Doubly Blessed

On Wednesday, November 30th, Natalie had a doctor appointment.  After her appointment she let us know that she was dialated to four and 80% effaced.  As she was only 34 weeks pregnant, I was surprised and yet having seen how miserable she felt the night before, I wasn't surprised.  The doctor kept her at his office for monitoring and then sent her to Summerlin Hospital for further monitoring.  It turned out she was in labor.  By the time I got the second phone call, Natalie was dialated to six.  Steve and I hurriedly drove to Summerlin Hospital around  four or five in the evening.

Because it was twins and they were early, the doctor told her that she would deliver in an operating room in case she needed to have a C-Section.  Natalie was wheeled off from the labor room when she reached a dialation of ten which occurred relatively easy with the help of an epideral and some other medication.  An hour later they wheeled Natalie back to the labor/delivery room.  She had delivered one of the babies but not the other.  Since it was now a single birth, she was going to be able to have the baby in the same room she had been with us during labor.  She had gone back to a dialation of four, and it appeared that she was going to have to go through labor for a second time in the same evening.  A little more than two hours later Baby B was born.  Natalie invited me to stay in the room with her, Thomas, and a team of medical professionals.  It was a magnificient event, and I am so happy that I was part of such a special moment.  Natalie was a trooper; and although it was difficult at the end, she did what she needed to do and remained the same patient, loving, even-tempered daughter I have always known her to be.

Names haven't been selected yet, but I know Natalie and Thomas are working on that situation now.  Both babies are in the ICU because of underdeveloped lungs.  Baby B is the worse.  Both had to have breathing tubes and feeding tubes.  Baby B has two picks; one is in the umbilical cord and the other in the wrist.  Those picks are for medications for the heart and lungs.   What is rather unique about the birth of these twins is that Baby A was born on November 30th around 11:00 p.m. and Baby B was born on December 1st around 1:00 a.m. 

Labor and Delivery Room

Here's Natalie and me before either babies
have been born

Optimism in the "goal"

Dialated to 10 and ready to head for the
operating room

Baby B who was born second in the
labor and delivery room. 

Baby B receiving medical attention

My first glimpses of Baby A in the ICU

We brought Cali and Ashton to the
hospital so they could see their new
brothers.  Because of their age they had
to wear gowns, gloves, hats, and masks.

Natalie and Cali admiring Baby B

Natalie, Steve, Cali, and Thomas
by Baby B's incubator

Natalie by Baby A in his incubator