The Twins Are Here!!!

 

For those who don't know, my sister-in-law and I had overlapping IVF cycles last November. Last fall, my brother was diagnosed with azoospermia and after testicular mapping it was determined that conception was possible through IVF and sperm extraction. Her egg retrieval was two days after mine and it has been so nice to go through all everything together and at the same time. She knew how scary IVF was and we could commiserate during our pregnancies. God bless Shannon--she carried these beautiful babies to 37w6d!!! They are healthy and beautiful. Mike and I drove up to Seattle today to meet them--they were about 13 hours old by the time we got there. These are the first children for my brother and #3 and #4 for SIL, who has two teenage boys from a previous marriage.

 Arthur_Cormick was born August 4 at 22:40 weighing 6 lbs 9 oz and 19.5".  Sadie_Eliza came at 22:46, 6 lbs 3 oz and 19.5"! Aren't they the sweetest?!
Arthur was SIL's grandpa's name. McCormick was my mom's maiden name. Sadie is just a name SIL loved and Eliza is a tribute to all the Elizabeths in both our families.

Shannon, my sister-in-law, was able to deliver them vaginally with minimal complications! Her water broke about 0430 yesterday morning and because of the increased risk with twins they headed to the hospital right away. Her contractions weren't picking up at all (the nurses eventually decided she had had a premature rupture of membranes and wasn't actually in labor) so they started her on a low dose of pitocin, gradually increasing it over several hours. By 2230 she was fully dilated and ready to push! She delivered in an OR, just in case they needed to do an emergency c-section and get one or both of the babies out quickly. Arthur was out in two contractions (!!!) but Sadie floated to the top of the uterus, was breach and had to be pulled out by her feet, with some difficulty--the OB was elbow deep in Shannon's uterus trying to pull her out--for this reason Shannon, who had hoped for a natural birth, was grateful she elected for a low dose epidural. She couldn't imagine going through all that and feeling everything and I don't blame her.  Sadie gave them quite a scare due to some difficulty breathing at first but once the NICU got her crying, all was well. Both babies are excellent nursers and they are all going home tomorrow! I share this so all of my readers who are mamas of multiples know that vaginal twin deliveries are totally possible! I am so proud of my sister-in-law.


It was so much fun to watch Mike with the twins. It was his first time around newborns and he was just in total amazement. I'm so excited to see how he's going to be with our little girl and both of us are so anxious to meet her now that we've snuggled these cuties.

 Soaking up that intoxicating baby smell....

 

Uncle Mike and Arthur (that's proud big brother in the background)

Sweet Boy

 Sweet Sadie