Alright, I'd thought I would create this blog due to the overwhelming response from family, friends and acquaintances on our little girls daily progress. I will start from the beginning so here it goes.
I am 28 weeks in this picture, 1 day before I delivered.
- At 26weeks 1day I informed my OB that I didn't feel alot of movement from one of the babies. He decided to take a look with his u/s(ultrasound) machine and I noticed that the fluid around Twin B (Elle) was low. I at that point went into work and my coworker Cindy scanned me and confirmed what I had seen plus it showed that the blood flow in Elle's umbilical cord was not doing what it was supposed to. My OB was informed and came to the hospital to tell me that I was being admitted. Ofcourse Tige was in Vermont for work but thankfully my mom was with me to help me handle the situation.
- On July 10th the next day, we did another u/s and it showed that the blood flow to the baby was a bit worse. To make a very long story short I was admitted to St. Joseph's hospital in London, Ontario which is almost 2 hours away from home. This hospital has a level 3 NICU and would be better equiped to care for the babies if they had to be born. Tige and I drove up together at night and immediately knew that we were in the right place.
- The next four days showed that the blood flow to Elle had improved and we were discharged and sent home to be monitored on Monday July 14th. I stayed at my mom's to be on bedrest. She catered to me and we all were happy I could be home but that was short lived. On Wednesday July 16th I was sent for another u/s from my OB and it showed that the blood flow went bad again so we hit the highway and was readmitted into the London hospital. This time I was reassured that I was going to be there for atleast 3 weeks and not sent home even if things appeared to be normal. My mom stayed with me when Tige couldn't, you know there is nobody like mom. Her help and support is something I will never forget.
- Over the next week I was closely monitored and had daily ultrasounds done. During all of this Twin A(Melia) is doing just fine. She was my mover and shaker in there, she was as happy as a pig in you know what. The doctors decision everyday is complicated by this because they have to consider the twin that is thriving in their current environment. Everyday that we held on was so very crucial and is said to decrease the babies stay in NICU by 3 days.
- July 20th brought some bad news that Elle's blood flow was now getting to a harmful stage. Thankfully Tige was with me that day and we together came to peace with our situation. We had done all we could and now it was in God's hands and it was time for our little babies to fight.
- On July 23rd at 10am after my u/s I called Tige on his cell and asked him if he was ready to be a daddy. It was exactly 2 weeks before that we had entered this journey so I was 28weeks 1day and the u/s showed that it was time to deliver in order to not cause any potential harm to our Twin B(Elle). At 2:07pm we delivered a Twin A, the doctor screamed to us at my request that she was a girl-this would be Melia Linda Melton. At 2:08pm we delivered Twin B. The doctor again screamed that it was another girl(wow were we shocked)-this would be Elle Vlasia Melton. Vlasia is my mom's name and Linda is Tige's mom's name. Keeping the gender a surprise was the most amazingly wonderful thing we could have done, through all of it I was so excited to find out what they were. It kept my mind off of why we were there and that it was too soon.
- The 2 weeks that we bought increased our odds of healthy babies exponentially. I am thankful and blessed to have been so lucky. We now have 2 beautifully wonderful girls, they just need to mature a bit more and plump up. Our family is complete and we couldn't be happier.
- Melia weighed 2lbs 4oz and was 37cm long and Elle weighed 1lb 8oz and was 31.5cm long. Elle is feisty like her mom(hehe!) she pulled out her breathing tube 5 hours after she was born and they realized that she didn't need it. She just has the worlds smalled oxygen mask over her nose to give her extra air. Melia had her breathing tube taken out yesterday and has the same mask. They are both doing amazingly good, the nurses tell us that they are boring which is a good thing. We were allowed to change their diapers which has made both of us feel more useful to them. I started crying when I got to change Melia's diaper for the first time it was just an amazing feeling, it made me feel more like their mom.
- Tige and I are set up in the local Ronald McDonald house as I plan on not going home unless they are with me. Tige will be here as much as work permits him to. He is my rock and has been amazing through all of this. I just hope I play the same role for him.
That's it for now....I think? I am going to get ready to see them. Keep praying for us it seems to be working.
ABOVE- This is Melia, she is our little poser! This picture was taken at 3 days old. Isn't she beautiful?
BELOW- This is Elle at 3 days old, she is actually breathing on her own but the face mask makes it look worse. Our little fighter!
