Delivery Day!

Alicia had a successful C-section this morning. The surgery was basically perfect, and she is doing well. Baby A (girl) was delivered first and weighs 4 lbs 9 oz. We heard her give a good newborn cry and I saw them carry her over to the warmer. They brought her over for us to see her before she was taken into the NICU. Baby B (boy) was delivered next and weighs 3 lbs 13 oz. He also gave a cry, but it was a little weaker. They didn't bring him over to show us, so we knew that meant he needed to be taken straight to the NICU. Baby C (boy) came last and weighs 4 lbs 11 oz. He also gave a pretty healthy cry and we had a quick chance to see him before he was sent over to the NICU as well.

All of the babies went to the NICU to get help with breathing. Babies A and C were put on a CPAP which has a couple prongs that push air into their nostrils. Baby B needed a little more help and has a breathing tube. Shortly after my first visit they determined that Baby C needed a little more help and they gave him a breathing tube just like his brother. The help they are getting in nothing unexpected for babies delivered at this age. The babies were able to breathe on their own when born but just need a little help to get all of the oxygen they need. I stopped by the NICU this evening and the babies are hardly needing any breathing help anymore and are slowly being weaned off of the machines. The doctor said that they are doing "great". Our baby girl is already sucking on a pacifier and being quite vocal when it's not in.

The OB doctors were happy that they delivered today. They think that Baby B had stopped growing, which means it was time to deliver because he would do better in the NICU than remaining in the womb. The babies had all been very actively monitered since Alicia has been in the hospital and they have all passed daily or twice-daily heartrate and movement tests, so it was unexpected that he was so much smaller than his siblings.

Alicia had serious pain problems today. They normally put morphine in the spinal, but Alicia's allergic to codeine and the drugs are close enough that the anesthesiologist didn't want to risk it. We don't know exactly what happened, but there seemed to be some sort mess up and she was without any pain med from about 11:30 to 1:30 and she was really hurting. The first pain med that came didn't seem to be working at all, and it wasn't until late afternoon that she got a new med and the pain started decreasing. This evening she's down to an expected level of pain for just having surgery -- i.e. still feeling pretty bad, but not in agony.

Alicia was able to briefly stop by the NICU and see the babies as she was being transfered from recovery in L&D back to her normal hospital room. We expect that she'll be able to take a wheelchair ride tomorrow to go spend some time with the babies -- and we'll name them!

We're going to try to get some sleep. The narcotics are really bizarre drugs, where they'll make Alicia doze off mid-sentence but she hasn't been able to stay asleep for more than ~10-15 minutes. Hopefully she can get some rest tonight.