Baby update

This evening my nurse decided that it was a good idea to "detach" me from all my cords. Thank goodness! Between the EKG monitor, foot swelling machine, catheter, IV, and finger oxygen monitor, I was tied up beyond belief! I am so thankful to move around, and even though there has been much more pain associated with this c-section than when we had Emily and some complications, I can tell that moving around is already helping to get things where they should be.

Scott and I went into the special care nursery tonight to visit the babies. The nurses are really awesome, and we got to hold Elsie for about a half hour. She is doing really well... not really requiring anything special. We are praying that Elsie will be able to nurse tomorrow and master the suck reflex to eat. Prayer for that specifically would be awesome!

We still aren't able to hold Elias because he is attached to the CPAP machine to keep his lungs going. The nurse tells us that the process for Eli is that he first needs to breathe without the assistance of oxygen. Right now he is still requiring 28% oxidation. Room level oxygen is 21% and so he isn't that far off. After he is off the oxygen, he will need to breathe on his own without the CPAP machine. He may go right off the machine to breathing normally, or he may need to have an oxygen nose thingy (sorry... I forgot the term the nurse used!) to "remind" him to breathe, as the nurse explained. Then, when he is able to breathe w/o oxygen and w/o the CPAP he will next need to master the suck reflex to breastfeed.

So obviously Elias has more that he needs to do before being released than Elsie. The nurses here all call this "whimpy white boy syndrome." Apparently, statistics show that girls always breathe better than boys, and out of just the boys, white boys have the most breathing problems at birth out of all other ethnicities. I think this is fascinating. I have a room-mom at school this year who is a NICU nurse, and she explained this phenomonon to me a few months ago.

Even though we don't have a "potential release date" set, we are confident in the care and growth our precious little ones are getting in the special care nursery. I am not nearly as emotionally wrecked as I was when Emily was born, probably because with twins it was to be expected that they need special care. Scott is thankful I'm not such a mess! :) I'm trying to see this time as a time for me to repair from a painful section. I diffenately hurt more, and hopefully will be over the pain before our babies are released to go home with us.

So Scott and I are in the hospital together for the night, while Emily is with our friend Lori. Emily will get to visit her new baby brother and sister in the morning, and then Scott will take her home. My mom gets here tomorrow via plane. Scott and I can't wait! She is such a help, and Emily will be in great hands with Mom, which will allow us to focus on the babies.

I'm sure I'll have an update tomorrow. We all know how well I do being still, so being in a position where I am sitting or laying all day is dreadful! I am spending my time reading one of the five books I now have on parenting twins, blogging, walking to the nursery, or watching HGTV.

Thanks for all your prayers for baby Elias and Elsie! Hopefully we'll have pictures to post for everybody soon!