Here we are January 1, 2012 and I am back at blogging. Promise. Cross my heart.
Warning...it's long and there are a couple of graphic pictures.
I thought I would rewind to the birth of our babies and then do a quick re-cap of the past few months. Nothing big, but I will do my best. So, here goes....
Let me give a little background. Adam was baby A and breech. Courtney baby B and thought she owned the joint. Head down, breech, transverse, coiled around herself, you name it. When I first found out about the twins I realized I needed to be OK with a c-section because it was likely I would have one, and I thought I was. As time went on and Adam stayed breech I started to F-R-E-A-K out about it. I started doing every thing possible. Herbs, chiropractor, crazy yoga moves, hanging off the couch, heating pads, cold packs, flashlights, visualizing, prayer. LOTS of prayer. Constant prayer. It honestly consumed me. I doubt I have prayed more earnestly about anything. If a C-section was meant to be, why was Heavenly Father not taking the desire for a natural birth from me? I prayed His will be done and the babies get here the safest way possible but I still had such a desire of going into labor and naturally delivering the babies.
I had my last full blown Ultrasound at 36 weeks. Melissa was here visiting and helping me organize closets and get things ready, she was able to come with me to the appointment. The first words out of the techs mouth were, "That baby is head down." I was cautiously overjoyed. The energy in the room was electric. She had the doctor come in to confirm because she knew what it meant to me. It felt too good to be true. His head was still high but down.
The next week on Wednesday, I saw the midwife for Group B strep and a check. I was 4 cm dilated, baby's head was still really high but that is common in subsequent pregnancies. "I can't see how he would flip again, they are so big. You are going to labor beautifully!"
Saturday (August 6). I'd been having 'signs' that the babies were coming for a couple of weeks. But things had begun to pick up since seeing the midwife. We were doing our best to keep me walking and on my feet. Getting things done around the house, last minute shopping, getting Noelle ready for the upcoming school year. That night around 6 I was sure I was having real contractions and this was the night. We hung out for a few hours, I called Stephanie. Around 9:00 I told Aaron we needed to get ready, I felt really uneasy. I took a shower while he got the girls ready, I called the doctor and she told me to come on in. Sadly, that morning when I woke up I could feel that his head was no longer vertex. I was heartbroken but did what I could to remain positive. My mantra: what will be...will be. I had received two separate sets of quilts in the mail for the babies that day. They meant so much to me. I had spent so much time and energy on being sad, I was trying to focus on the joy.
We got to the hospital, checked in, and I got changed. The nurses were so excited to have a set of twins. How big was that belly? 54 inches!!!!!
Then we met Theresa. Not assigned to be our nurse but helping while the other nurse was in a delivery. Her first words were, "So, what ward are you in?" Her husband was a bishop in a ward on the East side. And she had twins herself. She hated to make me, but I had to get in the bed to get the monitors on. Ouch! She then got me situated so I could lean over the bed and breath through the contractions while we waited for the doctor to come and get an ultrasound to check the babies' positions.
We had a special connection right away. She had asked for the day off to visit with visiting family. But while driving over there they called her back in. As she turned her car around she prayed the Lord would confirm to her why she had to work instead of seeing her brother. We were her reason. She switched patients with the other nurse so she could stay with me. Most everyone with twins always told us how hard it was, when Aaron asked her how she felt she said, "I would do it again, no doubt." It was a perfect response.
Soon the on-call doctor was there (my Dr. was out of town) and we saw right away Adam was now transverse, with his little leg hanging down into my pelvis. I was almost 6 centimeters and the bag of water was bulging. If my water broke it could be disastrous. C-section it would have to be. I sobbed. As much as I tried to prepare myself and in my heart of hearts I knew this would be the outcome, I was still overcome. After everything, this was how it was all going down. They left us alone for a while.
The doctor did another ultrasound, still transverse and looking like if he was moving at all it was breech. Waiting more to see if he would turn during labor would be dangerous. Within minutes they had me ready and walking in to the operating room.
Aaron waited outside while they did the spinal. I was so nervous for it, but it really did not hurt. Soon, Aaron was by my side.
At 1:35 AM....I was a Mommy to a baby boy.
One minute later 1:36 AM...my third baby girl.
Holy Moly. There they were.
Daddy went with them to the recovery room while they waited for me to get put back together. They were checked again and weighed. Adam Everett 6lbs 1oz. ~ Courtney Ann 7lbs 4oz.
The rest of the surgery went fine. The right side was really painful, so they gave me some medicine through the IV.
Finally, I got to meet my babies. I will never forget what Aaron looked like holding them, the look on his face. "Who's who?" He asked. I guessed wrong.
We got to spend a little time in there with Theresa. She helped me latch on both babies. They nursed great, just like their big sissies. As she filled out paperwork, her eyes filled with tears. She felt so honored to play a part in building our eternal family. Renewed hope in prayer because hers was answered that night. She felt hope as she filled out the section where it asked who was at the Mother's bedside. She rarely gets to write in 'Husband.' It's always 'baby's father' 'grandmother' 'friend.' Everyone thanked me several times for having such big, appropriate for their gestational age babies, apparently it saved them a lot of time and paperwork.
The rest of the night was kind of a blur. The pain on the right side was still strong. Aaron snoozed while the nurse came in and out. They took Courtney to the nursery for a check because she would grunt each time she breathed out, a strong indicator of respiratory distress, but she was fine.
The nurses were wonderful especially, Angela, she took such great care of us. Made me mint tea to clear the congestion from the anesthesia, helped me to the bathroom, warm sponge baths, held my hand and walked me around the unit. Claudette was the night nurse and she was wonderful, as well. After they lost more than 10% of their birth weight, we had to supplement with 5ml of formula after each feeding, for just one day. Then my milk was in and they did fine.
Angela giving Courtney her first bath. She was thrilled, obviously.
After church on Sunday Stephanie brought the girls to meet their new brother and sister. Love at first sight X 2!
I got up and walked often trying to get my strength back but the pain was crazy. And I mean crazy. Everyone said it's yucky, but it was beyond that. Way beyond. I knew it was not right. The nurses kept asking if I wanted to just take one pain pill instead of two but one did nothing. One doctor who came in for rounds was concerned about how I was feeling and that the right side of my uterus had yet to contract down. But, the doctor who did my surgery was not concerned. She thought given that the babies were so big, and I had so much fluid, it would take me longer to heal.
Wednesday evening we left for home. I post this picture because it makes me laugh. Why would that lady who took the picture not tell me my stomach was hanging out?!?!
SERIOUSLY?!?!
That afternoon my cousin Emily had flown in. She only was able to come for a couple days, but oh how I needed and appreciated her. She just took over the girls and I was able to take care of the babies. I will forever be grateful to her. Aaron worked while she was here so he could be with me the next week.
The next few days were special and awful. Again, the pain was so intense. I could barely hobble around. Aaron got a huge ladder so I could spend 15 minutes very carefully getting in and out of our really high bed.
Thursday my incision looked worse, I thought it should be healing?
Friday, I laid in bed all afternoon with the chills. Stephanie ran to the store for me to get some antibiotic cream because the right side of the incision had opened up and looked awful. Finally, we called the hospital and they told me to come in right away. I could not stand the thought of that. So, we called Brother Rohm in our ward, he is a doctor. He came right over, heaven bless him!!! The minute he look at my tummy, he asked how long it had looked like that. Not good. He said the infection looked advanced and he would call in two different antibiotics. Long story short, the medicine did it's job. Healing was long and slow. But we're all healthy and (mostly) happy.
Stay tuned for the next chapter!
