How We Came to be Six

Friday after my doctor's appointment, Kris and I came home to start dinner. After having to go to the bathroom three times in 45 minutes, I began to suspect that I had broken my water. I called the doctor who said to go ahead and come to the hospital so we packed up our things, said goodbye to Grandma and the kids and headed over. I'd only had a couple of contractions at the house, but at the hospital, things started getting more regular and more intense. I was checked and was at 6cm so things looked like they would move pretty fast.

My doula, Erin, arrived and she helped me focus through the contractions. She massaged my swollen feet and legs and helped me get more comfortable. After a few hours, though, I got to the point where nothing felt good and no position was comfortable. It felt like my pelvic bones were separating so there was nowhere my legs could be that wasn't agonizing. The doctor thought that meant we'd be delivering pretty quickly, so I was taken to the OR. (All twin deliveries are done in the OR instead of the rooms) Kris and Erin were suited up in yellow pinstripe scrubs (business scrubs, as I called them) and we all settled in for the delivery.

My pain intensified, and after another hour or so, my bones felt like they were breaking. At this point so I asked for an epidural. I was checked one more time to see if I was close to delivery but no, still a seven. Mike the anesthesiologist came in and got me hooked up. I was happy to relax and breathe and talk. After another hour, I was checked again but was still at a seven. The epidural had stopped my progress. I was given pitocin to help things along.

After another hour, I started feeling things again. I could feel the contractions and after a while, I was having to breathe through them. Very quickly, it seemed, everything intensified and I was feeling the full effect of a pitocin labor. I was screaming and crying- I could not get on top of the pain. What's worse is that once the monitor showed that my contraction had stopped, I was still feeling pain. The pressure on my bones was unbearable. After what seemed like forever, I was checked again and was at an 8. FINALLY someone called Mike down again and he gave me more drugs. I was not aware that an epidural could run out, but apparently they can. I was not amused. It took several more contractions before the epidural began working fully and at that time I was told that on the next contraction, I would be pushing.

I figured this would be horrible since I was still feeling the contractions, but I was pleasantly surprised that when I started pushing, I felt very little pain. After five minutes of pushing, Henry Sebastian was born sunny side up at 2:46AM. His Apgar score was an 8 and he weighed 6lbs, 15oz, 20 inches long.

Next, the doctor had to do a sonogram to see how Baby B had decended. Bad news- he was feet first. The doctor tried to turn him manually, but it wasn't working. I was given two options: one, I could receive a stronger spinal block and the doctor could reach inside and try to turn him. If that failed, I would have an emergency c-section; two, I could just go ahead with a c-section. I chose option two and Julian Paul was born at 3:14AM. His Apgar score was 9 and he weighed 7lbs, 8oz, 20.5 inches long.

And then the epidural started to wear off... again. It wasn't the "pressure and pulling" sensation that I was told about. This was pain and burning. I started screaming and was knocked completely out.

I didn't exactly wake up, but the next thing I can remember is being back in the room and hearing the nurses talking. They were concerned that my blood pressure was 51/30. (I apparently lost a lot of blood.) I couldn't move my legs or arms and I couldn't open my eyes, but I could hear everything and I could tell that I was getting hooked up to more IVs. I could hear Kris tell the nurses that it was okay to give the babies a bottle since I was so out of it. I don't remember Erin leaving.

The next day I was drowsy the entire day. I could only stay awake for a few minutes at a time. It took me two hours to eat lunch and at one point, I fell asleep with a piece of broccoli in my mouth. It was weird. I was able to hold the babies for the first time and luckily, they were as sleepy as I was so they gave me plenty of opportunities to nap. My blood pressure was still low and my hemocrit level was 6.1 (it should be 11-15) so on Sunday, I received a blood transfusion. Those things are really slow! It took 5 hours for two units of blood. That got me to 8.1 which was still low, but gave me a little bit of a shorter recovery time.

Tuesday we were able to go home. These babies are so sweet... they are possibly the world's easiest babies. There's a lot of nursing and napping, but they both like to look around, especially at their big brother and big sister. Henry is the king of sleep smiles and Julian is the king of the hiccups. We love them both so much!