The Girls Are Here! (update #3)

We had a pretty exciting day here at Edward.  To put you all at ease, all of the girls are ok.

Let's start with the good.  Meghan was able to begin some Kangaroo Care with Sophia.  For the uninitiated, it's pretty much what it sounds like.  It's a technique that's practiced on preemies that's meant to imitate how certain marsupials carry their young.  Sophia was the only one that was ready to be held today.  What was supposed to be a one hour event turned in two of the most incredible hours we've ever experienced together.  I'll be honest, it hadn't really hit me yet.  There was no anxious build-up to a planned c-section.  The birth of our babies came unexpectedly and I really wasn't emotionally prepared for how quickly everything happened yesterday.  When I came around the other side of the NICU, one of the nurses, Maria, already had Meg set up in a chair with Sophia pressed up against her chest.  I felt a tremendous wave of emotions coming over me and finally just let it all out, as did Meg.  It was so incredible!  Even though she still had all of her wires and tubes attached, for those two hours, she looked like a perfectly healthy baby.  I think we were both surprised that we didn't cry yesterday, but we made up for it today.  Tomorrow, we get to hold Madelyn.  Hopefully, not too far off in the future, we'll get to do the same with Isabelle.

So, speaking of Isabelle, do you remember yesterday when I said that hours 25-72 could potentially be a little tenuous?  Well, we got our first experience (besides the TTTS) with being worried parents.  Apparently, Isabelle has what they refer to as a spontaneous perforation of her small intestines.  It's a possibility with most preemies and our super preemie just loves herself a good challenge.  The doctors think she has a small hole in her intestines and that gas is leaking into her abdomen.  We could visibly see that her stomach was distended and stretched to the max.  One of the neonatologists and a surgeon spoke with us and told us that they were going to have to make a small incision in her belly and insert a very small drainage tube.  Immediately, her stomach went back to normal size and they could see the gas leaving her belly.  The hope is that the small hole heals itself over the next week.  Depending on how her body reacts will affect the next potential treatment.  The only other negative side effect is that they had to put her breathing tube back in because the seemingly innocuous nasal cannula was actually blowing air that was seeping into her belly.  Like I said in the beginning, so far so good.  All of the girls are sleeping well tonight.

I also wanted to include a pic of Madelyn with her full-length body pillow.  She looks like mom used to, sleeping on her side with the babies.  Look at the size of that pacifier next to her head!

Also, I took this photo on Sunday night. We didn't know that we'd be delivering the next morning, but Meg's second true love--Abigail--thought she'd help out with the babies by warming them up and giving them a little purr action. She is in for one heck of a surprise when we bring home our three girls!