Kids grow up

Wow. It has been a while since I have posted. The month of June is just so busy for me. I have two anniversaries including my own, 4 birthdays, and one Father's day (for three fathers), so it can be a bit rough at times.

Every day I look at my kids and cannot believe that they are 4 today. It seems like just yesterday I was making that trek from my hospital room to the NICU to see one of my newborn little ones, then back to the infant nursery to see the other little one. It is so amazing to see them every day and is hard to believe that they were so tiny. As I reflect on this day, I am going to share the experience of their first days.
For those readers who don't know, I have a set of twins who turned 4 today. Actually in about two hours it will be official. They were my first kids, so you can imagine the shock and fear that went through my head the day I found out that there were two babies instead of one. Actually, I laughed because my dad was joking with me about it the night before.
A few months later, I was sent to the hospital for an induction. Two long horrible days later, I ended up with a c-section, not fun. Anyway, one of the little cuties ended up in the NICU for 6 days (granted that stay was short compared to many kiddos stays in that wonderful place). At the time I thought it was the worst thing, but looking back, it was the best thing for her. She got better care there than I could ever have given her. I thank the Lord for those wonderful, caring nurses. It definitely takes a special person to be able to care for the very small and fragile babies.
The identical set of twins had what is called twin-twin transfusion which is a situation (only found in identical twins) where one twin takes the nourshment from the other one. It causes one to have too much iron and the other to not have enough. Sometimes it can end up with blood transfusions and blood infusions (as in the case of mine).There was almost a pound difference in their weights and the older one was much paler than the younger one.
For 5 days, I made the painful trek between the two nurseries. I do think that is what helped my body heal from the surgery faster as I had to exercise. I did not have a choice. I had to see my babies (both of them). On the morning of the 5th day, they released me. I had to go home with empty arms. Neither baby was allowed to go home. It was one of the most heart breaking things I have ever done. However, it allowed me to prepare mentally and physically for the care of two newborns before they actually came home. The majority of mothers do not have two newborns to care for at once.
Finally on the morning of the 7th day (after taking a CPR class) they let us bring both of the babies home. That was a scary, yet wonderful day. So we brought them home, apnea monitors and all.
The day they went "cordless" was a wonderful thing.

Now, 4 years later, they are growing like weeds, and sometimes I wonder where my babies have gone. It is exciting to see how they grow and develop each day. It is exciting to see where their little minds take them. It will be awesome to see where the Lord leads their little lives in this next year.