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Connor and Seamus are here. UPDATE #5

4K views 89 replies 39 participants last post by  Yuba_River 
#1 ·
Hello all.

Connor Ambrose and Seamus Antioch were born October 13th (I was 35 weeks to the day) at 8:08 and 8:11 respectively.

Connor weighs 5pounds 2 ounces and is 18 1/2inch long.
Seamus is 3 pounds 9 ounces and 16 1/4 inch long.

Both boys are doing well but Connor is fairing much better than his brother so far. Seamus was at first doing well with just an oxygen tent but had a set back and now is receiving medication to lubricate his lungs and direct oxygen. He is sooo tiny. You spend time with Connor and think "wow what a tiny little baby" but then go over a couple of lines to be with Seamus and suddenly Connor looks HUGE compared to his brother.

I'm doing great which I guess is good but I kind of wish I was having some sort of problem so that my dr's could find a reason to keep me in the hospital longer. Still not sure how we are going to maneuver all of that especial since it looks like Connor will be coming home before Seamus and the hospital is 2 hours from home.

Oh, and the birth story! I woke up Monday morning at around 4:30 a.m. with a constant pain in my upper middle abdomen and went on to the hospital afraid I might be experiencing placental problem. They checked me and I was dilated to 3 and effaced 80%. At some point I was transferred to a larger hospital with a NICU and started on steroids and meds every 3 hours to stop labor. On the 13th I woke up at 7:30 a.m. feeling like I needed to pee sat forever and figured false alarms stood up and my water broke! At 8:08 my first twin arrived and 3 minutes later his brother came to join us.


Pumping is going well and we are hoping to put Connor to the breast tomorrow. Speaking of which am getting off of here and going to pump again. Will post as I get a chance. Good luck to all of you as you continue down your pregnancies.
 
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#52 ·
DDCC to say CONGRATULATIONS about the vaginal twin birth!!! You are a rockstar, mama!
about the medical issues, praying you bring them both home soon!
 
#54 ·
Thank you all for your continued support, prayers and well wishes.
IT means a lot to me and will always be a part of the memory of the twins birth and NICU journey.

So today was an amazing day!


For the past 2 days I have seen very little of our twins because we were having some child care problems (MIL was not taking proper care of them
) and we were scrambling trying to figure out what to do, we ended up keeping our 2 and 4 year old with us and my mom has our 3 oldest for the next few days. So anyway I walk into the NICU and there is Connor out of the isolate and in an open bed!
He still has a little air being given to him and antibiotics running through a line to him but other than that he is free! It was so neat to see him in clothes and hold him close again.
He took a few ml from a bottle (my breastmilk) so that was even more progress, things are really looking up for him.

Seamus is doing GREAT!
For him we are just waiting for him to put on weight and learn to eat. Speaking of which I have been promised what feels like a million times but tonight I actually was able to put Seamus to the breast for the first time!
He didnt nurse but it was so special. At some point I realized we were in the lactation room alone and I realized that it was the FIRST time for me to be alone with either of my boys I cried great big tears of joy and poor little man just looked up at me like I had lost my mind.
It was so sweet.


The testing on the placenta came back and it is official, the boys are identical!
We had thought they probably were but it was neat to have genetic "official" proof of it.

So that is my great news for the day, well that and I now pump around 8oz at a setting! What the heck am I going to do with all this milk???
 
#56 ·
What wonderful news!!
I'm so glad both boys are doing well!
 
#57 ·
Identical twins, wow! You're going to have fun with that when they're older...

I'm so glad Connor is doing better - it must be so hard to see them so little going through so much.


Does the hospital have a breastmilk bank you can donate to?

Did you find out anything about the swelling you were experiencing?
 
#59 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by SashaBreeze View Post
At some point I realized we were in the lactation room alone and I realized that it was the FIRST time for me to be alone with either of my boys I cried great big tears of joy and poor little man just looked up at me like I had lost my mind.
It was so sweet.

*Sniff, sniff* Brought tears to my eyes, too!
3

Quote:

Originally Posted by SashaBreeze View Post
So that is my great news for the day, well that and I now pump around 8oz at a setting! What the heck am I going to do with all this milk???

Sweet!! I'm so happy for you, Mama!
 
#60 ·
Your post made me cry too! That's so special and sweet that Seamus got to your breast finally, even if he didn't nurse yet it was still a wonderful milestone!

Our family has been watching your posts and we were so happy so hear of their progress.

Having five kiddos of our own I can't imagine being away from them and then finding out they weren't in the most perfect care, it would break my heart. I'm glad that is resolved and hope you're all adjusting well now.

And hey, my husband really does make cheese and he's often joked about making breastmilk cheese with my extra milk! :Lil I've heard it's a very sweet delicacy! :Lil

Kiss those *identical* little angels and know you are all in our thoughts.


Blessings mama!
 
#61 ·
What wonderful, wonderful, wonderful news!


as for the extra milk - hooray! - please do consider donating it locally. The hospital lactation consultant might know of a place. Or post here in your local Tribe forum, or check MilkShare.com

I have several friends whose babies have had donated milk. It is a great gift!
 
#62 ·
Thank you all, your support really does mean more to me than you all can possible imagine.


The stuff with my MIL has and IS driving me insane. I am so angry and I am having a very hard time letting it go. It doesn't help that we keep finding out more and more things that went on and each new thing drives the anger level higher. For instance we have a friend house sitting for us now that none of us are there and he calls up the first night and asks "Sasha... umm... I'm looking in your fridge and... what was Mazzy eating this past week?" Turns out that even though we gave her $200 for a weeks worth of groceries MIL had spent it all on cakes, frozen meals and CANDY. This would be bad enough but it makes it down right abusive when you take into account that Mazzy (our oldest dd) is diabetic!
I called and asked Mazzy about it and she told me that she hadn't wanted to worry me and had been making herself some things we had in the freezer before hand, but other than that just kind of going without!!!!! I am SOOOOOOO mad and horrified that could have been deadly for my daughter! MIL will never, ever, ever watch my kids again.


Sorry about my tantrum.
I'm just having a hard time dealing with this on top of everything else. We are trying to find a place to rent close to the hospital so we can all be together but having a hard time finding a place that doesn't require a lease.

TWIN UPDATE


It is amazing how well things are going and how good God has been to us.
Both boys are just waiting to learn to eat and other than that they are perfectly fine.
I asked the care team how long this will take and they told us that ultimately anything can always happen but that they can have a pretty good gauge on how long it usually takes based on there current behavior with nipple and based off that they are saying at least 2 weeks but probably closer to 3 weeks. They were really confused about this because it is pretty unusual for preemies that are born at 35 weeks to have this hard of a time with sucking so they asked if my due date could have been wrong. It was like a light bulb went off! Of course my date could have been WAY wrong. My daughter was 17 months old and I was still nursing her and I had that spotty period you have right before you are going to start having your regular menstrual cycle again. So several months went by and I realized I hadn't had my period yet so we took a pregnancy test and sure enough I was. By the time we finally got around to an ultrasound it was determined that I was 17 weeks pregnant and surprise surprise pregnant with twins!
So now the doctors are way more relaxed about some of the set backs the boys have been having because it is all stuff they would have totally expected from them had I only been 32 or 33 weeks along. Ultimately we will never know though.

I took some great pictures the last night. I have no idea how to do it but as soon as I can pin my dh down long enough I am going to have him download some pictures and post them for you guys. Will try to update again in a few days.
 
#63 ·
Oh! almost forgot. I asked at the boys hospital about donating milk and they dont have a program for it but there is a woman at the charity house we are staying at who has a preemie at another hospital in the city and she said she overheard the nurses there talking about having a low back supply in there donor milk freezer so I am going to call them this afternoon and see how I can go about doing that.


Also I think my medication must finally be working because I am not swelling now unless I am late in taking it. Have appointment with the doctor for myself next Friday. Have any of you ever heard of someone developing a blood pressure problem AFTER the baby is born???
 
#64 ·
Your MIL sounds infuriating!!! I am so sorry you are having to deal with that right now, too.


donating the milk sounds great! I'm sure the stress is not helping your blood pressure, either. I hope you find a rental soon. Some hotels have good extended stay programs that might work maybe? Might be cramped, but sounds safer than with your mil! I can't wait for pictures!
 
#65 ·
Just remembered one more thing! (can you tell that I am on a computer with a good Internet connection for the first time in days?
)
I finally posted my complete birth story: http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1273507

When posted the first post on this thread I was SUPER super sleep deprived and put in a couple of oopsies about the time and weight of the boys. So I went ahead and fixed that.
Ok... so now I have to leave this lovely, lovely computer with its fast internet connection.


Talk to you guys in a couple of days, keep those babies cooking.
 
#66 ·
Wow Sasha, so much going on! Oy, that would really make me angry if MIL did that - especially with a diabetic child.

Sounds like things are going okay with the boys - and wow, a change in due date totally makes sense!

I hope thing continue to improve and they figure out the nursing thing.
 
#67 ·
Oh wow - you are definitely right to be annoyed at your MIL. I'm glad your dd didn't have any glycemic issues while you were gone!

That's so exciting that the boys are doing so well - I can't wait to see pictures.
 
#68 ·
Grrrr MILs!! I would be furious if someone fed my kid nothing but junk, and he isn't diabetic. Thank goodness your DD is old enough tolook out for herself!

Wish I had tome to write more, but I wanted to mention that pre-eclampsia can start or continue up to 6 weeks past birth, IIRC. Have your diva been checking your urine at all? I'm glad the med is starting to kick in.
 
#70 ·
I'm so happy to hear how well both the boys are doing! I think of them and you often and send good thoughts for lots of health and short hospital stays.

How horrible about your MIL. That's the last thing you need to be dealing with.
 
#73 ·
Oh those pictures are gorgeous!!!
And when I see them together, I still think about your story of them comforting each other in the womb
 
#75 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by karen1968 View Post
Wish I had tome to write more, but I wanted to mention that pre-eclampsia can start or continue up to 6 weeks past birth, IIRC. Have your diva been checking your urine at all? I'm glad the med is starting to kick in.
EEK! I so didnt know that! I think I would have been way more afraid when I was doing my super swelling if I had known. I had always thought it was just a while you were pregnant thing. My face is almost back to normal and I am finally wearing my shoes and wedding band again.
So hopefully that means I am out of the danger zone but I am still taking the blood pressure meds 3 times a day, they didnt test my urine at all after the boys were born.
 
#76 ·
So bad news good news time.


Remember when the doctors thought we had TTTS (twin to twin transfer syndrome) and they put me on bedrest? Then later they decided it was just twin discordance because the condition didnt get any worse? Well when the boys were born they still didnt think that was the problem because of something complicated that I didnt understand but had to do with equal blood results. Well today they did an echo-cardiogram on Connor because he still acts kind of weak and a little floppy and sure enough it came back that the muscle tissue of his heart is too thick. So they are doing an EKG in the morning and then the cardiology team are going to meet about a plan of action and a course of treatment and then we are supposed to all meet together on Friday. So... turns out it was TTTS after all.


They put the twins in the same crib together! They even bundled them up in the same blanket together! For some reason that science can not explain some times twins will perk up and start developing a lot faster when they are put together like that so their doctors felt like the boys would benefit from this treatment.
I took some pictures and later tonight I will post them, cutest thing ever, totally reminds me of that wonderful ultrasound of them!

The boys have this nurse during the day that is really supportive of me trying to nurse the boys and has been really great at helping me get them both on to attempt tandem nursing. They still show NO desire to suck, from me or a bottle or anything, but they do latch on.
Progress is progress and I am thankful for it.


Today was a very emotional day for me. Last night one of their doctors came over and had a long talk with me. He talked really sweet and yet at the same time very to the point about how exhausted I looked. He explained how it might be a good idea for me to go home and be with my other kids for a while and take a little break. We talked about how I needed to go home and do all the things I would be doing if I was still pregnant, getting things ready for the boys, spending extra time getting the older kids ready for the twins coming home and getting rest. We talked about a lot of other things as well and ultimately dh and I agreed that spending 2 days home and then 1 day at the hospital with the twins and then repeat that cycle would be best for everyone... I understand the logic behind all of that... but it still breaks my heart.

When I was trying to nurse the boys yesterday Seamus spat up on me and I leaked milk all over the place... I have refused to wash that shirt and keep it put up and take it down every so often.. it smells like new baby... Yeah... I have cried waaay too much today. Cant make up my mind if this is all normal response to a really rough and emotional situation or if I might be slipping into PPD. I just want my boys home so bad.
 
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