The delivery of Asher James and Lucas John!

Both babies are sleeping so I figured it was time to finally update all of you on all of the amazing details from the arrival of our sweet boys! Their mommy-Kate (what we all their birthmother) was scheduled to be induced on April 13th, Saturday the 12th however, she contacted us and said that she felt like she might be in labor and would feel better if we were there just in case. We rushed around, packed up our last minute items, dropped off Scrumpy and hit the road! We arrived around 10:30 pm to her apartment, sat around a bit, talked and they gifted us with a double snap and go stroller! If you don't know what a snap and go is, it is amazing. It is just a frame that the car seats literally snap into and that's it! It also weighs practically nothing. So far we have used it for walking and doctors appointments and it will be accompanying us many more places!

Her contractions were somewhat steady throughout the day, but settled down once we got there and she could rest a bit more. Around midnight we headed to our hotel and literally 2 min from the hotel our car died. Yes, more car trouble! We all feel that this was the only way that Satan could attack us that would hurt the most so he has done it over and over again! We called AAA and waited for the tow truck. He dropped us off exhausted at the hotel around 2 AM. Katy let us use her car the rest of our time there, which was incredibly helpful (one of the perks of open adoption where you are friends with birth family ;)).

And Lucas is now waking up, so I will be back!

The next day, Sunday, Katy's amazing support person, her significant other who will be the twin's birth father, Bryan, came and picked us up at the hotel along with the twin's big sister, Breanna. They also have a big brother named Christian. We all went back to Katy's place until we headed to eat and meet Katy's mom and sister around 4 pm and to get ready for induction at 6 pm. We then checked into the hospital and were informed that the induction would be thrown off by 6 hours because no one told Katy not to eat 6 hours beforehand! The original plan was to start softening her cervix at 6 pm  and then start Pitocin the next morning if nothing was happening. However, before any of that, they were going to check her to see if she was already dilated and didn't need her cervix softened. Around 9 pm they checked and low and behold she was already 5 cm! Apparently she actually was in labor Saturday and her water broke for Asher that night she but wasn't actually sure that it broke. Around midnight they started the pitocin and Elias and I came into Katy's room to talk with both her and Bryan as we had never really heard Bryan's story. It was a beautiful time of tears, smiles and healing.

At 2:30 Elias and I returned to our hospital room to try and sleep. At 5:30 am Bryan called and said they were prepping Katy for the OR (due to her having twins, the hospital required delivery in the OR). We were originally told that only on person could be in there with her and they agreed to let two in there, but no more. When they brought our clothes for the OR, Katy said that we needed three sets, not two. The nurses and residents spoke with the high risk doctor that would be in the room and he agreed to let all three (Byran, Elias and myself) in the OR for the delivery! They wheeled her down, Elias and I waited by the door, they barely got her set and the doctor asked if she wanted to push. Katy asked if they wanted her to push and the doctor told her if she was ready to go for it. After that first push, one of the staff pulled me over to the table to see our little Asher's head and the next push he was out at 6:04 am! Katy asked me his name then I was asked to cut to the cord and followed him into the little side room where he would get cleaned and weighed. The nurse kept telling me to go out and that his brother was coming, but I knew Elias was there and I didn't want to leave our sweet baby! I did end up taking a few steps back that way to see better, but I could see most of what was going on from where I was. Lucas had decided the day before to flip, so with the help of the high risk doctor his was water broken he was born breech just 4 minutes later at 6:08 am! Elias cut the cord for Lucas. Bryan and Katy held the babies first and then Bryan handed each one of us one of our sons :). Both babies were 6.1 lbs, Lucas was 17 in and Asher was 18 long. We all went to recovery, both boys nursed, we took some pictures and then we gave Katy and Bryan some time with the boys before the rest of her family came over to see them while we went and ate breakfast.

Everything felt surreal and it didn't take long for exhaustion to begin setting in. After a short visit after delivery, Elias and I headed off to find out what was going on with our car and to try and sleep at Katy's place for a bit. We got to the shop and found out that our car was officially dead, which is not what you want to hear when you have to take two babies home and you are running on less than 2 hours of sleep. We cleared the car out, let my parents know and my dad came to the rescue and started looking for places that would buy our car for salvage. We took a quick nap and shower and headed back to the hospital to see how our babies and Katy were doing. Our parents arrived that evening to visit for a bit and enjoy their first grand babies for all of them! The next days went by quickly and were full of sweet time with our new extended family and the twins that will forever tie is all together. The hospital experience was more than we could have asked for. Wednesday was release day and after that we all headed to the chapel for the blessing ceremony that would wrap up the hospital time and be the ceremony to signify the beginning of something beautiful. The ceremony was beautiful beyond words and not really something I can describe, it was an amazing blessing for everyone involved and was full of more smiles, tears and sharing, After that, we said our goodbyes and we headed home with my parents. We only had to stop twice for feedings, take a detour home to avoid the flooding here and we were home in our own house with our new sons!

I could go on, but then this would be the worlds longest blog post so we will save the rest for another day! Thank you for all of your prayers, love, support, gifts, meals and everything else as we begin this new chapter of our lives! Please continue to keep everyone in your prayers as their birth family misses them terribly, but also feels peace that they are where God meant for them to be. Keep the boys in your prayers that they will stay healthy and grow. As of yesterday they both weighed 5.13 lbs and were 18.5 in long. They are so adorable and we are absolutely in love! Lastly keep us in your prayers as we learn how to best parent these sweet boys in the way that God has called us to and that Elias will be able to still focus in school for the next few weeks with very little sleep.