Boy, O' Boy, this is fun!!!

By the time Trey and Benji reached their 8th hour birthday, both were healthy, fed and sleeping soundly. Daddy Dave is all smiles as he holds his sons in his arms. Already the boys are developing individual looks and personalities. Trey is a little bigger and more active than Benji, who appears alert but quieter.

The old wives tale says that if the mother has heartburn during pregnancy, the baby will have hair. Well, Sandy had lots of heartburn and both boys have heads full of hair. Benji's is light brown and fine while Davey's is dark brown, thick and so long he almost needs a barber.

Meet the parents

With so much medication in such a short period of time, and major surgery, Sandy was understandable groggy Wednesday afternoon, but once the nurse placed Benji in her arms her joy cleared her mind and relieved her discomfort.

Trey developed breathing problems around noon raising our concerns, but Dr. Don Neel, who had been my pediatrian, took special care of him and all was better by 6 pm.

Back Stage View

While Sandy was in recovery, the boys and I went over to the nursey to check out the other new arrivals and show off for the girls. A crowd gathered outside the window to catch a glipse of the new boys in town. And who should be on the front row, but the proud Edds grandparents seeking their first peak at their grandsons.

Leaving the boys in the nursury to flirt with the nurses, I joined the folks in the waiting room to make happy announcement phone calls to family and friends. The Roe grandparents were surprised by the delivery and delighted with the joyous news. They plan to leave for Owensboro on Saturday arriving around the time we leave the hospital.

You say it's your birthday, well it's my birthday too yeah!

By the time I entered the OR the place was hopping, full of activity and people. At 10:12 am Hugh David Edds, III (Trey) entered the world with a cry of victory. Seconds later at 10:13 am Benjamin James Edds appeared to cry in harmony with his brother. Trey measured 19-3/4 inches and weighed 6 lbs while Benji streched 18-3/4 inches and tipped the scales at 5 lbs 5 ozs.

Not to be denied

So we arrived at the hospital around 10:30 pm and Dr. Ottman wanted to delay their delivery until December 20th to better their lung development. This is only the babies' 35th week and our goal was at least 37 weeks. They put Sandy and the babies on various monitors and gave her strong drugs to stop the contractions. At midnight they gave her steroids to accelerate the boy's lung development. At 1 am they gave her stronger meds to stop the contractions. The boys kept moving and the monitors had to be readjusted by the nurses constantly. By 3 am the goal was to make it 48 hours for the steroids to take full effect. At 5 am they were giving Sandy mega-doses of anti-contraction drugs and morphine for the pain. Things looked to be stabilizing by morning and Dr. Ottman told us that it looked like delivery wouldn't be for a few days. After staying up all night, I called my parents at 7 am and asked my dad to stay with Sandy so I could go home and catch a few hours of much needed sleep.

He arrived at 8 am and after eating a bowl of cereal I was just settling in for much-needed sleep when my phone rang at 9:30 am. Dad said "as soon as you can get here, you'll be a father". Apparently, Sandy's contractions had returned with avengence and the doctor decided that these boys were not going to denied an early birthday.

Any fireman would have been proud of the speed at which I engaged from a dead sleep to dressed, across town and reporting for daddy duty at the hospital. I then redressed and reported to surgery at 10 am.

On the way to the hospital

Sandy's feeling that the time was close was on target. By 9 pm Tuesday night December 4, she felt the need to go to the hospital. Before we left, we shot one last belly photo.

We are getting close!

During our November 30th appointment at 35 weeks the nurse scheduled our c-section...for December 20th at 6:00 am (!), which is after we hit week 37 - full term for twins. (We would need to be at the hospital by 4:00 am - yuck!) However she said she doubts we will make it that long, and I have to agree. I'm having more lower back pain, cramps, and my contractions have changed, although the medications they have given me still seem to be keeping all of that under control. I would not be surprised if I were to deliver yet this week or early next week though.

We have another appointment this Friday to again check everyone's progress. The boys are still doing great with strong heart beats. We estimate the boys are each about six pounds by now, although the only way they measure them in utero is with an ultrasound. The last one we had was November 16th, and we are not currently scheduled for another.

We have selected names for both boys now. One will be named after his Dad and paternal grandfather, Hugh David Edds, III. We will likely call him Davey to begin with and then Trey as he gets older. The second baby will be Benjamin James Edds, Benji for now, with the James coming from his maternal grandfather.