The never ending hospital stay

I was scheduled on Dec. 22nd to have a C-Section but I had my last ultrasound with the MFM doctors on Friday the 19th and they found that Ava hadn't grown much since the last ultrasound so they had me go straight to the hospital to deliver that day. Not exactly what we expected but I was so happy to be able to see them that day. This C-Section was so different than the last because it was planned and not an emergency situation. I was so relaxed and actually able to laugh and enjoy the whole process. 

Ava Jane Wardle (left) 3:27pm 17.25 in, 4lbs 15oz

Norah Kenadee Wardle (right) 3:29pm 17.75 in, 5lbs 7oz.

They really were perfect and very healthy for the most part. They discovered as soon as Ava screamed and opened her mouth that she has a cleft palate. Thankfully she did not have a cleft lip too, but of all things for our baby to have, this is definitely one we can handle. The doctors instantly started talking to us about Ava and what a cleft palate was and what the road ahead of us looked like. The first thing and most important thing that needed to happen was teaching her how to eat. Little did we know how challenging that would be. 

Norah Kenadee

Ava Jane

The girls both had blood sugar problems after they were born but those were quickly resolved and Norah was in our room after two days. Ava had a temporary feeding tube put in until she could drink out of a bottle better. We had to learn how to feed her using a pigeon nipple that is a special nipple that has a valve that releases the milk into the nipple when she compresses the nipple. It was a learning curve for all of us, that's for sure. She had reflux as well so we had to feed her sitting up and hold her upright for 30 minutes afterwards. She only was supposed to take a few cc's and had 30 minutes to do it before she got too tired and what she didn't finish, we had to put down her feeding tube. 

Norah was ready to come home with me when I was discharged but Ava still needed to figure out how to eat so we decided to do the hospital stay so we could be there with her and feed her every three hours. We honestly didn't think it would be more than a couple more days. 

Thankfully my parents were in town to help with Chase, otherwise I don't know what we would have done. We were still in the hospital for Christmas which really sucked but Chase was well taken care of and had so much fun even though we weren't able to be there with him. Chris and I were able to leave the hospital but kids weren't allowed because of how bad the flu was last year so Norah wasn't able to leave. Heidi came and watched Norah on Christmas Day so Chris and I could go home and open presents with Chase. It was SO nice to get out of that hospital room and especially nice to be able to see and hold Chase. We were only gone a couple hours but it was really nice. Seriously, we are so blessed with such an amazing family that made that possible! 

The days and nights were long confined in that little tiny room but we kept busy feeding Norah, going to feed Ave and than pumping for Ava's next feeding. It was exhausting and very emotional. We were told that Ave could come home on a feeding tube since it seemed that she might be on it for awhile but than told that they never let babies go home with feeding tubes. We were heartbroken. Finally after 10 days in the hospital we decided to go home so we could have some sort of normalcy and so Chase could have his mom and dad back, I think he was really struggling. It was the hardest thing we have ever had to do, leave Ava, but we knew she was in the best hands and that we would be back frequently. 

Norah was the best baby in the hospital, she just slept all day. Look how little she was. 

Sweet little Ava

The night before we left, the nurse that was in the nursery let Ava come in out room for the night so I couldn't resist putting them together for the first time since they were born. 

Love my little Ava Jane.