How It All Went Down...

Or, the twins' birth story.

On Monday, July 12th I went in for my NST at the hospital in the morning, babies looked good and the nurses joked that I was going to make my scheduled section date on Wednesday. In the afternoon, I headed in for my 38 week appointment at the doctor's office. My blood pressure was high again, like 139 over 92...and the doc was not happy. After letting me rest, they rechecked it, and it was even higher. At that point, I was told not to eat or drink and head into the hospital.

At the hospital, they hooked us up to the monitors, drew some blood work, and told us to settle in for the night. Around 9 o'clock, with no fluids, I started contracting. Every 5 minutes. I begged for fluids, at least through my IV, but my nurse refused to call my doctor. I really didn't want to deliver Monday night, but it started to look like we might. Finally around midnight, the doc on call came to see me. My blood work wasn't horrible, but I did have a few labs that were pretty close to pre-E. Thankfully, she said I could be unhooked from the monitors, and had the nurses start some fluids to stop my contractions. With my doctor not on call for the night, the plan was to move my c-section up to the following morning, at 9am.

M. and I both struggled to get any sleep that night. I think I managed to doze off for a few hours, but my mind was racing with anticipation.

Tuesday morning, they started to prep me for surgery around 7:30am. I was really nervous about the spinal, as my c-section with DD was under general anesthesia. Everyone kept telling me it would be okay. After being bumped for an emergency, we walked down to the OR at about 10:30...the anesthesiologist did a great job and my spinal took on the first try. I can't even begin to explain how relieved I was. M. came in and sat down next to my head, in a wheelchair (!) and we waited to hear the first cries.

At 11:06am, Car.ina Hope started screaming! She weighed in at 6 lbs, 1oz and was 19 inches long. Her brother, Nat.han Michael, arrived at 11:07am, a thin 5 lbs, 6 oz. and 18 1/2 inches long. The first thing M. said was that they had hair! I never thought my babies would be anything but bald...Miss O. didn't have hair until she was 2 years old!

Hearing their cries was the best sound ever. I cried many, many happy tears that day, as our long journey to add to our family finally came to fruition. We all came home that Friday, and we're finally settling into a routine. I'm so incredibly happy and so blessed. Every time I look at them, I still can't believe they are both mine and are here and healthy!

Coming Up For Air

Is it really the last week of July already?

I can't believe the twins will turn 2 weeks old tomorrow.

All my days run together, all the same...feed the babies, change diapers, eat a meal or two, play with Miss O., and try to get a little sleep.

I'm loving every minute of it.

Thank you all for the warm wishes and congratulations on the announcement of the twins' arrival. I have so many blog posts floating around in my head, including their birth story...I just have to figure out how to find some time to write them out.

M. goes back to work tomorrow, and I'll be on my own. Wish me luck!

Introducing...

Car.ina Hope & Nath.an Michael

July 13, 2010

11:06 am & 11:07 am

Weighing 6 lbs. 1 oz. & 5 lbs. 6 oz.

38 Weeks!

Today is that special day of the week, when I roll over into the next week for gestating these babies.

38 weeks.

This entire pregnancy, when people asked me my due date, I'd say, "July 23rd, but since it's twins, I'm aiming for July 9th!".

Often, this was met with much laughter and a look of doubt. Especially from those in the medical community, who often said, "I'll bet you'll have babies at the end of June!".

I have to say I'm proud that I was right!

When I went in to the hospital this morning for my NST, every nurse I ran into was shocked that I'm still carrying these babies.

I just smiled and laughed.

Unless the babies decide otherwise, in five days, I'll be checking into the hospital for my scheduled section. On one hand, I can't believe it's so close, yet on the other, I'm SO ready to meet these little ones.

So Baby A & Baby B, now that we've hit July 9th, you can decide to come at any time...Momma won't mind at all! :)

Fears

I'm 37 weeks and 4 days today, but who's counting!?!

No babies yet.

I'm starting to think we might actually make it through the next 8 days to my scheduled section.

Crazy!

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In the middle of the night, when I wake up to use the bathroom, my mind has started to wake up, too. It's beginning to get a little frustrating, as I can't seem to turn it off, once it starts.

For the last week, I keep thinking about the birth of these babies. As excited as I am to meet them, I'm really starting to feel uneasy about their upcoming delivery.

I'm scared to death that I won't be awake for their entrance into this world.

I know that every day, thousands of people have their babies by cesarean, and they hear the cries and see their babies after they are born. It's not even that I'm scared about the procedure, after all, that's how Miss O. came into the world. I know what to expect in my recovery, this shouldn't be such a big deal.

But it is.

My birth experience with Miss O. did not go as planned. I wanted a drug free, natural as possible delivery of my first child. Everything went okay at first, until my contractions started to stop around the time I was 5 centimeters dilated.

"No problem.", my nurse said, "Your doctor will order some pit.ocin and you'll be moving right along."

I definitely started contracting again, as they ramped up the pit. It was awful. The contractions started coming one on top of each other with no chance to recover before the next one. I started to lose my focus, and begged M. to make the pain stop.

It would be nice to say that I managed to get through it and had my delivery the way I wanted, but I wasn't so lucky.

About 14 hours into my labor, the baby's heart rate started to drop with every contraction. They gave me oxygen. Then, the heart rate wouldn't recover after a contraction.

Everything gets very blurry at this point. Doctors and nurses were running into my room, flipping me on my left side, shouting out things like, "More oxygen" and "fetal distress", quickly forms appeared in front of M. and I, asking us to sign consent to go to the operating room.

In the OR, the anesthesiologist could not get the spinal in.

After 4 sticks to my back, my OB said he needed to deliver the baby...at that point, I remember saying, "Do what you have to do to get the baby out." Quickly I was laid back, gas over my face and everything went dark.

Miss O. was delivered while I was under general anesthetic, and M. was in the hallway worried.

M. and I had been waiting to find out what we were having...I woke up in recovery, crying, "Did I have a boy or a girl?"

Ultimately, Miss O. was okay and that's all that mattered.

I won't lie, though, I felt robbed.

I never heard her first cry. I didn't really even see her until about an hour after she was born.

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I so, so, SO afraid that the same thing is going to happen again.

My doctor keeps telling me that it'll be different.

It'll be a more controlled environment. They'll be able to take their time and get the spinal in and it'll work.

I don't want to miss the birth of these two.

I want M. to be able to see his children being born, and to be sitting next to me.

I really hope she's right.

Dazed & Confused

I need a new Friday routine...

Back up, yes, I'm still here. No babies yet.

After contracting ALL day yesterday, from 5 minutes to 35 minutes apart, with no consistency, everything died off around 9pm. I was disappointed, I'm not going to lie. It just felt like it was the day to have them, you know?

Anyhow...I headed in this morning like a good little patient to L&D for my NST. I expected to get in and out, and be on my way to my doctor's appointment at 11:15am. Babies looked good, everything went well, except my blood pressure. It's starting to creep up again.

I don't really understand why, but my doctor told the nurse to keep me for further monitoring, and to not worry about my appointment. This, of course, is after I was already unhooked and ready to go!

So, back on the monitors I go, for another 2 hours. Again, babies look good. Blood pressure isn't great, but okay. Now, I haven't ate or drank since this morning, so it's no surprise that I'm contracting again. After an internal exam...ugh, I hate them...I'm still soft and closed. No change.

Finally, shortly after 1 o'clock, I'm allowed to leave. I arrived at 9, so poor Miss O. had been sitting with me for over 4 hours...she's such a trooper!

I don't mind the fact that my doctor is being cautious, I just wish they'd explain what she's looking for.

At this point, unless I'm contracting consistently every 10 minutes or my water breaks, I'm still in a holding pattern.

37 weeks today....wow.

No Sleep Here

I've been up since about 2:30am...it's shortly after 6 o'clock now.

I awoke to a painful contraction that left me wide awake. After about 3 more of those, I decided to take a shower, just in case.

After the shower, I laid back down on my left side and continued to contract.

I gave up sleeping around 4:30am, and headed downstairs to track what's going on...

Not a whole lot.

I'm contracting anywhere from 5 to 20-some minutes apart. Enough to keep me up, but not enough to be regular.

I wonder if today will be the day...