Welcome to the world

The Daly double have arrived!  The plan was to have a scheduled C section Saturday morning at 9am with my awesome OB/Gyn, Dr. Stephanie Reich.  True to form, the girls had other ideas.  I went into real labor Friday night at 9pm, which I toughed out all night.  I got to 95% effaced and 3 cm dilated when the doctor on call decided it was long enough and we should move ahead with an immediate C section rather than trying to wait until my doctor was in.
(Leah here: Chris actually tried to "hold out" until 9AM so our doc could do it.  While she pretty much can do anything she puts her mind too, our girls may test her limits!)


At 6:36 am on April 23, 2001, Emerson Gray Daly was brought into the world weighing 4 pounds, 3 ounces.  She was quickly followed by Charlotte Ann Daly, at 6:37 am, coming in at a whopping 4 pounds, 5 ounces.  It's been an incredibly long first day, but the most amazing one.  The girls came out breathing very well on their own, and have not yet needed any help!  This is fantastic news.  I started pumping 3 hours after surgery and have pumped 4 times, getting around 16 mL of colostrum in total!  The girls first feed at 8pm tonight was entirely colostrum (pre-milk), coming from a combined 3 pumping sessions, which is just great for them.  They will need to supplement with formula for some of the feedings overnight, but we will continue to pump and see how far we get.  When we went to the NICU for this feeding, we gave each girl a chance to "nurse" at the breast, which basically just meant nosing around and sucking.  They both latched on right away!  Their suck isn't strong enough to actually get any liquid out, but it was really encouraging that they knew what to do and went for it!  :)  We then each got to feed one baby with colostrum from a very tiny bottle.


So many more details to share, but for now we're catching some sleep. 

Emma Gray

Rosalind Ann & Charlotte Ann