Ok, now for the details...

Ok, by now you most likely know that the twins were born yesterday. Let's rundown the events that led up to it, and some of the fun stats about the kidos.

Earlier Saturday morning, at about 3:45am, Karrie was awoken to very strong contractions and some pretty damp underwear. She made her way to the bathroom and sure enough her water had broken, as she proceeded to create a small puddle on the floor. She jumped into the shower to try and relieve some of the pain from the transactions. At 4:30am she called for me from the shower and I hoped out of bed (ok, more like groaned lol). My first thought was, "Are you sure?" She assured me that it had and I had to jump to action. We had been cleaning the apartment in anticipation of our family arriving, but had not finished as of Friday night. I ran Kaylee outside and started picking up the odds and ends still around downstairs. After cleaning the kitchen floor, I ran upstairs to shower and gather the rest of Karrie's bathroom stuff.

Just before 6am we arrived at the BirthCenter and headed for Triage. Dr. Harris verified that Karrie's water had broke, and at about 6:30-6:45am she was measuring at a 4. We finally heard the words we had been waiting for, "We're sending you back to 'your' room." This was it, we're finally going to meet our children!!!

After they admitted Karrie to her room, she was measured at a 6 at about 9am. Around the same time the doctor administered Karrie's epidural. Before that the contractions were so strong that Karrie was having an extremely difficult time even breathing through them. After the epidural, things were much better and she started to progress nicely. By around 11am she was approx and 8-9, and she stayed there for the next couple hours. They doctor decided to administer some Pitocin and by about 4:45 or so she was ready to push. Fortunately, while she was stuck at an 8-9, all our family that was coming down from Michigan arrived. Karrie was very thankful that she was able to say hi to everyone before she went to delivery. After prepping us for OR (because of a twin birth, she was not going to be able labor in her room). Dressed in my Michelin Man outfit, we took Karrie down to OR. Bekah's head was already peaking out before we got to OR, and it only took about 3 cycles of pushing before our beautiful little daughter was here. Karrie was able to hold her for about a minute or two and they whisked her off. Then came Billy. He was not nearly as easy as his sister. Karrie pushed very hard a couple of times, with no progress. At the same time, Billy's heart rate was dropping. Dr. Harris made the decision to do a section as to not risk any further complications. In a matter of minutes I was rushed out of of the room and Karrie was switched to a separate bed and knocked out.

As I waited outside, the nurses brought Rebekah over to me to hold before they did a few more tests and such. About 15 minutes later I heard my little son crying from the other room. The nurses brought him out after a bit and I was able to be with both of them for a good half hour or more before Karrie was awake. Unfortunately for Karrie she had to go through both vaginal labor and a c-section, but she was thrilled that the kids were here and safe. The two of us couldn't be more proud, or happier, that our little miracles are here. They are so beautiful!

Now for the stat sheet:

Rebekah Marie Brand
Born 8/23/08 at 5:17pm
5lbs 2oz and 19inches long

William Glenn Brand III
Born 8/23/08 at 5:38pm
6lbs 4oz and 19inches long