It's been one week...

One week and a day ago, we finally got a picture of Adam loving on my oversized belly:

One week ago today, Anaya Mae Dayton and William Audie Michael Dayton blessed us with their presence.  Here's the story of their birthday:


I had desperately hoped these babies would arrive on Monday evening/night.  My OB was on Labor and Delivery that night and I really wanted him to be the one to deliver the babies.  It didn't happen, despite all my prayers for my water to break.  Contractions were there all night, but not close enough to classify as labor.  Damn.  Well, thank God for unanswered prayers...


Tuesday morning, I had my regularly scheduled non-stress test.  Mom accompanied me to the appointment.  The first thing they do every week is an ultrasound to determine where the hearts are, so they can place the monitors there, and to measure fluid.  Well, to my surprise, "Baby A" had flipped again and was now breech.  In my head I said, "Well, that changes everything."  "Baby B" was transverse, but it's presentation really didn't matter - only "A's".  The next thing the ultrasound showed was plenty of fluid, meaning it looked as though these babies weren't going anywhere any time soon, despite the contractions.  So they monitored the babies for about 45 minutes and the babies were active and healthy, as usual.  But, just like when you take your car to the mechanic for that wierd "ticking noise," there were no contractions.  Then, the nurse left the room to get my Doctor, who was coming off his 24-hour shift.  No sooner than she passed out the doorway, a major contraction came.  She returned a few minutes later and I told her I had a contraction.  She looked at the printout and said, "Oh, yeah.  A big one. (duh) And here comes another."  So I had two back-to-back.  In walks my doctor and the nurse talks about the test, but doesn't mention that the babies have flipped.  He tells me it's probably time to go ahead and schedule a date to induce.  I tell him I've been contracting a lot the past few days and, oh, by the way, "Baby A" is breech now.  He says, "Well, at this point, that changes..." I finish his sentence.  He does an exam and finds that I am 5cm dilated and my cervix is fully thinned.  He tells me we need to do a c-section today, ASAP, because if my water breaks and the babies are breech, then a cord could come out and that could be fatal for the baby.  And it's just a matter of time before my water breaks.  He knows how I had felt about a c-section and how badly I wanted to deliver vaginally so we have a little heart to heart.  I decide that it is what it is.  There was no other option and the first priority was always to get the babies here safe and healthy.  It is what it is.  Thank you, God, for not answering my prayers Monday night.  So the delivery is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. (because I had an English Muffin and a cup of coffee for breakfast, we had to wait 8 hours) and my Doctor went home to take a nap.  I planned to go pick Adam up at preschool and take him and Mom home while I got a hold of Alan and then we would come back.  I was naive.  I arranged for someone to pick Adam up and I spent the day looking like this and looking at that:

Naturally, Alan had been randomly selected to complete a polygraph on this day.  How long could it possibly take?  Well, as it turns out, it can take at least 2 hours.  We don't really know how long it would take to complete because I called his Commander and pulled some strings to have him yanked out of that after an hour and a half of not being able to get a hold of him.  STRESS.  Thank God Mom made me eat that English Muffin or Alan may have missed the delivery.  You know my Mom...

So at about 3:30 they wheeled me off to the OR and Alan and my Mom waited in the recovery room.  They prepped me, then let Alan come in.  Thankfully, I don't have a husband who is a whimp - he got to watch the whole delivery over the curtain.  He actually witnessed the first breaths.  Amazing.  At 3:57, I heard the words "It's a girl!"  Weighing in at 6 lbs. 11 oz, 20.75 inches, we would like to introduce Anaya Mae:

 

Four minutes after that my doctor said, "It looks like Mom was right! (I had told him as we walked over to L&D that I thought "Baby A" was a girl and "Baby B" was a boy) It's a boy!"  Introducing William Audie Michael (we'll call him Audie), at 6 lbs. 4 oz. and 20 inches:

The babies were healthy and are doing great.  We were discharged from the hospital on Thursday.  Here are some other special moments from the day:

In four minutes, we became a family of five.

Clearly, we caught Adam in the middle of his favorite TV program...

We're doing well - learning and adjusting.  It's a work-in-progress, as I'm quite sure it will be for the next 20 years.  We're so glad my Mom made it in time and got to be here for that and we're forever grateful to her for putting her life on hold to come and support us.  Now, we're on to diapers and bottles and laundry!  And losing that 56 pounds...