Saturday, September 21, 2013

They're Here!!!

Super duper quick update before the zombie makers wake up!

The twins were born last Sunday a little before noon. Labor started the night before and was very tough for my SIL. The next day she made the decision to have a c-section as Baby A was not progressing, even though labor had been going on for quite some time and was extremely rough. After the c-section, we almost lost my SIL as she threw-up and passed out at the same time, causing fluid to go into her lungs. The great medical team at our hospital were able to quickly aspirate and revive her. Scary stuff! Especially for my poor brother!!!

Long story short - she is doing fine now and was discharged either Wednesday or Thursday.

Our Baby Boy (the trouble maker) did great. He was born 7lbs 1 oz. He was discharged on Wednesday, but technically could have been sent home Tuesday. They gave us an extra day because our little girl was in NICU.

Baby Girl went into NICU originally because of her weight. The hospital requires any baby born under 5lbs to go to NICU and she was 4lbs 14oz. That's over a 2lb difference than her brother!!! We aren't exactly sure why there was such a difference, but they told us it occasionally happens, even when twins don't share a placenta.

While in NICU, Baby Girl was having trouble eating so she initially got a feeding tube. Her blood sugar levels were also occasionally low. We were able to feed her some by bottle and some by feeding tube. Every day she progressed and needed the feeding tube less. Her blood sugar improved and we were finally able to take her home on Friday - which was really great because the hospital is over an hour away and too difficult to take her brother back and forth (he isn't allowed in NICU).

Every one is doing well as we are adjusting to life with twins. It's completely an utterly wonderful, but also scary - especially when the little one doesn't eat her minimum requirement. I'm adjusting to the not sleeping better than I thought, course don't quote me on that during the 3AM feedings.  Between 12 AM and 3 AM the twins tends to think it's party time.

Sorry for the absence - but truthfully I don't expect it to get better. Still - I will continue this blog as there is still soooooooooooooooo much to write and I know that other's blogs really really helped me. 1 year ago I thought there was no chance I would have any more biological children of my own. I had resigned myself to donor eggs, which in our circumstance would have greatly increased our time before we could try surrogacy again. To be clear, I would have loved ANY child coming into our lives, but I am very happy that I get a chance (for better or for worse) to see how a mix of our families will turn out AND that we don't have to wait many more years. At 41, that would have been tough.

That's it for me. I wasn't kidding when I wrote "zombie makers". My days are blending and I forget things very quickly. Not sure if I need a nap right now or dinner. Guess I go ask my hubby. :-)

13 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the birth of your twins. It sounds like it was really scary for your brother, but glad your SIL is ok. We just brought our twins home today after 18 days in the NICU.

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    1. Oh wow! Congrats to you! That must have been very scary. We actually had a fairly benign stay there except for a couple things. But she never needed an IV, so we felt pretty lucky.

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  2. Congrats, so happy to hear your wonderful news and that all is now well. What are their names?

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  3. HUGE CONGRATULATION HUGS!! I'm happy to hear that you are home with your treasures and that your SIL is alright. Soon enough, babies will learn the night and day thing, so the nights will be easier for all of you. Take your time and sleep during daytime along with them! It will make you a better person, believe me :D
    Love from Sweden!

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  4. Congratulations!!! I am so happy for you that you finally got your babies. Your SIL is a trooper. What an amazing thing she has done for you. I'm so glad she ended up being okay. Can't wait to read more about the babies and your journey into parenthood. I do understand that you will have your hands full, so write when you can :)

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  5. Congratulations on the birth of your twins! Wonderful news x

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  6. I'm so glad that they have arrived and even happier that your SIL is okay. Scary stuff! Praying for all!

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  7. Wow! what fantastic news! congratulations.

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  8. Hello,

    I am Dr. Sharvari Karandikar, Assistant Professor at the College of Social Work, Ohio State University, USA. I am contacting you because my colleague Dr. Lindsay Gezinski and I are interested in conducting research with couples that have used transnational surrogacy services. We are specifically studying your motivations and experiences of international surrogacy. We would also like to learn about your perceptions of the surrogate mothers. The interviews will take 30-40 minutes and will be conducted via Skype or telephone. We will give you a $10 amazon gift card as reimbursement for participating in the study.
    This research will help us develop empirical knowledge base on experiences, problems and difficulties of international gestational surrogacy. This information is not available to social scientists and there is a big gap in the literature on this topic. This research will also help us advocate for rights of parents and surrogates involved in the process, in doing so we hope to be instrumental in informing social work practices and policies on the issue.

    Your experience is very important, so we hope you will consider participating in this study. Please let us know if you are interested. You can email us your decision to participate at karandikar-chheda.1@osu.edu

    Thank you.
    Sincerely,

    Sharvari Karandikar-Chheda, Ph.D.
    Assistant Professor
    College of Social Work
    The Ohio State University
    http://csw.osu.edu/about/faculty-staff/faculty-directory/karandikar-chheda-sharvari-ph-d/

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  9. My congratulations, honey! I'm so happy for you! Thank you for this wonderful blog! I also can't carry a baby by myself. I was born without an uterus. I just don't have it and this changes everything. I didn't think about having kids till I met my husband. But still I knew something wrong with my body and, when I'll have my own family, I will face some problems inevitably. I met Mike when I was 24. We've been together for 6 years already. First year of our relationships I had been lying to him. It was my biggest mistake… I had been pretending that I'm like the other girls. Once per month I 'had' pain in stomach and bad mood. Only now I see how stupid it was… My husband was the first who talked about having children. I can't tell in words what I felt at that moment. I had dozens of questions in my head. 'Should I tell him now?', 'Should I continue my lie?', 'What will happen when he finds out?' I had been lying half of year more. I pretended I have no clue why we can't conceive. He even thought he is the one who has problems with health. And that was last straw. I told him the truth and we had a huge quarrel. I thought I lost him forever… But love turned out to be stronger! I had never lied to my husband again. After consultation with a doctor and some discussions we decided, that surrogacy is our only solution. We decided to look for clinics abroad. We were afraid to contact agencies, because there are too many scammers among them. We decided to concentrate on Russia and Ukraine. Their prices are much lower. But speaking about Russia, we crossed it off of our list. Russian legislation has a law, which gives surrogate mother same rights for baby as parents have. So sm can leave a baby to herself if she wants. We chose Ukrainian clinic BioTexCom. We read many reviews about it and also this clinic has high rates of successful treatments. Our baby was born last year! We are happy parents now! I wish you and your family all the best!

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  10. Congrats! I'm so happy for you! I faced infertility, when I was 36 yo. My only chance to have children was surrogacy. My husband and I have got married when we were 26 (now we are 40). We decided to set aside kids issue for a couple of years and to take up our careers. But a terrible thing happened. I started to feel lower abdominal pain. I’ve lost 17 pounds for very short period of time. I felt exhausted and I was getting tired very fast. One night I woke up because of sharp pain in abdomen. I was diagnosed with cancer of the uterus. So the uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries were removed. It was a big shock for our family. Accepting childless life wasn't a variant for us. My husband wanted a son very much. But I knew that I couldn't fulfill his wish. I was afraid that my dh will leave me for another woman, who will be able to bear a child for him. And I began to look for ways and exits, clinics and doctors. I wanted to do everything to save my family. After a long search, conversations with friends, reading of articles and reviews in the Internet, we decided to focus on surrogacy. But in our country it is, unfortunately, very expensive and we couldn't afford it. We began to look for clinics abroad. We wanted to find the best doctors and, at the same time, affordable price. It turned out that this procedure is legal in Ukraine. I've read many reviews about Ukrainian clinics and medicine. So we took this chance. We went to biotexcom for surrogacy procedure. Now we have a wonderful healthy boy. My husband and I are very happy and grateful. I've never regret about my choice. Now I can't imagine my life without my baby! Surrogacy changed our life for the best.

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  11. congrats.. happy blog.. thanks for sharing

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