36 Weeks

In my last post, I mentioned that maybe for my 36 week picture, I'd actually have babies...

 

 

 Well, I was right!

 

It was kind of funny, because the night before my water broke, I was wondering what it felt like to have your water break...I got online and read other people's experiences.

 

So on September 16, I woke up at 1:00 for one of my many potty breaks, and my water broke. I woke up Matthew, and told him I thought my water just broke. He laid there for a minute while he was waking up and said, "What do you need me to do?" I asked him to grab me a towel (which are in our bedroom closet) and he got up and went out into the hall, stopped with his hands out to his side, looked around for a second and then realized where he needed to go and what he was doing. He got all of our stuff together, and we went to the hospital here in Sanpete. My doctor decided to have me transferred up to Utah County since I was only 35 weeks pregnant. It was a little too early to deliver them in Sanpete because of the possibility of them needing the NICU.

Before we even left Sanpete, they could feel "Baby A's" head, so it was kind of a big rush to get me up north. I got in the ambulance, and Matthew drove our car up separately, which may have been a good thing because then I was able to focus on whether or not he was going to make it to the hospital before the babies were born, since I had no idea where he was, and he had my cell phone. It could have been bad, because we went through Nephi and Matthew went through Fairview. If the babies decided to come faster than planned, we would have stopped at the Nephi hospital or the Payson hospital. Luckily we made it to Utah County! It was a little stressful, though. While I was in the ambulance, they nurse checked me and said that I was dilated to a 9. The nurses were all putting on their gloves and getting ready to deliver my babies in the ambulance. I got pretty nervous. We got into the hospital around 4:00, I think. The nurses checked me again. Turns out I was only at a 5. At this point, I thought I was going to be able to have the babies without an epidural. And when they told me I was at a 9 in the ambulance, I thought it was going to be a piece of cake. Don't get me wrong, I was in quite a bit of pain, but it wasn't TOO bad. When I found out that I was only at a 5, I definitely wanted the epidural! :) The doctor that was on call that night was really funny. He was taking some of my background information...there is the question about whether I smoke, drink, do drugs, curse. Haha, he was really funny and made it easy for me to like him. I got the epidural, and it was amazing. My contractions never peaked too high, so that is good. But I'm glad that I didn't feel them! Plus the actual giving birth part may not have been too pleasant or as easy as it was. Anyway, the time finally came for Matthew to "gown up," I did 3 practice pushes in my room and they took us into the operating room just in case I was going to need a C-section. Lyla Marie was born at 9:39 and weighed 5 lbs 13 oz and 18 1/2 inches long. Four minutes later, at 9:43 Alya Linda was born weighing in at 6 lbs 3 oz and 19 inches long. It was so amazing! And thanks to my epidural, I was able to feel everything, but nothing hurt. Once Lyla was born, they took her back into another little room next to the operating room to weigh her and make sure she was okay, so I only got to see her for a second before they took her away. Then, the same thing happened with Alya. While the doctor was finishing up with me, Matthew came in holding both of our beautiful baby girls in his arms. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen! They let us take pictures with them and then they took them down to the nursery. I am SO thankful that they didn't have to spend any time in the NICU. My little Lyla was a little beat up. She was obviously in the birth canal for a long time (like I said, they could feel her head before we even left the hospital in Sanpete) so needless to say she was a little squished. One of her ears was embedded in the side of her head, and she had some fluid in her lungs. But they fixed that, and she is as good as new.

 

 

 

I consider Lyla to be my little runt. I know she is the big sister, but we keep calling her the little sister! She is starting to fill out, though. At their two week appointment, Lyla weighed 6.0 and Alya weighed 6.8. Lyla is in the 23% for weight and the 64% for length. Alya is in the 25% for weight and the 64% for length.

They are seriously amazing. I love these two girls SO much! They are seriously life changing. It's amazing how much I love them and worry about them. There are so many things that can go wrong. Are they getting enough to eat, are they eating too much!? Am I giving them tummy aches? Are they warm enough? (They were born without the fat that newborns burn when they get cold so we have to keep them extra bundled). Are they too warm? I don't even know. I feel like a million questions run through my head every day. I spend way too much time on the internet trying to have my questions answered.

 

I took them to have their newborn pictures taken. I'm not going to lie, the photographer was kind of disappointing. She did a great job on the pictures that she got, but we were there for 5 hours and only got 5 pictures. We got to her house and she had a GIANT dog running around. Her GIANT cat was wondering around, her birds were always making noise in the background, and the chickens and ducks in the backyard were a little weird. There was a lot more that I wanted as far as pictures go, but we just didn't get it. I really do appreciate her patience with them. It's really hard to pose two babies who didn't stay asleep the whole time! She waited so patiently for them. I just think she could have utilized help. I was there, my mom was there and she had a daughter helping her. We all could have held a body part and then counted to 3 and everyone let go so she could get a shot. Instead she tried to do it all herself. She didn't have her camera ready a lot of the time, and had to search for it a couple of times, and then she had to re-pose the babies because she wasted so much time finding her camera. I feel like she charged me too much to get 5 pictures. Like I said, I am really happy with the pictures, but I wanted some other stuff. I wanted some individuals of the girls and we didn't get anything like that. She did get their little feet, which I really wanted, but I wanted more details - which babies don't really have to be posed to get a profile picture...I don't know. I wish it had gone differently, but what are ya gonna do!? Now I know for next time.

 

 

I can't believe the girls will be a month old in ONE WEEK! It has gone so fast!

I am so excited to watch them learn and grow, but I am a little sad at the same time. My babies are SO tiny and I kind of want them to stay that way. I'm sad that they have to grow up.

Matthew is so cute with them, too. I love watching him hold them and kiss them. He is so tender with them. He put a funny picture in my head last night...how funny/cute it would be if they could walk right now. These tiny bodies walking around! Haha! He is too funny.

 

I am so thankful for these little girls. I really hope that I can be a great mom for them, and that I can make the best decisions for them. I am so thankful that everything with their delivery went so well, and that they are both so healthy. I am so grateful that they didn't have to spend any time in the NICU and that they got to come home from the hospital with us. I am so grateful that they are healthy and gaining weight and getting bigger...although I do wish they'd stay small a little longer. :) I love them so much and I just want the best for them!