Thanks for your patience....

Wow...we have had an emotional last few days. But, we did it, we're finally parents, and we are in bliss. We've been busy, have had a lot going on and have had lots of visitors. Here are some updates as to how our transition into parenthood came to be:

*Wednesday afternoon we got the call that I had developed preeclampsia and it was time to deliver some babies. Cody made his way home from Brewster and we were into the hospital around 4:30 that afternoon.

*After being admitted they started my induction with just a small dose of a pill that was inserted vaginally. Things started progress throughout the night. They would have been able to do 4 more doses of this, but I was progressing and that's what they wanted to see.

*Around 6:30 Thursday morning the doctor broke baby A's water and that's when things really started moving along. I was pretty uncomfortable throughout the day and didn't hesitate when they offered me an epidural. About 3:45 I was dialated to 9cm and the doctor thought we would be pushing within the hour. It wasn't long after that, that I really started to get uncomfortable again. So we didn't last the hour and were already in the operating room by 4:00.

*We had to deliver in the operating room because we were having twins. They needed to be prepared in case of an emergency and also to allow more room for the additional people that were required because of two babies. I pushed for a good hour and just wasn't making any decent progress, and by now, in terrible pain!!

*At this point, we needed to make a decision. The doctor gave us the option to have him help us out by using the vacuum/foreceps or going into a c-section. I was crying. I simply wanted medication and for them to get the babies out....NOW! Our doctor felt we had a good chance of getting them out vaginally, if we both worked hard and worked together...so that's what we did.

*We finally made it through the delivery, at which point they decided to put me completely under. I had lost A LOT of blood and was in so much pain, they thought it would be best to just put me out. I woke up back in our room and Cody and I were now proud parents to two miracle bundles.

KENLEY JO:
She was born at 5:37pm. She weighed 7lbs. 7oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long. She came out and gave us a couple big screams and then just stopped. Cody and I had a feeling something wasn't quite right, but we still had to work on getting baby B out. Afterwards one of the NICU doctors told us that Kenley was having some difficulty breathing and then had just stopped altogether. They intubated her and took her straight to the intensive care nursery. Later they took her for a CT scan and discovered that she had experienced a brain bleed from the vacuum and that's what caused her to stop breathing. We now just had to wait and see how things progressed over the next several hours. But our little Kenley showed us how strong she really was. By 4:30 Friday morning, she was already breathing on her own and they were able to extubate her. She has shown us small steps of progress, but all pointing in a positive direction.

KADEN DEAN:
He was born at 5:49pm. He weighed 6lbs. 5oz. and was 18 1/4 inches long. As we were trying to deliver him, Kaden was not happy. His heartrate was dropping and it was time to get him out, immediately. Once he was born, he demonstrated a healthy set of lungs and a fully functioning bladder :) Kaden has been able to hang out in the regular newborn nursery as well as with us. He started out having some trouble with his blood sugars. Before every bottle they had to prick his little heel and test his blood sugar. He certainly let us know that those were not pleasant. Yesterday the pediatrician felt comfortable enough with his levels to be able to stop the blood sugar checks. Poor little punker. Today however, Saturday, he's shown some increased risks for jaundice. They started him on the biliblanket but his numbers continued to climb. They now have him on a full set of lights and only want us to hold him when we are feeding him.  They are hoping to give him a big strong dose of this throughout the night in hopes that he'll be able to come home with us.

MOMMY:
I had a terrible labor and delivery experience and would honestly rather not even talk about it. Afterwards however, I really struggled. I had lost so much blood during delivery that it was finally determined I would need a blood transfusion. I received a couple units of blood during the night on Friday night and woke up a different person on Saturday morning. My blood levels are still below normal, but they are better and I've noticed a difference. Today I've actually been able to get out of bed and be more of "myself" and it's felt great. So thanks for all of your prayers for our family and your patience with me as I've been unable to update as I wished I would have.

DADDY:
Cody has been an AMAZING coach, support, husband and daddy throughout all of this. Sometimes joyous and sometimes pure hell, he's had many experiences of his own. He is one proud daddy right now! It's been very hard on us to be able to spend so much time with Kaden and not have that same time with Kenley. We try to get to the NICU as much as possible, but we've been busy trying to keep up with both of them :)

*Our plan as of right now is to be able to go home sometime tomorrow. Unfortunately we have to leave little Kenley but we are hoping to be able to take Kaden with us. He might have to go home with some light therapy, but at least he'll be coming home.


**I will post pictures, I promise!