Remember last Thursday when I posted and thought I was good to go for a couple of weeks?  I had gone the entire day with very few contractions and felt great.  I jokingly said I was in hospital jail as I felt totally fine but was a ticking time bomb as to when I was going to go into labor.  We had decided it was safe for Gavin to stay at home with Treyton as the doctors said he would most likely be able to make it if I were to go into labor.

I woke up at 5:00 Friday morning with contractions and pretty quickly knew that they were stronger than anything I had been having before.  I opened up the app on my phone and began timing them and attempted to talk myself out of the reality of what was happening.  Not only were they stronger, there were regular.  After timing several, I called my nurse around 5:30 and let her in on what was happening and figured they probably needed to hook me up to the monitor.  It only took two before they called Dr. H, who requested they check me.  At this point I texted Gavin and told him he should be on standby as I was pretty sure something was happening.

Things got real crazy in the blink of an eye.  Upon being checked, I was 8-9 centimeters dilated and my water was about to break.  My nurse's, Bethany's, first words were, "Honey, you need to call your husband and get him headed this direction."

I bawled.  

I was scared. 

There were immediately four or five nurses in and out of my room gathering supplies, starting new IVs, giving me medicine for a c-section, and folks, I was only 31 weeks and 1 day pregnant.  Our girls weren't ready to be born yet.

I called Gavin at 5:54 and broke the news.  Nate was thankfully on call and Gavin was able to hop in the Suburban and get heading my direction almost instantly.

I was completely prepped for the c-section in my room when Dr. H came in and told me to call Gavin and figure out where he was.  She was afraid I was going to have Baby A in my bed if we didn't get moving.  They took me back to the OR before Gavin showed up but she promised to try and wait until he got here.  He actually showed up in plenty of time since they wanted my spinal block started and everything set to go before they would let him back with me.

Things went really quick from there.  I was actually cut open and things were started before a nurse went and got Gavin.  By the time he sat down, they were working on pulling Taylor out, and she was born at 6:52.   She cried upon being born but was whisked away quickly to her isolet to be stabilized.  I was able to see her briefly as they carried her over there.

Taylor Marie

Born at 6:52

Weighed 3lb 4.4oz  

(This changed from 3lb 11 or 15oz on Saturday due to some recalculating.)

15 3/4 inches long

They then began working on getting Trynlee out and this is where things got a little scary on my end.  I don't believe I was fully numb was so feeling more than just pressure and was fairly certain I was going to get sick.  After some more meds, laughing gas, and some more meds to get me relaxed, Dr. Hines and the nurse ended up having to turn Trynlee as she was trying to come out hands first.  I don't totally know why this can't happen but it wasn't what they wanted.  After lots of intense pushing and pulling, Trynlee was born at 6:56.  It seriously was the longest four minutes of my life.  She didn't cry not could I see her so I was instantly worried.

Trynlee Lynn

Born at 6:56

Weighed 3lb 4oz

15 1/2 inches long

Gavin went over with the girls as they worked on getting everything else delivered and sewn up.  Taylor was breathing on room air right away but needed the C-Pap to ensure her lungs wouldn't collapse.  Trynlee was needing a little more support and they thought they may need to intubate her so they whisked her off to her room to be stabilized.

Because the NICU comes to the Labor and Delivery rooms instead of being in the NICU, Taylor was in my room and Trynlee was next door in her own room.  This pulled on every heart string of mine.  The first few hours though were spent trying to get their central lines placed.  This included x-rays and us not really being able to see them.  It was several hours before I got to see Trynlee.

First time seeing Tyrnlee!  They wheeled me and my bed to her room next door.

Taylor's lines went in great but she was struggling to maintain her blood pressure.  This resulted in her needing to have a heart ECHO done which showed that she had two small holes in her heart.  The next day, we were told not to worry about these at this times as they are fairly common and weren't causing her any issues.  Easier said that done.

Gavin checking out Taylor

Trynlee ended up only needing the C-Pap as well but they were unable to get her central lines in.  She instead had a normal IV that we were told would need to be replaced every couple of days.

I was up and out of bed relatively quickly as not being able to see Trynlee or hear if she was crying broke this mama's heart.  I paid for this the next day as I was much too active on day one.

We ended day 1 with two stable babies!

First off, I have been the stereotypical mom of her second child....in our case second and third.  I think I have one belly picture at 30 weeks of these little nuggets.  Part of it is that I have always been nervous to get excited and didn't want to jinx anything.  Shame on me for being afraid!

30 Weeks!

At 30 weeks 4 days, I started having contractions that were somewhat uncomfortable.  On Monday at school, I called the doctors office and asked what I should do.  They said since they weren't painful or regular to just keep an eye out for them and wait to be seen at my appointment on Wednesday.  After taking Gavin supper in the field Monday night, I just wasn't comfortable with how I hadn't gotten them to go away and called back to Labor and Delivery and asked what they thought.  They told me to come on in to be evaluated.

Upon getting to the triage room, I felt dumb because I wasn't really having any more contractions.  That quickly changed though and I was having them 4-5 minutes apart.  Dr. H decided to check me and her exact words were, "You're going to be here a while and will most likely being having these babies early.  I hope to get you 48 more hours."  Cue the instant tears and panic emotions.  This couldn't be happening, I am only 30 weeks!  She found that I was 2-3 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced. 

I called Gavin immediately to tell him that he should probably come to the hospital.  My mom had followed me from the field and gotten Treyton to bed and planned on staying with him.  He had to get himself out of the combine and to his truck, and therefore they didn't finish Harvest 2017 that night.  Oops!

They got me admitted and the whirlwind of events started taking place.  First was meds to get my contractions to stop and steroids to help the girls' lungs develop.  Then the NICU nurses came in to see if we had any questions.  My biggest question was "Are they going to be okay?"  I was told that at 30 weeks they do very well and since they are both girls they will do even better.  It was just going to be crucial to make it 48 hours so the steroids had a chance to work their magic.

Tuesday came along and everything seemed fairly calm.  I had contractions almost immediately though when the meds started wearing off so they began giving me them every 4 hours instead of 6 hours.  Sometimes the doctors would have the nurses give them at 3 hours because of the frequency in which I would start to have them.

I also had several different, 3 to be exact, ultrasounds on Tuesday to see how they were doing and how much fluid they still had.  I was supposed to have a Non Stress Test as well but the nurses couldn't for the lives of them find both heart beats and keep them on the monitors.  This led to a bedside ultrasound by Dr. W in which their positions were much different than what my earlier ultrasound had showed.  She then ordered another ultrasound which found that Baby B had flipped and was now breech.  Since she is the bigger baby this also changed the plan to needed a c section. 

After more contractions, Dr. W decided to check me again and found that I had progressed to 5 cm.  This resulted in the neo-natologist coming in to visit along with the NICU nurses to see what other questions we now had.  I once again had to call Gavin to tell him he should probably get here in case I would be delivering soon.  Treyton and him were just finishing up trick or treating and enjoying themselves some McDonalds so they made their way to the hospital to see me and then my Mom came and got Treyton.

Tuesday night was full of contractions which landed me hooked up to the monitor in the rock hard bed for most of the night.  Dr. W then checked me again in the morning but I had actually stayed the same at 5cm which was good news.

We chatted with Dr. W Wednesday morning and decided that is was most likely safe for him to go to work and he could still make any delivery that may happen.  I think we are just going to plan on that for now.  I would really like him to be staying at home with Treyton so that he has some sort of normalcy.  The nurses once again struggled to do the NST which resulted in another ultrasound.

Baby A continues to be head down and moves all of the time.  Baby B is Frank Breech which is head up and her feet right in front of her face.  She is definitely the calmer of the two most of the time.  Baby B is also the bigger of the two babies which requires a c section.  This isn't how I would like it to play out but anything to just get them here safely and healthy will be great.

So....I sit here waiting for the 48 hours of steroids to get here.  That will be tonight around 10:00.  There has been talk of taking me off of the meds that stop my contractions once that happens though which could be interesting.

I pray that they stay in cooking a little bit longer!

Welcome to the World, Treyton Lee!

8lbs. 10oz

19.25in long

3:58pm on August 10th

My original plan was to get a picture with all three of our dogs.  Unfortunately, our oldest, Sabrah passed away in this time.  I was able to snap some pictures of baby shoes with her but I can hardly stand to look at them because she was so sick and weak.

To tell my parents, we ended up Facetiming with them because we realized they were going to be gone to Mexico when we were wanting to announce our special news.  They had a pretty good inkling of what was going on so they weren't super surprised but over the moon excited.  My mom brought me a gift the very next morning before they left for the airport.

Here's the picture we used!

I prayed every day that I would get to meet this miracle baby.  I didn't exactly love being pregnant and certainly didn't love every part of my pregnant body but I was beyond blessed and thankful that I was getting the opportunity to experience every part of it.

Here are some pictures as Baby Steege grew!  I wasn't great at doing them every 4 weeks but snapped some along the way!  My scar just made things a little more interesting! :-)

In Minneapolis the night before we flew to Antigua!  We had found out three days prior that we were pregnant!

New Years Eve in Antigua! Vomited for the first time on our flight home from our wonderful honeymoon, in the Miami Airport.  Let the morning/all-day-long sickness begin!

 16 Weeks!

 17 Weeks!

 18 Weeks!

 20 Week Ultrasound! So in love!  We made sure to take a close look at your heart.  It has 4 chambers and appears to be on the correct side of your body!

 36 Weeks!

 At my baby shower on August 8th.  I was having regular contractions while opening gifts and wasn't feeling very well.  After the shower, I went down to Ski Club and downloaded a contraction app on my phone.  It told me to go to the hospital several different times.