Welcome Veronica and Colin

Yesterday afternoon, at 1:51 p.m., we welcomed Veronica Margaret into the world. One minute later, her brother Colin Frank joined us. Born at exactly 28 weeks, both babies were a little bigger than we had expected — Veronica weighed 3 pounds 6.5 ounces and was 16.5 inches long; little Colin weighed 1 pound 7 ounces and was 12.6 inches long.

Both babies were born strong — Veronica cried quite a bit, and Colin even managed a few cries, which is good for a baby as tiny as he is. They both were breathing on their own after birth (with oxygen, but without ventilator) and both John and I were able to see them for a few minutes before they were whisked away to the NICU.

They spent their first day in a pretty stable state, but both are on the ventilators at what the doctor called moderate levels now. The doctor expects Veronica will be able to get off the ventilator fairly quickly, but Colin may need its help for an extended time, because he is so small.

John has been able to spend a fair amount of time with Veronica and Colin in the NICU already, and I hope to be able to get over there this morning after shift change. We can’t hold them yet because they’re in the incubator isolettes, but John has been able to touch them and even hold Veronica’s hand.

I’m looking forward very much to getting to finally touch my little, tiny babies. I know we’re facing a long rolling road ahead before we get to bring them home, but I am grateful that they were able to get a strong start on their journey, despite their early arrival.