Well, Alrighty Then!!

Well this would be my first post as a father and quite honestly, I still don't think I believe it!  So, here is the run down from yesterday...

We went to Dr. Zaretsky's office to check on the babies and get measurements.  The short story is that Baby A or the girl had not gained any weight since the last measurement over three weeks ago.  What that essentially told us was that by the gestational age of the babies at 33 weeks, she should have gained SOME weight, even just a little, so at that point the Dr. told us that she is at this point better being outside and growing than inside and growing and it was "time to have babies".  This all took place between 3:30pm - 4:00pm on Thursday afternoon.

By 4:00pm we all decided it was better to go ahead and have the babies, and that the hospital would be ready for a 6:00pm delivery!  6:00pm, it was 4:00pm then, ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!???  Well it was no joke, trust me.  Katie drove herself to Lewisville Medical Center and I drove home, fed the dogs, changed, grabbed our bags and flew to the hospital.  I got there at 5:45pm, nice, way to cut it close!  And I was running out of gas!!  The stress level was peaking JUST A TAD at that point.  The hospital got Katie all prepped and at 6:10pm they wheeled her into the O.R.  I waited outside till they were ready for me.  I said about 5 prayers (good ones too!) and tried to remain calm and somewhat relaxed; sorta worked...  :)

They said they were ready and I went into the O.R., I counted 20+ doctors and nurses in the room, all had been assigned a baby or Katie.  The emotions were just all over the place for both us, excited, scared, anxious, happy, nervous, we were both a mess!  I kept talking to Katie and she did AWESOME, she is truly amazing.  Then I heard, "first rupture...suction..."

And Claire Louise Messerle was born at 6:36pm, she was 2 lbs, 14 oz, 16 inches long.  She was crying and then wisked away to her little baby station surrounded by 3 nurses.  Then at 6:37pm "rupture...suction" and out came Baby B or now better known as Matthew Paul Messerle, he was 3 lbs 10 oz and 17 inches long, then right way within the same minute "rupture...suction"... Baby C  or now Andrew Dale Messerle was born at 3 lbs, 11 oz and 16 inches long.  All the babies were doing great.  I was able to get up from my stool and walk around and get pictures of each of them crying their little heads off!  Claire and Matthew went off into the NICU, I waited for Andrew and his team to get him ready then I followed them into the NICU.  I was assigned a nurse and she gave me the full run down on what was going on with who.

So here they are!

This is Claire (Baby A)!  She is breathing real good, actually better than her brothers.  Since she was down so low and was dealing with the stress of that her body reacted to the stress by strengthening her body and lungs and she is just on a little oxygen help and just cute as a button.  She might get a bath today too!  WTG Claire!

This is Matthew (Baby B)!  He was struggling a little bit with the breathing program so they intibated (sp?) him and gave him some medicine to open up his lungs a little bit.  I guess the lungs on preemie boys are a little stiffer than girls, so they tend to struggle a little bit more in the NICU.  By the time I left him late last night his breathing was already getting better and he was getting to be a feisty little dude!

This is Andrew (Baby C)!  He also needed a little breathing help but he is doing good, rustling around a little bit and stuff.  Drew actually ended up being 1 oz bigger than Matt, we all thought Matt (Baby B) was going to be the big boy.  Depending on their breathing, the boys may be off the high power oxygen today.  We'll see.  All three are pretty close to each other in the NICU, Claire and Matt are on one side and Drew is on the other.  Each one of the babies has their own nurse and they watch over them like HAWKS!  

Katie is doing great, we both had a restless night at the hospital with people coming in and out of that room.  They are already starting to unhook her from all this stuff that she was tied too and get her up so she can go see her babies!  She is really doing great.  She did such an awesome job growing and taking care of those babies and she is going to be one hell of a great mother!  I am so proud of her!

OK, I gotta get in the shower and head back up there to check on the family!  Its been a LONG 18 hours but we're doing great.  Words cannot possibly describe how much all five of us appreciate the thoughts and prayers from everyone over the past months, very overwhelming for us.  We have a long road ahead of us with these little tykes, but we'll make it.  I'll continue to keep the blog updated with pictures over the weekend!  

Love,

Todd and Katie