The Schaffers: April 5, 2012: Happy Birthday Jackson Wayne and Jacob Wendell

Well April 5th started out like a lot of Thursday's before it. I had a doctor's appointment scheduled at 9:00am for an ultrasound and visit with Dr. Evitt. The night before my Uncle Roger had made a prediction that my water was going to break at 9:37am the next morning. Very random number but we packed our bags and loaded the van to go to the doctor just in case Uncle had heard from the Lord. :) We got to the doctor's office and had our ultrasound. According to their calculations the boys had only grown 2 ounces each from the last time. She said Jacob was 4.9 and Jackson was 4.15. In ten days they had only grown 2 ounces each and the ten days before that they had grown about a pound each. I was a little concerned that they hadn't grown but she said that it could be just because she was having trouble getting to them because they were so cramped Then we went to meet with Dr. Evitt and she was concerned about the lack of weight gain. Then she did an exam on me and discovered that I was 3cm dilated. I was completely shocked. I hadn't slept at all the night before because I was kind of uncomfortable. I guess I was having contractions and didn't know it. They hooked me up to a monitor in the room immediately to check on the boys' heart rates and to see if I was contracting. Sure enough I was having some pretty close contractions and wasn't even feeling them. So Dr. Evitt decided that today was the day that we would meet our boys. We were so excited and I was nervous. I knew that it was early and desperately did not want the boys to have to be sent to the NICU at another hospital since the one I was delivering at did not have one. Justin was about to burst with excitement. So they took me off the monitor and sent us over to the hospital. Uncle's prediction wasn't exactly correct but wasn't too far off. All of this had happened by 11am. Dr. Evitt said she would schedule our c-section for around 3pm that afternoon. It was all so unreal.

I got over to the hospital and get situated in a room. We had this huge room that was about twice the size of all the other rooms. It was kind of nice. After getting to the hospital so much is a blur to me. Before the surgery I was too nervous and anxious to remember what was going on. I know Mom, Dad and Amy came to sit with me. I tried resting since I hadn't slept the night before but there was just no use. I think it was around 3:30pm when they came to get me to take me back to the operating room. Once I got in the operating room they sat me up on the table. The anesthesiologist started talking to me about what he was doing, there was a nurse in front of me holding my hands, another doctor in front of me talking to me, and so many other nurses running around. I remember they only had one bed in there for the boys and they didn't know where the other one was. For some reason I started worrying about that...ha! The doctor had told me once they gave me the medicine they would have to lay me down very quickly...well I had no idea how quickly. They basically pushed me down. I was like well ok then there ya go. :) LOL It was a very weird feeling. The whole time I was laying there I just wanted Justin in there so bad. Eventually they got started and Justin came in. I was completely surprised how much I actually felt them working. Not pain just weirdness of pulling and pushing and tugging on me. Then it happened...

I heard the first cry of Jackson Wayne Schaffer at 4:22pm and nothing else in the world mattered. Then two minutes later I heard the first cry of Jacob Wendell Schaffer at 4:24pm. It was absolutely amazing. Everything seemed kind of crazy after that. Justin was taking pictures and the nurses were working on getting the boys cleaned up and I was being put back together. Also, once the boys were out I started to feel sick and just out of it. I got to say hi to the boys while Justin was holding them. Then they took us to our room.

I remember being rolled out of the operating room and that is about when I went into la la land. I can see in my mind leaving the OR but can't remember making it to the end of the hall to my room. There are only bits and pieces of the rest of the night that I remember. I do remember going to our room and them giving both boys to me to hold. I don't think I held them for very long. I asked to nurse them and they let me try for a half second with Jackson. I think they realized I was pretty looped out. The next thing I know the boys are gone to the nursery and my mom and sister are by my bed taking care of me. I threw up a couple times but mostly just couldn't keep my eyes open. I couldn't focus on anything and lost all track of time. I remember them saying that if the boys made it past the first four hours without needing a NICU they would be out of the woods. I knew they were in the nursery and Justin would come back every now and then and tell me they were ok. The next thing I know it is after midnight and there is a doctor telling me they are taking my boys to the NICU at UT hospital. I was so confused, so sick, so out of it and nothing was making sense. I kept saying, "I thought they were ok." I guess the blessing in disguise of me being so sick and so out of it was that I didn't know what was going on. Had I really know what was going on it would have been much harder for me to lay there for 8 hours without my children while they were in the nursery. The doctor explained to us that Jacob's pulse ox rates were dropping and that he needed some oxygen and that Jackson was having trouble maintaining his body temperature. I just remember sobbing uncontrollably because I hadn't even hardly held my boys, I thought they were ok and now they were taking them away. They brought them in to me to tell me goodbye before they left for UT. They were already strapped down in these big contraptions. I felt like a terrible mom because I didn't even know who was who. Justin had to tell me. We prayed over them before they left. Oh it makes me want to cry just thinking about it now and they are here with me now! It was absolutely heartbreaking. Again...saving grace was I was so out of it that I was just able to go to sleep and not think about it too much.

The next day I was feeling much better and like a normal person. I got to look at all the pictures and video from their birth and after. Justin had been in the nursery with them the entire time. The pictures of him taking care of them just make me cry. He stepped right into being a father and took care of our boys without any hesitation. He is such an awesome daddy. We weren't sure when I was going to get released to go see the boys so Justin went Friday morning without me to check on them. Friday by noon Jacob was completely off of his oxygen. Friday evening I was able to go see them for the first time and really hold them.

What an amazing blessing Justin and I have been given in these two little boys. They are just so wonderful. I couldn't ask for anything more.

There are more pictures of Jackson because he was able to leave the nursery for a bit and Jacob wasn't.