Thursday, November 15, 2007 :: Happy Birthday Sophia and Ethan!

Sophia and Ethan decided to surprise us and come early! I went into preterm labor yesterday, so we came to the hospital around 1pm - when we arrived we had no idea that we would be meeting the babies 5.5 hours later!!! By 3pm my water broke and the doctors couldn't stop my labor. So I had an emergency c-section and here they are!

Their stats are below:

Both 31.5 weeks:

Sophia met us at 6:29pm
She weighed in at 4 pounds, 10.5 ounces
She is 18 inches long
Her apgar scores were 9 and 9 (highest is 10)

Ethan followed quickly at 6:32pm
He weighed in at 4 pounds, 3 ounces
He is 17.25 inches long
His apgar scores were 7 and 8

Both babies are doing well in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). They look very good, and when we told the NICU nurse that we feel optimistic about their progress she replied that we have every reason to be optimistic - the babies are both doing very well.

Both Ethan and Sophia needed help breathing at first, but are now both breathing on their own. We're just about to head down to the NICU now to hold them for the first time and will post more pics with less tubes tomorrow. The pictures below are a little scarry, but just remember that all the technology and tubes are helping the babies to thrive and get stronger. One of the NICU nurses even characterized our babies as "robust"! We are so thankful for all of the help and support we're receiving here!!!

Sophia's notes:

Sophia minutes old! We don't have a similar pic of Ethan because he was getting help breathing from the doctors...

GramGram came up to Boston to visit with Sophia and Ethan. Sophia is getting phototherapy to help with a bit of bruising that may turn into jaundice.

Sophia is hanging out under the lights - mellow girl!

...all of the technology that is helping Sophia to thrive...

Ethan's notes:

Ethan was getting help breathing - but he's breathing on his own now... no more big white tube!

Our mellow little boy...

All the technology helping Ethan to thrive...