Hanna and Heidi

After a long week in the hospital, undergoing many different tests, being poked and prodded, and missing my family like crazy... I'm finally home! Yeah! :) And, our family has grown... +2! Hanna and Heidi are still at the children's clinic, where they will most likely be for a month yet. But thankfully, their hospital is only about a 10 minute drive from our apartment, so we'll be doing lots of vistitting! :)

Just to warn you, this is going to be a long post. I wrote up most of this while at the hosptial and decided to post it here. That way, you all can read about the events of the past week, if you want, and it can be somthing for me to read later... and remember when Hanna and Heidi entered the world. But, as my husband would say, you can tell a lady wrote it as it's so detailed. :) So, if you don't like reading things like that, feel free to scroll to the end of this post to see some pictures of our newest little ones. :) Oh, and please excuse any typing errors. I'm too tired to go through and correct them right now. Please forgive me!

Last Monday, the 16th, at my check-up appointment at the hospital, the doctors found out that Baby #2 (our little Heidi) was not doing so well. Doctor B. (by the way, whom David and I just really like) explained it to us like this. When babies share one placenta, like ours did, sometimes the blood vessels in the placenta tend to flow to one baby more than the other. Then one baby gets all the needed nutrients and whatever gets leftover, if any, goes to the second baby. This isn't always noticeable until the babies get bigger.

Well, our Hanna was doing great, but they could see via ultra sound and doppler, that Heidi was having a difficult time. The blood in the umbilical cord and throughout her body was not flowing as regularly as it should. So, I was admitted to the hospital where they could closely monitor the babies. Right away, I received two steriod shots, 24 hours apart, which were to help speed up the babies' lung development. Then they checked the babies' heart tones at least 3xs a day. As time went on, they began to notice that whenever I had a contraction (Braxton Hicks) that Heidi's heart tone would drop... meaning the contractions I was having was putting stress on her. But, we continued to wait, each day hoping for an imporovement.

All the other doctors wanted to get the babies out right away, but our favorite doctor, Dr. B wanted to wait, giving the babies time to grow. She took time out of her crazy schedule and met with David and I on Wednesday evening. We talked throught everything together. After talking to Him about it, David and I decided that we'd wait one more night. If the test results in the morning were worse, then we'd go ahead and have our babies be born. Neither of us slept well that night. Early in the morning, the babies were again tested. When Dr. B began our conversation with the words, "in summary, it's not very good", I knew that that day, Nov. 19th, would be our babies' birthday! The Dr. told me she didn't see me being able to stay pregnant another two weeks and having a naturla birth. They would have induced labor, but as Hanna was lower in my pelvis, she would be the first to come out. This would make the birth process even longer and more difficult for Heidi, who was already having stress under light contractions. So, I didn't hesitate at all to agree to having a C-section... just wanted my babies to be o.k.!

So, a C-section was scheduled for that afternoon. It wasn't the easiest thing for me. I had so hoped to have a normal delivery (I always wondered how it'd be to give birth to twins), and also, I wasn't ready yet not to be pregnant anymore. I thoroughly enjoy being pregnant, and being pregnant with the twins was extra special for me. I loved feeling one side of my belly move, and then the other. I didn't feel ready to deliver yet.

That morning, the head doctor from the children's hospital, which is just in the next building, came and talked to David and I. He calmed our fears immenlsly by telling us that once babies are in the 34th week, they tend to do very well once born. He didn't foresee us having any problems with them. It was great talking to him and hearing him explain everything to us. We knew that our babies would be in good care.

I was wheeled into the operating room shartly after 2pm. The plan was that I would receive a spinal anesthesia so that I could be awake when the babies were born, and so that David could be with me. Well, things didn't quite go as planned as the spinal didn't work. My legs were numb, but not my belly! So, much to my disappointment, they gave me full anesthesia.

Our little girls were born shortly after - Hanna at 2:59 pm and Heidi at 3:00pm. David, although not in the room with me, could hear them cry... yeah! They were both crying and breathing totally on their own! David said that Heidi cried the loudest. :) After they were in the hands of the children's doctors, David was allowed to see them. He was just SO happy! Right away our girlies were taken to the Children's hospital and David stayed with me until I woke-up. David said that I was asking tons of questions about the babies as I was waking up. :) I was just so relieved to hear that they were o.k. and doing well!

After I woke-up, David went over to see the twins. He took some pictures and then brought the camera back to show me. (Digital cameras are wonderful!) David had tears in his eyes when he told me how, when he talked to Hanna and held her hand, she right away opened her eyes! And little Heidi was all excited when he'd touch her. When David and I realized how much lighter Heide was than Hanna, we knew we had made the right decision to have them be born and were so thankful that they are both o.k. and doing well!

The next morning, David wheeled me over to see our babies and I was just SO excited! I recognized them right away and was instantly in love! :) They look just the way I thought they'd look... very similar to our other three babies. They have the same hair color and facial features as Aria, Nina, and Micah did at birth. They both definitely, like all our other babies, favor their papa. I don't mind at all though, for I think David is quite handsome. :) We stiall aren't 100% sure if they are identical. Only a blood test would tell us for sure, but we don't want them to have to get blood drawn just for that. Their first pictures showed them looking quite different. But now, I think they are looking more and more alike. It's hard to tell though, as Heidi is quite a bit smaller and as babies change so quickly. Either way, they are definitely sisters! :)

By the way, just so no one is confused, we decided to spell Hanna the old German way... without the 'h' on the end. It will make it a little easier for those in R-land to spell her name (everyone gets confused with Micah's name ending in an 'h') and plus, then both Hanna and Heidi each have 5 letters in their names. :) And it's Hanna Alia (A-lee-ah) and Heidi Alea (A-leah).

Though it was not the kind of birth which I had hoped for, they are the little babies which I had pr... for. They are beautiful, absolutely beautiful... and oh, SO precious! Having such tiny babies si something totally new tfor David and I as our other babies were all around 9 lbs. at birth. They are SO precious. Sunday afternoon I went to spend some time with them. I pulled up a chair between them, and as they slept, I held Hanna's little hand and Heidi's little foot. And as I sang and talked to them, I was overwhelmed by the miracle they are and how privileged I am to be their mommy. And my heart was overjoyed with the fact that I am now the mother to 5 beautiful children! I love them each so much and am SO thankful for them... SO thankful!

David and I are also so thankful for the wonderful care which Hanna and Heidi are getting. They have nurses which take care of them 24 hours, and doctors which watch over them. We as their parents are allowed vistitting them at any time we want and are able to feed and hold them. We can also call and ask how they are doing whenever we want. I'm also very thankful that they are being fed the milk which I pump for them.

Our little babies are making little steps forward each day. We are thankful that from the very beginning, our little girls have breathed all on their own! They did not need any oxygen! They each had an IV in which nutrients were given to them constantly. (Presently, they do not have these anymore as the doctors are trying to see if they can do well without these extra nutrients.) Then, they each have a snall feeding tube which goes through their noses to their stomachs. Since they are so small, they are often too weak to drink their required amount, so the rest is then fed them through their tube, in order to prevent them from loosing too much weight. They then each had 3 cables attached to different parts of their body, which constantly gives readings of their pulse, oxygen intake, and something else which I forget. :) (Today, they both had one of the cables removed as they are doing so well! :D)

When they were just one day old, Hanna was taken out of her incubator and put into a bed! Heidi received her bed at just 3 days old! Hanna started out being fed 20 ml of breast milk a feeding, but now already receives 55 ml! Heidi started being fed 15 ml a feeding, but now gets 35 ml! Of course, Heidi is fed more often than Hanna, as she's smaller, so they end up receiving about the same. Both girls will drink all, or at least most, of their feedings with the bottle, seldom needing their feeding tube. I was also SO excited that I got to actually nurse both of them today, and they both really did a great job! :)

Overall, both girls are doing so well, we couldn't be more thankful or proud of them! The doctors and nurses tell us how happy they are with how well our little girlies are doing and how peaceful and content they both are. That makes us happy. :)

The big question we had from the beginning and many people ask us is: when can they come home? Well, before we can bring them home, our babies need to reach several goals. First, they need to weigh at least 2,300 grams (5 lbs.) and be able to drink the required amount totally on their own. We are really hoping that we can all be home and together by Christmas, but we need to be patient and give our little girls time to grow and get stronger.

Thank-you all SO much for all of your sweet comments and for your thoughts. We really, really appreciate you all and knowing that you are thinking about our little girlies. We are so thankful to Him, as we believe He lead us to make the right decision in having our twins be born early. We are also SO grateful for how well they are doing and trust that they will continue to do well.

And oh, it is just SOOOOO good to be back with David and our 3 older ones! I've missed them all so, so much! (But oh, and of course, I really, really miss my babies!) And OH.MY.GOODNESS! I don't know what happened in the week I was gone, but something sure did! Micah has grown-up SO much! Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that he was so sick since we came to Germany, but seems to be totally better now (thank goodness!). He eats like crazy and it seems like he has put on over 5 lbs. this past week! Also, he is talking like crazy now! He repeats everything that we, or the girls say! And, since he pretty much just heard German this past week, he is even saying some German words and expressions! It is just SOOOOO cute! Oh, and Nina (she cracks me up!) is improving in her German as well! She's so proud that now she can talk in German. I asked her this evening to say something that she would ask her Oma (as I wanted to hear how she talks in German). Right away she said (in German) "Oma, can I please have some chocolate"? That made me laugh so hard, as I can imagine she DID ask that a lot this past week. :) Aria is doing great and enjoying kindergarten more and more each day. She just is so excited about life right now. And David, my wonderful, incredible husband, did such a great job taking care of Aria, Nina, and Micah as well as spending time with me and Hanna and Heidi. He's just the best! :)

Well, here are some pictures. I just had my phone camera with me throughout the week, so the pictures are not the best of quality... sorry. But, they are precious just the same. :)

Hanna and Heidi, while in their incubators at 1 day old.



Look at all that hair Hanna has!

I love you sweet, sweet Heidi!

Heidi's little leg and foot... SO cute! SO tiny!

I love this picture of Hanna, because she looks SOOOO much like David's family here, and like all of our other babies!

Papa changing Hanna's diaper for the first time.

Papa holding Hanna...

Mama and Papa with Hanna and Heidi, just 1 day old! (It's really nice having 2 babies... then we don't need to take turns, but can both hold one at the same time! :D)

Hanna (3 days old) being burped after a good meal. :) (The headband is to keep the IV in place, which was placed in her tiny head... the veins are easier to see there.)

Hanna (3 days old) and mommy before feeding time (see her bib? :D). I could just squeeze her!

Heidi (3 days old)... absolutely beautiful! I could just kiss, kiss, kiss her!

Heidi (3 days old) ... SOOOOO precious!!!!

Hanna, at 4 days old, sleeping peacefully in my arms.

Heidi at 4 days old... out of the incubator and in her 'big girl' bed... with clothes! :)