Our Easter Blessings ♥

On Saturday, April 23, 2011, Brandon and I spent the day at the hospital. My family came to visit and bring me an Easter basket since I had to miss Easter the following day. We took pictures of my belly, and measured it with with a piece of yarn. I was 46 inches around!

Here are some of the pictures ...

WOW! Around 11 PM Brandon went to get us Taco Bell. We ate and went to sleep around 1 AM. I woke up at 4 AM with pain in my lower stomach. I have never experienced gas pains in my life, so I assumed that is what it was from eating Taco Bell. I tossed and turned for 2 hours. Shift change happens at 7 AM and I really liked my night nurse Renee. So, around 6:30 AM I decided to call my nurse and ask for gas medicine. I woke up Brandon and warned him a nurse would be coming in to give me medicine. Nothing major, go back to sleep.

The nurse comes in and brings with her my nurse for the next shift. I explain my pain, and they decide to put me on the monitor to make sure I am not contracting. Mind you, my stomach is HUGE. So, it was ALWAYS tight. Every time a nurse touched my stomach they thought I was contracting, but I was not. I get on the monitor and it shows irritability. Gas. Awesome :) The nurse leaves to get my medicine. Right after she walks out I have the pain and I look at the monitor. Definitely. Not. Gas. I am contracting. I wake up Brandon, and he jumps up. She comes back in and sees the strip. Immediately calls the doctor on call. They decide to give me terbutuline. This. Stuff. Sucks. They gave me a shot every 15 minutes for 45 minutes. They told me it would not stop my contractions if this was real labor. It makes your heart race and it burns BAD. I am 35 weeks pregnant TODAY. We text our families and tell them not to cancel Easter, but wanted to keep them informed. My contractions settle down :)

The nurse comes in and tells us they are going to move us to Labor and Delivery because of the nurse to patient ratio being 1 to 1. She says they just want to monitor me more closely. So, we text our families and say it is not a big deal. It is now 9:30 AM. We pack up a few things from our room that we would need if we did have babies. Baby books, camera, phones.

We go to L&D. We walk in and the nurse goes to talk to the doctor. Brandon says he needs to shower. He goes back to our regular room. Not 5 minutes after he leaves the nurse walks in and says

"I spoke with Dr. Schroeder and we are going to have the babies today."

"WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?! When????"

"Probably in an hour. Let your families know."

I call Brandon.

"Call your family. We are having the babies!"

"Are you kidding?"

"Yes, I am kidding about having our children! NO! Call your parents NOW!"

I call my mom and they are right in the middle of Easter! I tell her they need to hurry they are taking the babies in an hour! She immediately starts crying! So, the kids hunt the 100 eggs that were just hid as fast as possible and my family heads up to the hospital. Brandon's family gets there immediately. I think they flew ;)

The nurse comes back in the room and realizes they have no blood work on me. So, they have to take my blood and check all my levels. They come back and say that my platelete count is low at 11 AM. I AM NOW TOTALLY FREAKED. They are going to run another test that takes an hour to see what they can do. They never tell me what happens if this test comes back low. I ask, they won't tell. Everyone is worried. In my head, I am thinking, I know platelets have to do with blood. So, are they worried I will bleed out on the table????


Here is a picture from before delivery...

At 12 PM they come back and say the test showed it is slightly low. They then tell me the worry is the epidural. They bring in the anesthesiologist to talk with me. He says I can either get the epidural or be knocked out for the c-section. I ask him what his opinion is, he says they both have risks they weigh about the same. So, I get the epidural!

All of our families come in and wish me luck. I go back and leave Brandon. Once I was on the table, I could feel tugging but that was it. Brandon comes in and they start to explain that when we hear "scoring" they are cutting the placenta open! That is when he needs to stand to see the babies be born! The woman barely finished the sentence and then "SCORING!" Brandon jumps up and here comes DRAKE :) 1:13 PM He is my right baby! The active one throughout the whole pregnancy! He is beautiful! Not 30 seconds later, I hear "He is folded up" Scares the daylights out of me. Then, welcome HUNTER :) 1:14 PM This was my left baby, my calm one throughout the pregnancy! He looks perfect!
Both babies leave the room to get checked by the NICU team across the hall. Brandon goes with them. Now, I am incredibly nauseous! Zofran does NOT work on me. Did not work for my morning sickness. I fight through it. All I keep thinking is I do NOT want to be throwing up when they bring my babies back to me! Brandon comes in and says you will NOT believe what Hunter weighs. He was the baby that was supposed to weigh 4 lbs 11 oz. He was 5 lbs 10 oz and PERFECT :) Drake is 5 lbs 11 oz! They were NOT stealing any nutrients from each other! Absolutely ecstatic.

He hands me Hunter and I get to kiss him and see his face! He then tells me I will not get to hold Drake. Heart. Broken. He needs a little extra help breathing. I was terrified. Brandon leaves and goes with Drake because he is going to the highest level NICU, NICU III. Hunter is taken in the hallway to see family and goes to the lower, NICU II. There was nothing wrong with Hunter, but being a premature baby he would need help eating. As I was wheeled out of the operating room, Drake was being wheeled to me in an incubator. I got to touch him :) It was amazing.

I go to recovery by myself. I call family in the waiting room and talk to them while I am waiting to be taken to my room. I have to wait 6 hours before I am allowed to get in a wheelchair to go visit the boys. So, at 7 PM I go to the NICU's to see my beautiful boys.

My Easter babies have changed our lives forever.

Drake spent 12 hours in the NICU III. He was then taken off CPAP and could breathe fine. He was moved to NICU II right next to his brother :)

Drake and Hunter spent 10 days in the NICU II. 36 weeks is when babies learn the suck, swallow, breathe reflex. They struggled with eating for a little while, but once they were 36 weeks they did GREAT!

The boys came home on May 4, 2011.

Drake Brandon Olive
5 pounds 11 oz
17.5 inches
1:13 PM

Hunter Paul Olive
5 pounds 10 oz
17.5 inches
1:14 PM

Born on Easter, April 24, 2011.

Hunter & Drake

Drake

Hunter

Hunter & Drake

Our first family photo :)