Day 85 = Two Precious Miracles

So day #85 of strict bed rest started out like all of the others.  I woke up feeling very pregnant and miserable as usual.  Justin went off to work and I laid around in bed for several hours noting some contractions here and there.  This had been ongoing since week #20 of my pregnancy but didn't happen as often in the morning so I started to keep track of the contractions.  Around 2:30 I started noticing them every 15 minutes but assumed I just hadn't drank enough water during the day.  The cutoff for contractions is 6/hour before you need to go to labor and delivery to be checked out.  I called Justin and he came home because I was concerned I may have 6/hour the next hour (which I did).  When Justin arrived we packed our stuff in the car at around 5:00 to head to labor and delivery in order to get a shot of terbutaline (to shut down the contractions....I had several of these in the hospital) and fluids (or so I thought).  The contractions were a little uncomfortable but this also was not uncommon for me.  We headed to labor and delivery and when I was checked in and hooked to monitors I was continuing to have some contractions so I drank a bunch of water and doubled up on my procardia (my med I was taking to prevent contractions).  My doctor's partner came in to check me right before the shot of terbutaline just in case since my cerclage was still in place (due to come out in 1-2 weeks) and to make sure it looked okay.  When Dr. Nilson checked me I was already dilated to a 7 and it was time to have babies!  My cerclage was then removed and my epidural was put in place.  I then was wheeled off to the OR to deliver the twins which happened all in about 3 hours from the time we arrived to the time I delivered.  Elijah Scott was born at 8:33 pm (5# 11 oz, 19 inches) and Hannah Lynn was born at 8:39 pm (5# 9 oz, 19.5 inches).  Both came out screaming!  They were then taken to the NICU and I was able to see them as soon as my epidural was mostly wore off.  Here are the first few pictures in the NICU after they were born.  They had to wear the CPAP machine on room air for about 10 hours and then graduated to no oxygen at all.