I need to write this down so I don't forget :) They will be 8 weeks old on Tuesday. Oh my GAWD.
My pregnancy was progressing much as you'd expect with twins. My cervix was long and holding up like a fortress. My blood pressure was doing great. The babies were growing perfectly and I was feeling pretty good. On Feb. 23 I went to L&D for a routine NST (non-stress test). When you are pregnant with twins, the doctors appointments are frequent. Starting at 32 weeks twin moms start the bi-WEEKLY non-stress tests. During this test they put two toco-monitors around your belly, one for each heartbeat. For about 30 minutes to an hour they record the babies heart beat accels and decels. They like to see lots of each. That tells them that the babies are moving and resting just as they should be.
So back to Feb. 23, 32 weeks pregnant, my grandma's birthday. I went to L&D for my NST. Before they hooked me up to the toco-meters they took my bp and vitals. The nurse (Anitra, who I came to be very close to) asked me if my bp was usually this elevated. *PANIC* I asked her why. She said it was "up there" but wouldn't tell me just how up there. Greeeaaaat. Anitra left to go call my doc, but not before hooking me up to the monitors. For the next hour M and I sat listening to the swoosh swoosh swoosh of our babies heart beats and a couple rounds of baby hiccups. Both of us were pretty nervous and we knew that my perfect pregnancy was about to get complicated.
Anitra came back and said, "you just bought yourself a hospital stay". I sort of figured this was coming. I knew that having twins gestating meant my chances for pre-ecclampsia were HIGH. They put in an IV and informed me that they would be doing a 24 hours urine catch. For 24 hours you pee in a bucket and then they test the urine for proteins. This is also the point where they told me that my mild symptoms could turn serious at any time and they may have to deliver the babies. I got my first round of steroids to mature the babies lungs *just in case*, were they to come 8 weeks early. Petrified at this point.
A few hours later I was moved to my ante-partum room (the one I'd be in for the next 4 weeks, I never left). I got settled in my new home and hooked back up to the monitors. Babies looked fabulous BUT the monitors picked up several contractions. At this point in my pregnancy contractions were VERY common, I wasn't worried. The nurses were. They did a manual cervical check *ouch* and an FFN (fetal fibronectin). The FFN is a vaginal swab that checks to see if there are any secretions present that may indicate labor is imminent. A positive FFN means labor is a good possibility in the next two weeks. A negative FFN means, you guessed it, labor is not imminent in the next two weeks. Mine was negative and my doc decided that my contractions were probably just harmless. And they were. They were present at every NST, but I never went into labor.
So I spent the first of many nights in room 316 on L&D. My 24 hour urine catch results came back early afternoon the next day. I was officially diagnosed with mild pre-ecclampsia. I knew I could deliver them at any time, so I stuck to the doc's instructions and stayed in bed...for a month. That month wasn't all bad. I heard many a baby born in the rooms near me. We'd hear cheering, sometimes screaming, then the beautiful sounds of a newborn set of lungs. That always made me smile :) Life was beginning all round me and it was awesome.
Everyday the OB's would come see me and let me know that things were status quo, but that I'd be staying until delivery. I was ok with this because I wanted to keep {M} & {A} cooking as long as I could. The nurses were my saving grace. Seriously. Anitra, Sonia, Renee, Sarah, Debbie, Jenny 1 & 2, Melisa, Kristin, Barbara, Kelly, etc etc etc. Love love LOVE them and always will. They got me through a tough time and I'll be forever grateful.
Lets fast forward to the week of the birth, shall we? I made it, with mild pre-e (go me!) to 35 weeks on strict bed rest. Three NST's a day, blood draws every Monday and Thursday morning @ 6a (what a way to wake up), physical therapy (for my pelvic separation) three times a week, etc. March 17, Dr H Lee walked into my room, fresh of a Caribbean vacation-fully not expecting me to have made it through the week she was gone, and told me we had a BIRTH DATE! She said if I made it to 36w she was ready to deliver me. D-day was 3/22/11 @ 11a. She didn't want to push my body any further (the blood pressure was climbing). OMG. My babies were coming in a WEEK.
Day before BIRTH DAY. M and I sat in my room, the last day it would ever just be us. We were both nervous and we wondered out loud what they would look like and who they'd be. Neither of us slept. At all. We were so excited!
BIRTH DAY 3.22.11
8am the delivery nurse came in to put my IV back in, pump me full of fluids, give me some nasty drink that was supposed to ward off nausea and some pill-no idea what they were for. I signed the c-section paperwork-I understand that this is major surgery and can result in infection, blah blah blah and death. No turning back now :)
The anesthesiology team came in to tell me all about the dreaded SPINAL. I signed more paperwork saying I understood that they could miss and I would be paralyzed for life. Only kidding :) It was just a consent form for the medication. I loved my anesthesiologist. I think that makes a HUGE difference. Dr Baller was one of the sweetest women I'd ever met and she talked me through the whole c-section. Loved her. I saw her just last week and she remembered me and asked me how I was doing. So sweet.
Now it was time to take my last few steps as a pregnant women. I waddled across the hall into the OR and onto the table. There were about 25 nurses of various practices all waiting for me and my babies. As I sat on the table, shaking from the nerves and the frozen room, people were prepping me. I had anesthesiology prepping my back for the spinal. I had my delivery nurses putting bp cuffs on my my arms and an O2 canula on my face. The NICU nurses were prepping the warming beds for the babies. I couldn't stop staring at the warming beds. I just 20 short minutes my babies would be in there screaming and getting acclimated to the world.
I sat on the table paying close attention to what the anesthesiology team was telling me. They needed me to roll my back more. Are you effing kidding me? I can't roll it anymore I've got a twin belly resting on my KNEES. At that point my delivering OB stood in front of my rubbing my arms and legs, trying to keep me warm and trying to pull shoulders forward so the anesthesiology team could find my spinal cord. The pre-e had me pretty swollen and they were having a tough time. They warned me, but I still flinched. "Here comes the 'bee sting'". Ouch, but not as bad as I was expecting. Then came another and another and another. They were numbing me up really well! Once the numbness started to kick in they brought out the big guns. Spinal time! They poked. OWWW! They hit a bone-you can't numb a bone unfortunately. Damn fluid retention. Poked again. OOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! Hit bone on the other side. At this point I was scared. Scared that they'd never find my damn spinal cord and that I'd never get these babies OUT of me.
Just when I thought I couldn't take another zing to the spine, they found the right spot and I felt the warmth of the spinal flowing through my lower body. They spun me around and laid me down on the table. They pulled my arms onto the cross bar and put a temp sticker on my forehead. It was all happening so fast. At this point it felt like my legs were "asleep". It was the strangest feeling. I just wanted to get up and walk around and make that pins & needles feeling go away. They inserted the catheter and started to test my skin to see if I could feel anything. NOPE. I was solidly numb from the collar bone down. I never even felt the tugs and pulls they warned me about.
M was finally allowed to come into the OR with his daddy scrubs on. He looked excited and scared and oh so ready to meet these two beautiful creatures. Around this time Dr H Lee and Dr Sun started hacking into my abdomen. I was blissfully unaware. I asked the nurses around me what was happening and they told me they were almost to Baby A. WHAT? That was fast! The next thing I knew Dr H Lee was yelling at M to come see his son born. Cue tears. M got to watch our son slither out of my body and into the waiting arms of the NICU nurse practitioner. M was snapping away with our camera and he followed that little boy over to his warming bed and took pictures of his first moments on earth. They are beautiful pictures.
Crying, screaming. Our baby boy was here! Overwhelming love. Just an instantaneous feeling of joy. I was watching my husband watch our son. It was amazing. One minute later, Dr H Lee called to M again to see his daughter born. She came into this world screaming like nothing I've heard before. She's still got those lungs and she lets us know it ;) The NICU nurses brought {A} over to see me and I was in such awe. I have a blonde daughter. What?! I have a blonde daughter?!?! M was snapping pics of {M} and I called over to him "she has blonde hair!" He looked at me and his eyes got HUGE. He was so excited. He walked over to her warmer and started snapping pictures of her. I watched all of this unfold as if it wasn't happening to me. I smiled and I literally felt my heart swell.
I heard all of this second hand, but their apgars were {M}: 8 & 9 {A}: 7 & 9. M cut {M}'s cord, but {A} was too squirmy and he didn't feel comfortable around her with sharp scissors. He left it to the professionals ;). She's still squirmy wormy! They had their footprints taken for the birth certificates and all the post-birth brouhaha. The NICU nurses and M carried the babies over to me and held them to my face while I was getting put back together so I could kiss them. Oh my gosh, I'm a mom. These beautiful, squirmy, pissed off infants were MINE. I smelled them. I took in everything about them. I still remember what they smelled like, what they felt like, how they sounded, what they looked like. Best moment of my life, meeting my children. We took our first family pictures and they were whisked away to the NICU for evaluation. Any baby born at or under 38 weeks gets a quick once over...though our babies once over would be anything but quick.
M followed our new babies to the NICU and took more pictures, fed them their first bottles and loved on them while I was getting stitched back up and when I went to recovery. Recovery was AGONY. I wanted to go hang with my babies, but I had to wait. M came to see me and brought me pictures and news. I couldn't believe it was all happening without me! At least M was there with them. I relaxed and let the spinal wear off. I was taken back to my room for some rest and relaxation. Of course I couldn't rest or relax, I wanted to be with my babies. I pumped for the first time and tried to keep my cool while I waited for permission to be wheeled down to see them. M visited several more times, bringing MORE pictures and stories about how beautiful our babies were. I was DYING to get to the NICU!
The rest of the story coming tomorrow :) Stay tuned!
