The night before the scheduled C-section our family came in to town. Justin's parents, my parents and sister, and my Ma & Dave. They spent some time with us at our house and then we all headed out for my "last meal". I wasn't able to eat after midnight so I ate enough for 2 days! We had a great dinner and family time.
I didn't really sleep much the night before with so much on my mind. I woke up on Thursday and spent the early morning with Justin. We had special prayer time in the nursery for
each boy and me and our family. A special memory for our family. My family came over and spent time with us early in the morning. Jesse and Gracie modeled their Halloween costumes for me. It all helped take my mind off the hunger in my tummy and the upcoming procedure. I took a nap and Justin packed the car and we were off. On the way there in the car, I kept thinking how it was the last time it was just the 2 of us! And when we made the trip together again, we would have 2 extra passengers.
We checked in at 3:30 and my dear angel friend Jennifer met us there. She is a nurse but special for me helped me and took photographs. She is very talented and the
pictures are gorgeous. It turned out to be suck a blessing because afterwards I was so out of it, I don't remember all the special moments that she captured for our family. When we arrived, our family was waiting on us and we had a prayer time together.
Once I was checked in, they prepped me and got me ready for surgery. I was so nervous and anxious. Once our
doctor arrived, it moved very quickly. Justin waited
outside while I got my spinal which wasn't too bad. The anxiety about it was much worse than the actual stick. It also helped that I had a friend of Jennifer's as my anesthesiologist and he was awesome. Once I was numb.. the craziest feeling, I was layed out on the table and Justin came in.
Shortly there after at 5:20 came Beckett Ryan Riley. He was actually Baby B in my tummy but was the first out and became Baby A. He weighed 5 lbs 07 oz and was 19 inches long. Elijah Luke Riley made his appearance at 5:21 weighing 5 lbs 8.5 oz and 18 inches long. He came out peeing on everyone. He was crying and I swear it was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. The team from the NICU and nurses took the babies and began working on them. At the time, I had no idea what was going on. Justin was torn in so many places.
He kept going over to the babies and then running back to me, finally I told him to just go take care of our sons. They brought them both over to me for kisses before heading out to the NICU for monitoring. I love this picture of Justin coming out to the tell the family about his boys. Everyone was so excited. The grandmothers cried and cried over the joy of the occasion.
Justin in the NICU with Eli and Beckett right after they were born.
I was taken into recovery. My blood pressure skyrocketed so I was placed on magnesium for anti seizures which was the start of my misery. They warned me I was going to feel bad, but seriously it was awful. I started throwing up plus combined with the shakes from the spinal. Justin came in with a nurse from the NICU to explain that both boys were being monitored. Eventually I was rolled through the NICU to see both boys on the way to my room but honestly its such a blur of horrible nausea. The throwing up also caused my incision to hurt tremendously. It was the best and worse night of my life.
I spent the next 6 days battling high blood pressure before I was able to go home. I am home now on blood pressure medication and home monitoring. It is lower but still not where it needs to be. PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension) can go away after birth but for some people it could take a several days, weeks, or months. Rarely is it permanent but I have a family history of hypertension so we will see. I am just thankful that it is down enough to come home and enjoy these boys. I am posting the details about them on a different posts.