Sammy, Danny, and Elsie make their debut!

What a weekend! Miguel and I got a surprise Friday night when Elsie's water broke.  Off to Women and Infants in Providence, where we spent the first 10 hours in Labor and Delivery monitoring and preparing for possible early delivery at 24 weeks 3 days. Once the babies and I stabilized they moved us out of L&D to a regular room, and we met with several doctors who had hopes of hospital bed rest and delivery in 8-10 weeks. 

Alas, this was not meant to be,  as we made it only 20 hours into our stay before I went into sudden accelerated labor, and less than an hour later we welcomed Samuel Joah, Daniel Michael, and Elsie Mae Castanheira into the world on September 28th at 9:30, 9:31, and 9:32pm via emergency C-section.  Both the boys weighed in at 1lb 11oz and Elsie at 1lb 9oz. Both very scary and very exciting at the same time!

Here is an update on how the first 24 hours went:
     Miguel was able to see all babies before they left the OR.
     He spent the next 2 hours with me in recovery and then we were able to visit the babies together briefly while they worked on stabilizing the babies at 1am.
     Miguel got a good report from the NICU nurses at 6:30 am saying that all 3 had good heart rates and although they all required a ventilator, none of the babies needed additional oxygen to sustain breathing.
     We both got to touch our babies for the first time this morning at 9:30 am. Although they are all too small to hold,  we can reach in each isollette and cradle each baby while soothing them with our voices.  It was wonderful!
     We had a busy day full of visiting family and friends, paperwork, medical exams, post op care and meds for me, as well as meeting with doctors and getting updates on all 4 of us.
     We can see the babies at anytime, and are working with the NICU nurses to maintain a healthy schedule of visiting and letting the babies rest to optimize the health of babies and Mommy. 
     At 9pm tonight we not only celebrated an important milestone of making it through the first 24 hours, but Miguel and I were able to participate in Danny's care by changing his diaper and taking his temperature...it's the little things!
    Although we are prepared for the numerous set backs we may encounter in the next few weeks and months, we are thrilled that each of the babies are holding their own and stabilized. We are keeping all thoughts positive!
   
As we settle on for the night we are grateful to all our families and friends for their loving support!  We really are so blessed. 

I will update the blog often in the next few weeks because it may be difficult to individually connect with many of you. 

Here are a few pics of our tiny precious ones in their first 24 hours.  First photo is Sammy, 2nd photo is Danny, and third is Elsie.