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Email sent by John announcing the new arrivals:
Lorraine and I had a rather interesting evening last night. Around 9 PM
Lorraine called out to me in that ever so familiar "there is trouble"
voice, and I knew immediately what was going on. I had hoped initially my
instincts were wrong, but upon examining the evidence it was clear her
water had just broke and our adventure had begun.
After 15 minutes of hemming and hawing with her to call the doctor she
finally gave in to my persistent pressure and called. Upon getting a
THIRD opinion it was clear we were hospital bound. After a LONG 36 miles
and 45 minutes we arrived at Duke University Medical Center at around
10:30 and were immediately whisked up to the maternity ward. A few tests
later, including a very interesting one called "ferning" in which they
take a culture of the "water" and look at it under a microscope and it
has the branching appearance of a "fern" if it is amniotic fluid, we were
given the conclusive "YES your water indeed broke".
At this point Lorraine's contractions were VERY erratic and just starting to deepen,
this was about 11:15. The staff talked and talked, there was a 3rd year
resident a nurse and an intern, and they were waiting patiently to get
the blessing of Dr. Brown (who we later found out is the head of
Maternity) on their conclusions. A battery of drugs would be used to
strengthen the babies lungs and slow the labor. In the meantime
Lorraine's contractions were getting more frequent and deeper, until they
were almost continuos. She was getting poked and prodded all over, making
her VERY uncomfortable. Just as they were about to administer her the
steroids and such the lead resident came in and halted everything and
examined Lorraine one last time. The look on her face was priceless as it
was one of fear, horror, and excitement all rolled up into one, Lorraine
was 5 centimeters dilated. For the laymen, 8 cm is considered "fully"
dilated for giving birth, as I was told.
There was no time to give the drugs it was off to the operating room for
us.
As they prepped Lorraine, a grueling 15 minutes passed, as they made me
wait outside the delivery OR. I was finally called in and the birthing
begun. All I can remember at that point was the doctor say, "incision
started".................
They placed me behind the "curtain" with Lorraine and we listened with
bated breath for the first signs of the boys. All of a sudden there was a
flurry of people and the doctor announced "Baby A is out". It was 12:34
AM and Matthew John Klein had entered the world and the first beautiful
note of the babies was sung. One minute later Mark Edward Klein arrived
followed by Luke Arthur Klein one minute after that. 3 hours and 26
minutes was all it took for these boys to announce to the world they had
arrived. Tears welled up in both of our eyes as the symphony echoed
through the OR conducted by a battery of nurses, interns, and
perionatologists.
After a brief, yet very long in our minds moment, their
weights were announced..........
1640 grams(3 lbs 10 oz), 1600 grams (3 lbs 8 oz), and 1620 grams (3 lbs 9
oz). Their initial APGAR scores (this for Dr. Zona's info) were 8/9, 7/9,
8/8. This is a scale of many factors which are rated on a sliding scale
of 1-10, needless to say they were in very good shape!!!! After being
able to visit them briefly they were taken to the Intensive Care Nursery
to be monitored.
I stuck around until 5 AM, my 23rd hour of being awake and decided it was
time to go. I tucked Lorraine in for the night.
Currently Mark, our "little" one is the one they are watching closely as
he is having a bit of trouble breathing. They have him in an "isolation
room" in which it is one on one nurse to baby with a nurse practitioner
(basically one step away from doctor) in there watching him. The real
problem is he is feisty and hates having the breathing tube in so he
tends to cry which allows the oxygen to escape out of his mouth and not
get into his lungs. There is still no alarm in this as it is very normal
for an infant his age.
Luke is still the ICN which has 1 nurse to 2 babies and is improving by
the hour. He is resting peacefully and getting minimal breathing help and
does not like to be bothered.
And by the grace of God Matthew has already been transferred to the TCN
which is the "general" nursery for preemies. He is breathing on his own
and is already feeding. Tonight Lorraine was able to hold him and the
tears once again welled up in my eyes as it was one of those moments only
a Mother and baby could capture. He immediately settled down as Lorraine
spoke to him.
The boys are expected to stay in the hospital for 3-5 weeks to be able to
gain weight, start regular feeding and build their strength. Lorraine is
expected to be released by Tuesday.
I will try to keep everyone updated on their progress. We are not
entirely out of the woods yet so keep those prayers coming.
Attached you will find some pictures done to the best of my abilities
considering the situation.
That is the story so far............
John
Matthew John Klein
Mark Edward Klein
Luke Arthur Klein
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