We arrived at the hospital at 6 a.m. on the morning of the C-section. By 8 a.m. we were heading back to the operating room to prep for the surgery. The operating room was quite the mob scene, but totally organized chaos at the same time. The first thing I noticed was the room next to me, which was set up with the warmers for the babies to go to as they are born. The room was packed with probably a good 20 hospital staff awaiting their arrival...a team for each baby.
There were at least 10 additional doctors, nurses and anesthesiologists in the operating room with me. Once I was in there I had to receive my spinal block shot to numb me. This was easily the worst part of the C-section. It took a couple of sticks, but once they got it in I was numb within a couple of minutes and things moved quickly from there. By the time they got Wade into the room, they were already starting the incision. It's pretty amazing how quickly they get in there and start pulling out babies. Wade, of course, is standing up watching everything over the curtain.
Ava came out first and was kicking and crying. They briefly brought her over to me to see and then whisked her away. Next, as they are attempting to pull Lia out, I hear the doctor kind of laugh and say "oops"....not something you want to hear in the middle of a surgery! It turns out that Mya did not want to be last to be born and while they were trying to deliver Lia, Mya stuck her leg straight out to try to block her way. It was a nice try, but Lia still got to be born second. She was born with an attitude and an angry cry. They brought her to be also and she was obviously bigger than her sister and she did not look happy at all about being born! Finally, Mya got to come out and join the others. It was a relief to here all three of them crying!
While they were finishing up the surgery, they called Wade back to where the babies were. As they were checked out, they cleaned them up a little bit and had Wade bring each one out to me so that I could see them for a little bit longer and touch each one of them before they took them down to the NICU.
Wade stayed with me while they finished the surgery. Then, when I went to post-op, he went down to the NICU to stay with the girls. It turns out that little Ava was doing the best of all three. She scored the highest of the three on her Apgar test (newborn assessment). She was on room air from the beginning. Lia needed a little bit of help and was on some low flow oxygen for a few hours but was on room air by the end of the day. Mya was on a high flow oxygen for awhile after she was born, but was also on room air by the next morning.
The girls are continuing to do well in the NICU. There are several things that need to happen before they are able to come home. They need to be breathing on their own, which they are doing already. They also need to be able to maintain their body temperatures. Currently they are in isolettes to help keep them warm, but I was able to start kangaroo care with them yesterday (holding skin-to-skin) and they all did well with that. It was very exciting for me to get to hold them for the first time. Hopefully Wade will be able to do it today. The third thing that needs to happen before they go home is that they need to be eating on their own and gaining weight. Yesterday they started tube feedings for all three of them and they are tolerating it well. I have been pumping for them so we will see how long I can keep up with their feedings. Lia and Mya are much happier now that they are being fed. Lia especially was a little fussy, but is much more calm now that she is getting fed. I guess it's because she is used to hogging all the food. They are both really going to town on their pacifiers so it sounds like we will probably try a bottle feed today as well and see how that goes.
All of the girls are showing signs of jaundice which is very common in preemies. They started Ava on bili lights yesterday, so she's hanging out under the sun lamp with her sunglasses on. It sounds like it's a good possibility than Lia and Mya may have to do the same pretty soon. Ava has been getting pretty fiesty and kicked her IV out of her foot last night, so now the poor thing has the IV in her head...looks like she has a unicorn horn :(
So, all in all, everyone is doing fantastic. I will probably be heading home tomorrow, so we will have to start trekking back and forth to see the girls everyday. Hopefully it won't be for long and we will be able to get them home with us soon. I'm having a lot of cramping, but I am recovering well. I have been up walking back and forth to the NICU since Friday evening and that is getting a little easier everyday. Thank you to everyone for their thoughts and prayers during my pregnancy. Obviously they worked because we couldn't have hoped for things to go better than they have. I will continue to update often on the girls' condition and as soon as I get home, I will post some pics on here.
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| Ava aka Baby A |
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| Lia aka Baby B |
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| Mya aka Baby C |
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