One Adventure Ends As Three Lives Begin

I will preface this with – I am not sure how much sense this will make, it’s been a long 3 days!!

It has been a fairly eventful week for us in the Kneggs family.  After my not so fun hospital stay last weekend, I was put on bed rest.  My mom decided that it was time for her to come up and help us out.  She arrived on Tuesday afternoon and jumped right into action.  She helped get the house picked up, she helped with Bryan, anything we needed, Mom was there to help with.  On Wednesday, the 2nd, she drove me to Dr. Schermerhorn’s office for my weekly visit.  I was so uncomfortable that I was about to start begging him to set the delivery date.  He decided not to set a date; he wanted to see what the babies’ measurements were going to be from the specialist the next day.  I went home feeling very defeated!! 

Thursday, May 3rd, I got a visit from a very dear friend, Kristina, for lunch.  We taught together a few years ago, until she and Melanie abandoned me!! It was so great to get to catch up with her.  After visiting with Kristina, it was off to the specialist.  Again, I was hoping for a delivery date, maybe sometime the next week.  It was Dr. Yost this week.  She is very precise and analytical – especially compared to Dr. Magee, who I had seen the last 3 weeks or so.  Anyway, she got great measurements on Savannah, 5 pounds 1 ounce, and on Ruby, 4 pounds 9 ounces.  William, however, was a littler trickier.  He was backed up behind the girls and Dr. Yost could not get a measurement – and believe me she tried!!  She was able to get a heart rate and could see that he was breathing well.  When she was looking at his blood flow, though she noticed something abnormal.  ABNORMAL – that is not a word a mother wants to hear when the doctor is doing a sonogram.  She stepped out of the room for a few minutes with that word lingering in the air – ABNORMAL.  While she was out, she called Dr. Schermerhorn and he gave her William’s measurements from the weekend.  She also told him that his blood flow from the placenta had decreased.  They decided to deliver the next day.  The decrease in blood flow was the first sign of the placenta getting old, and at 34 weeks 6 days, there was no reason to wait.  So at 4:00 on May 3^rd, I was on the verge of a full on panic!!  I called Trey, who was still at work and told him he better take the next day off – we were having babies!! 

That night, Trey and I played with Bryan for the last time as an only child.  He got his Big Brother present – a Big Buzz Lightyear.  He was so much fun to watch as he figured out all of the buttons.  It was a very bittersweet “Night Night” time.  I read him his two books, and then Trey took him up to bed as he cried for Mommy.  I could have snuggled him all night!! 

Bryan loves Toy Story!!  At least 10 times a day I get a request for "Buzz Buzz"

You can kind of see the big belly here...

Then, I moved into high gear.  I had already packed a bag, but of course nothing in it would work!  I was a little neurotic!  I got myself packed, and then I packed the babies.  Yes, I was hopelessly optimistic that we would need to pack their going home outfits.  Then, it was time to sleep…. Yeah, right!!!  I did sleep better than I had the few nights before.  I think I was in a state of relief and disbelief so I was able to sleep for 3-4 hours at a time.  I was up around 6:00 am to get ready for the big day.  After I got ready, we got Bryan up and ready to go to his Aunt LaLa’s house.  After one last family of 3 picture, Trey and I were on our way to the hospital. 

Family of Three.... For just a few more hours...

Side note…  The morning of delivery day, it was brought to my attention that it was Star Wars day – May the Fourth be With You!  So Trey officially has no excuse for not remembering their birthday!

I was told to arrive at 8:30, for the 11:30 c-section.  We rolled in at 8:20 and were escorted straight to my room.  On the way, I saw my nurses from the previous weekend, Wendi and Marina, and was greeted with big hugs and smiles.  It immediately made my nerves lessen.  Once I was in the room, the chaos began.  First, they had to get the babies and me on monitors.  Then, we waited for a little while with family coming in and out to check on us.  Bryan got to come sit with me for a little while, it was great to get to play with him before all of the chaos began!  At some point, the anesthesiologist came in to give me the run down on his part and to ask me some questions about my medical history.   Throughout the morning they monitored my vitals.  Around 11:15, the anesthesiologist came in to get started.  He got the spinal block put in and by 11:28 we were ready to roll!

Dr. Schermerhorn, Trey, and the neonatologist
(And Skylar, she was a little less than impressed!)

They wheeled me down to the operating room where, at this point, there were only about 4 other people.  I got put on the table and prepped, and then the floodgates opened.  A slow trickle of staff turned into a flood of about 18 hospital staff in the O.R.  There were at least 4 people in just for me and each baby had a team of at least 3-4 people among techs and other staff.  It was fairly noisy at this point so I just stared at the wall and waited for Trey.  He finally was allowed in, once I had the curtain up, and they were able to start.  If I remember correctly, the surgery started around 11:50. 

At 11:59, I heard Baby A has arrived – that would be Little Miss Ruby Elizabeth.  She was 4 pounds 12 ounces and 17 inches long. 

Ruby Elizabeth

At straight up 12:00 noon, Baby B (the reason for the quick delivery) arrived… William “Willie Boy” Lee.  Our smallest, 4 pounds 6 ounces and 17.5 inches long.  *Wonderful Nurse Danny has become William's Best Bud and dubbed him "Willie Boy"

William Lee

Then at 12:01, Baby C – Princess Savannah Grace – made her debut into the world.  She weighed in at an amazing 5 pounds 1 ounce and was 17.5 inches long. 

Savannah Grace

I will try to post an update on their lives thus far in the next couple of days….