Welcome Earthside!

Surprise times 4!!!! Week 26 (Tuesday, December 10) started off uneventful and I had settled into my six-sided room in the hospital nicely. Although the medications at times seemed harsh they were doing a good job. Until Saturday. I was returning to bed from the restroom when all of the sudden I felt a gush of fluid. The nurse was with me and a quick test confirmed it was amniotic fluid and that one of the babies water had broken. The staff were quite certain it was Baby A (the boy closest to the cervix) because of the pressure resting on him from three other babies. This event graduated me to complete bed rest, use of a bedpan and all. I was encouraged because there are many people who shared how they had PPROM (premature rupture of membranes) and had lasted several more weeks. The problem I faced was that this event started to trigger contractions, despite an increase in magnesium sulfate and a dose of terbutaline. By that evening I was having regular contractions and the doctor advised Ben to try and get down here from Washington, sooner rather than later. Amazingly we were able to snag a frequent flier ticket that left Walla Walla within 12 hours and landed him Phoenix by 2 p.m. Sunday (a miracle in my opinion seeing as we get two flights out of Walla Walla a day and it tis the season to travel). By the time Ben arrived the contractions has subsided somewhat and he left with his parents to get some rest around 9 p.m.

A little after midnight I had one long, painful contraction and when the nurse checked me she discovered I had dilated to 9.5cm. In an instant the on call OR team, doctor, and Ben had been called and by the time they arrived I was all prepped and waiting in the operating room. On December 16 at 12:50 a.m, our first Miracle arrived.

 NOTE:   If you click on each line below it should connect you to a YouTube video of when that particular baby arrived.

Here are the stats:
0050: Dawson Baby Girl B, weighing 1 lb 14 oz and 13 inches long
0052: Dawson Baby Boy A, weighing 1 lb 14 oz and 14 inches long
0052: Dawson Baby Girl C, weighing 1 lb 6 oz and 11 3/4 inches long
0054: Dawson Baby Boy D, weighing 1 lb 12 1/4 oz and 13 1/4 inches long

So far everyone is doing as well as can be, especially these little ones who made it to Week 26 and 5 days. There are two major concerns they face: lung development and possible brain bleeds. To the babies advantage I had been given a steroid shot which helps with both. So far they have done very well with breathing and taking in oxygen. In two days, December 20, they will get a brain scan to see if they have been able to evade any bleeds. In the meantime, here are some pictures of our little angels.

PS: We're still working on names so for now they are still A, B, C & D.

First and second pictures: The boys and the girls are all getting getting photo-therapy for jaundice.
Third and fourth pictures: Baby A's feet compared to Ben's thumb and size comparison to my hand. He is our largest baby.
Fifth picture: AZ friends gather for a party with Ben and mamma on the day the babies were born.