Delivery Day and NICU, One Week Update

I can't believe one week has come and gone and my sweet babies are a week old tomorrow. Thinking back to this time last week, it almost seems like an eternity ago and life without my four children doesn't make sense. My c-section was scheduled for last Thursday morning at 8:15 and I was supposed to be at the hospital at 6:15am for prep. God definitely has a sense of humor because one of the last things I told my husband about getting there that early was at least we didn't have to worry about traffic. As soon as we got on 65-S that morning, traffic was at a stand still going absolutely no where. Quickly checking the traffic report at 5:30am, we found out there has unfortunately been a fatal accident shutting down the interstate. It did put things into perspective though. Here we are going to the hospital hoping to bring life into the world and sadly two people had lost theirs an hour before. We did make it to the hospital 45 minutes late, but they couldn't start without me. :) Once at the hospital, in an ironic twist of fate, we also learned that someone was supposed to have called me the night before and told me to be at the hospital at 4am because they had changed the time of my section to 7am. My poor doctor had been there since then and no one had called to tell me of the change. Regardless of the circumstances or the time, nerves set in as they began to prep me. The nurses tried to keep the mood very light hearted to keep me calm and I did good until they rolled me into the operating room. My whole body was shaking so hard, partly because of nerves and partly because of the epideral. There were a total of 20 people in the room with Michael and I, 23 once the babies came into the world. Once they started, things happened very quickly. Ethan and Gabe were born at 8:29am and Caroline was born at 8:30. Ethan weighed 5 pounds 10 oz 19 in long; Gabe weighed 4 pounds 5 oz.15 in long, and Caroline weighed 5 pounds 5 oz. 18 inches long. They let us get pictures and then Michael and the team of doctors and nurses went to the NICU. It took the doctors about another hour or so before they were finished with me and rolled me to my room. I was up and going to the see the babies by 2:00 that afternoon. The babies have made quick progress in their one week here. Everyday it gets harder and harder to leave them in the NICU as I see their great progress, but I know they are in good hands and am SO VERY thankful for the wonderful NICU nurses who love my babies when I am not there to. Caroline and Ethan are in isolettes which is a step up from an open bed. They get to wear onsies now which makes things look better to me. Caroline is bottle feeding 30 cc's with no problem and came off her oxygen yesterday. So far she is tolerating breathing on her own well. Ethan's breathing is still a bit rapid in the 70-80 range and they want it in the 60's before they allow him to bottle feed. For now he has an OG tube and is tolerating 30 cc's per feeding. Mr. Gabe is now in a crib and doing fantastic. He passed his car seat test and if all goes well he may get to come home as early as Saturday!! We have to spend the night in the NICU family room to assure the staff we can take care of him on our own. We anticipate Caroline to follow closely behind and if Ethan can slow down his respirations, for him to progress quickly too. I can not tell you how often I thank God for His miracles and His grace. The doctors and nurses can not tell me how well the babies are doing and how well I did during my pregnancy. I know that I did my part by staying in bed and having a wonderful husband to take care of me, but how long those babies stayed in place had everything to do with God answering prayers and continuing to answer prayers with the progress in all three babies. We are beyond blessed and have more to be thankful for than we ever imagined. What an amazing journey it has been and we are just so excited for the sleepless nights, screaming babies, and endless wonderful memories that are to come with our four children. Once Gabe comes home we are being told by the doctors that visitors will have to continue to be strictly limited. Overstimulation in a new environment can be harmful and casue a preemie to decline, as well as exposure to outside germs. The last thing we want is to get home and then have to take a baby back to the NICU. I know many are anxious to meet our three new additions and we ask for your continued to patience as we give our babies time to grow and develop physically and mentally. We will post pictures and give updates as often as we can. We love everyone and appreciate your thoughts, prayers, and well wishes.