day 7 and then some...

jeez, i just need to get on it. sorry that it's been awhile for me to blog about the rest of what happened, so here we go to sum it all:

my wound vac was put on, and we were only concerned about my blood levels in order to discharge me. it took into the mid-afternoon until they told us that i would be discharged... i asked when... asap...


very nice, folks. :) but, you mean, i have to take these kids home and take care of them myself?! i mean, with gab and family??? that's it... that's how we do this...?

my sister and brother were driving in from back home (SoCal), and we weren't sure where we'd be by the time they were arriving... turns out, we were still at the hospital, so they met us there.  for the first time ever, my sis and brother were thrown into, hey... hi... we're packing, can you hold her?  and, we'd go back to packing... talk about wasting no time!

LOLOLOLOLOL.  so funny!

they relished their first moments as a new aunt/uncle.  the girls were so fragile and small that they looked like little dolls as my siblings held them... of course, many photos later, we finally were leaving this room that we had called "ours" for so long.  leaving the babies' first home... to bring them to ours.

since it was so late, and i pretty much had missed my final hospital dinner (bittersweet feelings about that), we decided on salvadorean food down the street... which is what i really wanted originally when i found out that i'd be delivering at that hospital... lol.

mind you, i hadn't been OUT of the hospital in seven days.  it felt like a strange new beginning... to.finally.leave.  BUT, supposedly, hospital policy (and, i can't remember if i posted about this before) is to have the mom "carry" out the baby because we carry them in our bellies and we have to "carry" them out... nobody else.  isn't that strange?!  i've never heard of that, but then again, i've never been a mother until now.  yet, i thought that the women always held the baby(ies) because they were so proud... didn't know that it was hospital stipulation.  :)

anyway, since my girls had been discharged the day before, i "technically" didn't have to "carry" them out.  however, i had gone through a battlezone and i earned every gold medal to carry them in my arms and be pushed through in a wheelchair to the entrance... and, along the way... goodness, babies are precious.  when you carry twins, let alone girls, let alone identical TWINS... they are instant celebrities.  the most random people walked up to gab and me, commenting, congratulating, sharing their baby stories... it was such a beautiful moment of which to be proud... these girls are OURS, and "welcome to the world," girls!  this is what life looks like outside of a hospital room.  lol.

my mom had chosen their "going-home" preemie outfits the night before... and, they were still swimming in them!  they wore their hospital hats with "A" and "B" written on them (for my brother and sister to identify them since they just met them... what am i joking!  until weeks later, we couldn't ID them if not for their hospital anklet and bracelets! lol).

the girls looked darling in their outfits, and... while gab went to get the car, i was counting the moments and hoping to God that they wouldn't start wailing at the same time in front of the hospital entrance where i'm waiting in a wheelchair for my husband to pick us up!!!  LOL!!!  and?!  they didn't!  they made me look like such a good mom.  :)

on the way home after picking up our tamales and pupusas, they did start to cry in the car, but calmed down immediately.  they weren't used to the movement.  when we got home, i made sure that i got out and approached our pups inside by myself... i read that.  make sure that you approach the animals by yourself and allow them time to smell you... then, slowly we let the pups near the babies once we brought the babies in... a gradual process.  and, they were fine.  there was no jealousy, just acceptance, which was a relief!

since then, i'll narrate it very quickly:
my wound vac was D/Ced because the home health nurse didn't administer the tape before the black sponge; therefore, i got many blisters and rashes around/under the tape/incision... it was awful.  we ended up going with another nursing company.  that one was miserably awful.  my new girl was from nigeria and such a lovely woman!  they moved me to a wet-to-dry dressing (with an open wound!!!), which means she had to pack my incision every day with gauze, place a bandage around it, and put adhesive around it that i wasn't allergic to.
from that, i obviously got three infections, one which was quite UNcommon.  of course, that's me!  medically, i go all out!!!  they placed me on antibiotics, which then turned into further infections... for my lack of taking a probiotic in place.
women: take a probiotic whenever you take an antibiotic.  otherwise, your body is imbalanced, and all of your good bacteria is also killed.
weeks later, my wound finally closed... my sister, my nurse, and gab all had to change the dressings some time or another... each day.  i have so many medical supplies left that it's insane. :)  yay, i should put together our emergency kit with them! :)
just to let you know... it took seven weeks for my wound to finally close naturally.  towards the end, they used a calcium alginate dressing, which helped close it.
on the other hand, i still have an infection that i'm fighting... oh, happy day!

it's amazing all that i've gone through... medically, emotionally, physically, mentally... and, am still going through.  i remember what one of the nurses from the first company said to me...

at least, you got two girls to show for it.  some people don't have that when a wound vac is placed... and, you got two beautiful girls to show for it.

absolutely.  we do.