Fayette Piedmont Hospital
I love you both more than words can say. I’ve know you for less than 4 days, and I can’t believe how quickly you’ve stolen my heart. I have so many thoughts and feelings running through me all the time, and would love to write to you to be able to remember this precious but difficult time. Maybe one day you’ll read these. Maybe not. Either way, I think it’s therapeutic for mommy.
Here’s a quick summary of our time together so far…
On the night of Friday, March 11th, 2011, Daddy and I went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for dinner. We cooked out with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Patrick, Great-Aunt Libby and Uncle Ron, Tony and Claire (you’ll love all of these people very soon). We had a great evening. Mommy ate a cheeseburger, mac n’ cheese and some buffalo chicken dip. I wonder if any of these were the culprit?!?! That night, daddy and I went home like normal and went to sleep. You two had been pretty active for the previous few weeks, which mommy LOVED, but it also kept me up throughout the night. I didn’t mind too much though, since I got to feel your sweet kicks and rolls. That night, I got in bed around 11:30pm and woke up at 1:30am to go pee. I went a little bit and then felt a weird “pop” feeling, and then went quite a bit more. I thought maybe one of you had just moved suddenly, and that released my bladder….but there was a part of me that said it could have been my water breaking. I didn’t want to wake daddy up, so I just grabbed the laptop (I wonder if you’ll know about laptops by the time you read this, or if technology will be so much more advanced by then??). I searched online for details on water breaking. I was about 95% sure that it was a false alarm, and most of the advice online said to lay down for 30 minutes and then check to see if there was any leaking. I decided to go back to bed, and 5 minutes later I got up with extreme pain. I later realized this was my first contraction…but didn’t know it at the time. At this point, daddy woke up and came to check on me. I told him about my pain and the possibility of my water having broken. He said I should call the 24-hour nurse that I talked to through our insurance. I did that, and she recommended that I call my doctor and/or go into the hospital. I tried calling my doctor, but the phone was busy!! That was a scary thing, because it is supposed to be a call-center at night. We tried calling for about 30 minutes and only got busy signals. We decided we should go into the Emergency Room and continue to try to call on the way. We got all the way to the hospital, and I was getting out of the car at the door to the ER when daddy finally got through on the phone to the answering service. Dr. Carter called us back immediately and after we told her what was going on, she said to check into the hospital and she was on her way in.
We got checked in about 3:00am on the morning of Saturday, March 12th. Since it was the middle of the night, and we had to go in through the ER instead of the Maternity Center, I got wheeled over to the Maternity floor. They put us in a room and asked us to complete some paperwork. I started to do it myself, but then my contractions started getting intense, so daddy had to step in and fill it out, and just let mommy sign on the lines that I needed to sign on. By the way, daddy has been so amazing through the entire process…but you’ll learn all about that. Within about 20 minutes, I went from fairly normal and able to have a conversation, to having intense contractions every 2 minutes and being very scared. The nurse told me “this is it” and they took me to the OR. She said she didn’t have time to finish the paperwork or do all the tests they needed to because you two babies weren’t going to wait on that. You two were so funny throughout my pregnancy. We never really knew what to expect about your positions because you loved to flip and flop all the time. We were expecting Parks to be breech and Marlee to be head-down, since that was the last ultrasound about a week prior…but you had both moved, and Parks was now head-down and lower (to be born first) and Marlee was breech and higher. Since you weren’t both head-down, Dr. Carter decided to deliver you via c-section. At that point, mommy didn’t have an opinion…not that I had a choice anyway. J
When they took me back to the OR to prepare for the surgery, daddy had to wait in the room by himself. It was very hard being wheeled away from him, and I know it was hard on him to sit there alone for 20 minutes with all the chaos that had been happening. As we were rolling into the OR, my contractions were starting to feel different, and the nurses were telling me “don’t push!” since Parks was ready to join us at any moment. They prepped me and then brought daddy in. They laid me down on a table, put a drape up so I wouldn’t see anything, and got to work very quickly.
Parks, as soon as you were born we heard you yell and cry very loud. It was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. They lifted you up so we could see you over the drape, and then took you away to clean you and take care of you.
Marlee, you were born second, and you were quiet when you first came. The nurses took you right away to stimulate you a little bit to get you going. That was a very scary time for mommy and daddy not to hear you right away, but you came around quickly and when we heard you cry, the world was complete.
Since you were born at only 34 weeks and 2 days, you were both very tiny and considered “preemie” babies. Parks, you were born at 4:59am on Saturday, March 12th and weighed in at 4 pounds, 14 ounces. Marlee, you were born at 5:02am on Saturday, March 12th and weighed in at 4 pounds, 1 ounce. You were both 17 inches long. The nurses took you both to the NICU right away to be cared for and monitored. That was a very hard day for mommy. The surgery left me unable to use my legs for about a day, so I didn’t get to see you until about 11:30pm that night when daddy was able to get me into a wheelchair and take me to see you. (Luckily, daddy could make a few trips over to visit you even though mommy couldn’t, and he took some videos of your first hours of life to show me). You both looked so delicate and precious in the NICU. You were under some heat fans and wearing a little diaper. You both had monitors hooked up to your chest and feet and the nurses were keeping a close eye on you both. You both did a very good job on the first day. You ate all the food you were supposed to, and seemed to be behaving. Since then, you have each had a couple of setbacks, and I will try to fill you in on the details in your individual letters, but I just wanted to get some of those initial details down. Remember, your mommy and daddy love you more than anything, and we are looking forward to all the milestones you will reach here at the hospital, back at your new home, and throughout your lives. We will do everything we can do be good parents for you, and will never stop praying for your health and safety.
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