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My concern increased as I was transported to the Labor and Delivery unit via wheelchair at the University of Utah Hospital. Kirk joked that we were getting the “bonus tour”. Throughout the night, his good humor maintained as well as his intense concern for me and the Sprouts. He took notes on his phone, he tried to remember nurse’s names, and he jumped every time I asked for anything. What a man! Kirk and I spent a long, uncomfortable night in a Labor & Delivery room with monitors on the babies constantly. Those beds are NO JOKE. I got my first steroid shot, in case it was game on. I got a second steroid shot later Monday night. After the doctor verified that indeed, my membranes had ruptured, they told me that the plan was to stick it out in the hospital until I hit the 34 week mark, which was Memorial Day weekend. I was not having contractions and there were no other signs of labor. They figured out that Baby A was the culprit, not sure what he was thinking. They were very concerned about infection so I was restricted to bed rest and pumped full of antibiotics. Monday morning I went for an ultrasound and the babies were looking great. They both were estimated to be around 4-4.5 lbs. They were both chilling, head down, and moving around a lot. I got moved to a different unit with less monitoring and a slightly more comfortable bed (yay!). I made preparations to stay at the hospital and Kirk ran errands to get what we needed. The hospital stay was mostly uneventful until Wednesday night 😉

Labor hit. I tried to ignore it. It didn’t work. And look what happened?

Alexander Cliff Eisele arrived at 0831 on May 21st. He weighed 4 lbs 2 oz. and was 16.5″ long. Alivianna Geri Eisele made her entrance feet first three minutes later. She weighed 3 lbs. 12 oz. and she was 16″ long. I saw both babies and heard them cry in the operating room and Kirk cut their cords. Both babies had 5 person teams waiting for them in the NICU. They were handed through the window to their super teams. Alivianna needed help breathing and was on CPAP. She also had to get some surfactant for her lungs. I think Alexander hogged all of the steroid shots that I got. Alexander did not need any help breathing. I got to visit them two hours later. Kirk was able to check in on them while I was recovering. The whole thing was quite surreal and we feel like the luckiest parents alive. Everything is going well with my recovery and I was discharged from the hospital on May 23rd. The babies are improving a little bit every day and they are both spunky and sweet in their own ways. I’m all in on the emotional roller coaster that every NICU parent gets sucked onto, but we’re taking it a day at a time. Thank you so much to Gene and Kathy for alleviating my stress and offering unconditional support immediately. I’m sure I’ve left out interesting things, but Kirk can give you the “real scoop” someday if you’re interested in hearing about it all. Updates for the babies will follow as I’m able to keep up. Thank you for all the love and support from far and near!