October 2011: The twins finally arrived! Wednesday October 12 I made this gourmet lasagna dinner complete with dessert for our next door neighbors, and that put me into labor :) I was really nervous and the contractions were 8 minutes apart that whole night. Thursday night the contractions were 4-5 min. apart and we went to the hospital! They sent me away because I wasn't progressing and told me to come back when it hurt more :) Saturday morning, October 15, they hurt a lot! I finally got out of bed at 6 am and told Austin now was the time and we had to go to the hospital now! We quick took showers and made it by 7 am to the hospital where I found out my water had broken (I was like 50% sure it had...) and so they let me stay :) By 10 am I wasn't progressing fast enough so they put me on Pitocin....and oh boy do contractions hurt on Pitocin! I was proud of myself for making it to 4 cm without an epidural, but then I got it and life was so much more pleasant after that. I felt like it was candy, it was great. At 7 pm I was wheeled into the operating room and at exactly 7:30 our little Jackson James was born at a hefty 5 lbs. 7 oz! They cleaned him up and I got to hold him for like 2 seconds before I had to give him back and work on getting Jocelyn into this world. Poor Jackson had breathing troubles when he was born. His breaths became more and more laborious, with his nostrils flaring and stomach muscles trying to help with exhaling. The following comes from Austin who was in the infant prep room with Jackson: “I said a quick prayer, then asked the nurse if I could give him a blessing. With the oxygen mask on his face and the nurse watching, I blessed Jackson that he would begin to be healthy, breathe better, and grow up to be a strong man. Immediately after the blessing, Jacksons labored and grunted breathing eased. It was a miracle.” He still was fragile and needed to have tests, so he was sent to the NICU unit for a couple days. 32 minutes after Jackson had been born, Jocelyn finally decided to grace us with her presence. Usually twins come out about 5 minutes apart, but Jocelyn just loved the new space. She had the jacuzzi all to herself now and she was relishing every moment to stretch out and eat all the vitamins she wanted before coming out into the cold outside. She came and yelled a very high pitched and cute squeal, announcing her presence to the world. She was a tiny 4 pounds 7 ounces and was by far the smallest and cutest baby girl in the whole nursery. She was surprisingly healthy enough that I was able to hold her right away, and she didn’t need any special treatment. I didn’t get to see Jackson at all until 1 o’clock in the morning, after I was disconnected from everything, settled into my room, and had Jocelyn in the nursery. Jocelyn was dubbed the “little peanut” by the attending nurses, and this name has stuck. Jackson was the cutest little boy too, and had a million tubes and sensors on his body. They gave him an IV in his right hand and taped it up with a splint that took up his whole arm. The thing flopped around as we held him, and I’m sure it was building him a nice bicep. He had an oxygen mask on for the whole first night, but hated it so bad. He arched his back and screamed with a red face for hours. It was awful, and we cried for our little boy who was in so much discomfort.
After 3 days in the hospital I was so excited to go home! We got to take both babies (Jackson was discharged from the NICU after 48 hours but had to stay in the hospital an extra 24 hours), and they were so cute and teensy in their carseats! For the first week after we got home, Jackson arched his back a ton and was super restless in his sleep. I wonder if it was carry-over from his NICU experience. Jocelyn was so still and quiet I would have to put my hand on her to make sure she was breathing.
Jackson: "Hey don't complain, you look better than me!"
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