It Takes a Village to Deliver Babies!

Hi everyone!  If you have been following our blog, I hope you learned the news that I gave birth to our amazingly beautiful, tiny, and perfect twins, Hayden and Leah.  The experience was nothing less than take your breath away spectacular and life changing.  Now that we are home from the hospital, getting situated with our party of 5, the pain from the c-section is dissipating, and things are starting to settle into our new normal, I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who was so involved with the delivery of our miracles.  This tribute is meant not only to thank my immediate family and people who have helped us, but to recognize all those incredible people in our lives that provide unconditional love and support.

Our twins were born at 36 weeks and 1 day at Regional Memorial Hospital in Hollywood, Florida.  We are extremely fortunate and proud that my father, Dr. Gary Birken, is the Chief of Staff, Pediatric Surgery at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, and that my amazing twin sister, Katie is an on staff as a pediatric ER doctor. On our delivery day, it felt as thought the entire hospital staff knew of the twins expected arrival and were on standby for any unexpected problems.  My dad was a very proud grandfather walking around the halls of the hospital as the staff congratulated him on the twins’ arrival.  It was truly touching and wonderful to see.  I cannot thank my father enough for making sure we were well taken care of and for being certain that our babies were in the best hands.  We feel so lucky and gracious for all of his help and involvement.

Our son Hayden was a bit smaller than his sister, and was immediately transferred to the NICU for the first 3 days of his life.  Our lucky daughter, Leah was transferred to the Labor and Delivery nursery with me.  So we had 2 sets of nurses and doctors watching and caring for our twins.  A huge overwhelming thank you and gratitude must be extended to the unbelievable professional staff that cared for me and the twins during our 3 day stay at the hospital.  Nurses and doctors are nothing less than heroes.  They are professional, dedicated, hardworking, kind, and patient.  I cannot thank all the doctors and nurses enough for the care and love they give to patients.  Being in the hospital is an eye awakening experience.  Being surrounded by sickness makes you appreciate more the miracle of life.  It takes a special person to be able to see and help patients on a daily basis.  The doctors and nurses who save lives and take care of people everyday are truly a blessing.  Words cannot express our gratitude.

Having a baby, much less twins, is a huge, life altering, and emotional moment.  Having my family there to support and help us through their first week was incredible.  My mother in law, Debbie, moved in with us for the first week and set up shop, organizing, running errands, helping with big brother, Luke, and getting everything set up for cleaning, feeding, and taking care of twins.  I am an over the top organized person, but this week grandma Debbie put me to shame with everything she did for us.  She gave us a sense of security and safety, and provided unsolicited and much needed advise, organization, and preparation. We will never be able to thank her enough.  My mom, Ronnie, my dad, step mom, aunts, brother, and sisters have been extraordinary.  Whether flying in from out of town to meet the twins and conducting a pre-baby birth yoga session to ease our stress (thanks to my sister-in-law, Jamie), being in the OR with me to ease my fears (thanks to my sister Katie), bringing us dinner (thanks to my sister, Carrie), holding down the fort at work, keeping us fed while at the hospital (thanks Barb and Jimmy) visiting, running errands, taking me out for adventures to the nail salon because I can’t drive yet and needed a moment to get out (thanks mom), taking big brother Luke for dinner and sleepovers, or just showing their love and support, our family have friends have been incredible and helped ease the burden of newborns.  We feel so loved!  Its just another reminder to us how family is the most important.

I just couldn’t write a tribute without thanking my amazing husband, Rob.  He has truly been the husband of the year, taking care of Luke, our pup Dory, and our home, when I just could not physically do so towards the end of my pregnancy.  He has given up some of his favorite recreational activities to be there for Luke and me, and was by my side every step through pregnancy, delivery, post-op, and after coming home to our crazy new world.  This is going to be a crazy journey, and it is just so much better with my husband as my teammate.  To all the amazingly supportive and incredible partners out there, thank you.  You make life so much better, and so much more fun.

And finally to my babies, Luke, Leah, and Hayden.  You guys have brought such an indescribable love and joy to our lives.  I never thought love like this existed, and I just cannot wait to continue this amazing journey of parenthood.