Ellis didn’t want to come out.  Mari had to push for another hour before Ellis was born. Ammon Xavier weighed 5 lbs, 9 oz, and Ellis Timothy weighed 6 lbs, 15 oz.

Everyone is doing well, but everyone is tired. Ellis has some issues with breathing, but no one is terribly concerned. He grunts a lot. They think it’s just part of the transition, and will pass in the next day or so.

Thursday, August 4

This morning they took Ellis to NICU, because his breathing was still too rapid. They took a chest X-ray, and the doc said his lungs weren’t quite developed yet. He’ll be in NICU at least for a few days until his lungs develop and he’s able to breathe at a normal rate. It’s sad to see the little guy hooked up to all those tubes, but he was resting peacefully each time I went to visit him today. The tubes didn’t seem to bother him too much.

We were a bit surprised at Ellis’s problem, since Ellis was always breathing nicely in the ultrasounds leading up to the delivery, while Ammon rarely breathed in the ultrasounds. Also, Ellis was a pound bigger than Ammon, so we would have thought he’d be better developed. We were glad to have Ellis for a few hours before he had to go to NICU, and we’re hoping to bring him home soon!

Mari and Ammon should be coming home tomorrow (Friday). Ammon is an angel. He rarely fusses. He’s got a prominent nose. From the front, he reminds me of a Pletsch, but from the side, that Ellsworth nose is prominent.

Mari is doing well. She’s able to rest better with just Ammon in the room, since he is so quiet.  She was able to get up and walk around today. We are both relieved and grateful that the boys are here and healthy (mostly healthy, anyway). But even Ellis’s problem doesn’t appear to be a cause for serious concern. The doctors and nurses just feel that with time, he’ll be fine.

Saturday, August 6

Yesterday we went to visit Ellis in NICU at about 11:30, and they were optimistic that he would be out by Monday or so. But when we went back at 8:30pm, the nurse said he was being treated for pneumonia and that he would be in until at least next Friday.

His vital signs are all good, but they were concerned about the cloudy images on the chest x-rays and he had a slight fever. So they have him on an antibiotic treatment, and he has to stay in NICU until it’s over.  Mari’s dad is here, so that helps a ton, but Des can be a bit of a handful sometimes-especially when Ammon requires Grandpa’s attention.

On top of all this, I quit my job last week, and this is my last week at this firm, so I’m trying to finish out my time being a productive employee while helping out at home.

Ammon is wonderful, and Ellis appears to be doing well other than the lung issues. Both of the boys are so far very placid, except when being changed. Then they demonstrate their disapproval with gusto. We’re hoping we can reunite the brothers soon.

Desi drew a picture for baby Ellis that we put in his crib.  I think it’s a happy face.

Sunday, August 7

We skipped church today (Desi and I-Mari won’t be going for a while), and instead took Desi to see Ellis for his 2pm feeding.  Ellis is progressing well.  He’s been taken off the breathing tubes, and now it looks like he just has to finish out his antibiotics prescription.  If all goes well, we’ll be able to bring him home Wednesday evening.  Hooray!  However, we hear something different every time we go to the hospital, so we are cautiously optimistic.

 

Wednesday, August 10

Reunited!

Ellis came home today.  He finished his antibiotic treatment, and all his signs were good, so we were able to bring him home this afternoon.  I’d like to say that the twins recognized each other and held hands or something, but they just continued to sleep, eat, and poop.

Mari went to bed early tonight, so Grandpa Jim and I took care of the boys for their 8pm feeding.

We have to feed the babies at least every 3 hours, and it took me over an hour to feed them both and change their diapers (because they eat, then poop, then I change them and wake them up, then they eat a little more and go back to sleep).  At this rate, 8-10 hours of each day of our lives will be feeding and changing babies. Wow.

 

P.S. I’m trying to get Mari to add an addendum here.  Her point of view would be far more… sentimental (and probably more interesting) than mine.  But she has a lot on her plate right now, and blogging is pretty low on the agenda.

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