DO's and DON'Ts

Having babies in the NICU was an experience I truly am grateful for. However, that being said, I would never wish it on another living soul on the planet! 

After the boys were born, they were immediately whisked off to be cared for by the wonderful team of doctors and nurses at McKay Dee Hospital's NICU 

(which for anyone who didn't know stands for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). 

We literally saw them for about two seconds. Tadd didn't even get to cut the cords because they were in such a rush.  

(Not that he really minded...to be honest he was kind of freaking out about doing it!)

From that point on, things were a little strange. We were parents, but had no babies in our room. We had twins, but didn't see them for the first time until almost 12 hours later. And even when we did get to go and see them, we were told when and if we got to hold them, for how long, and given a list of do's and don'ts to go along with it.

DO...scrub in like a surgeon every time you entered the NICU.

DO...make sure you have a hospital gown over you clothes before you hold them.

DO...wipe down your cell phone and camera with alcohol wipes before you enter the NICU.

DON'T...touch the baby after using your camera or cell phone before you clean your hands with sanitizer.

DON'T...touch your baby after touching anything without using hand sanitizer.

When holding your baby...DON'T...rock him, pat him, rub him or stimulate him in any way. You can hold him. That's it.

DO...come anytime you want, but DON'T..get to touch him or open his isolette unless it is at the scheduled 3 hour care time.

DO...snuggle your baby and help them develop by doing skin-to-skin, but DON'T...hold him more than twice a day. And since he has IV's...DON'T...hold him for more than 15 minutes at a time.

DO...have family members come to visit, but DO...only choose four people who can come to see them the entire time you are here...and DON'T get to change the list at all. 

Maybe you get the idea? 

Don't get me wrong, I am truly grateful for the amazing job that the NICU staff does. And I know that all of the DO's and DON'Ts were for our own good. It was because of their extra care and attention that our boys are alive and healthy, I know that. It was just a strange world to get thrown into. 

Especially because I always swore I would not be that first time mom that was paranoid about germs...well, like it or not, I am now that mom. I have to worry about every person that breathes around these babies, let alone touches them or comes to visit. 

So in advance, please know that we LOVE visitors! 

Please DO...come and visit us, but please DON'T... be offended if we ask you to wash your hands. 

And please DO...be considerate about how fragile these little guys are and DON'T...come if you or anyone in your family is sick, even with the sniffles. 

One thing we learned from five weeks in the NICU, it doesn't take much to set these boys back. As perfect as they are, they are still only supposed to be two weeks old, not two months. So yep, we are a little protective. We didn't like being in the hospital, and we just don't want them back there!

We would much rather have this...

Beckett

 

 And this...                               

Everett

       Than this...

Beckett

And this...                                        

Everett

SURPRISE!!!

Well, if we thought we were busy busy busy the last time we posted...life now must be complete and total chaos! But man do we love it!

As you have all figured out, the nuggets are HERE!!! And it has taken me forever to update the blog. The hard part about taking so long is now I feel like we have so much to catch up on, once again. So, we will start at the beginning of things, try and get you all caught up on the story of the nuggets' arrival, and the happenings since then!

SO, a little over a month ago, we went in for our regular ultrasound appointment with the specialist on a Wednesday. The appointment was great! The boys were growing, hearts sounded good, let's set up an appointment for a couple of weeks...We got up to leave, and...SURPRISE, my water broke!

The specialist whisked me into a wheelchair and took us straight up to labor and delivery to get things checked. Sure enough, it was definitely my water that broke, and we were dilated to a three. We were told that we were getting transported to the hospital in Ogden (about an hour away) and would have to remain in the hospital until the boys came. I was at high risk for infection, and if they decided to come it would be FAST, so they wanted us monitored closely. We had to go to the Ogden hospital because they have a more equipped NICU. The hospital in Logan can only have preemies 32 weeks or older, which we were 5 days short of.

Our doctor's informed us that the plan was to keep the babies in as long as possible. They weren't going to stop labor if it happened, but weren't going to speed it up at all either. Basically it was a game of waiting to see what happened...and it wasn't really a fun one. Once to the hospital in Ogden (which I was forced to get to by ambulance), I was hooked up to monitors and IV's...and told NO food or drink, just in case we did had to do a c-section soon. That was the worst part, I hadn't eaten since breakfast and by now it was 5:00...and it was midnight before our wonderful nurse finally took pity on me and gave me food even though I was still having contractions.

 

After two days sitting in the hospital Tadd and I were bored out of our minds, sick of not sleeping, and SO done with the back and forth. The doctor would come in and say, you are contracting, no eating...if you keep this up, a c-section today. Then the contractions would quit completely. They'd say, okay go ahead and eat...then those dang contractions would come right back. Back and forth...c-section now or not...BLEH! It was no fun at all. Finally Friday afternoon around 3 o'clock they decided these boys were going to stay in for a bit, so they transferred us to a post-partum room - no monitors on my belly, I could shower, I could eat...it was a little piece of heaven! 

Sometime around 6pm the contractions started again, consistently 10 minutes apart. But they had done that off and on since we had been at the hospital. So, we decided it would be okay for Tadd to go home that night and umpire baseball games on Saturday. Well, apparently the nuggets just decided they missed daddy too much. By 11pm the contractions were getting stronger. When the nurse came in to check on me about 1:30 I was still awake with the pain of the contractions, and they were still consistent. 

By 3am I was hooked back up to monitors, having contractions every five minutes. 4am found me back in labor and delivery for closer monitoring, hooked back up to machines, given extra fluids through my IV, and given a shot to stop the contractions. It helped for about ten minutes...So at 6:30, the nurse told me I'd better call the hubby and tell him to get down here, we were definitely headed for a c-section - and things moved FAST from that point! Before I knew it I was prepped for surgery, Tadd was in a gown and we were walking to the operating room...

There, I got up on the table, had my epidural put in, and surgery was started! Man was it a quick thing. (Thank goodness, because even with the epidural, it was NO picnic. OUCH!) They began at 9:01, and the boys were born at 9:04 and 9:05! Just like that, we were PARENTS! Holy CRAP!!!!

So, everyone, meet our little nuggets, officially!

Beckett Philip Ormond

 4lbs 1oz, 161/2 "

AND

Everett Jesse Ormond

3lbs 1oz, 151/2 "

They are here! Oh so tiny, and oh so perfect! Born on September 22nd, at 311/2 weeks.

We got a brief glimpse of them in the delivery room, but they were taken straight to the NICU. There they have been for the last 41/2 weeks...and what an adventure that has been! But more on those details to come. Stay tuned...