I'll skip to the good parts first: Welcome Noelle May Meshot and Caleb Ryan Meshot. They arrived December 8th, at 5:29pm and 5:30pm respectively. Noelle was 4 lbs 12 oz and Caleb was 6 lbs 5 oz. Both had an 11 night stay in the fabulous Sharp Mary Birch hospital in sunny San Diego but were home bound on December 19th and joined us for the holidays. Having two at once is an incredible treat for us all. They are nothing alike in the least from what we can tell so far.
So here's the long version starting from around 22-24 weeks-ish. It's clearly my perspective as best as I can recall. Rhiannon's version is a joy to hear as it sounds very different from mine and there were plenty of moments where I wasn't by her side but let's face it, she's probably double-fisting some infants right now and chasing Carter down the hallway playing Super Hero Transformer Kitties. There's a novel below with nearly six months past since the last post but as time allows, updates with prove to be more regular and short and sweet. Enjoy
Rhiannon was put on bed rest in October after she struggled to get through her baby shower and proved to the world that she needed to kick it down a notch and get off her feet. I started working from home and took over the house realizing quickly that my wife has a pretty cool job but it's tough! I'm so grateful to have been able to gain that perspective heading in to life with twins and a toddler as well as having had a chance to spend a great deal of time with Carter before the twins were born.
Shortly after being put on bed rest, Rhiannon was diagnosed with gestational diabetes (GD) and began exploring options to manage her blood sugar. Turns out that untreated GD can impact the short term and long term development of the babies pretty significantly and as I understand it, in some cases can be fatal or lead to premature labor-a little scary at least initially. Luckily, she was able to manage the GD with diet modification which wasn't the most enjoyable for Rhiannon but I think the athlete in her allowed her to rise to the challenge and pretty soon she was keeping blood sugar levels in check and everything seemed to be running smoothly again.
Some time in November, we had another ultrasound and Baby A (Caleb) had jumped up in approximate weight from 3 lbs to about 6 lbs 15 oz, well over average for his gestational age and Baby B (Noelle) had bumped up from 3 lbs to just around 5 lbs, which would have been fairly normal for her age. Even with a margin of error of plus or minus 12 oz, with such a vast difference in size, the doctor ordered weekly Non-Stress Tests to monitor baby movements, heart rates, and contractions so we started in with 2 appts a week, one for NST and another for basic check up. With tons of flexibility with work, Carter's pre-school and family and friends helping out, we were able to volley Carter around for most of the appointments but he did join us on his fair share of visits. Maybe he'll be a doctor some day.
Rhiannon was about 27-28 weeks around this time and getting both extremely uncomfortable and began having contractions. We had at least once quick run to triage to stem preterm labor before she was 30 weeks so we started with some very short term mental goals of getting through each week praying we could get them to hang out until sometime between 34-36 at a minimum. Ironically, the doctor scheduled a C-section for January 4th, about 38 weeks, and Rhiannon was shattered for a few days wondering how she was going to last another 8-9 weeks!
So fast forwarding through multiple appointments and several pats on the back and the doctors telling her she's "doing great and keep doing what you're doing" we began getting a little calloused about the NSTs and the discomfort became the rule rather than the exception.
On December 8th, at 34 weeks, we went in for yet another tedious routine stress test. This time in fact I dropped her off and went to run an errand while she was hooked up to the monitor.
Now, at this point, we experienced denial we both went through that will pervade the next few hours of the day here but while hooked up to the monitor, they tell Rhiannon she's in labor and we have to go to Mary Birch which is a 20 minute drive toward the coast. I get a call from Rhiannon while I'm leaving Target and she calmly says, "they say I'm in labor, come get me." Apparently she didn't believe them or thought that because she was 34 weeks that she'd go down to triage yet again and have them stop the process. I arrive and the doctors and nurses all have a very convincing look on their faces and say again she's in labor. I look at Rhiannon and ask her if she is and she says "No, I don't think so, I feel just as uncomfortable as always." With limited understanding of what awaits us, we drive to Mary Birch where they hook her up yet again (very slowly) to some more monitors and we sit. Another 45 minutes go by and she has put down some rather impressive contractions so after a quick inspection, they tell us we'll be prepped for surgery in 20 minutes.......*air sucks out of the room* Ironically, on this very day, December 8th, was the day we had been joking would be the moment of truth for the twins because on this day, my Mom flew out from San Diego to Michigan and my Dad flew out to Virginia for the weekend and but regrettably....indisposed. I missed their presence and support then but it's truly laughable now.
Everything is pretty straight forward stuff from here, my 30 minute wait in an empty hallway while they prepped Rhiannon was an eternity and in hindsight felt light years longer than the hurricane 11 days we spent in and around, to and from the hospital and NICU after their birth. The NICU was a humbling experience we feel we were graced with. God does some amazing work through the staff that cares for some of Southern California's most critical premature infants. We are blessed that Rhiannon was able to carry Caleb and Noelle as long as she did and further blessed that they made such a miraculously quick recovery and were sent home together. In fact several days before their release, we were told by a seasoned NICU nurse that she had never seen twins go home on the same day so we prepared our selves for that reality though we knew that having them home at all would be a gift relative to the inevitable truth that with an average of 70-80 infants at any any given time in the NICU, many moms and dads would be bedside with their loved ones through the holidays and many weeks to follow.
We've been humbled by the support from our family and friends and even random neighbors. A huge thank you to Rhiannon's Facebook friends, the band of mothers who shared in their experiences and kept her laughing and dried her tears when she needed the love the most. Thanks to all who dropped off food for our family. Rhiannon would be fed either way but this has been actually the most help to me. Many thanks to the Dubes, Ryans, Meshots for love and support and help watching Carter during this time. And a catch-all thank you for all the wonderful heartfelt gifts for the babies. I can tell you we're putting every single thing to use every day.
More to come... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, love to all.
