They're Here...

This is a belated announcement of the birth of our twins. Lucy and Bryce arrived in that order, only a minute or so apart, on the afternoon of Friday, June 1st (a bit earlier than anticipated, but it'll be an easy date to remember).

I went to work that day never suspecting that only a few hours later I would be a dad. I hadn't been at work very long when I got a call from our neighbor, Gwain, who had driven Michelle to the hospital. She told me that Michelle was in labor. I hurried to the hospital, where I found her being prepared for a C-section. It was all very sudden and unexpected. I figured the babies would be born ahead of schedule, but they were coming almost a month early.

Michelle was also unprepared - she had packed, but left her suitcase at home, thinking it was just another false alarm. Once I arrived we had a very short wait. Almost immediately they took Michelle to see the anesthesiologist. Meanwhile they dressed me in scrubs, and soon I'm standing next to Michelle in the delivery room. From my vantage point it was sort of surreal. There was a sheet between Michelle's head and where they were busy excavating her belly. On one side of the sheet she's smiling and chatting with us, on the other side I can see her exposed uterus and babies being pulled from the incision. Like rabbits out of a hat, but much messier.

It was sort of unreal, and I don't think the reality truly sank in until days later, when I was able to hold our babies for the first time. Michelle came home on Tuesday, but the babies were kept in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for a full week because of their prematurity. They were hooked up to machines with tubes and wires and we didn't get to bring them home until yesterday.

Babies are measured like fish, by weight and length. Bryce was six pounds, two ounces. Lucy was four pounds, fifteen ounces. She's small but we still consider her a keeper. Many people have asked for their length, but I honestly don't know. Shorter than a bread box.

Bryce and Lucy Unplugged...

Last night was our first with the babies at home and we didn't get much sleep. They seemed to enjoy keeping us awake. Tonight my mom is watching them so we can get some rest. Which is what I'm gonna do as soon as I'm done writing this. Suffice to say that our babies are healthy and happy and so are we. Our lives will never be the same again.

Which doesn't mean I've completely forgotten about birds. I saw Common Nighthawks and Great-tailed Grackles from Michelle's room on the third floor of St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont. And was that an American Robin I heard singing in the park across the street? It wasn't exactly a birding hotspot, but you work with what you got.

Michelle has a baby website with more pictures and info.