Well, where to start! It has easily been the craziest days of our lives and as you can imagine there are lots of people out there wanting to know how tiny Emilia and Eva are getting on. So I thought that a blog would be a really easy way to get updates out to everyone.
Saturday 23rd July
I woke up at 0700 with strong period pains and then I started to bleed. Jens drove me straight to the hospital where I was examined and then taken directly to the special labor ward. I was given a cortezone shot and after finding an infection in my blood, put on an antibiotic drip. The shot was to improve the lung functions of the babies. At this time I was 23 plus 3 weeks pregnant. I was told repeatedly that every hour they stayed inside me was so important and I was placed on total bed rest. I was bleeding and getting contractions. I was open 2cm and Emilias sack was lodged into the opening.
Sunday 24th July
I managed to get some sleep and was given the second cortezone shot. The antibiotics were a 3 day course and really hurt my veins going in. At this point I was more scared about getting the next treatment (each one took an hour to go in and I got them every 6 hours) than giving birth!! I was still getting contractions but milder.
Monday 25th July
I got a scan in the morning and I was still open 2 cm, getting contractions and bleeding.
Wednesday 27th July
Midnight (at the start of the magical 24th week) - My waters broke. We were taken back to the special labor ward and I was open 6 cm. A scan showed it was only Emilias sack that had broken, Eva was unaware of any of this (lucky her!). Then nothing happened, we both managed to sleep.
15.00 - I went to the toilet and when I wiped I felt something between my legs. It turned out to be Emilia's fingertips. My baby girl wanted out!
16.30 - I was induced. Words cannot express the pain of giving birth so I won't even try.
19.11 - Emilia was born bum first (535 g)
19.16 - Eva was born (570 g), still in her sack (she still had no idea that any of this is going on). Jens saw them open her sack and take her out. AMAZING!
The placenta came out at the same time and it had joined together. Emilia's side was yellow from the infection. We do not know the cause of the infection, but we do know that is the reason why our baby girls were born at only 24 weeks old.
Even though it was a really tough 5 days, it wasn't all doom and gloom and there were times when me and Jens were scared that I would start giving birth because we were laughing so much. We played cards, talked, cried and laughed together. I suppose we just thought that the infection would go and it would all be ok. Jens slept at the hospital when I wanted him to and helped me go to the toilet, get out of bed, anything I asked him to. To say he has seen me at my worst is an understatement!
He was and is my rock!
After the birth, our daughters were immediately taken care of in the room next door and were given intensive care. They were brought into us and we were able to touch them. They were then taken up to the Neonatal ward 316 and placed into incubators.
From the beginning Emilia and Eva have been stable and so far there have been no major incidents with either of them. They are real fighters.
Emilia - Current weight 590 g
She started to breathe unaided yesterday which is real progress. Her ductus (a valve in her heart) had closed by itself which means that she will not have to have an operation. We are able to change her nappy, take her temperature, look after her mouth (we put lip balm on her) and give her milk via a pipette. To bond with her, we can put our hands over her. We saw her smile yesterday for the first time.
Eva - Current weight 615 g
Unfortunately Eva's ductus was still open, but had started to close yesterday, so fingers crossed that she won't need the operation. Eva feels like a little warm peach! We are able to change her nappy, take her temperature, look after her mouth (we put lip balm on her) and give her milk via a pipette. To bond with her, we can put our hands over her.
Our daughters are in one of the leading hospitals in the world for premature babies. They each are assigned their own nurse 24 hours a day and everything is monitored. We feel that they could not be in better hands. But we have been warned that this is a real roller coaster ride. Should they need operations then everything is there at the hospital and they will not need to be transported anywhere. We can just hope that Emilia and Eva will be able to deal with everything that life throws at them
I have started pumping milk and am satisfying their demand (which increases everyday!!). It feels good that there is something we can do to help them. Even though there is a lot of equipment surrounding them, we don't even see it. They are just so small, cute and amazing. We never knew that we could love something so much.
There are people all over the world rooting for them, from Canada to Australia! Thank you, we know that everything helps. So, we will keep everybody updated via this blog from now on. Love to you all!
Paula & Jens
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