Too early.

I went to work on November 3rd. It was a normal day, although I was a lot more tired than usual. I blamed it on being a whale. After the first part of the day was over, I decided I would only work 4 hours from then until the babies arrived. I went home, took a shower, and fell down on the couch. I got back up to dry my hair and my water broke. I didn't exactly know what was going on. I asked Cory "Umm, did my water just break!?" He was freaking out. I called Mama, told her what happened, and she told me to call the OB's office. Cory called and the answering service was already on. He told the operator what happened and not even 1 minute later, Patty called. She is a nurse at the OB's office. She told us to go to Athens Regional Labor and Delivery and that Dr. Goggin would meet us there. On the way there, I had no contractions. I was pretty numb. I was just shaking. I was so worried about my precious babies. I was on 28 weeks and 5 days pregnant. I knew viability was at 24 weeks, but I was so scared.

We got to the ER. Cory helped me out of the car at the front door of the ER. Someone wheeled me inside. They asked me what I was there for. I told the young guy sitting there that my water had broken about 1 hour ago. Cory finally came inside and the young guy wheeled us to Labor and Delivery. That night is pretty much a blur. I was hooked up to fetal monitors ALL night long, stuck with 50 needles (steriods, terbutaline to stop contractions, IVs, etc.). I couldn't eat incase I went into labor. Try telling a huge pregnant woman she can't eat until tomorrow morning! That night was relatively uneventful. Dr. Goggin came in the next day and said the babies were doing great. He did an ultrasound and said that Brennan had broken the water, but he had a good amount of fluid left. I was so thankful. Dr. Goggin then proceeded to say I would be on hospital bed rest until they arrived. I asked him "How long are we looking at here?!" He said "Well, you could possibly stay in until 38 weeks, when I would have originally scheduled a c-section." 10 weeks?!?!?! I couldn't bare to think about it. Little did I know, I would have much rather been on hospital bed rest than see my tiny babies in NICU. I wanted him to assure me that everything would be ok. And he did. I trusted him with my life, and more importantly, I trusted him with theirs. He had been through a similar situation with his twins. His wife delivered prematurely at 24 weeks. They lost one of their twins, but their girl, Kate is now 8 years old. Anyway, the week rocked on. Nothing major happened. I was getting non stress tests every 4 hours and the babies were doing great. I was getting the terbutaline to stop contractions before they started. Everything was good, up until Thursday, November 6th. I woke up feeling terrible. Cory was lying over on the fold out chair, snoozing. I woke him up because I felt as though I couldn't breathe. As a nurse, I knew Terbutaline had terrible side effects and shortness of breath was not an uncommon side effect. Cory wanted me to call the nurse, so I did. She gave me some oxygen and called Dr. Goggin. He stopped the Terbutaline because my shortness of breath had gotten worse. My 02 sat was 81, which is NOT good. I then got the headache from HELL and they could only give me Tylenol. I then began some cramping. I didn't say anything to Cory about the cramping. Instead, I told him he needed to go home and get a good night's sleep. He didn't want to, but finally agreed to go home. Mama came to stay with me at the hospital. I promised Cory I would call him if anything at all happened. A few minutes after Mama got to the room, I told her I was cramping. Nothing major, but I felt it. I begged her not to say anything. As the night progressed, the cramping got worse. By around 11pm, I was in full blown labor. I was having severe contractions that were about 5 minutes apart. They gave me Percocet, which didn't even touch the contractions. The nurse called Dr. Goggin and back to Labor and Delivery I went. I had been on Mother/Baby for my bedrest. Mama called Cory and he got there in like 20 minutes. The pain was TERRIBLE. They gave me the terbutaline again, but it didn't work. The L &D nurse had to re-start my IV because the other nurses had taken it out. She couldn't get a vein, and had to stick me 2-3 times. I didn't care: I just wanted pain medicine! I needed sleep. Finally they got the IV, gave me pain meds, and it relieved the contractions a little. My pain level went from a 7,000 to maybe a 2,000. :) I would doze off for a few minutes. Then, wake up again with that terrible pain. Dr. Goggin finally arrived around 9:15am. He checked me and put his hand on my hand and said "Sweetie, it's time!" I was 7cm dilated. The nurse got Cory's scrubs, they prepped me for an emergency c-section, and off we went to the c-section room. Cory had to wait outside while they gave me the spinal. I was having contractions during the spinal, so it was very hard for me to sit in the right position, which is chin to chest. It took forever for the spinal to go in correctly because I kept moving. Finally, it worked. I was numb. Cory came in. I was shaking so much and praying under my breathe. I had been crying from the pain. Cory had been crying, too. He was just as worried as I was. The doctors worked, and at 10:22am, my precious baby boy, Brennan Reeves Sauls entered the world screaming. That cry was the sweetest sound in the world. I didn't know if their lungs would be developed enough to cry. He weighed 2lbs 14oz.

At 10:24am, Ava Rose Sauls arrived. She weighed 2lbs 6oz. She cried, but not nearly as loud as Brennan. I only got to see her for 1 or 2 seconds. She was having a hard time breathing, and was immediately intubated.

Our precious babies were taken away from us before we even got to meet them. It was not fair. I had dreamed of this day for so long, but this was turning into a nightmare. I was so happy they were doing well, but so mad at the same time. I kept seeing mothers with their huge babies leaving the hospital, while my babies were struggling for their lives. Ava especially. Ava weighed 2lbs 6oz. She was on a ventilator for a few days. Brennan didn't require ventilation or oxygen. He was doing amazingly well. They were so tiny, and so beautiful. More beautiful than I ever imagined. I loved them more than anything and all of a sudden, nothing in the world mattered but them. I cried for everyday. I wanted my babies home with me. It was not fair that I had to leave them with strangers. I felt as though they wouldn't know how much I loved them. I was there everyday, morning, afternoon, and at night. There was nowhere else I wanted to be, but right there with them.

Long story short: we spent 6 weeks in NICU. NICU was our home for this time. There are so many ups and downs. The statement about NICU being like a rollercoaster is so true. One day they are doing great, the next terribly. Brennan had to be taken to Egelston for surgery, after doing so well for the first few days of his life. This was SO hard. With many prayers, we got through it. He was taken back to Athens after 10 days of being at Egelston. The rest of the NICU course wasn't too, terribly bad. They grew and got stronger and on December 22, 2008, they came home! Our wishes were granted: we had our family!