Welcoming the newest little Oppewall's

The details:  The induction process began Tuesday, July 10th around 7:30pm.  It was a long, uncomfortable night with not a whole lot of progress or sleep.  By the morning I was slowly making some progress, so we decided to get the epidural and up the pitocin.  Things moved quickly after that, I went from being 3cm dilated to 8cm in 2 hours and then we prepped to get me to the operating room (because of the twins I knew I would need to deliver in the OR).  I was scared, but trying to focus on what I needed to do next to finally meet these little ones.  Pushing was a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be...our little girl was coming from the side instead of straight down and it was hard push with another baby up in your ribs still.  

After about 30 minutes Baby "A" made her arrival!  Our sweet baby girl... Brylee Marie weighing in at 5lbs 12oz... was born at 1:42pm!  She was taken right away to be completely checked over and though I couldn't wait to see her little face, my focus had to be on Baby "B".  

This is when things got intense, Baby "B" who was head down, decided to flip around when his sister came out.  Normally the doctors would consider delivering the second baby breech, but since we knew he was quite a bit bigger than his sister the doctors did not want to go this way.  They attempted to manually turn him, but he wouldn't cooperate.  By this time I was crying, completely disappointed that I was going to have a c-section.  Ryan and the doctors all reassured me that this was the best decision for me and our baby, but it was still hard and I think all the emotions that I had be keeping in over the past few weeks just came out and I continued to cry as they prepped me for the c-section.  

During this time, Ryan was able to go to the nursery to meet our sweet baby girl and when he came back he said she was doing great and showed me pictures, which brought some more tears :)  At 2:07pm our precious baby boy... Blake Henry weighing in at 6lbs 15oz... was born!  He was also taken to be checked over.  As the doctors closed me up, Ryan went to the nursery to be with the twins.  Then when I was in recovery the nurse brought me my precious baby girl!  I could not believe how tiny and beautiful she was and to finally have her in my arms was such a blessing!  I was able to cuddle and bond with Brylee in recovery and the nurses reassured me that Blake was doing great in the nursery, they just needed to monitor him for a bit.  I was later rolled to our room as Daddy followed pushing Brylee in her bed.  Blake joined us shortly and what an amazing experience to hold both of our babies in my arms (I cry now as I type and remember this moment!) God is SO good!  It was not an easy pregnancy by any means, but HE carried us through each and every day, and to finally hold our babies was AMAZING!  

The big brothers were able to meet their new sister and brother around 5:30 that night.  Noah was quiet, cautious and nervous. Treston was all smiles and couldn't get enough of the babies.  The boys also came to visit on day 2 and day 3 and they were both just so happy and excited to see the babies and hold the babies...it was so sweet to watch their interactions with the twins.  

The babies each had a couple visits to the nursery in the first 24 hours.  Being 3 weeks early they had a hard time keeping their temperature and had to spend some time under the warming lights in the nursery when their temp was too low.  They both picked up on nursing and bottle feeding very easily and the hospital staff was impressed with the routine Ryan and I quickly established.  On day 4 the babies and I got the all clear to pack up and head home..... and thats enough for one blog post!

Now for the pictures...

Treston giving one last kiss to Momma's big belly!

Brylee and Blake right after birth in the nursery.

Daddy got to give Brylee her first bath.

Blake(left) and Brylee(right) just a couple hours old.

The big brothers meeting the twins!

A very proud big brother!

Noah smiles because he gets a "big brother" present!

Grandma with her boys!

First picture as a family of 6!!

My mom and I and the twins.

Treston just couldn't get enough baby love.

Grandma Sharon came for a visit!

Day 2

Sweet babies happy to be together in their hospital bassinet!

Noah was all smiles on day 2 and wanted to hold Brylee!

Sweet baby girl!

One happy mommy holding her babies!

Day 3

My boys!

Grandpa and Grandma T with our 4 kids!

Little Sister :)

Little Brother :)

My Grandpa and Grandma, Henry and Marie, the twins' middle names!

Sweet babies....

Time to head home.

Ready, set, here we go....