So this was my forth pregnancy that was all scheduled to end on September 19th. After weekly visits for ages and very little change at my last appointment, I was pretty confident that the twins would be born on September 19th. Well, I guess the only thing to say is, I was wrong.
Over the weekend I had been worn out and tired, which pretty much describes the last few weekends. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary and honestly I thought my contractions had gotten farther apart and less intense since I stopped working a few weeks ago. Monday morning (the 17th) I woke up around 3am feeling like I was going to be sick. A few bathroom trips later I realized that I was losing at least some of my mucus plug. I took about 20 minutes of battling myself back and forth before I decided to head to the hospital to be checked. I have never had a false alarm and figured since this might be my last pregnancy, I would get away with heading in. If they laughed at me, well I didn't have to tell anyone and it could be my little secret.
In my past labors, when I had lost a lot of mucus, it sometimes meant something and sometimes didn't. I never lost it as part of active labor but as something that occurred anywhere from a week to two days before labor. I didn't think anything was happening but for peace of mind, had to go in. I wanted to make sure that if I had dilated another centimeter or two, that I contacted the parents. My perfect scenario needed them to be there, just as before, to see their boys immediately at birth. I wasn't sure if the hospital would keep me if I wasn't in active labor but with breech twins, I didn't want to take any chances. So I drove myself to the hospital just to be safe.
I head back with the nurse to get my weight and blood pressure taken (still something like 112/78--which is the highest it had been in ages). We go to the little exam room and I get connected to the twin monitors. Heart rates are great--right within a few beats of each other. The nurse does say I am having a contraction but only half was recorded so she was going to have to start calculating from the first full contraction on the monitor. I told her I wasn't really having contractions but that I felt nauseated and not quite right. At that moment, my doctor appeared at the door!! She had been on call all weekend and was actually finishing up her shift when she saw my name on the board. I was so excited to see her but then laughed and said that I didn't really think I was in labor yet I wasn't feeling quite right, so I wanted to come in.
What happened next will forever be etched in my brain. She checks me and is making this very strange face. I thought for sure she was going to send me home so when she starts yelling to get an OR and the anesthesiologist I was starting to panic just a bit. A nurse put in my IV and remember looking over at her to see she had hit something and my hand was covered in blood. The next moment involved me signing some sheet saying I could have surgery. The only words I could squeak out were "should I call the parents?" to which a nurse grabbed my phone and said "YES!". It just didn't seem real. As the room started spinning I picked up the fact that I was 9cm dilated and had a bulging back of waters. Dr. G orders the ultrasound just to make sure that what she felt were actually feet and of course, they were, so we still needed to get surgery in before my water broke or anyone started coming out the wrong way. I called the parents and panicked as the first number was a cell and not answered. I got them on their home line and don't even remember exactly what I said other than "the babies are coming now". I can't imagine getting that phone call in the wee hours knowing how far away they were. My whole world was falling apart as I realized we were not going to get the birth we had all hoped for...I didn't have time to think for long though. I called Dave and told him he needed to come too--he could hear the panic in my voice and totally thrown for a loop. I had talked to him minutes before at the house and neither of us thought I was in labor. This whole experience was very surreal.
While we were heading down the hallway to the OR, I asked my doctor if we could just wait a little bit...I remember asking if they could just tilt me with my head down for a bit to buy us some time. I think she actually laughed at me. I don't even know what time it was, other than thinking I have only been in the hospital for 15-20 minutes at this point. I didn't have time to panic or anything--all I was thinking was that I couldn't be 9cm dilated because that would mean I was in labor and I was sure this wasn't labor.
So into the OR I go with things happening all around me. Dr. G won't let me sit for the spinal so I have to lay down and curl into a ball--that might have been the hardest part of the whole operation. The spinal finally takes (after they do indeed tilt me upside down a few times to get the medication to move up to my abdomen) and the sheet goes up. Dave is still not there but they have to get started. When the water broke for Baby A, I just remember this huge sense of relief--lots of pressure had been built up and all the sudden I could breathe again. It was the best feeling and before I knew it, the baby was out and over with the nurses. Then baby B...he has been the wiggly one that was always hard to measure during ultrasounds and hard to keep monitored during the non-stress tests...so he was wiggling around making them chase him down before he could come out. Dr. G remarked that he seemed to be hanging on to something in there, as they started pushing on my belly to assist with getting him to move down. Then he is quickly whisked away to the nurses as well. I remember both babies crying as they came out, but baby B was seriously pissed off. You could hear it in his cries. I think he wanted to wait just a little longer too.
My doctor and her team were amazing. They talked to me the entire time since I was by myself and I really think that is the only way I made it through without having a serious panic attack. As they were sewing everything back together, Dave arrived at the hospital amazed that he has missed it all. Dr. G took her time sewing everything back together and took care to pull the muscles tight. We joked back and forth that she was giving me a six-pack. The nurses said that my belly was really flat and if they hadn't just seen it, they wouldn't have believed that two babies were in there. God love my doc for being there for me and taking such good care in those crazy moments.
The surgery wasn't as bad as I thought and I am really proud of myself for handing it so well in such an harried situation. The recovery started off great but over the next few days, the pain was getting harder to handle. Three days after the birth, we finally got on a medication schedule where I was a few minutes ahead of the pain and felt like I could function. Overall I think it was probably comparable to my birth of Alex--my firstborn that really did a number over on me. That was a regular birth but I think I was on pain meds for weeks after he was born--I can see the same type of thing happening now. The muscles are so tight and the feeling is so different from anything I have experienced, but it is a little better all the time.
And it was all completely worth it. Things might not have gone how any of us had planned and the emotions may have been flying, but in the end, two amazing little miracles are here with their parents and my heart feels good. I did everything I could to ensure a happy ending for this family that had suffered for so many years. I would do it all again to get to have this end result.
I did what I set out to do and I did it very well. The babies were both 5lbs13oz and completely healthy. I am so blessed by my family and friends that helped me through this pregnancy. I could not have gotten through it without any of them. The phone calls, texts, emails, food, gifts and flowers...I have never felt more loved and appreciated. Now to rest and recover and get back to my life that has so patiently waited for me to come back.
**I just got a few of my times together...at 4:47am I called the parents to tell them we were having the babies...at 5:15am the babies were born. I think those 27 minutes are some of the most productive of my life.**
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