They're Here!!

And actually, they've been here for 4 weeks now. Mommy blogger fail for not getting this post up a long time ago. Here's their story and what we've been up to for the past 4 weeks.

I went to my doctor's appointment on Thursday, June 13 at 34 weeks and 3 days and found out I had started to develop preeclampsia. My doctor admitted me because he wanted to watch me for the next 24 hours and then decide what to do next. When he came in the next morning around 8:30, he made the call to deliver by c-section because it was apparent the disease was worsening. We were all pretty shocked because I hadn't progressed any further and really didn't think I would be delivering that soon. My doctor just felt that none of us would do well if he induced because he could see I was getting worse and that I would probably labor for over 24 hours. We didn't realize how great of a decision it was to take them when he did until later. Seth Ryan Jewell Jr. arrived at 11:46am weighing in at a whopping 6 pounds 1 ounce and was 19 inches long.

Sara Elizabeth Jewell arrived 1 minute later at 11:47am weighing in at 4 pounds 6 ounces and was 17.5 inches long.

After the pediatricians and neonatalogists did their part, she was taken almost immediately to the NICU. They brought Seth to me in the recovery room but then decided he needed to go the NICU as well. Thankfully, our hospital has private NICU rooms and rooms for multiples, so our sweet babies were able to share a private room together. Everything was pretty normal for the next ten hours or so. Seth was put on room air because he was having trouble breathing, but they were pretty healthy for NICU babies. I was fairly normal for a post-surgery patient. Our parents and friends left around 10 that night, and everything went downhill from there. My kidneys stopped working, and my entire body started to swell. I started hallucinating and saying things to Seth that made absolutely no sense, like I kept wondering when they were going to deliver the babies and why they didn't have the monitors on them. He got worried and forced the nurse to get the doctors. They took blood and discovered that my hematocrit and platelet counts had dropped dramatically. They ordered a blood transfusion, and over the next 18 hours, I had to have a total of 3 transfusions. My preeclampsia developed into HELLP syndrome and was quickly headed towards eclampsia. They ordered a CT scan and an echo of my heart and found fluid around my heart, lungs, liver, and brain. They admitted me to ICU for the next 48 hours in case they had to do an emergency procedure to drain the fluid from my heart. Thankfully they didn't have to do this. The entire weekend was an insanely stressful one, and I didn't get to see my babies for three days. Seth and our families were there to love on them for me, and one of their NICU nurses snuck them into my room in ICU so I could see them for about 15 minutes. I was finally on the road to recovery from all this on Monday and was moved to the postpartum floor that night. I was discharged that Thursday and slept very well that night at home. I spent the day Friday up at the NICU with my babies, but that night when we got home, I developed a fever of 101.9, so they made me go back to the hospital!

When we got to triage, they figured out I had developed endometritis which is an infection in the uterine lining that can be treated with several rounds of 3 different IV antibiotics. My doctor told me that I had to be admitted but that the antibiotics should work quickly and that I could hopefully be discharged by the next Monday. In typical fashion for me apparently, my body didn't respond to the antibiotics the way 95% of the population does. My fever was still in the 102s and 103s on Monday morning so they switched anitbiotics at that time. Again, that weekend I couldn't see my babies because I was too sick to go to the NICU. It was all SO hard. The change in antibiotics worked, and on Thursday, June 27, I was able to go home for good. The awesome news is that Sara Beth was able to go home with us that day! Seth was still having some problems with his breathing, so he had to stay another 2 weeks. Those 2 weeks were incredibly difficult. I was still recovering from being so incredibly sick, I had a newborn at home with reflux, and my other baby was 30 minutes away in the NICU. We were torn between being at home to take care of our little princess and wanting to spend every minute up with our little man loving on him. Thankfully, he was released yesterday after being event free for seven days. So after a 14-day stay for me, a 13-day stay for little miss, and a 28-day stay for our little guy, we are finally able to adjust to life at home with two precious babies! Here are some pictures of their first 4 weeks of life.

Our first family photo when I got to hold our sweet babies for just a few minutes before they had to go to their room in the NICU.

So many sweet friends have come by to love on our babies!

We were also blessed with some great doctors and nurses who took care of all three of us!

Exactly one week old here!

 Taking Sara Beth home on June 27!

Taking Seth home on July 11!

Sweet snuggles today! 

We are so blessed with two wonderful babies and are loving every minute with them! We are also so blessed with wonderful friends and family who have loved on us and our babies over the past several months and more specifically weeks. I've said this a thousand times over the course of this difficult pregnancy, but I'm not sure what we would do without the support, love, and prayers from those people. We thank God every day for those amazing people in our lives!