A Lot of Baby in My Belly....

It took a couple days for us to convince a nurse to allow Cate and Lela to spend a few minutes together as it required disconnecting one of them from their monitors for a few minutes. While they didn't seem to notice, we really enjoyed it.

Most notable about the experience was the realization that I'd been carrying all of that baby in my belly just days earlier. They're heavy!!

Also shocking when they are together is the size difference between them. Cate is a lunker compared to her more petite sister. In the world of neonatal medicine, one might hear the terms "intrauterine growth restriction" or "discordance" to refer to Lela's slowed growth and the size difference between them. In the delivery room the evidence was clear in the dramatic difference in their umbilical cords (John describes them as a garden hose vs. the old school spiral phone cord) and placenta sizes. Poor Lela just wasn't getting her fair share.

Rest assured though, all prenatal ultrasounds showed that she had adequate blood profusion where it mattered and the doctors didn't see any signs of fetal distress. Now that we've met her we can see why she was just fine.... she may be little but she's scrappy, an obvious fighter.

It may take a bit longer for her to pass the tests of the NICU, but we're confident that she'll continue to thrive and catch up with her sister throughout their first year together.

And again.... we are thankful to our doctors who kept our babies safe, healthy, and stress-free!