January 31, 2017

Jacob Wayne and James Kenneth Justice Rasmussen joined our family on January 31, 2017 at 5:08 PM and 5:09 PM respectively.  Jacob was 19.5 inches and 5 lbs 9 oz.  James was 20 inches and 6 lbs 5 oz.  

Newborns! Jacob Wayne on the left and James Kenneth on the right.

In the recovery room holding both boys together for the first time.

Last time leaving the apartment before the boys were born.

Arriving at the hospital!

So swollen!

Monitoring the boys.  I heard them hiccuping!

One of the first meals I ordered.

First family photo!

It's taken several weeks to find the time to write out the boys' birth story.  Thankfully I had written notes on my phone so I could remember things!

What a whirlwind two days!  I went to the doctor on Monday afternoon (January 30th).  I had a massive headache, was very swollen, and extremely uncomfortable.  I found out I gained 8 pounds in one week and was weighing in at 212 pounds!  I was surprised I had ended up gaining so much since weight gain was minimal during the first part of my pregnancy.  

The appointment started with an ultrasound.  The tech didn't get any good pictures of the boys' faces, but was able to get measurements of them.  When it was time to meet with the doctor, my blood pressure was taken and it was super high again.  The high blood pressure combined with the torturous headache and swelling made the doctor think I needed to head to the hospital for observation and testing.  

I called Seth at work and he wanted to go with me.  We gathered up my hospital bag and packed a few things for him and headed out the door.  The hospital had free valet parking so we dropped off the car and checked in.  I was put in a wheelchair and taken to my room on the 2nd floor (Room 2222).

They had a snack room with popsicles and crackers.  My favorite thing was the cranberry juice with chewy ice.

Every 4 hours my blood pressure would be checked and the boys would be monitored.  They kept track of contractions (wasn't really having any) and their heart rates.  They drew my blood several times, checked my "fluid" levels over a 24-hour period, and gave me the steroid shot for the babies' lung development.

With the way the doctors and nurses were acting, I thought everything was going to be okay and I would be sent home and put on bed rest.  We ended up with quite the surprise on Tuesday afternoon!

Dr. Journey (the on-call doctor from my clinic) came in right after I ate lunch around noon.  She said with the results from my tests combined with my headache they did not want to wait too long to take the boys out and that we needed to mentally prepare ourselves because they possibly could be arriving that evening.  She also told me not to eat or drink anything the rest of the day!  Seth and I thought that meant the earliest the boys would arrive would be around 9 p.m. or so, but my actual doctor had other plans.  Dr. Hardy came in even though it was her day off!  The nurse came to my room at 4 p.m. and started prepping me for surgery.  I was wheeled to the third floor and put in a room so Seth could change.  Dr. Hardy came to talk and check on me.  She walked with me to the operating room (I was wheeled by a nurse).  Seth was told to go to a waiting room and they would come get him in a few minutes.

The operating room was really cold.  I didn't think they would start my spinal block/epidural until Seth came in, so I was in for a shock when the nurse told me to hold onto her and the anesthesiologist stuck the needle in my back.  I thought we were only practicing!  The pain shot up my back and hurt until the medicine started to work a minute or so later.  The anesthesiologist did some checks to make sure I was numb and then had me lay down.  That's when things got a little crazy.  

Extreme pain started radiating from my neck and shoulders.  I couldn't get comfortable because the table was so narrow.  All the doctors and nurses started getting mad at me for moving around and I kept trying to tell them how much pain I was in.  Eventually they had to hold me down and I got a panic attack.  Since I was freaking out so bad they gave me some drug that put me in a major haze. FINALLY, they let Seth in and I calmed down but I don't really remember much of the boys' birth.  I only recall the doctors saying blood pressure is dropping and next thing I know Seth was holding the boys next to my face.  

I was so happy to finally see them!  They immediately went to the NICU since they both had low blood sugar and James was having trouble breathing (grunting) since there was still some fluid in his lungs.  

They wheeled me to recovery and I hated not being able to feel my legs nor be with my boys.  It was such a crazy and scary feeling.  I felt helpless which led to another mini panic attack.  Luckily Seth was with me and helped me breathe through it.  Since I couldn't see the boys myself, Seth went to the NICU to FaceTime and get pictures for me.  

I thought my swelling was bad before the C-section but I ballooned up afterwards!  I have lots of stretch marks on my behind and legs because of the swelling!  The nurses all commented on how swollen I was too.  The swelling made my legs and feet painful to touch.  I honestly felt like I would pop like an over-filled balloon!  On  February 9th I could finally start feeling some give to my skin, but was still puffy for about a month afterwards. 

I was surprised how sweaty I was after they were born.  I asked why and they told me I would be sweating and peeing out all the excess fluid in my body.  I was so swollen none of my shoes fit and I could only wear the hospital's no skid socks around.  Even those were a bit small!  

The pain from surgery was pretty unbearable the first few days.  I could not sleep.  Every time a nurse would check on me I would be up in pain or pumping.  They finally gave me Norco and I could manage better and actually get rest.  

One upside of my hospital stay--besides having my wonderful twin boys--was that I really enjoyed the hospital food.  The room service menu always had several very tasty options.  My favorite meal was the sliced turkey, baked potato, and veggies.  I think I ate it 4 or 5 times! 

I pumped every 3 hours even though nothing would really come out.  My milk finally came in after a week and a few weeks later I was producing a surplus.  We would take my milk to the NICU and the nurses would mix it with formula to give to the boys.

We stayed at the hospital for 6 days and left at the very last minute.  It was so hard leaving the boys there.  We had my room until midnight and stayed in the NICU until 11.  We then packed up and the nurse helped us carry our stuff down.  On the way home we filled my Norco prescription at the only 24-hour pharmacy open.  While there we picked up a heating pad with auto-shut-off so I could use it for my back pain.

When we finally went home (on Saturday, February 4th), we thought we lost our house keys.  We had the Tile app and tried using it to find them.  The app said they were at a Spin class I hadn't been to since before I was pregnant so we knew that was wrong.  I tried calling the hospital to see if they had our keys in lost and found, but wasn't having any luck.  I finally just called the emergency line at our complex so we could get in.  It was supposed to cost us $60, but Ernie ended up letting us in for free.  Thank goodness our boys were not with us!  That would have been quite the welcome home!  Seth eventually found the keys at the bottom of his bag a couple hours later!     

While I was getting prepped to have the boys, Seth wrote me this email while he was waiting (on 1/31/17 at 4:49 PM):

Carlie--

I'm sitting in the waiting room but wanted to write this now so you have this when you get done.

Know that the last ~8 years have been the best of my life. You've made me so happy and make me complete. I know the last few years have been rough on you in many different facets but just remember that we got through it together and we'll keep doing that for the rest of our lives. You've been so incredible at staying positive and resilient in the face of incredible mental, emotional and physical pain. You certainly all the best for the love and dedication you've maintained!

Now that we're adding to our family, I'm so happy that you'll be the mother of our children. You'll love them and teach them how to be a good, caring person just like you. You light up my life and you'll light up theirs. There will be many sleepless nights (mostly due to the abundance of nightlights!) but just like everything else, we'll get through it together. I love you more than anything. I'll love them both more than anything. I love you all, forever and for always. Looking forward to sharing every day with you and our family!

-Seth

Sometimes I still can't believe I survived the IVF process and pregnancy.  With all the shots, medicine, timing, multiple ER visits, some scary health situations, and a not-so-average delivery--I'm grateful for modern medicine.  These boys are literal science miracles.  I am amazed every time I look at them and think about the process and time it took to get them here.  It's unbelievable sometimes, but I am so grateful.  They are my perfect little babies.  I'm so glad I get to live my dream job of being a mom now.