Meet Cordelia and Estella

Estella Mae Parkes and Cordelia Belle Parkes were born on July 17, 2011. I won't dwell on the details of the labor/delivery, except to say that they were born by c-section and both girls were healthy at birth, weighing 7 lb, 3 oz (Estella) and 6 lb, 13 oz (Cordelia). After being born, they were dried off, quickly assessed by the pediatricians, then handed to Dale -- he held them both for the next hour while I was stitched up.

Although I spent most of the pregnancy with fears of delivering tiny, premature twins who couldn't breathe on their own and weren't able to eat or control their body temperature, Estella and Cordelia were full term, healthy, good-sized girls and neither of them spent any time at all in the NICU! I carried them 38 weeks (I would have been induced the following week) and felt so blessed to have an uncomplicated, full-term pregnancy. Of course, I got very big during the pregnancy, but that was a small price to pay for healthy babies!



(After taking a picture of me with my shirt up, Adelaida posed for the camera as well!)


In the hospital, Estella and Cordelia shared a bassinet, and seemed to take comfort from being near each other. Estella is on the left and Cordelia is on the right.


Even before I was able to get out of bed, someone handed me two babies to hold!


By this time, Dale was quite a pro at holding two babies.


Adelaida came to visit us in the hospital and was in awe of her little sisters. She wanted to be near them all the time, to touch them and kiss them and hold them. She is quite the adoring big sister! (Here she is kissing Estella.)


I promise to post more pictures of the girls soon!