Handful of Heppers: NICU

On Thursday evening, the Hepper twins decided that the world could wait no longer to meet them! After debating for a few hours as to whether the girls were actually trying to make their debut, Paul and I headed to the hospital around 9pm and within an hour and a half the nurse came in to inform us that we would be "having babies by midnight." After that, there was a flurry of activity that included more monitoring of the girls' heart beats and surgery prep for me. Since Baby B decided to turn vertex (sideways) early last week and Baby A was already breech and first, it was determined that a Cesarean section was the only way to go.
By 11:40pm, I was prepped and awaiting the doctor in the OR. I was already feeling anxious enough about the surgery when it occurred to me that if they didn't hurry up, the girls' birthdays could possibly be on two separate days. And while that may seem neat to some people, it did not jive with me! Luckily, the surgery began soon after and the actual deliveries happened very shortly after midnight, making June 10th, 2011 the girls' official due date and birthday. They were exactly 35 weeks gestation.
Julia Kincaid Hepper was born at 12:01am and weighed 5 pounds, 6 ounces. Margaret Carothers Hepper was born at 12:02am and weighed 4 pounds, 10 ounces. Both girls looked excellent upon arrival, but were quickly taken to the NICU for evaluation and admission. It would be a few hours before we could see them, but when we did, it was love at first sight! Julia seems to favor Paul and Caroline in facial features and has a light dusting of brown hair. Margaret's facial features are a bit of a mystery (we can't put a finger on who she resembles) and she has a decent head of dark brown/black hair. Regardless of who they resemble, we think the girls are just plain perfect and adorable!
Since that early morning arrival, both girls have done nothing but impress us with their ability to function and thrive as babies "on the outside." Both girls are feeding extremely well, have been breathing on their own since birth, and have made continual steps towards IV removal and discharge from the NICU to the regular newborn nursery. We are hoping that they will make the transition to the newborn nursery by tomorrow afternoon. We feel so blessed that both Julia and Margaret have made such amazing progress so quickly!
You might wonder how Caroline is doing through all of this change and upset to her normal routine. The answer is that she is proving to be a wonderfully resilient little girl who seems very eager to get to know "Dadda and Momma's babies." She is under the excellent and loving care of Marmee while we are away and has made several trips to the hospital to visit her sisters and charm the nurses with her pigtails and spunky attitude. We're so proud of her and keeping our fingers crossed that she shows this much excitement when the girls arrive at home to stay!