Introducing...

Ainsley Barbara was born at 1:52pm on October 11, 2011. She weighed 5lbs 1oz and was 17 inches long.

Pretty Girl

Dad cutting Ainsley's cord

Mom seeing Ainsley for the first time

Benson Lee was born at 1:53pm on October 11, 2011. He weighed 4lbs 15oz and was 19 inches long.

Dad cutting Ben's cord

Mom seeing Ben for the first time

They were born via cesarean section and Ainsley came out SCREAMING. She had APGAR scores of 8 and 9. She was weighed, cleaned and swaddled and Dad brought her over for Mom to see. Shortly after she started having increased work of breathing. She was taken to the NICU and put on a CPAP machine for help breathing. They x-rayed her lungs and she does have some excess fluid that she needs time to clear. This will hopefully help her breathing. She breathes very quickly - generally 90-100 respirations per minute. Ainsley is a little irritable and uncomfortable. The CPAP blows air into her lungs but it also goes into her belly. They frequently pull out of her belly with a syringe attached to a tube that goes down her mouth and throat. Having that air in there is uncomfortable for her and she can be kind of cranky. It is pretty awesome though when Dad goes in and puts his hands on her and talks to her and it calms her down. We can't hold Ainsley yet because of her umbilical line and the CPAP machine. Hopefully it won't be too long.

Benson took a little while to cry and his APGAR scores were 6 and 7. After being weighed, cleaned and swaddled his breathing improved. He went to the regular newborn nursery for monitoring. In the nursery his blood sugar was low and he decided he wanted to go be with his sister in the NICU. His blood sugars have stabilized. His hemoglobin has been a little high and he has had some trouble with his blood clotting when the draw it but it seems to be correcting itself and not causing any major issues. He was allowed to start feeding today. He wasn't very interested in nursing but did take 12ml from a bottle. We will keep trying to nurse until he gets it and doing bottle feeds after attempting to nurse every 3 hours. He has to continue to take 10ml every 3 hours or he will have to have a feeding tube. So far we are two for two! Go Ben! He likes to be swaddled. If he is "loose" he flails around and fusses a lot.

I'm doing alright after the c-section. I am not good at keeping up on taking the pain medications. I get over to the NICU and think I'll just stay for a little while and then get back and rest but I end up staying for 2 hours. We get to help take care of the babies so we can change their diapers and take their temperature and we get to feed Ben. So I'm not staying on a very good schedule with pain meds and therefore not staying on top of the pain. It tends to get out of hand then I react to it too late. I'm trying to do better though. I know I need to take care of me so I can take care of them. The worst part for me right now is the referred shoulder pain which I guess can be from gas - sorry if that's too much information. But it is WAY worse than the incision pain! Crazy.

Jeremy and I would like to thank everyone who has sent emails, texts and messages on Facebook congratulating us and wishing us all well. It means so much to us to hear from all of you!

Mom, Dad and Ben

Dad and Ben

Mom, Dad and Ainsley

Mom and Ainsley