Birth and Happily Ever After

Well, the day has arrived.  Friday, May 7, Meg had a scheduled C-Section to deliver our found-to-be adorable twins.  What a ride it's been.  15 weeks ago we were in the hospital worried that we were having babies way ahead of schedule.  Then a month later to again be in the hospital fighting continuing contractions.  And then we were blessed with an incredibly smooth last 2 months that gave us 3d images of our baby girl that I still cannot believe is possible, positive-news doctors visits, and an onslaught of care and prayer that we so desperately needed.  I cannot express to our family or friends the appreciation we have for that prayer and for the care.  The meals that were cooked and brought to us, the house cleaning that was done on precious days off, the quick phone call checkups; these all went far in helping us along and giving us the resources to press on.  And quietly, God, walking along with us.  Carrying us more often than we knew.  Always remaining faithful.  God is good.  These last 9 months have taught me so many lessons.  He has taught us to trust Him and that sometimes half of trust is patience.  He has taught us that He is always faithful.  He has taught us that our strength will not be enough and to rely on His strength to meet our needs.  So firstly, to God be the glory in the birth of our children.  We thank you Lord for the blessing you have given us.

So on friday we went in for our scheduled 9:30 C section.  Meg was pretty nervous as she has never had surgery and she knows too much about all that can go wrong with deliveries.  After some quick baby monitoring and surgery prep she was rolled in and given an Epidural.  The epidural was smooth and so much better than she expected.  Mere minutes later baby Benjamin Thomas was pulled out and presented to now Mom and Dad.  What a joy and relief.  That first cry was the most welcomed sound.  Immediately afte,r we were shown our second joy in Emma Mackenzie.  Both babies were quickly wiped down and checked and showed to be in perfect health.  They rolled me and the babies over to recovery while they finished up with Meg.  My mom got to do the babies first baths and measurements.  Benjamin weighed in at 5 lbs 14 oz and 19.25 inches long.  Emma weighed in at 5 lbs 6 oz and 19.25 inches long.  Meg joined us shortly after this and what a great family time we had enjoying the first minutes of our childrens lives.  Eventually we found our way to our hospital room and got settled into a frantic schedule of feedings.  These babies are great nursers though, so yet another blessing was given to us.  We did not have to fight to wake them to feed, or fight to get them to latch, or wait for Meg to have enough milk to feed them.  At this point, nothing could have gone any smoother than it did.  I think God just wanted to put an exclamation point on His handiwork these 9 months with our delivery experience. 

We spent 4 days in the hospital.  We were able to come home on Monday and immediately entered into another frantic schedule.  And that is basically where life finds us now.  Ben and Emma feed on a 3 hour schedule.  Each feeding takes about 1 hour and 30 mins leaving us the rest to sleep, eat, live.  As such, we are running quite low on sleep, but such is parenthood.  We are fighting to just keep moving forward. 

What a life changing event.  Every level of life is fundamentally changed and a whole new perspective is used to filter life.  I think I'll have more to say on this last part, but for now it's just time to get some sleep. 

Up next Benjamin Thomas

And now for Emma Mackenzie