The Kiwis Are Here!!

First off -- thank you to everyone who has reached out with well wishes.  We greatly appreciate it!  Things have been so hectic with everything surrounding the birth, we just have not had a chance to personally reach out to everyone and let them know what was going on.  So -- we decided it was best to do a post and just give a run down as to what happened.

On Monday afternoon, Kate went to the doctor because she was feeling a bit off (nothing specific wrong; just knew something wasn't quite right).  Kate's doctor decided to admit her to the hospital for further observation.  While in the hospital, the girls did have a few drops in their hear rates that caused some concern with the doctors but not enough to induce labor -- just further observation.

On Friday night at around 8PM, the Kiwis decided it was time to come and Kate's water broke.  We were moved to Labor & Delivery and by 5AM Kate was 9 1/2 cm dilated (the girls weren't messing around and were ready to be born!).  Kate got an epidural, took one practice push, and then was wheeled to an OR.  (Side note:  ALL twins are born in an OR just in case something goes wrong during delivery.)

After 3 pushes, Vivienne Stella was born at 6:33 AM on October 29, 2016 (4 lbs, 8oz).  Her sister, Charlotte Patricia, was born right behind her 5 pushes later at 6:45 AM (4 lbs).

The girls were born at 34 weeks + 1 day.  All babies born before 35 weeks have an automatic ticket to the NICU.  After they were born, the girls were given to Kate and we spent an hour with them in recovery.  The girls were then taken to the NICU.  Both girls had an Apgar of 9.

The girls are doing AMAZING!  It's quite remarkable actually.  They are breathing on their own with no problems.  They are maintaining their temperatures. They do not require feeding tubes and are feeding very well on their own -- always eating the minimum requirement and often eating more.  Both girls have also been able to latch for breast feeding -- amazing for 34 weekers.  

 

We know the words preemie and NICU are scary, but the girls are truly thriving at this point.  We are cautiously optimistic as we know regression is possible and regardless of how well the girls are doing we still have two preemie munchkins on our hands.

Thank you all again for all your support and loving words.  We can't begin to tell you how much it means to us.  We are going to do our very best to keep everyone updated on the girls.  Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

These girls are pretty remarkable little soldiers and we are just amazed by them.  It goes with out saying, but we are over the moon in love with them.

We can't wait for you to meet them!

Love, Adam, Kate, Charlotte & Vivienne