Update: I obviously wrote this and didn't publish it until I just saw the draft! It's now December 31st and both girls are home! Kennedy came home on the 24th and Kinley on the 28th. So happy to have them both home for New Years!
We had our c-section scheduled for January 2nd and that would put me at 38 weeks and some change. I never thought I'd make it that far, but I never thought I'd have babies at 33 weeks and 3 days. To say the morning of the 26th was frightening is the understatement of the year. I was a Google, BabyCenter, Bump freak. I checked every Saturday, my weekly turnover day, what the chances of surviving on the outside were since about week 6. I will admit I'm a Type A freak show, but I needed to be prepared for anything. At 33 weeks I knew they had a 99.9% survival rate and they would be fine, but the NICU is not the most comforting place to think about sending your babies.
The first time Justin rolled me through the doors I had to catch my breath. I had seen pictures of the girls but seeing them in person hooked up to machines helping them to expand their lungs and monitors was frightening. Luckily, at first they weren't needing extra oxygen so it did make me feel somewhat better. Their little bodies were so tiny and looked like they were working so hard. The first few times we made the trip to the NICU I honestly felt so out of it that I don't remember a lot of what was going on or what anyone told me.
As the days progressed I became familiar with our nurses, what was happening, and felt comfortable leaving our girls with them. I got discharged from the hospital on Wednesday morning and honestly didn't know what to do when it was time to go. We live right down the hill from the hospital so I made the choice to not board at the hospital and come home to rest and recover from the c-section. We went and visited the girls for a little bit and then left to bring our stuff home. Driving away from the hospital without Kennedy and Kinley was the weirdest experience. I knew they were in good hands though so it made it better.
Our daily routine has turned into getting up and going to see them in the morning, coming home to rest in the afternoons, and then back to the hospital after dinner. We've learned all about desats, brady's, PDAs, feeding tubes, levels of NICUs, our nurses schedules, how to take care of premies, and how to have two more small people added to our family.
The only major hurdle they have had was on the first Friday we were in the NICU. The girls had an ultrasound done on their hearts and I was confused as to why and thought it was just a normal procedure. That night when we came back I noticed a paper sitting on the table in Kinley's room. I, of course, read the paper and freaked out before a nurse could come in an intercept it. She called the doctor in and he explained to us that Kinley was having a small issue with a PDA that was causing her to breathe harder than she needed to. Kennedy was also having an issue but it wasn't as bad as Kinley. After talking to him and hearing what he had to say I felt a little more calm. He explained that they would start Kinley on some medicine for 72 hours and then rescan her on Monday. When we came in on Saturday morning they had decided to do the same thing with Kennedy but with a medicine that wasn't needed as long since hers wasn't as open. The whole weekend I was on edge wondering if they were going to need to have a procedure to close their PDAs. On Monday we got to the hospital early and watched the ultrasound tech take pictures of the girls. She wasn't supposed to tell us anything but left each of their rooms with "She liked the medicine". The doctor confirmed for us two minutes later it had worked and we could get back to eating and growing.
The girls started off in different rooms next door to each other because the one twin suite was taken. During our second week we got to move into the extra large room that both girls could be in. It was nice to finally not have to run back and forth between rooms. I had felt like we were always in Kennedy's room because Kinley was only supposed to be "minimally stimulated". Now I feel like we are getting equal time with both.
We are now on our third week in the NICU. We have started trying to feed the girls without using the tubes so that we can show the doctors and nurses they can gain weight without them. They obviously have to be sucking and eating to go home. We also need them to stop having their breathing events, which are slowing down, but need to stop for 5 days before we can go home.
I can say that Tripler's NICU has been a fabulous place to have our girls. The nurses are amazing and the doctors are great. I love our girls care teams and will forever be grateful for the nurses that have put up with my constant questions. We are so blessed and lucky that the girls were as big as they were when they were born, they weren't sick and continue to grow.
Today, December 19th, they both weighed in at 5 pounds 3 ounces and while we wish they would be home for Christmas this year that probably won't be happening. I keep reminding myself that they weren't even supposed to be here until next year :)
More Update: We went back for a weight check today! Kennedy is 5 pounds 11 ounces and Kinley is 5 pounds 12 ounces! Growing girls :)
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