Every Single Month

Gracen and Gwen. Thanks. You’ve successfully rocked our world. We’ve been married for almost 5 years and have prayed so much that we could be parents. I can’t tell you two how many negative pregnancy tests we’d gone through. But then came October. We found out mommy was pregnant in October, and you made her throw up a whole lot. Like a WHOLE LOT. Which made me get dry heaves. Thanks girls. Everything was going well until mid-January, just a few day’s after your mommy’s birthday. We went to the doctor, and heard the words “Oh no”. Yea, you don’t want to hear those words coming from the professional. Mom’s cervix was shortening, and was placed on bed rest at home. Daddy sprung into action and quickly learned to cook and clean.

From January to March, your mom laid in bed at home, with the occasional “get up to go the bathroom”. The highlights of her day was hearing your little heartbeats on this thingiemabobber that a friend let us borrow. Whenever we were down, or exhausted, we’d lay in bed and listen to you guys pitter-patter. A few times we couldn’t find you and that freaked us out, but we figured you were playing hide and go seek. March 23 was just another day. It was a Thursday, and since Noel was on bed rest, we saw Dr. Boles every Thursday. Mommy got to see the sun on Thursdays!

March 23 turned out not to be a normal day at the doctor’s office, because when Dr. Boles checked out Mom, we heard “you’re dilated and I’m admitting you to the hospital right now”. Yea, you don’t want to hear those words either. Mom was 27 weeks, and you two we barely pushing two pounds. 10 minutes later, Mom was laying down in Room 108. For 30 days, Room 108 was home. Daddy dropped school. He took a week off of work, and we prayed. We prayed all the time. It was one of those weird times of “we really want to meet you, but we really want you to stay in mom’s tummy”. To pass the time, Dad brought the big screen TV from home so that mommy could read the little letters on Wheel of Fortune. Another huge part of “Room 108 World” was the overwhelming response from Mommy and Daddy’s friends. Mom never had to eat a hospital meal, because Hallie, Cari, your great-grandparents, your Aunt Kirsten, your nana and papa, and many others provided meals for us. Your nana would come and stay with Mom when Dad returned to work. She’s such a huge blessing! She was always ready to step in and help. She kept the nurses on their toes, and even helped mommy with baths and stuff. We also had amazing nurses help mommy out. Nurses like Veronica, Nora, and Kim were especially helpful because they put mommy and daddy’s mind at ease when a monitor would beep or if she was having contractions. Oh, and mommy got pneumonia while in Room 108. We’re so glad Room 108 is behind us now!

Enter 5:20am, April 17. Noel called Nurse Veronica because she thought she may have pee’d on herself (yea, being pregnant can do that to ya). Veronica came in, and after testing the fluid, said “today’s the day”. That’s when I woke up. I couldn’t comprehend what she was saying. I asked her three different times in five minutes if she was sure. Veronica was so patient with daddy, but you can tell she knew what she was doing. Oh yea! This is where a huge blessing came into play! Gracen, your little bottom helped saved the day here. For a while your foot was in mommy’s cervix, and the doctor’s were concerned that when mommy’s water broke, your ambilical cord would come out with it. If that were to happen, we’d have a five minute timeline to get you out. That scared us so much. Daddy even slept with gloves next to his side so that I could keep that cord in there if needed (don’t worry, the nurses trained me). I’m like a pro when it comes to nursing now.

Enter 6:03am. Gracen came and cried up a storm! It was the most melodic sound I’ve ever heard. After prepping mommy for C section, and after daddy texted family and friends, you came out and cried it up. Because you and your sister were early, we had what seemed like 1,248 nurses in the room working on lungs, stimulation, and blood work. Just 3 minutes later, Gwen said hi, but in a very different way. Gwen, you were doing the splits inside of mommy and got stuck! What was really 4 seconds seemed like hours for mommy and daddy. You didn’t cry right away either. Dad got some extra grey hairs because of that. But 30 seconds later, you and Gracen were harmonizing and crying together. After being wheeled to the N.I.C.U, Dr. Lipsky brought the babies to mommy so that she could kiss you. Not 5 seconds later, Gwen pee’d on Dr. Lipsky. That was daddy’s favorite part. After you guys went into the N.I.C.U, I followed you and mommy went into a recovery room.

Speaking of the N.I.C.U, it’s our favorite place to go right now. Well, only because you two are in it. The N.I.C.U is a place in the hospital built so that you guys can grow, and make sure everything is alright for you to finally come home. It’s been quite a roller coaster in there! I don’t think you’ll ever know how hard it is to change a diaper through two arm holes in an incubator. Mom and Dad see you every day, multiple times a day. And we wouldn’t change that for anything. A typical N.I.C.U visit consists of us scrubbing all the germs off on our arms (for exactly 3 minutes). I want to meet the person who determined that a 3 minute scrub does the job. Why not 2 minutes, why not 4? Anyhoo, after the 3 minute scrub down, we walk over to see you. Usually a nurse is writing a bunch of chinese on your charts, other times, it’s just you two snoring the day away. We wake you up by checking your temperature through your armpits (Gwen, you get so mad when we have to do this!). After the temperature check, we change your diapers. Side note, your diapers were the very first daddy has ever changed. Yea…he had to learn very quick. After diapers, we do one of two things. We hold you (we take turns on who holds who), and either hold the tube up high so the milk gets to your tummies. Or, if you’re awake, we bottle feed you and pray real hard that you drink it all. If you do, it’s another step closer to home, if you guys fall asleep we just love on you and hope you’re up for the next feeding. After the feeding you guys fall asleep, and mom and dad pray for you. More than your growth, your progress, and you coming home soon, we pray that God will be glorified in your lives. We can’t wait to share the amazing true story of Jesus with you two.

Leaving the hospital on April 21 was one of the hardest times mom and dad have gone through. We saw new mommies leave with their babies, and we were walking just hand in hand without you two. But God is amazing, and has a perfect plan for you girls. So even though you had to stay, and we had to leave, we continue to trust God is in control. It’s been an exact month now, and you two are still in the N.I.C.U, but God is giving us patience, and even though this has been the craziest month ever, we can’t wait to see what Month 2 will bring us! You two are always on our minds, you’ve stolen our hearts and rocked our world. – YOUR BRAND NEW DAD

He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the LORD! (Psalm 113:9)