After an uneventful Monday, Tuesday rolled around and the plan was for Mike to work half a day and then we would take the boys to my moms for the night before my surgery on Wednesday. After a rough night of random contractions every couple hours, the contractions progressed to every 3-5 minutes around 5:30 a.m. By 6:30 when Mike's alarm went off, I was concerned these contractions weren't going to go away. I decided to try taking a bath to see if they would subside. By 7:30, they were still going strong. At this point Mike and I decided we should bring the boys to my moms early but we didn't want to alarm anyone yet because I've had a few times I thought I was in labor only to be wrong.
So, mom got a call early in the morning from me asking if the boys could come sooner. Luckily it was no problem so Mike left to bring them to Battle Creek right away. By the time he came back, I was still having contractions and feeling a bit more hopeful today might be the day. I had called the doctor while Mike was gone and obviously they said to come in but we weren't quite ready yet. I thought I had an extra day so we were scrambling a bit to pack last minute items and make sure we had camera stuff together, etc. By 11:30 we were walking into labor and delivery. My contractions were still frequent and sometimes pretty strong.
When the doctor came in, Mike and I laughed. This is my third pregnancy, my third time going into labor, and apparently the third time I will have Dr Reithman deliver my children =) It was a very funny coincidence that every time I've gone into labor, this particular doctor was on call. He's very good and we have no problems with him, just ironic out of six doctors, I got the same one three times. Anyways, the doctor checks me and I'm dilated to three. He agrees I'm in early labor and puts us on the schedule for a c-section. Finally! Now I'm relieved and excited. These babies are on their way out!
Of course nothing is quick... I was bumped to the front of the line at noon but even then the surgery was scheduled for 2:00. They were running behind because I didn't go in until almost 2:30. From there things went pretty routine. By 3:00, they were telling Mike to get his camera ready. Anna Renee made her appearance and presence known by screaming at 3:02 p.m. Mike was busy taking pictures when our first conflict of interest happened with the twins. Mike wanted to follow Anna and the nurse to her bed but baby B was about to be born too! Luckily it was quick - at 3:03 p.m. Andrew Robert also made his appearance and presence known. Here are their stats:
Anna Renee Dozeman
Born 2/18/2014 3:02pm
7 lbs 3.9 oz
20 inches
Andrew Robert Dozeman
Born 2/18/2014 3:03pm
6 lbs 2.8 oz
19.5 inches
I was so relieved they were out and okay. Mike left with the babies as they went to recovery and I was still in surgery for about another 20 minutes. Once I was in recovery, I finally got to hold my new babies. They are so small compared to their big brothers. I was happy to see both are great nursers. They both nursed for almost an hour before passing out. I was in recovery for a little over two hours before they wheeled us to our room. In general I think this was one of my better c-section recoveries except for some reason this time around I couldn't handle the narcotic drugs for pain they were giving me. I spent most of the night throwing up before the nurse suggested it could be the pain meds. After that I didn't want the extra pain meds. I prefer to be in pain than throwing up! Plus, I was so hungry. I hasn't eaten since 8 p.m. on Monday and by the time they let me eat, it was almost 6 p.m. =)
Once I was feeling a bit better and we had all our stuff in the room and the babies are okay, we called grandparents to let them know the news. In the end I'm glad they came early. Not just because I was miserable but because now they chose their own birthday. All three kids picked the day they wanted to be born, despite our best efforts with two of them.
We had both babies tested immediately for their blood type so we could hopefully avoid what happened with Gabe two years ago. Thankfully, they BOTH have my blood type and not Mike's so no risk of another ABO incompatibility =) Best news ever!
February 19-21
The next few days we spent in the hospital getting to know our new babies and me recovering. Against my prediction, Anna is actually the diva/demanding baby. Andrew is very laid back and easy to take care of compared to his sister. Anna likes to be held often and senses when she might be put down. Andrew will sleep just about anywhere without complaint. He does like his pacifier a little more than Anna but even when that falls out he seems to have an "oh well" kind of attitude. It took us about a day to figure out Anna and Andrew like to be near each other. They must be so used to each other's movements it's strange to be without it. They like to sleep next to each other and neither seem to mind that the other is constantly smacking a nose, cheek, stomach, etc. They just act like it's normal.
Steve,Tia and Audrey came to visit in the hospital. It was so fun to show off our new kiddos to family =)
Both babies seem so small to me since Henry and Gabe were both 8 pounds. Especially Andrew. He's very little without a lot of fat on the land. He's making up for lost time eating a ton for his size. We actually had to go out and buy premie clothing for him because many of our newborn clothes were swimming on him! Poor kid.
Henry and Gabe came to visit on Thursday before we left on Friday morning. They were both excited to see us and Henry was thrilled with his new brother and sister. Gabe was far more interested in ourhospital room than in the babies. When Gabe did finally notice the babies, he was angry we wouldn't let him hold/drag them around the room. We got a few pictures but it was pretty hard to wrangle all four kids!
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