Phyllis was born at 7:14 pm. She was 1 pound 12 ounces and 11.5 inches long.
This was the beginning of our long stay in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU). I want to start off this story by telling you all that I have never missed a day with my children.
The night they were born I was desperate to see them. I was told I would not be allowed to see them until I was able to stand up and get into a wheelchair. The anesthesia had already worn off so I was quick to let them know that I could do that right now. I was not allowed to go see them at this point I had to wait to be moved back up to my room and evaluated first. Once this was complete I stood up from my bed and got into the wheelchair to go down to the NICU and see my children for the first time.
Anytime in the NICU is hard. The hardest part is not being able to comfort your children even when you know they are in pain. It is also difficult to cope with having no control over what will happen to your children. Most days in the NICU are the same. You go to the NICU and stare at your child through the isolette and pray everything will be okay. For the first 6 days of the twins stay in the NICU this was all I could do. The babies were so sensitive that we could not even touch them.
During the first 5 days many tests were done. These tests were meant to see how bad things were. Each baby was given a cranial ultrasound to see if there were any brain bleeds. We had been told prior to the birth that brain bleeds can cause brain damage. I had elected to have the c-section to avoid as much risk of brain bleeds as possible. Alaric did not have any brain bleeds which was a relief. However, Phyllis did have a grade 1 brain bleed. This was not the news we wanted but luckily for us a grade 1 bleed is not likely to cause long term damage. All we could do is continue to have follow up ultrasounds until it cleared up. During regular examinations both babies sounded like they had a heart murmur. An echocardiogram (ECHO) was performed. The ECHO showed that both babies had a heart problem called Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA). Indomethacin was administered to help resolve the PDA and follow up ECHOs were arranged.
5 days after they were born we got to start helping with taking care of my son's basic needs. We were able to hold his feeding tube while he ate. We used swabs to wash out and moisten his mouth. We also were able to change his diaper.
The next day we were able to do the same with our daughter.
It was on this day that my daughter was taken out of the isolette for the first time and my husband was able to hold her.
2 days later I held my son for the first time. He was more than a week old at this point.
My husband and I got to hold the other baby for the first time a few days later. This was the last time we would get to hold them during this first month. After those first couple of weeks both babies got pneumonia. When they got sick they needed to have blood transfusions and antibiotics. We had to go back to looking at them through the glass. At least we were able to put our hands into the isolette and comfort them now. They got over the pneumonia and we celebrated their first Halloween.
Alaric
Phyllis
Towards the end of this first month we had some good days. They both started using a pacifier which is important for learning how to suck. Phyllis had her follow up cranial ultrasound which showed that the brain bleed had stopped. Phyllis also moved off of the oscillator and moved on to a ventilator.
Alaric
Phyllis
This was by far the hardest month in the NICU but with great primary nurses and family support we got through it. It used to be to hard for me to go back and look at these pictures but now I am in awe of my little fighters.
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