The Babies' Arrival

James Russell and Kathryn Ann arrived via C-section at 7:36pm and 7:38pm on Wednesday, June 20, 2007. They were at 32 weeks and 1 day gestation, or nearly 8 weeks premature. Fortunately the steroids had a chance to help, and both of them came out crying and breathing on their own! James weighed 3 lbs. 11 oz. and was 15.5 inches long, and Kathryn was the same length and weighed 3 lbs. 9 oz.

I was in the operating room with Christina when they were born, and I got to hold them both when they were just a few minutes old. I went with them to the special care nursery, where they had monitors, IVs, and some oxygen hooked up. They will need monitoring and some extra care for several weeks, at least, but they went directly to the "step down", or intermediate care side of the rather than the intensive care side. I had to leave while they ran tests and got the babies settled, and I started making phone calls to spread the news. Russ arrived around 10pm, about the same time we were allowed back in to the nursery, and when Christina was just getting back to her room.