Below is a summary of my pregnancy and the boys' birth story: I found out I was expecting on September 29th, 2011. T.J. and I were thrilled!!! We found out we were expecting twins at our first doctor's appointment, October 21st, 2011. While we were waiting for the doctor to come in T.J. asked me "What if it's twins?" I replied "If it was twins, I would know, I would be really sick." Well, I was wrong! It was twins and I had been feeling great (very lucky).
My pregnancy was a breeze. I felt great! I was a little tired at first, and I didn't really cook at all while I was pregnant, but really had no problems. T.J. and I never wanted to find out the sex of the babies, even if it was twins. We had a lot of doctor's appointments and everything was going perfectly. I was treated as "high risk" because of the twins. We were told that they were 99% sure the twins were fraternal (because they each had their own placenta).
T.J. and I started Bradley classes. We were very interested in having a completely natural childbirth experience. We know that twin births can be more complicated, but we were set on our plan. I did not want an epidural. I did not want any IV fluids. I did not want continuous fetal monitoring. I wanted to labor as long as possible at home. I wanted to labor in any position that gave me relief and I wanted to deliver in a position that worked for me. I wanted delayed cord cutting. Yes, people thought we were crazy, but we had strong reasons behind our choices.
Everything was going according to plan, until Friday, April 20th. During my work day I started to feel weird. My neck and upper back were killing me. I figured the weight of the twins was finally taking its toll. I made an appointment with a chiropractor for that afternoon. He did an assessment on me and said that my body was under a lot of stress and to come back on Monday to get adjusted. I went home and took some Tylenol and tried to relax and sleep.
Saturday was the day I was supposed to get a lot of stuff done. I needed to pack my hospital bag, get the twins room set up, and finish unpacking stuff for my kitchen (we are just finishing a remodel). I had a very difficult time getting out of bed, and stayed in there most of the morning. I moved down to the couch, but I was feeling terrible. I didn't feel like eating anything, and I didn't all day long. I couldn't sleep at all Saturday night because I just felt "weird". On Sunday morning I was relaxing on the couch when I felt a gush. I thought "uh oh, that can't be good." I went to the bathroom to find I was bleeding. I wasn't super concerned as it was "old blood", brown in color, which is not as bad as bright red blood. I yelled upstairs for T.J. and we called the doctor. While waiting for the doctor to call back, T.J. started packing a bag for the hospital. I had a feeling it was not going to be an in and out visit. I took a shower and we headed to labor & delivery.
When we arrived at labor & delivery I was dilated to 1 and 70% effaced. They put the monitors on me and I was having about 10 contractions an hour. I did not know they were contractions, I just thought that Logan was kicking me hard. I was admitted. They started IV fluids to see if that would stop the contractions....nope. I got a shot of steroids to mature the babies' lungs in case they delivered early. They gave me nifedipine to stop the contractions and it started to work. I started to feel a lot better, but I was starving. Of course I wasn't able to eat anything for fear of labor progressing.
I spent the night in the hospital with nurses coming in every hour to check on me. I was hooked up to IV's and 3 monitors attached to my stomach. I couldn't sleep with all of the interruptions, monitors beeping, being starving, and not being able to move (if I did the monitors would come off my stomach and then the nurse would have to come in). They were unable to get me an appointment with maternal fetal medicine for Monday, so I spent another day at the hospital (although I was finally able to eat something). I received the second shot of steroids for the babies lungs. It was still very hard to sleep.
I was seen by maternal fetal medicine on Tuesday around noon. I had not had any contractions for about a day. The ultra sound looked great. Both babies were fine, their fluid looked good, so they were not overly concerned about the bleeding (although they could not explain it either). One of my regular OB's (Dr. Siegel) did not want to discharge me because he said when he pushed on my stomach he could feel a contraction (even though I couldn't). The maternal fetal medicine doctor said he thought it was fine for me to be discharged to home, but it was my doctor's choice. Sigh, I did not want to spend a 3rd night in the hospital. I just wanted to go home, sleep in my own bed, get some stuff done at the house (pack a hospital bag, diaper bag, install car seats, etc), and eat my own food. Luckily, there was a shift change! Another OB came on, saw the recommendation from maternal fetal medicine to be discharged, and I was on my way home! I still had to take the nifedipine every 6 hours, but I was free!
At home, T.J. and I started to get some stuff ready and I ended up staying up until almost 1:00am. Since Saturday I had probably had less than 5 hours of sleep (in 4 nights). I went to sleep and woke up Wednesday morning at 3:00am with contractions (which I finally knew what they felt like after seeing them on the monitors at the hospital). This was only 12 hours after being discharged from the hospital. I decided to take a bath to see if that would help. My contractions came on quickly and intensely. They were about 1-3 minutes apart and about 30 seconds long. I couldn't get comfortable anymore. I got out of the bathtub and laid down on the bathroom floor. I woke up T.J. so we could start timing the contractions. I took more nifedipine to see if that would help. I felt my water break (although I wasn't 100% sure that it was my water breaking as I was still bleeding from before) and I knew that the babies were going to be born that day (34 weeks, 1 day gestation, Wednesday, April 25th 2012).
My contractions were speeding up and I started vomiting frequently. T.J. was packing a new hospital bag and showering before we headed to the hospital. We got to the hospital about 7:00am. Dr. Heimburger checked me and I was 3+ centimeter dilated, 90% effaced, with my water ruptured. I was off to the labor & delivery room! I was still contracting and vomiting like crazy. I got to chew on some ice chips. Unfortunately because of all of the IV fluids I received over the previous 3 days, my legs, ankles, and feet were so swollen I wasn't able to move them hardly at all. This made labor very difficult because I had almost no sleep (in fact I started falling asleep sitting up during labor), I could not get comfortable (standing up was unbearable-so no walking around, no hands/knees, birthing ball, squatting, etc). Because I could not move my legs well, I could not find a comfortable position besides sitting on the bed with 1 leg on the bed and 1 leg off the bed. I was still contracting every minute. I was exhausted.
I had to have an IV with penicillin because I never got to have the group B strep test (it was supposed to be done at my next doctors appointment). I continued to vomit and I could not get comfortable. The staff did encourage an epidural (which was not in our birth plan). I understood that it would be beneficial because Noah was still breech and they would have to try and turn him after Logan was born and it could be very uncomfortable. I could not get any relief and decided to have the doctor check me again. If I was close to delivery then no epidural. If I was not close, I would get the epidural so that I could get some rest. He checked me and I was 4 centimeters. I decided to get the epidural. I was very nervous about it, especially when the anesthesiologist told me my spine curves to the left and the epidural might only work on one side (awesome). I figured half relief was better than no relief. Luckily the epidural took and I felt like a million bucks. My vomiting stopped and I was STARVING (of course I couldn't eat)!!! They told me to try and get some rest and for T.J. to go down to the cafeteria and eat some lunch. They were guessing about 6 hours until the boys were delivered.
We had a shift change again....this time back to Dr. Siegel (the doctor that did not want us to be discharged from the hospital). Great...here comes a big "I told you so". He was actually pretty great, and I did tell him that he could say "I told you so." My nurse Sandy was GREAT!!! We really loved her. T.J. was an excellent support. He was such and encouragement and helped with anything that I needed. He tried to find ways for me to be comfortable. He helped me to the bathroom. He helped me change clothes. He was fantastic.
About 20 minutes after the epidural the neonatologist came it to talk to me about preterm infants. He was so mellow, that as he was talking to me, I started falling asleep. I wasn't too worried about the babies. They were over 34 weeks, approximately 5-6lbs in weight (or so we thought), I had the steroids to mature their lungs, and they were moving around like crazy. I couldn't really pay attention to what he was saying because I felt the need to push. T.J. came back in and I told him I thought it was time. He was just about to get someone when Dr. Siegel came in, checked me, and said it was time to go. It had been less than a half hour since the epidural....we thought we had hours longer....guess not!
I had to deliver in the operating room (procedure for twin deliveries). There were about 12-15 people in the room for the delivery. Me, T.J., 2 doctors for me, 2 nurses for me, the neonatologist, 4 NICU nurses (2 for each baby), 2 surgical nurses, and there could have been more....this is just what I remember. This was not the quiet, natural birth I was hoping for. I wasn't disappointed as I knew going into a twin pregnancy that nothing is predictable. I couldn't be tied to things going a certain way. What was important now was delivering these babies safely.
I pushed (flat on my back with legs up in stirrups....sigh) with the contractions and had Logan out in about 7 pushes. I was surprised that it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. It also didn't hurt like crazy (thanks the the epidural). Again, T.J. was the best coach that I could have asked for. He was encouraging (but didn't talk too much) and he helped me stay focused (which was a hard task with so many people in the room). They said "It's a boy!". Logan cried loudly and was whisked over to the NICU staff. He was born Wednesday, April 25th at 2:59pm, weighing 4lbs, 6oz, 18 inches long.
Now was the tricky part....Noah. Noah had been transverse/breech the entire pregnancy due to Logan hogging a huge amount of room. Logan was always stretched out, taking up a good amount of space. Poor Noah got smashed up in my ribs and didn't have anywhere to move to. The 2nd doctor in the delivery room did an ultrasound to check on Noah's position. He was still up in my ribs, still breech, but now he had no amniotic fluid around him. This was a big problem because if there is no fluid, there is no way to get him to turn. Dr. Siegel attempted an external version. Unfortunately, after several unsuccessful attempts, and Noah's heart rate dropping with each one, a cesarean section was done. Again, I did not have a problem with this even though a c-section was the main thing I was trying to avoid.
T.J. had to leave the room as they administered some additional medication. They put up the blue curtain and got to work. I couldn't feel anything, but I could smell burning flesh (gross). 18 minutes after Logan was born, Noah was born. They said, "It's another boy!" I said, "I told you so" to T.J. I knew it was two boys. He did not arrive screaming into the world like his brother did. He was quiet, needed air on a cpap (not oxygen, just air), and he was wildly colored mustard yellow and green. The doctors were not sure why he was colored like that. He was born Wednesday, April 25th at 3:17pm, weighing 4lbs, 5.5oz, 17 inches long.
The theory is: Noah's placenta must have partially detached (hence the old blood) and rehealed. It may have caused some blood to leak into his sack, causing the strange coloring, and he had digested some of the blood because it was in his stool. The blood in the uterus causes it to contract and the cervix to dilate (why early labor started). When my cervix opened, I noticed the bleeding. Noah's water must have broken first causing him to have nothing left to turn with. I didn't really get to see Noah before they took him to the NICU.
They sewed me up and got me ready to go to the recovery room. T.J. was there waiting for me in the recovery room. He stayed with me for about 20 minutes before he got to go down to NICU to see the boys. I had to wait until my "recovery time" was over. Then my awesome nurse Sandy wheeled me down in my bed to see the boys before taking me to my "mother and baby" room. I did not see the boys again until the next day when I was able to stand and move on my own after the epidural wore off. Because I was given even more IV fluids, my legs were ENORMOUS!!! When I weighed myself at home 4 days later, I was 10.5 pounds heavier after giving birth than I ever was pregnant due to the amount of fluids they gave me. Did I mention how much I hate IV fluids?
Yes, I had a vaginal delivery and a c-section. It was not as bad as I thought. The vaginal birth did not hurt recovery wise at all really. The c-section incision hurt, mostly when T.J. made me laugh, but nothing that Tylenol and Ibuprofin couldn't handle. I did not take the Norco because I do not do well with pain medication. The thing that bothered me the most is again all of the fluid. My legs were so heavy I could barely move them, and there wasn't anything I could do about the fluid. I felt pretty much back to normal about 7 days after delivery and all of my fluid was gone by about 10 days after delivery. I was driving about 8 days after delivery.
They were in the NICU for 17 days (although we think they could have discharged them earlier). They came home on May 12th (the day I thought they were going to be born). They are both over 5 pounds now. They had to have feeding tubes to help supplement their oral feedings. They had to have phototherapy (bili lights) because of their bilirubin levels.
They are now at home and eating on their own. We have their first pediatrician appointment tomorrow. We are very blessed to have had such a positive outcome. We saw many other babies in the NICU who were much worse off than our boys. It really helps give us perspective. While this was not the entrance to the world we were hoping for, it really turned out well for all of us. We thank everyone for their prayers, well wishes, visits, thoughts, and gifts. We are still working on the thank yous ;). Check back for more updates (I promise to blog more now ;))!!!
