The twinks are here! And a whole lot of other craziness...

I have so much I want/need to share on the blog.  I plan on writing out some detailed posts but for now I want to get you all caught up on the gist of what's been going on.  I don't have much time so I may ramble!  

The last time I blogged was when I was 32 weeks.  As you all know I had been having contractions a lot and was on medication for them every 6 hours.  

I had my 34 week checkup on Monday, April 27th.  I am going write the twins birth story in a separate post so I will keep it short for now.  I felt better going into that appointment than I had felt in weeks.  I had been a steady 1 cm dilated and the contractions had seemed to level out a bit.  I was thinking I could go on like this for weeks.  Well, not so much.  I went to the appointment that afternoon and I had babies 2 hours later.  CRAZY.  

Benton Parker was born first via C-section at 5:15 pm.  He weighed 4 pounds 13 ounces and was 17 inches long.  My tiny man cried but I did not get to see him as they quickly took him to the room next door to check him out.  

Emery Harper was born 2 minutes later weighing 5 pounds 7 ounces and 18 inches long.  She did not cry and they whisked her away to check her out as well.  

Lonnie went to be with our babies as was planned while I was being sewn up.  A couple of minutes later (I really have no idea of how long...seemed like eternity) Lonnie came back in and and calmly explained that Emery was going to need to go to Children's hospital because she was having trouble breathing.  I knew this was a possibility since they were early so I didn't freak out too much (riiiight).  

Once the section was over I was taken back to my room to wait.  I heard the helicopter land and I knew it was for my sweet Em.  Shortly after that they brought her in to see me quickly before taking her to Arkansas Children's Hospital (an hour away).  She was in the giant box they travel with so I could barely see her but I did get to touch her foot for about a minute.  

A few hours later I got to hold my little Benton boy.  

Things have been crazy this week having three children in three different places.  Benton was in the hospital with me, Em at ACH and Blakely at home.  We got to bring Ben man home Sunday night after 7 days in the hospital.  Blakely is thrilled with this but keeps asking when sister can come home from the other hospital.  Emery is still at Children's and we do not know a timetable for her coming home.  Detailed post on her to come but she is doing well.  She is not on any breathing support anymore and is getting my breast milk through a tube that goes from her mouth to her tummy.  I am headed up there this evening to try "non nutritive breastfeeding" with her.  Basically I pump and then after that we get her latched on.  Then they start her tube feed.  This is so she can begin to associate sucking with a full tummy without the risk of aspiration.  She has episodes where she breathes too fast and that mixed with learning to swallow lots of milk coming at her puts her at risk for aspiration.  We don't want that!

Both babies are getting my breast milk, Benton via nursing and Emery via her OG tube.  So far I am keeping up but it is crazy town.  A post on the boobs to come as well.  The logistics of breastfeeding 2 babies and hour apart is a little nuts but I am pretty determined to make this work and give them both what they need.

I can't wait to go see her tonight.  There are only a few opportunities for me to get up there to see her and I try to take advantage of each one.  I can't drive yet so I have to get someone to take me.  I have to have someone watch Blakely and Benton.  At this point the only person I trust to be able to handle that is Lonnie so I am going when he is not working.  He was off for a couple of days after the twins were born and while I was still in the hospital and he never left Em's side.  Now he is back at work and is having a hard time not seeing her.  Hopefully this weekend we can both go up together.  I also have to time it perfectly with Benton's feedings as I want to give as much of my pumped milk to Emery as possible.  I only want to leave one bottle for Benners so she can have the rest and I can nurse him when I get home.  Just typing all this out I can't believe I am doing this.  Seriously.  

The only thing keeping me sane since I can't see her all the time is the live feed ACH offers. They have a camera set on your baby and it updates with a new picture every 3 seconds.  So I can log on anytime I want and see her.  I don't know what I would do without that camera feed.  

So there is a recap of what has been going on here.  Thanks for all of your support though various other social media outlets.  Blog friends are the best.  I hope to get out a few more posts this week because I have a lot to say!  I am so thankful my babies are here and doing well.  I can't wait unit we are all under one roof!