Birth Day

These twinkies were born in my 36th week of pregnancy (at 8 months, so 1 month premature, but not surprising considering there's two! :) after a routine sonogram with Dr. Morgano at St. Vincents. By this stage, I (we!) were going in for sonograms every other day. I felt like there was now an octopus where my stomach used to be, and it wanted nothing more than to get out! I gained more than 50% of my body weight and waddled around like an old mother duck-hen (which Christopher so fondly mimicked). The TTTS (Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, more on that later) complicated matters and elevated risk factors. So when Dr. Morgano, an expert in monitoring precisely these situations, rang Dr. Mattheson (our reputable expert obstetrician - who looked much like Denzel Washington's older brother - and specifically requested, in slight jest, that I avoid "calling" him at the tail end of the work week, after hours, or on weekends...) at five o'clock pm of the friday that precedes the three day long 4th of July weekend...we knew 'the time has come!' These video clips are all taken within their first 2 weeks of their life in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit).

**A Shout-Out to the NICU staff: hats off to the team of unbelievable nurses and doctors! Our twins were 1 of 4 sets of twins in the NICU.

Anakai with hiccups in her incubator. About 3 days old here... I remember feeling her hiccups when she was still inside!! What bothered me most was when they BOTH had hiccups - at the same time AND unsynchronized! Talk about uncomfortable...


Anakai stretching her brand new 2 day old earth legs.


Here I am, a brand spankin' new mom-o-twins, with 3 day old Kacia-roo. "Boop, boop, boop!"


Kacia + Anakai re-unite for the first time on the outside of mama!!