They're here!!!

Tyler Henry (5 lbs. 9 oz.) and Brody Upton (5 lbs. 11 oz.) were both born this morning at 7:59 a.m. Brody was born first. Before he came out Tyler had his hand sticking out of my incision as if he were saying, "Hey, don't forget me!" The docs/nurses were all saying, "Look at his hand!" I thought they were talking about Brody because I had a sheet in front of me and couldn't see Tyler. I kept saying, "What's wrong with his hand?" but nobody answered. We figured out later what they had meant. Both boys came out crying so John and I took that as a good sign of their well-being. The nurses and docs were all telling them "Happy Birthday" as they were born. I thought that was cute.

The NICU nurses brought each boy over to us briefly but Brody was turning a little blue so they quickly got them to their new temporary home in intensive care. We were told that the standard procedure is to take the parents over to the NICU to see the babies on their way up to the postpartum rooms after recovering for a while post-surgery but when my nurse called to inform them we were on our way the NICU team said they needed an hour and a half before we could come see them because they weren't ready for us. That worried us a little bit. After that time was up and we had settled into my new room we called down and they said we could come anytime. I was nauseous and sick for most of the day due to the drugs given to me in my spinal and so we waited until around 3:30 p.m. to attempt the trip to see them. We got to Brody's isolet and peeked in for a few minutes before the Neonatologist and a NICU nurse started updating us on their status. I started to feel pretty ill and got sick so we had to leave to go back up to my room before even making it over to see Tyler. John quickly snapped a picture before we left but I waited in my wheelchair out in the hallway with the nurse.

Both boys are intubated, which means that they are on ventilators that breathe for them. This is saddening because we didn't think that they would need this much assistance. The Neonatologist seems optimistic that they will be able to get them to a less-intrusive breathing device called a CPAP within a few days. This evening they tried to turn down Brody's ventilator a little to get him to try to breathe a little bit on his own but his blood pressure dropped. They gave him something to regulate it. They haven't done anything to Tyler's ventilator.

At around 6 p.m. I have been starting to feel much better (less dizzy and not as nauseous). I hope to make it down to visit them first thing tomorrow morning.