The BABIES are here!!

 What a couple of months we have had! At 1:30am Sunday morning, Sept. 6th, I rolled over in bed and felt a little gush of fluid.  I thought I needed to go to the bathroom, so I rolled my large self out of bed and hurried to the bathroom.  That's when a little gush turned into a very large gush of water.  My water had broken! I called to Scott, and we rushed around getting ready to head to the hospital.  Krista came out to watch our big boys for the day.

We got checked in and situated in our room.  The Dr. came to see us and was hoping they could stop my labor and contractions.  I was 31 weeks exactly and they were hoping to stop it for as long as possible.... maybe even another 3 weeks.  I hurried to get me steroid injections to help the babies lungs develop in case they were delivered.  They put me on magnesium to slow down contractions and labor.  The magnesium was a horrible experience.  Long story short..... almost 24 hours later, I was in labor and having strong contractions.

Because my water had broken, they weren't checking to see if I was dilating, in order to avoid any chance of infection.  They were just monitoring my contractions and how I was feeling.  I was feeling terrible and have some very uncomfortable contractions..... although they were 15 minutes apart at times.  Around 5:30pm Monday evening, I had two very strong and painful contractions that were really close together.  On the second one, I felt like the only way to get through the pain was to push.  As soon as my nurse heard me say that, she ran out to get the doctor.  He rushed in, checked to see what I was dilated to, I was at a 6 almost 7.  He said "It's time.... let's go." And then it was like people came out of the walls of our room to prepare me for an emergency C-Section.

It was fast and crazy and a little scary, but I was confident that our babies would be ok. At 5:55 and 5:56 our sweet little twins were born.  Samuel Wesley - Baby A and Finn Michael - Baby B were finally here! They were a tiny 3lbs. 8oz. and 3lbs. 10 oz.  They struggled a little bit and were rushed to the NICU.... where are next 7 weeks would be spent.

 Sam - above / Finn - below

 Will and Eli were anxious and excited to see their baby brothers!

 Teeny tiny beautiful perfect little fingers and toes.

 Mom meeting the boys for the first time.

 Sam - above / Finn - below

 The NICU was a special experience.  So many wonderful nurses and doctors that took care of our boys.  The babies were on and off breathing treatments, oxygen, and biliruben lights.  Overall, they did wonderful and gained weight really well.  They had to grow and learn to eat before being able to come home.  At 46 days, Sam was ready to come home.  He came home on oxygen and an apnea monitor, but it was great to finally get him home.  At 49 days Finn was ready to come home as well.

 Skin to skin with mom and Finn

 Sam's time for skin to skin with dad

 Cute little feetprint! We can't get over how the twins resemble each of our families so much.  Sam looks so much like Scott and the Mortensen family and Finn is so much a Hopkins! Even in their feet print.  Sam's are wider and fatter and shorter toes, just like Scott.  Finn's are long and skinny with really long toes, just like me!

 The big boys finally got to come inside the NICU to see the boys.  They got to help with "cares" - change diapers, take temperatures, etc.  It was fun to have us all together for a few minutes.  Going back and forth to the NICU and hold things down at home for 8 weeks was tricky.  I was grateful I had so much help and support.  We had friends and family helping to get the big boys to and from school so I could go down to the NICU for most of the day.  I spent most of the day at the NICU, helping to feed and hold the babies.   

 Finn - above / Sam - below

 Sometimes it feels like the NICU was such a long time and sometimes it feels like it was just a few days.  It was such a unique experience and we learned so much about having preemies.  I'm grateful for all our wonderful nurses and the amazing care they took of our boys. 

We are happy to have our boys home and have us all under one roof.  It is much more tiring, because we don't sleep much, but they are so much fun and we are completely smitten with them! It is so much fun to see their different personalities.  We do a lot of holding, eating, sleeping, and loving on our sweet new babies.  I'm enjoying this newborn time because I know it goes by so quickly.  They are such little miracles, and I just can't get enough.  Now we go to the doctor every couple of weeks to do growth checks and make sure the babies are doing good and growing as they should.

It is so amazing that we have four boys! Our little family has grown and we love it.  We are so blessed and I'm excited for this new adventure for our family.  It will be fun to watch them grow and to see all four of our boys grow up together.  We are so blessed!!