Pordenone Hospital

I had Braxton Hicks contractions starting at the end of March. They would come and go--no big deal. I never had more than 6 an hour until about 12 days before the boys were born. At that point I stopped working out and vowed not to do anything to warrant the boys arriving too early. I was keeping track of all my contractions knowing they were all Braxton Hicks right? So far they were all 1 on a scale of 1 (low)-10 (pain)? The last one I wrote down at 12:44 a.m. was a 1-2 but no big deal right? Wrong. At 1:15 a.m. I woke up hour to my water breaking. And the adventure began...

I was unable to stay at the Aviano clinic because I was 2 days shy of 36 weeks, how far I needed to be to deliver there, so I was transferred to Pordenone hospital--the Italian hospital. The adventure continued...
I was handed over to the Italian physicians and hooked up to the non-stress monitors so we could monitor the babies heart rates. I was admitted and Evan brought our hospital bag up and got me settled in my room.

I had been given a medication at Aviano to slow my contractions for the bumpy ambulance ride. Well, it is now after 6 a.m. and they are back and getting stronger. After being checked by the doctor who told me it would be at least 10-12 hours before go-time, I tried to rest in my room. Wrong again. The contractions were getting a lot stronger and more frequent. I was checked again close to 9 a.m. and given the news...natural birth and everything we had been prepping, praying for, thinking about, would now be a C-section. Porter, my Mario, Baby B, was now breech and the Italian physicians gave me no other options. After pleading and begging, it was explained to me that because I had eaten my Melba Toast crackers and tea in a bowl, it was scheduled for 2 p.m. Did I mention that I'm having stronger and more frequent contractions? Yeah, the boys were not going to wait that long.

At 12:24 p.m. and 12:25 p.m., Porter Allen and Elijah Allen respectively greeted me via the nurses whisking them out of the room. We met for real later that day when Evan and I were finally able to grab the two teenies we had been waiting on for 35 weeks and 5 days.

This is the door to the NICU where the boys spent some time. They were the only babies in the NICU that did not have tubes or monitors hooked up to them and they were not in a fully enclosed bassinet. Prayers were answered as our healthy babies had a place to stay and sleep while I recovered from their birth.

My room was at the total opposite end from the NICU. Room 10, Patient #27. I had the room all to myself until the last night. Since I was by myself, Evan was able to stay at night with me, which was nice to have help with the feedings in the middle of the night. It's popular for Italians to hang something on the door: ribbons, flowers, a pink/blue doll, or wreath, when their baby is born. We had blue ribbon from the flowers Evan and Dad gave me.

Walking back from the NICU with the boys.

Breakfast: Tea in a bowl. Bottle of water. 2 packages of Melba Toast-type crackers with orange marmalade.

The flowers Evan and Dad gave me.

The boys' birth announcement information. Porter always had to be on the right and Eli on the left--the nurses did not like it when we put them on different sides. The nurses turned Elijah's name into Elia (the Italian version) and articulated the Por-ter every time they said their names. Each person who came in the room whether to check my vitals, sweep the floor, change the bed, or bring my food oohed and aahed over them.

We had a nursery right next to us with a changing station, bath, and scale. Porter getting a bath. The Italians give the babies a bath right away which is not usual in the U.S. because of the umbilical cord that has not fallen off yet. After their baths, we cleaned the area with salt water.

The glorious room. We had the only yellow room--all others were pink or blue. We had a Mickey Mouse border too.

The nurses would not let us turn on the AC so we had our door open all the time with a screen door trying to keep out the mosquitoes. The boys did get a net so we felt better about keeping them with us.

The IV glass bottle holders.

Our favorite baby nurse weighing Porter--Anita--aka, Porter's girlfriend. Anita is one of the only ones who Porter would take the syringe full of milk from when he would not nurse. He was just so teeny he would fall asleep really quickly. Anita was really patient and fed him until he had the number of milliliters he needed. We had to stay a few extra days waiting on Porter to gain weight. Anita new how anxious we were to leave and she was so helpful to us and especially Porter.

The obstetric unit ran out of toilet paper around day 4. Not kidding. Below are the reinforcements.

Showing off my 17 mosquito bites. At night I could cover my entire body except my face so it became fresh meat for the little killers.

We stayed at the hospital Friday-Friday when we were all finally released. I could have been released on Monday but they allowed me to stay so I could feed the babies and be nearby. We were so ready to go home and take the next step in our adventure.