Friday, October 12, 2012

the twins' birth story!




I gave birth to our twins 9 days ago, so I think now's about the time that I write out their birth story!


On Tuesday night (Oct. 2nd), I felt pretty darn terrible. I went to bed early, and the next morning I still felt exhausted. Adalyn and I went down for our nap, and at 310 I woke up and felt odd. The next thing I knew, I had water flooding out of me onto our bed! I called Mark immediately -- no answer (no reception - thanks, AT&T) -- so I called his coworker and he told Mark. Adalyn and I just laid in bed for a while, because I knew that the more I moved, the more water would come out (and I was right). So we waited for Mark to come home. I just laid there with my Little Toot and told her to be still. Pretty funny in hindsight.

We got ready and picked up our buddy, Amanda, and headed tot he hospital. When I arrived, I was having some uncomfortable contractions, but I was laughing and having a good time. I was checked and was already 4cm. Adalyn was right there with us with her Elmo and was playing "check-up" and holding my hand, kissing it, and telling me "Good job, Mama!" It was way too cute. Pretty soon, my contractions became pretty terrible. I physically couldn't walk through them because at that point in my pregnancy, I literally couldn't walk anymore! The weight of the twins was so so heavy. So I found a good position on my side in the hospital bed and labored there. I was able to grip on the hand rails and make it through the contractions.

The next time I was checked, I was 7cm. And I was dying. They were so close together and I felt like I needed help. Plus, I knew that if I went medication-free, and ended up in a c-section, I would have to be put to sleep. So Mark called the nurse to tell her that I wanted an epidural. I got one - this one took longer to settle in than my first epidural with Adalyn - but it did ease all my pain away. Literally RIGHT after the anesthesiologist left, my doctor came back in and checked me. I was already 10cm! The second I got my epidural, I was complete.

The nurse went into overdrive and was throwing her OR gear on. It all happened so fast and then she was literally rushing me in to the OR. I wasn't really scared much, and I was able to kiss Adalyn goodbye :) Sweet moment. By the time I got in the operating room, I said "I think I feel his head RIGHT there." And it was - and they could see his hair!  3 pushes later and he came flying out. So much different than Adalyn's long and difficult birth! They held him up and took him to be examined. Since the twins were only 36w3d, they needed to be looked at. Thankfully, his apgar score was 9/9 - totally healthy!

They put the ultrasound machine on my belly and searched for baby B. When we checked into the hospital, he was footling breech - which means that his feet were down by my cervix. Now that baby A had been born, he flipped to completely transverse. My doctor put his entire arm up inside me and tried to grab his feet. For a second, he thought he had feet.. but nope. A foot and a hand. He fiddled up inside me for a while.. which sounds painful, but it was just uncomfortable and weird since my entire abdomen was moving ALL over the place. Then a team of 2 doctors tried to turn him externally.. and failed. My doctor tried and tried until his heart rate got down to the 60's and stayed there. And finally he said that a c-section had to be done. I got pretty scared but I honestly just wanted him out and healthy, so I wasn't too upset over the c-section. The curtain went up and the nurses started pumping more anesthesia and narcotics into my IV. At that point, I seriously felt like I had about 5% of life left in me. My eyes were shut and all I could do was moan, tell the nurse "I think I'm dying" and tell Mark "take pictures." Besides that, I felt absolutely horrible. The c-section seemed to take FOREVER and I felt absolutely awful. Finally he was born and I had no strength to even look at him. His apgar score was 8/9 and was totally healthy. I remember Mark bringing him over and asking "Do you want to see him?" I moaned no and couldn't even open my eyes. It was an awful experience.

While they closed me up, I began to feel even worse and then started throwing up while I was on my back. They had to suck the vomit out of me with a sucky thing. I kept asking the nurse if it was almost over. And eventually it was. I was wheeled into the recovery room and our boys joined us. As soon as we arrived, the nurse rose me up in my bed so slightly, and I immediately began throwing up again - ugh! For a long while I didn't have any strength to hold either baby, but I wanted to so badly. Eventually I was able to tandem nurse them, and both latched on great.

Long story short, here are some bulleted details -

-both boys were born really healthy. Their documents show them as being 39wk twins, even though I am 150% sure of their conception date - which ultrasound has always verified
-they were perfectly healthy until their second day, when they developed jaundice and "lost too much weight."
-on Saturday, they had to remain under bili lights for an entire day, which was literally the worst day of my life. I was so hormonal and upset. I literally cried the ENTIRE day. I can't even type out how upset I was. It was a huge combination of things, most all caused by an awful nurse and NICU doctor. In short, the NICU doctor told me that my body was "failing," that they weren't gaining weight, that they needed formula, that I can't "make my milk come in" and a whole slew of awful things. He was incredibly rude, and my nurse was zero encouragement. She basically wanted me to pump and bottle feed and had no respect for my wishes to have my babies to the breast, even though they were healthy and could latch. The next nurse on the shift was great and obviously let us all nurse, thank heavens. It was just one bad nurse and one bad doctor. Now it's just a bad memory, but at the time it was extremely stressful.
-On Sunday, we all got released to come home!

Without further ado...

Mark, Adalyn, and I proudly announce the two newest editions to our family:


Tyson Reid
6lbs14oz

















Roman Pierce
6lbs10oz