Thursday, June 19, 2008

Finally here!

Well I am finally home to tell the story...it is a long one. First of all I am so happy to have the girls home and be back with Dustin and Kyla, it was so hard living in the hospital for 3 weeks without them. I am glad we made it through and we can get back to our new happy life.
It all started on Saturday May 24th, we were just about to eat dinner and I noticed some pain in my lower abdomen, nothing like i've had before but it hurt. It would go away a bit but then get stronger so I wasn't sure if it was contractions or not. It got pretty bad so we decided to go into the hospital just to be sure everything was ok. We called up some friends to come watch Kyla for us and we are so so grateful for them doing that for us. We don't know too many people up here and I haven't even been to church to meet anyone, so it was good to know we had someone to rely on to lend a helping hand, thank you Jordan and Mackenzie so much, we appreciate it. So in we went, the pain stopped and Dustin and I were waiting on the Doctor to come and see me. We were joking around the whole time about how many times we went into the stupid hospital and i'll probably just be sent home again so we should just sneak out before the doctor got there! It was funny, anyways he got there and I just so happened to be 2-3cm dilated! We were shocked. They quickly decided to fly me out and we ended up going to Edmonton, there was even talk of going to Saskatoon and Vancouver cuz there was no room anywhere else! Thank goodness we got into the Misercordia hospital in Edmonton and they had One bed for me! Well we got there and everything was stopped so we spent the night in a labour and delivery room and the next morning they moved me into an antipartum bed. They decided I was staying until I had the babies so we were trying to figure out how to get Dustin home to go back to work while I stayed in the hospital. Well Monday cam along and he was going to fly home but there were no flights and so he was gonna take the bus. Well just before he left I started getting some pain in my abdomen again and he asked me if he should go get the nurse and I said "no, i'm sick of making a big deal out of things, let's wait until it is serious." That started at exactly noon and at 1:00 it wasn't really going away so Dustin asked again if he should go get the nurse so I said ok fine. Well she came in and felt my tummy and it was hard and not going soft so they took me into labour and delivery...again. They checked me and I was still 2-3cm so they thought it would stop on its own, they pumped me with fluids to try and stop it too. Well about and hour and a half later they decided to come and get me for a ful hour and a half ultrasound and by then the contractions were pretty painful and I was getting really uncomfortable. So I sat through the entire ultrasound having painful contractions, it wasn't fun. But when we got back to the room they left me for a bit and then checked me and I was 4cm, so I was in true labour. Well they asked what I wanted for pain and I said epidural forsure, but I didn't want it right away. The contractions got really really painful and started getting really close together like a few minutes apart. They called the anesthesiologist and he had to come from home on the other side of Edmonton! Well that was great...by that time my contractions were very strong right on top of eachother and I was in pain. They got me laughing gas and that didn't help at all which was really frustrating cuz as soon as I would stop using it they would have me put it right back on. I wouldn't suggest laughing gas, it never helped with Kyla and it didn't help this time. So that was a little annoying. I was so worn out after 20 minutes of having the strong contractions and finally after an hour he showed up and gave me the epidural and it saved my life! Well the epidural is known to slow down labour which it did and by that time I was 6-7cm, so they figured if this is gonna happen then lets speed it up. So they broke my water and put me on the drip, which they increased every half hour. Well at about 11pm they took me into the Operating Rom jusincase something went wrong and they had to do a c-section. It was a little overwhelming being wheeled into a huge room like that. Well I couldn't feel anything so they told me when I feel pressure or the need to push let them know, just before midnight I started to feel pressure. We were joking around about how it would be funny if one was born before midnight and the other after and they would have 2 different birthdays....I don't really think it would of been funny if it did happen though. So as soon as midnght hit I was happy and thats when I felt it...I was good to go and Jayci was first she cam out in 5 minutes and Presley was 11 minutes after, they were born at 12:10 and 12:21am. It was so fast, I think I pushed 4 times with the first one and maybe 10 with the second cuz she had to come down still. But it was was easier than I thought and went really well. They took them to the NICU and Dustin went to while I got cleaned up etc. It took them forever and I wanted to see them so bad. Finally Dustin came back and I went in a wheel chair, which was difficult cuz I could feel my legs so they had to help me get in. But I finally saw them and it was so awesome. I didn't get to hold them until the next morning though. But they were healthy and a good size. Jayci Dakota Francis was born at 12:10am and weighed 4lbs 11oz and was 16 1/2in long. Presley Taya Francis was born at 12:21am and weighed 4lbs 12oz and was 16 3/4in long. They were so tiny but so beautiful. They didn't need oygen which they were amazed by with how early they were, I was only 33 weeks pregnant to the day. They did n eed to be on feeding tubes, IV's and had to be on monitors. They were jaundice on the 3rd day and had to be under the lights for a couple days. They also were having some Apnea episodes which is where they stop breathing cuz that part of their brain isn't fully developed yet and it's really common in preemies. I didn't know that and I had a hard time when they told me that. It's never easy to hear your baby stops breathing. Presley was worse so they had to put her on Caffeine which helps the Apnea for a couple days. Jayci didn't have as many and she grew out of it pretty quick. They took Presley off the caffeine after a couple days but she continued to have them but not very often. I stayed in the hospital the whole time with them and went for most of the feedings. They started eating on their own fairly quickly and progressed amazingly. They were in their own beds after a couple weeks and holding their temperatures all on their own. They told me to expect to be there until my 40 week due date which was July 15th...a long time. It was hard but I just took it day by day and it really made it easy knowing that they were makin huge progress everyday and they never really went downhill or backwards. Before they got to come home they have to be put in a carseat test where they go in a carseat on the monitors for an hour and a half and they can't have and Apnea or Brads (heart rate drops, they had a couple of these too.) Jayci past it a week before Presley so she got discharged a couple days after passing it, so last wednesday she was able to stay in my room with me. They moved me into a room in the NICU so I could be close to both of them. The weekend was hard cuz if Presley didn't have any episodes for 72 hours and passed the carseat test then we could go home and I wanted to come back with Dustin and Kyla so bad. Luckily she did and we got to bring them home! The last 3 weeks have been hard but I am so grateful for the nurses and other moms that helped me through it. I am so glad to have our babies home and that they are healthy. Presley is back on the caffiene for another couple weeks, just to be safe and they will slowly wean her off of it. We have our first appt tomorrow with the Pediatrician. I love having them home and they are amazing babies, all they do is sleep and eat. It's pretty easy so far, they eat every 4 hours and that is so nice. So far our nights have been awesome and they have even slept for 6hrs each both nights! Pretty crazy. We are moving into our house on July 2nd and I can't wait! I'm so excited! Things are going great. I am so grateful for our new faily of 5 and Dustin is sure a proud dad of his girls. He is so overprotective of them and it is so cute. He is an amazing dad and I am so proud to have him as a husband. Kyla is doing great she loves the girls and helps out like crazy, she gives them their soothers, helps wrap them in blankets, kisses and holds them and helps with the diaper changes. She is quite an awesome big sister. She hasn't even had a jealous episode yet. She is going to be a great big sister. I am doing great, I recovered very quickly and being in the hospital not doing much helped with that. This whole thing has been actually pretty easy for me and I just have been positive through it all. I was pretty emotional the first few days after having them...but who wouldn't be? I actually got addicted to the series of Twilight thanks to Jill, she finally broke me in after telling me for a month to read it. I read the first book in 3 days the 2nd in two and the 3rd in two. I loved them! They got me through this! If you haven't read them then do! I can't wait for the fourth book and movie to come out! Oh and I hate reading! ha Well thats the story, I told you it was long and that was a shorted version of it. I am grateful for the love and support through all of this and couldn't of done it without family and friends. I love my life and I can't believe how blessed we are.
I will add some pictures a little later. I have most on facebook. But I will be adding more don't worry, i'm kind of camera happy, I think we took like 400 pictures in the hospital!

7 comments:

Ashley said...

Finally! I have been impatiently waiting for the post for a few weeks now :) I'm glad everything is going well and I hope it continues to do so. Your girls really are cute! (I saw the pictures on facebook).

kelsey said...

yea! i'm so glad everything is great. kenzie told me when she lifted one out of the car seat she was like 'um... where's the baby?" HA. they are so tiny. congrats again.

Mackenzie said...

aw, i'm so happy you didn't have to stay in the hospital that long! that would be madness! ps, i forgot to tell you your pics are up on my blog now, so you can go ahead and take a look, they are so cute! (not to blow my own horn or anything lol ;)

the fellers said...

WOW!! I am so glad for you guys! I am so glad that things went so well for you with the labor and delivery! What a lucky break eh? They are so cute, and I cant wait to see more pics!!!

Anonymous said...

Finally... I have been waiting for your story! I am so happy that you were able to come home after only 3 weeks!! You are really lucky! I am so happy for you, and they are just darling! I saw your pictures on FB, and I can't wait to see more. CONGRATS AGAIN!!

Cait said...

Congratualtions Mindy! Sound like it all went really well for how early they were, So were they born on the 25th? If so they have the same birthday as Georgia!

angie said...

I'm so happy everything went well. Congratulations on you 2 new additions!

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