Happy Birthday Oliver and Zoe!

I can hardly believe that Oliver and Zoe are already 10 days old. I know I said that a million times when Benjamin was born... "I can hardly believe Benjamin is ______ days/months old," but the second (and third, ha!) time around is definitely not moving any slower. 

As expected, we're tired...really tired, but we are getting some rest and in so many ways, this feels easier and far more relaxed than when we were first time parents and everything was new to us. 

Benjamin is handling things really well though it's obvious that is IS a bit of an adjustment for him - one that he can't vocalize. He's had a few meltdowns over pretty much nothing, but we totally understand that it's his only way of expressing his emotions over the TWO babies that just joined our family. He really is sweet with them though...he likes to give each of them a "pat pat" on the head and he points out their hair, eyes and noses to us. He swings their swings and tries to give them their pacifiers. His interest in them lasts all of one minute at a time, but it's still really fun for us to watch!

Here's a quick recap of Oliver and Zoe's birth story for those who are interested in this type of thing...

I was originally scheduled to be induced on 11/20 when I would be 38 weeks, 2 days. The thought of going that long was starting to seem absolutely miserable to me as I was already SO uncomfortable at 35 weeks, but at least there was light at the end of the tunnel for me. I had a routine appointment at my OB's office at 35w5d and my weekly BPP (biophysical profile) ultrasound showed that both babies' fluid levels had dropped just slightly below where they like to see them. My OB wasn't overly concerned that day as we figured it was due to the fact that I had been very sick that whole week and unable to eat or drink very much for about 5 days, but it was something she wanted to watch...

The following week, at 36w4d, I went back for another BPP ultrasound. I was fully expecting to hear that their fluid levels had improved or at least stayed where they were...so imagine my surprise when I learned that Zoe's fluids had dropped to half of what Oliver's were and that she (so obviously both babies) needed to be delivered THAT day! I frantically started texting Matt to tell him that the babies were coming and that we had to be at the hospital in 2 hours to get the show on the road....and 2 hours later, that's where we were.

Things progressed far more quickly this time than when I was induced with Benjamin. I wasn't surprised as I'd heard that things usually DO go faster after your first pregnancy. They started the labor process around 3 p.m. and we were in the operating room (have to deliver multiples there as a precaution) at 8 p.m. ready to have the babies! 

It was an absolute zoo in the OR, but we knew to expect that as my OB had warned us that there would be a lot of people in there due to the extra sets of hands that are needed for delivering multiples. Double the nurses for the babies, double the doctors, an ultrasound tech, the anestheologist, labor nurses, etc. Both babies were head down and that is exactly what I'd been praying for. There was a clock directly in front of me so I know that I gave my first push at 8:07 and Oliver was born 27 minutes later at 8:34 p.m. ...and that's when things went downhill and my easy labor turned into my worse case scenario :( 

As soon as Oliver was out, my OB broke Zoe's water and the assisting doctors worked at guiding her down for delivery. Unfortunately for me, Zoe decided to take advantage of all that free space in there and she turned completely sideways. When my OB went to help her down, all she could feel was Zoe's arms which was not a safe way to extract her. In addition to her position, her heart beat was dropping off the monitors and my OB felt that there was no time left to mess around...she needed to get Zoe out right away...and that's when it was decided that I was going to need a c-section. I started crying immediately. I knew it was the best thing for Zoe and that's all that we cared about, but I was emotionally crushed over everything that was happening. I had been praying that I would not end up needing to deliver the babies in 2 different ways...and here it was, happening. To make matters worse, the epidural apparently numbed my pelvis which was great for getting Oliver out, but it did not numb my abdomen which meant I could feel the test pinches that Dr. Lin was doing to my skin before she went in. Since there was no time to wait for the epidural to be turned up and kick in, I had to be put completely under and Matt had to leave the room...so neither of us got to see the birth of our sweet girl. She was born at 8:47 p.m. and rushed off to the NICU due to her size, a bit of fluid in her lungs and labored breathing...

I started waking up around 10:15 p.m. Not surprisingly, I was a little confused at first. Thankfully, Matt was right by my side by the time I woke up and he and the nurse were able to tell me where I was and what had happened. I woke up crying because my neck was in a world of pain (from pushing Oliver out) and my throat was throbbing (from being intubated) and I wanted to know where the babies were. Matt had pictures on his phone waiting to show me and assured me that both were doing just fine and that Zoe was just getting a little extra care. 

The first night and day were pretty bad for me, pain wise. A c-section is just not fun. Oh...and delivering babies 2 ways at once...SUPER NOT FUN. 

Anyway, that experience is 10 days behind me now, and I don't care how they got here...all that matters is I have 2 more beautiful babies that are healthy and home with us now.

We had a photographer/friend of mine come over yesterday to take some pictures of the babies and the 5 of us together (how strange that there are now five people in our family!) and I can't wait to see them. In the mean time, I took some newborn shots of both babies (did them separately over 2 days) last week to get them ready for their official photo shoot ;)

So...let me introduce you to Matthew "Oliver" Gipson, born on 11/8/12 at 8:34 p.m. weighing 6 lbs. 8 oz. and Zoe Diane Gipson, also born on 11/8/12 at 8:47 p.m. weighing 4 lbs. 11 oz.

OLIVER

ZOE