Introducing Jesse & Parker

 Parker James Todd Marsh

5/10/12 - 3:31pm

3lbs 8oz; 16.25"

30weeks 1day

Jesse David "JD" Earl Marsh

5/10/12 - 3:31pm

3lbs 9oz; 16.25"

30w 1day

The long story...

Tuesday afternoon about 3:30pm I was at work and things were fine...  The boys had been super active. They were kicking up a storm and even banging on my middle desk drawer.  I got up to run some mail through the postage machine and I felt wet...ugh...I thought I peed my self...  I went to the bathroom and got myself cleaned up.  I went back to my desk...after about an hour I got up to pee again...another gush...at this point I was pretty sure it was not pee.  I called it a day early and went home...Todd was not home from work yet...I called him he was on the way.  While I waited for him to get home I changed packed my bag for the long haul.  I called the Maternal Fetal medicine office and we went strait in...it takes about 30-45 minutes to get to the hospital from our house...it seemed like forever.

When we got to the hospital they again tried to put me in the room where Eleanna was born...I asked for a different room.  They got me settled in and hooked the babies up to the heart rate monitors for the first of MANY times that night.  The boys HR was strong the whole time and of course I could feel them having a party in there...crazy kids...  They started an IV and checked to make sure that it was actually my water had broke.  The put me on antibiotics, magnesium sulfate, and gave me steroid shot to get the boys lungs ready...  Magnesium sulfate is awful stuff is made my nauseous and gave me a migraine headache.  They settled me in for the night.  They let me have dinner.  The planned to do a growth ultrasound and take my cerclage out the next day.  The night was really long...the boys were being crazy and we had to re-set the heart rate monitors all the time...  I maybe got 2-3 hours sleep at a time.

The next morning we went in for the ultrasound.  I made a funny comment to the ultrasound tech..."It's all fun and games till someone ruptures their membrane...hehe"  The boys looked strong and "big" they estimated that Parker was 3lb 13oz and Jesse was 3lbs 8oz.  (pretty close to their actual weights).  Later they tried to take my cerclage out.  They were only able to remove part of it and there was damage to my cervix...I was also dilated to 4cm...and Jesse was transverse...that combined resulted in scheduling a c-section for 10:30am.  At first they were worried that I may dilate more over night so they did not want to let me eat or drink in case they needed to do the c-section earlier.  Finally at 9pm they let me have a turkey sandwich...thank goodness...  The night was uneventful we just kept having to adjust the HR monitor...I was able to sleep for a while.

The next morning I woke up excited to meet the boys at 10:30am...little did I know an emergency would delay the OR all day and cause me to have a pretty awful day.  Nothing to drink all day.  It was awful I have never wanted a sip a water so bad...the Mag was giving me a headache still and I had really bad heartburn...  Thank goodness Todd's cousin came to our rescue about 2pm and visited while we waited to hear when we would do the c-section... Finally at 3pm Dr. Briggs came in and it was go time...

Within 10 minutes they had me in the OR.  They put in the spinal and very quickly they get me prepped. By the time they brought Todd in they had already started cutting.  Then just a quickly they had Jesse out and seconds later Parker was out too.  Both were born the same minute.  I could hear both of them screaming...I was crying.  They cleaned them both up and let me kiss them before the whisked them away to the NICU...the then closed me up.  I overheard them mentioning parts of my anatomy like appendix, small intestine, ovaries etc...it was a little disturbing...  Then the proceeded to fix up my cervix and moved me to recovery.  

Once in recovery they gave me the apgar scores.  Jesse was 7 and Parker was 9.  Both really good for 30week babies.  I got the shakes from the spinal.  That's one of the worst part of the spinal.  I also started feeling itchy...they gave me meds for that...I still needed meds for that the next day.  I also let them give me all the pain meds available to me.  After an awful day of waiting I turned in my trooper card in the OR...lol...after 3 hours in recovery they were able to take me to the NICU and we were able to see the boys.  They were doing really well.  We easily were able to choose names for them.  We wanted to see them before we named them.  Parker looked more like me and my family and Jesse looks more like Todd and his family.  Both have my hair color red/blonde.  I spent the night getting more drugs...it felt good to be able to sleep on my back.  I was also able to have some Jello and chicken broth...it was so delicious after no food in over 24 hours...

The next morning I had to pass gas before I could eat so I had broth for breakfast early and finally I was able to have oatmeal.  My SIL and Brother came in to see the boys.  They were the first to see them.  My friend Deanna came and Todd's Mom visited that day too.  Saturday, Todd's sister, Grandpa, nephew and Mom came and brought some beautiful flowers...Our friend's the Wiegman's and the Zintak's came to see them too.  The Zintak's are Ayla's Mom and Dad.  Ayla was born an angel the same day as Eleanna. Finally, after being on vacation Mom and Dad made it in to see them.  My Aunt Nancy and Uncle Bill came too. 

 Finally, after all the guest left we went back to the NICU and I was able to hold Parker.  That by far has been one of the best moments of my life.  I couldn't help but cry.  I love that little guy so much.  In that moment I was so happy.  I can't wait till I can hold him anytime I want.  

On the way to the NICU that time I noticed that there was a familiar sign on the door of another patient.  It was a leaf with a tear drop on it.  The same picture was on my door the night after I lost Eleanna.  On the way back to our room.  I stopped in front of the door and Todd and I said quick prayer for that Mother.  Tears rolled down my cheeks.  I know all to well how being in that room feels too.  

Also, in the NICU it's difficult as well.  There are over 40 other babies there some you can tell are so small and fragile.  There is a little guy Gabriel across the way.  My heart just aches for his weary looking parents.  I just want to hug them.  Instead, I just say prayers for them and offer a smile when I can.  

Right now my job is to pump for them every 3 hours or so.  It's going pretty well so far.  I am up to pumping 2-4 oz per session.  I can't drive for 2 weeks so I'm having to call in favors to get rides in to see the boys since Todd is going back to work.  

The boys are both doing really well both had to be under the light Jaundice, but are now doing well that level.  Park is breathing room air on his own.  Jesse just has a c-pap to help him a bit.  He does have some apnea & brady episoes.  But, as of today it's been almost been 24 hours since he's had one.  I hope that he will be able to go to room air too.  Jesse is eating 5ml of milk every 2 hours after not eating at all yesterday.  Parker is up to 8ml every 2 hours and may be able to go up to 10ml if he starts to digest better today.  Today Todd held Jesse and I was able to change Parker's diaper.  

I plan to try and update each day.  We'll see if I can keep up.