Jonah and Silas' Birth Story Pt. 2

Friday morning was the beginning of the 32nd week. That sounded much better than 31 in our minds. Dr. Virtue was more positive, so that was calming too!

My nurse Robin went into surgery with me. She held me while I got the spinal block so that I could be awake during the birth. During that time I could hear Jimmy outside speaking with Dr. Virtue. He was asking a lot of questions about Guatemala.

We had explained that their names were Jonah and Silas. Silas' name means "third" since he would be our third child, in memory of our first baby that is in Heaven. The staff was cute talking about how that would be their main concern... pulling Jonah out first! He was always the presenting twin, so we knew that would be the order anyway.

At this point everything started moving very quickly. I was a little worried Jimmy was going to tell me each thing they were doing on the other side of the screen... I did not want to know. The smell of cauterizing flesh was enough! Jimmy told me when he saw Jonah's head and then right away I heard his quiet but confident cry. It will always be the most amazing sound of my life. I had been feeling the boys move inside me for months, but now I could hear my son. It was so hard to believe.

The neonatologist brought Jonah around the screen to show me my son quickly before they handed him off. Less than a minute later I heard Silas!

The doctors checked them out quickly and then bundled them up to bring them back for Jimmy to hold.

Silas was the first one that Jimmy got to hold! He looked so wonderful as a daddy!

Then came Jonah all bundled up!

Jonah was 4 lbs 5 oz, 17 in long and Silas was 4 lbs 8 oz, 16.75 in long.

While Dr. Virtue was sewing and stapling me back up he explained to Jimmy that he was able to cut me horizontally rather than vertically so that I should be able to give birth vaginally in the future. He said that was better for Guatemala in case we had an emergency there one day. God worked everything out! That was something I had been praying for throughout the pregnancy.

After the C-Section we met our neonatologist, Dr. Schwartz. He was completely positive and said that there should be no long term issues for the boys and he would guess them to be in the NICU for 4 to 5 weeks. He took so much time explaining things to us. He was very articulate and reassuring.

We have been praying for children for almost 5 years. There were so many days when I would ask Jimmy, "Do you really think God will ever let us be parents?" Without hesitating he would always confidently answer, "Yes!" This has been our hearts' desire for so long. Our journey is much more intricate than 2 blog posts, it could have only been designed by a loving Father. We praise Him for every step of it because we got to experience Him. Now we get to enjoy our little miracles that He has blessed us with!