This is the beautiful woman I saw, once I arrived at her hospital suite. She had freshly painted toenails and had artfully applied her make up with her hair all curled ~ she was in control!
I wanted to be able to sit with my baby sister while she was in labor, waiting and waiting for the contractions to get seriously close. She had an appointment to come in at 6 AM and by the time she got there she had progressed from 1 cm to 3-4
cm's and twenty % thinned or
efaced{spelling?}. Scheduled or not, she was in labor!!! I dropped my carpool off and then took Seth to Auntie Kate's {Thanks AGAIN!!!}. By the time I got there it was almost 10 AM and she had already had the epidural in place. In the picture above you can see 6 little black screens. These are all pregnant women hooked up to their monitors with a white line showing the progression of their contractions. The green line shows their sweet babies heart rate just beating as fast as fast can be. But in Erin's screen there was an extra little orange line, she's always had to be special!!!
We played cards and laughed and joked to the rhythmic music of these twin heartbeats. They were still so active and moving around even as confined as they must have been ~ the nurses had to keep coming back into her room to readjust one or more of the three monitors on her robust belly. Kendall won the game of Mormon Bridge and I insist it is because Erin and I were so distracted, it was hard to pay attention... We started watching Meet the Parents and things started to get a little painful. I'm not referring to Ben Stiller's attempts to endear himself to his hopeful in-laws. Erin's epidural seemed to be wearing off. She could feel her toes, then her legs and even her bum. Her contractions were reaching the highest point of measurement on the monitor and although she tried to play it down and was successfully breathing through the contractions, she was in too much pain. She had experienced some contractions like this when she was at home. They didn't come every three to four minutes, the pain and the hardness of her belly stayed constant. Without the rise and fall of the contraction, without a break to catch her breath, she was soon in tears forcing Kendall into action. We quickly saw the anaesthesiologist adding the strongest medicine he would administer to the tubing leading to her spine. He told her he would give her half an hour to make sure this works before they would have to adjust the insertion point in her back...
I don't know how a husband watches a wife, completely helpless. I actually chickened out and switched with my mom. She was watching Sam and Maggie at her house. I needed someone who had no fear and could muscle there way through these medical people to make sure my baby sister was not going through unnecessary pain!!! They broke her water and Kendall left to grab a bite of lunch. He got back and I left for reinforcements. Tommy got to mom's house arround 3:30 PM and he offered to continue watching the kids, so I could head back over. I got there maybe 20 minutes later and as I was approaching her hospital room, I saw the wheels on the foot of her bed roll on out. Followed quickly by a very smiling face. Erin was dialated to 9 cm and completely efaced and ready to start pushing!
They moved her to the OR for more space. Her doctor, a radiologist for ultrasound, two nurses per baby, Kendall and Mom all took their spot to welcome these boys. I had burst into tears of joy and sat down to say a little prayer, pleading for all of their safety. After brushing away the tears, like brushing away the awe I felt, I sprang into action and started to call everyone. Their coming, their coming, it shouldn't be too long! Before I even finished the last call a nurse/worker was returning the bed on wheels to her room. She let me finish the call I was on and told me that the patient would be moving down the hall. I paused and looked at her all silly like and she smiled and said, "I shouldn't tell you but she's delivered both babies and all three of them are doing well." More tears, more joy, more awe. I told the lady I could've kissed her! Just then Kendall's mom and sisters arrived and they helped me move everything to the new room. This is what we saw next:
Sam told everyone that his brothers names were Jack and Egg, this is Sam and Egg!
Maggie has a little cough so everyone she came with needed a cough catcher... She just wanted to kiss him and hold little Josh so badly!
I missed out on getting any pictures of sweet baby A as he was rushed to the NICU because he had fluid in his lungs. Mom had already taken Sam and Maggie home when a P/R type Medical Person came to inform us of baby A's status. He was having problems with his lungs. Even though she carried these boys for 37 weeks. Even though he weighed 6 pounds and 3 ounces and measured 17 1/2 inches long. Even though he came out first and was screaming up a storm, the doctors quickly learned that his lungs weren't fully developed. He was trying to breath so hard and the effort was getting to be too strong, if he hadn't gotten the assistance he did his lungs might have collapsed because he would have had to have given up.
Erin and Kendall went to visit him before Grandpa Johnson came back to help give him a blessing. They knew which names they wanted but needed to see them together to decide who was who. I called Mom to come back and she arrived just in time to get to go in with them for the blessing. When they got back to the room they announced that Jack Wayne would have to spend up to a week in the NICU. There is a miracle drug, Strivectan{spelling?} that helps a great deal. He has tubes all over for blood pressure, oxygen levels, heart rate, etc. He has an IV on the side of his little head. He is slightly sedated and when he isn't being attended to they keep a little cover over his eyes.
Hopefully someone will post a picture of Jack-Jack soon. He is continuously improving with every visit or phone call made. Erin also received a blessing and it just amazes me the strength of this young couple and the joy this young family has. Erin and Kendall lived with Mom and Dad for three years, almost right up to the end and it is a true honor to see Kendall in action. He is a Super Man. These boys came exactly four weeks after Dad died and Laura mentioned that her boss suggested we show them pictures of their Grandpa Tom ~ he would bet that these boys would recognise their grandpa from the last four weeks they got to spend with him!!!
Read more...
This is a picture of the wall I stare at when ever sitting at my desk, working on my computer. The kids, mostly Chloe, have tacked their artwork on the wall. Today on the way home from the grocery store Seth mentioned that he misses his Grandpa. Then we had the following conversation:
I missed the explanation when he taped it to the wall but this is his version of the american flag the soldiers gave to my mom at the funeral, so I will never forget my Dad.
