They're Here!

Surprise! Taylor and Madison made their debut on Tuesday, July 29th at 4:26 and 4:27pm respectively. Taylor weighed in at 2 lbs. 10 oz and Madison weighed in at 3 lbs. 1 oz.

Here's what happened leading up to their arrival:

Emily and I went to our regularly scheduled ultrasound appointment on Monday at 9:30am. The ultrasounds looked great and the kids were doing fine. After our ultrasounds, we waited to see our doctor, as usual. The doctor came in and began asking her normal questions about Emily's condition, feelings, and aches/pains. At that time, the doctor began to review Emily's current urine analysis and noticed that she had protein in her urine. She first recommended that we go to our fetal specialist for an ultrasound. She then looked at Emily's feet & ankles and noticed that they were considerably swollen. She then changed her mind and wanted to admit Emily into the hospital for 24 hour observation. We were immediately taken over to the maternity ward and checked into our room. The nurses took several vials of blood and Emily was on a 24 hour urine observation (she had to pee in a cup for a day).

At this point, we were told that she may have a bladder infection, urinary tract infection, but she was also showing signs of toxemia, or pre-eclampsia. I'm not going to get into what this is, you can google it if you want a definition. But it is a serious condition that occurs only during pregnancy. We were told that if it was an infection, she would be put on antibiotics and go home in a day or two. If it was pre-eclampsia, the only cure is delivery.

At this time (Monday afternoon), we still felt confident that this was some type of infection and we were just at the hospital for observation / bed rest. So, after Emily was settled in her room, I decided to go back to work for a couple hours, then go home and get an overnight bag for Emily. When I got back to the hospital, blood test results started to come in. They were a little abnormal, but not "off the charts". They took some more blood and started an IV to give Emily fluids and antibiotics to treat any possible infection. As of Monday night, we still had no definitive answers and we were still confident that we would be out of the hospital by Tuesday afternoon.

We were wrong. Tuesday morning rolled around and our doctor paid us a visit. She said that because Emily's urine output was very low (Emily had gained 6 lbs. in 24 hours from fluid retention), her blood work numbers were elevated, and her swelling began in the rest of her body, she was likely sufferring from pre-eclampsia and that the babies would probably be born via c-section either Tuesday or Wednesday at 4pm.

Then we got on the phone. I called Emily's parents in St. Louis and told them to make the trip to Indy. I called my family to let them know the news. We each called work to let them know that we wouldn't be in for a while. But everything was moving so quickly that we didn't have time to call friends or extended family. We were speaking with a nurse, doctor, specialist, NICU doctor, or a family member every second from Tuesday morning until Emily's operation.

At 30 weeks and 4 days gestation, Emily was about to give birth. Emily was wheeled into the operating room at 3:50pm. Emily's parents had just made it in from STL about 30 minutes before Emily went into surgery. Myself and Emily's mom would be in the operating room during the procedure. Emily's c-section went flawlessly, as far as I could tell, and she was out of the operating room and back into her maternity suite by 5:10pm. Taylor was born at 4:26pm and Madison was born at 4:27pm on Tuesday, July 29, 2008!

Emily is doing fine. She did wonderful throughout the entire process and is recovering nicely. She's experiencing the typical discomfort that accompanies major surgery, but has suffered no major complications thus far. She continues to be swollen from the pre-eclampsia and the staff is monitoring that closely. Her urine output is returning to normal and she's currently not taking any fluids or antibiotics through IV. It looks like Emily & I will be in the hospital until Saturday.
Taylor and Madison are doing well. They're both breathing on their own and have suffered no major complications thus far. Obviously they're being monitored closely due to their prematurtiy, but at this point, just monitoring and preventative measures are being applied, and nothing is being treated or battled. They will be in neo-natal intensive care unit for at least 5 or 6 weeks, with the possibility of their stay reaching 2 months. Their major risk include infection, but the doctor assures us that they are doing great so far and that they have about a 98% survival rate at this point.

I will try to update this blog daily while we're in the hospital. Thanks for everyone's support and patience. I'm trying to distribute information as quickly and easily as possible.

Stay tuned. . . .