![\"Father](\"http:\/\/www.puckandmary.com\/blog_mary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/img_6598_puck_dom_fingers.jpg\" "\\"img_6598_puck_dom_fingers\\"")
<\/a>Father and Son<\/p><\/div>In films and television, childbirth is like a chick-action movie. \u00a0A thin-faced starlet is covered with sweat, and her hair is carefully tousled so that it looks disordered but still oh-so good. \u00a0 Covered with sweat, she screams and grunts with all the frenzy of impending motherhood. \u00a0“PUSH!! PUSH!! PUSH!!” \u00a0The only thing typically missing is power chords on an electric guitar in time with the pushes.<\/p>\n
After her supreme act of womanly creation, a beautiful child covered in a mild amount of goop comes out screaming, and everyone cries as she hugs the baby. \u00a0They go home the next day and la-la-la.<\/p>\n
Living la Vida Twins<\/h2>\n
You probably won’t get to hold your twin babies when they are born. \u00a0Twins often come early, and our boys were whisked away into the competent hands of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) which is usually called the “NEE-q”.<\/p>\n
Even coming in at great fighting weights, our boys have trouble figuring out eating and breathing. \u00a0They were started with the bubbling CPAP machines to help their breathing and came off those after 24 hours. \u00a0The sucking reflex arrives at around the 34 week mark, and our boys are still learning how this stuff works.<\/p>\n
The Tough Stuff<\/strong><\/p>\n Dad keeping an eye on Dominic.<\/p><\/div>Dominic is having what the NICU staff refers to as “episodes” or “de-Sats” when his oxygen levels drop below acceptable levels. \u00a0He’s done this several times while Mary and I were there, and I’ll be very serious when I tell you it isn’t fun as a parent. \u00a0The monitors will beep in an ever more insistent tone and flash red. \u00a0As a know-nothing parent, all you know is that the red flashing light scares the hell out of you. \u00a0Fortunately, the nurses will sit him up and smack him on the back to remind him that he needs to take a breath and that pops him out of it.<\/p>\n Dad snuggling with Alexander.<\/p><\/div>As the parent of a preemie, there is a certain amount of helplessness you are going to have to accept in the situation, and you have to trust in the talent of the NICU staff. \u00a0Both my children are closely monitored, and professionals are there to help them at a moment’s notice when they need it. \u00a0They are also proactive about it as well. \u00a0Dominic has been given a slightly higher oxygen mix, and he seems to be doing well with it. \u00a0They are also putting him on antibiotics as a precaution and looking at chest X-rays and labs to see if they can find a root cause.<\/p>\n Mommy Update<\/strong><\/p>\n When we arrived at the hospital after Mary’s water broke at around 3:30 AM Sunday morning, her blood pressure was high, and the perinatologist requested tests for preeclampsia<\/a>. This was fortunate, as Mary had developed sudden-onset severe preeclampsia. It causes very high blood pressure and other complications like seizures. Fortunately, the cure is to not be pregnant, and delivering the twins by C-section provided us with a handy solution. A day on magnesium sulfate (to prevent seizures) and loopy Mary was making phone calls that would rival anyone who ever drank and dialed.<\/p>\n At present, Mary’s preeclampsia is putting up another fight with her, and seeing Dominic having a few troubles isn’t making her blood pressure any better. \u00a0The doctors have not liked watching her blood pressure numbers climb all day and decided to keep her for another night. \u00a0They have also put her on blood pressure medication and asked her to use the wheelchair when she visits the boys in the NICU.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>