Soo....I am finally getting around to writing about my labor and delivery with Emery and Casey. Here I am about 4 days before they were born:
I had a little bit of a meltdown a few days later on Wednesday, February 3rd. I knew that my doctor was going to induce either Sunday or Monday, but at that point, 4-5 more days seemed WAY TOO LONG! I wanted them OUT!
On Thursday, February 4th, I woke up and was feeling some light cramping here and there, but really wasn’t having any contractions. I had my last NST and BPP ultrasound that morning at 9:30am. I was hoping to go and find out I was contracting and have them send me to the hospital. As I sat through the NST I felt a few contractions, but there wasn’t enough going on for the doctor to be concerned. The babies looked great on their ultrasound…I was even able to get “face shots” from both of them. We hadn’t gotten a picture of Emery’s face for several weeks because he was always facing my back, so it was fun to see his chubby little cheeks and get a sneak peak of what I’d be kissing and loving on soon : ) Soo…I went home to wait for my doctor to call and tell me whether she was going to induce me on Sunday or Monday.
2:30pm: The kids went down for their nap and Chip left for work. I decided to take a nap too. I woke up around 3:45 having some contractions and more light cramping. I was having trouble feeling the actual contractions apart from the cramping…so I didn’t really time them. At that point, they weren’t very significant and definitely not “painful”. They were just strong enough to be noticeable…just a step above Braxton Hicks. I called the doctors office again and they still hadn’t heard if my doctor had decided to induce on Sunday or Monday and told me to call back in the morning.
4:30pm: The kids woke up and watched Curious George. I decided that I’d make them dinner and clean up the house a little bit and see if my contractions got worse or went away.
5:12pm: Chip’s mom called and told her that I was having something going on, and that if I needed her I’d let her know. I only let her know something was up because she had called me, anyway. Otherwise, things weren’t bad enough that I would have called her.
5:25pm: I called my mom. I told her that I was so unsure of what to do. I was pretty much in denial that it could really be anything significant, since I had really gotten it in my head that there was no way I’d have the babies before my doctor induced, especially since I’d been off of bedrest and the meds for stopping contractions for 4 days and hadn’t felt ANYTHING until that day. While I was on the phone with her, I told her that if Chip were home and could stay with the kids that I would definitely go in just to see what was happening. I just felt bad having other people come over to watch the kids, especially because I knew his parents had plans with friends that night. She said that if that was the only thing holding me back from going in, that I should probably go in and at least get checked out…or if nothing else, at least call my doctor.
5:40pm: I called the doctor’s office (which was closed) and listened to the message. Basically, I had 2 options…page the on-call doctor and wait for a call back or go to triage. I knew what the on-call dr would say. They’d want me to go to triage.
5:48pm: I called our neighbor, Jenn. I was still feeling bad about having my in-laws cancel plans, so I thought maybe Jenn could come over and watch the kids instead…since I was pretty sure at that point nothing was going on. NO ANSWER.
5:49pm: Called Chip’s parents house. NO ANSWER.
5:50pm: Called Chip’s mom’s cell phone. NO ANSWER.
5:51pm: Called Chip’s sister’s cell. NO ANSWER.
5:52pm: Tried the house again. NO ANSWER
5:53pm: Tried Mom B’s cell again. NO ANSWER
5:53pm: Tried Dad B’s cell. NO ANSWER.
(Ok..so at this point I was REALLY second guessing myself…I had just made the FOR SURE decision to go to triage… and now NO ONE was answering. And this is only about a half hour after I had talked to Chip’s mom)
5:54pm: Called my mom back and told her I was going in…as soon as I could make plans with Chip’s parents. While I was on the phone with her, Chip’s mom called me back. And while I was talking to her, Liz called me back.
We decided that Chip’s parents would come stay with the kids and Liz would go to the hospital with me. By this time the contractions still weren’t bad, but they were definitely more discernable from the overall cramping. At one point I tried to time a few and was getting them 2-3 minutes apart. I timed them for 10-15 minutes at that interval. They got here around 6:30pm and Liz and I headed to Banner Desert. On the way there I had a Nutrigrain bar and a Naked juice…just in case I ended up staying. I hadn’t eaten dinner. I also decided maybe it would be a good idea to call my husband....ya know….keep him in the loop?
We walked into triage a little before 7pm. My triage nurse was Denise…the same wonderful nurse I’d had in triage exactly 3 weeks earlier. It was fun, because she remembered me and was happy to see that everything had gone ok and that I was SUPPOSED to be there this time! She got me all set up and my contractions were just like I thought…2-3 minutes apart. She checked me and I was still about 3 ½ cm dilated and around 70% effaced. She told me to walk around and see if anything changed. Here was the dilemma….I HAD to be in labor BY MYSELF. No pitocin. No water-breakage. Nothing like that until there was PROOF that I was in true labor on my own (showing changes in dilation). Why? Because I wasn’t 36 weeks yet. It was Thursday night. I was going to be induced on Sunday! But because I wasn’t 36 weeks yet and there was no indication of fetal distress or anything, they couldn’t “help me along”. That’s fine. I agree with it, in theory. But the flip-side was that I was already 3 ½ cm dilated with twins and having regular contractions. They weren’t about to send me home. I could have insisted, I’m sure, but honestly, I didn’t want to risk it. SOO….I had to get my body going.
So. We started walking. I wished I had brought my running shoes instead of my Old Navy flip flops. And poor Liz wore shoes that were rubbing her heals and giving her blisters. But we walked. And walked. And walked. Every 45 minutes to an hour, we’d check back into our rook and the nurse would check me again. Progress was slow…but there WAS progress. And so we kept walking. I think I went from 3 ½ cm to a tiny bit over 4cm after the first 45 minutes of walking. And each time I’d walk, I would dilate just a little bit more.
10:20pm: I called Chip to see if he was off work yet. He told me he’d be off soon and would call again when he was. His plan was to go home and get some stuff and then come to the hospital. Liz would then leave the hospital and go stay overnight with the kids at our place.
10:55pm: Chip called and was on his way home.
Sometime around 11:30pm I got moved to my L&D room. At this point, I was around 5 ½ cm dilated. So it had taken 4 hours of walking…but at least SOMETHING was happening.
Chip got to the hospital at midnight. My plan was to walk around again with him when he got there, but I ended up sitting on a birthing ball for awhile instead and I think he went to find something to eat.
1:00am: I got my IV started. I knew I was going to want an epidural at some point. I had held out on starting the IV, although I’d gotten it placed when I first arrived, because I really really didn’t want to have to walk around dragging an IV pole with me the whole time. By this point, I was tired of walking and decided to go ahead and start it.
2:00am: I talked to my nurse and decided I would try to rest for awhile. I laid there for about 5 minutes before realizing that I was definitely to the point of “discomfort” that I was going to get NO rest without an epidural. I called her back in and asked if she’d call the anesthesiologist…no rush…but to get the process rolling.
3:00am: My anesthesiologist arrived. Went through the drill…this is an epidural….yada, yada, yada.
3:18am: Epidural was started. I was happy : )
At this point, we wanted to try to sleep.I don’t think I really DID sleep…but at least I rested. I know that not too long after I got the epidural the nurse went to check me and when I laid down flat my blood pressure dropped quite low (90/40). I had a history of low blood pressure with epidurals and I had let them know, so they weren't completely caught off guard.
6:00am: My new nurse came in. It was Carmen! One of my very most favorite nurses from my pre-term labor stay. She had worked a 12hr shift when I had been there before and I was SO EXCITED that she was going to be my delivery nurse. By this point…I was STILL only 6cm dilated. But she had talked to my doctor and they were going to start Pitocin. At this point, my contractions had slowed WAY down (about 1 every 10 minutes) and things just weren’t happening.
6:32am: I decided to call my mom. I knew she was probably anxious for an update. Then we took some pictures since we were just hanging around. Here they are:
7:15am: My pitocin was started (so I thought). My contractions picked up a TINY bit (like 1 every 5 minutes) but I thought it was weird that even as the upped the Pit, it still didn’t seem like much was happening. At some point in the morning we also had an ultrasound to determine where the babies were at. Emery was still head down….so far in the birth canal that we couldn’t see much of his head. Casey was transverse above Emery with his head on my right side.
9-something am: We realized that the Pitocin line was not plugged into my IV….instead, it was pouring out Pitocin all over the floor. Lovely. No wonder nothing was happening. So we REALLY started the Pitocin.
10ish am: My doctor came in to check me. I was still 6cm dilated and my bag of waters was “bulging”. She was pretty sure that I had so much amniotic fluid, that it was keeping Emery from really being able to press his head down hard on the cervix which was stalling my labor. She was pretty confident that breaking my water would get things to move fast. So she broke it…and the lovely warm gush began. I went from 6cm to 8cm almost right away. YAY…things were finally happening again!!
11am: I stared feeling “pressure” with contractions. Nothing too intense. No urge to push. But there was definitely pressure. I told my nurse because they wanted to know any time ANYTHING changed. I was laboring in a L&D room, but because of the increased risk of emergency C-section with twins, you are required to actually deliver in the OR. The plan was that as I felt pressure, we’d check things out, and once I close to completely dilated we’d call over to the OR and wheel me over and meet my doctor there and I’d begin to push and deliver my boys. It seemed easy enough. I knew we’d have plenty of time….nothing about this labor (or any of my other labors for that matter) had ever been fast. So I felt pressure. Told the nurse. She checked me. She felt around for a little bit longer than usual and said that she thought I was almost complete but that it felt a little bit strange to her. Not bad…just different. So she decided to have my doctor come and check me again.
11:20am: My doctor came back in to check me. She shattered the hopes that I was completely dilated. Nope. Still about 8 ½ cm. WHAT?!?! How could this be?? When my water broke I had gone from 6 to 8cm right away! It had been an hour. And I was on pitocin. And contractions were clearly happening. And I was feeling pressure with each contraction. And I was still only 8 ½ cm. BUM-MER. The doctor kept feeling and told us that she had just figured out why the nurse thought things felt strange AND why I was not progressing. Remember…..WAY WAY back at the beginning of this beautiful little story, when my sweet little Emery had made me SO happy at my ultrasound the day before because I got to see his little face since it WASN’T buried in my back for once. Well guess what? He was STILL face up. After weeks and weeks of ultrasounds showing him looking straight into my back, the little guy had decided to give us a pretty little shot for the camera…and then STAYED that way. He was “presenting posteriorly”. Not what I wanted to hear. My doctor explained that when the wrong part of the head is pressing on the cervix, it takes a lot more time to fully dilate. I remember asking her if I was still going to have the boys that day and her response was “hopefully”. I had been feeling like I was getting SO CLOSE to meeting my little peanuts…and this news made me feel like it was still so far away. My mind also went immediately to the increased chance of C-section that this presented….but I quickly pushed that away. I didn’t want to start worrying about it unless I really had to. My doctor told the nurses to have me lay on my sides and that icing my back could possibly encourage Emery to rotate. She left, telling me she’d check on me in a couple hours. The worst part in my mind at that point was the fact that the pressure I was feeling with contractions was definitely bearable, but definitely not very comfortable and I wasn’t very excited about several hours of labor feeling that pressure the whole time. My nurse, Carmen, helped me roll onto my side and got ice on my back.
11:40am: I called my mom again to let her know about the “stall” in progress. I told her that unless Emery decided to roll over, it would possibly be several more hours. While I was talking to her, I felt a strange little wiggle. It didn’t hurt at all, but I told my mom that Emery had just done something that felt really weird and I wondered if he had rolled over. The next contraction I had I felt even more pressure than I’d been feeling and decided that I should probably get off the phone (at 11:43am).
Sometime between 11:45am & 11:50am: I felt Emery LUNGE down…and KNEW I was completely dilated. He had decided that he was on his way out. NOW! As soon as he lunged downwards there was immediate INTENSE pressure. And it was no longer just with contractions. It was constant. I told the nurse that I thought he had just moved down and that I was fully dilated. She said ok. I told her that I thought it might be smart to check me. At this point, she was doing a great job at keeping her cool. I was annoyed by it at the time…feeling like she wasn’t taking me seriously. She told me after the fact that she was really nervous and didn’t want me to panic. She said she was taking me VERY seriously and was really nervous about the next few minutes and didn’t want to make it more stressful on me than she already knew it would be. I’m not positive about this, but I am PRETTY sure that when I told her it would be smart to check me, that she didn’t even end up checking me. She just started making calls and unplugging things. She called in more nurses…called my doctor (who had JUST left the room thinking it would be hours…) Within just a contraction or two, I was panicking. I NEEDED to push and I NEEDED to do it NOW. Because of the epidural, I wasn’t in any pain. But the pressure was so intense and overwhelming. Carmen was telling me to breathe and telling me it was ok. I was crying and starting to get somewhat hysterical. It was such a surreal experience because I KNEW I was FREAKING OUT but I had NO CONTROL over it at all. I could tell Chip was nervous. I think he was holding my hand for parts of it, but he was also trying to help the nurses get cords unhooked and get me moved to the OR. I remember saying “He’s coming out” over and over and “I’m sorry…I can’t not push…I’m really sorry…I’m trying not to” and just sobbing. It was crazy.
12:00pm: I was rolled into the OR. Everyone in the OR was rushing around. People were coming in all around me. No one was ready for me. No one had even known that I was coming. The anesthesiologist rushed in and was trying to monitor my blood pressure and also prep my epidural for the possibility of C-section. He was on my right side. On my left side, there were people preparing to lift me from the bed I was brought in on, onto the operating table. My doctor was not there yet. I was still desperately trying to keep from pushing and just trying to breathe. My whole body was shaking. An ultrasound machine was wheeled in. As they were transferring me to the operating table, I saw my doctor run past me to the foot of the table, still gowning up, and saying “I’m here…push when you need to”.
12:06 pm: Seconds after my doctor arrived, another contraction started and I was pushing and Emerson Earl was out. He had flipped to face down, just like I thought. He immediately cried a beautiful strong cry. I got to hold him for just a second before they took him over to assess him (not even really hold…more like he was laid on me and I gave him a quick kiss). Right away, my doctor started looking for Casey. She asked for ultrasound, but the machine takes 10-15 minutes to turn on and “warm up” and since we had only been in the room for about 7 minutes, it still wasn’t ready. Her plan was to grab him by the feet and pull him out, but she always checks things out with ultrasound and makes sure she’s holding what she thinks she is holding before she pulls (smart plan). While she was waiting for the ultrasound machine, nurses were pushing down on my belly to push him down, and my doctor began reaching inside me and found what she was pretty sure were his feet. His bag of amniotic fluid was still intact and made it harder for her to get a good hold on his feet. As she was holding his feet and waiting for ultrasound, he decided to pull his feet out of her hand and move them up to my ribcage, as far away from her as he could get them. His bag of water broke and fluid was gushing everywhere. She began feeling around again, and the ultrasound machine was finally ready. Another OB who had come in to assist was doing the ultrasound and my doctor was feeling around. She found his hands first. Then she found his head. She grabbed him by his little head and pulled him right down (an internal version). The other OB asked if she wanted a vacuum to help pull him into the birth canal…she said to wait on the vacuum, but to get it ready just in case. She asked if I was ready and told me I needed to do some pushing on the next contraction to push him into the birth canal. I pushed and it worked. He was right in place and ready to deliver.
12:20pm: The next contraction I pushed again and out came my little Cason Roy. I don’t remember much about Casey crying, although pictures show that he did. I think because Emery had just been wrapped up and was handed to me almost immediately after Casey was out. I had no tearing and no stitches which I could hardly believe, especially after my doctor had literally put her arm up inside of me to grab Casey.
Emerson Earl:
Cason Roy:
Emery & Casey both did GREAT after birth. Both were allowed to stay with me and we were all taken back to my L&D room. Once we were back to the room, they were weighed (Emery was 6lbs 5oz and Casey was 6lbs 10oz) and their glucose levels were tested. Both were low. I was already working on nursing Emery and Chip gave Casey a bottle. After about 30 minutes, they were re-tested and while their levels had gone up, they still were too low, so they were taken to an observation area (a step below NICU) to be watched for awhile.
Around 3pm I was moved to my recovery room. The nurse asked if I wanted to see the babies on the way and I said I did if they were going to be gone much longer. She decided to call and check on them and was told that they were getting ready to come to me right then. Since they were heading to my room, we decided not to stop and see them and I’d just meet them there. When we got to my room…no babies. I waited awhile and Chip called me at about 3:20. He said that they had realized the babies still hadn’t been cleaned up so they gave them a bath and then needed to wait and make sure they maintained a good temperature on their own. So I waited. I waited and waited and waited. I tried to call people to take my mind off of missing my boys.
7:10pm: I was talking to my mom and had decided I was going to call a nurse in to take me to the babies. As I was getting off the phone, they brought my boys in. It was wonderful.
The boys were able to stay with me the rest of the time we were at the hospital. We stayed Friday night and Saturday night and left around lunchtime on Sunday. Kenzie and Ryken got to come meet the boys on Saturday morning. The boys were both EXCELLENT nursers right away. I supplemented with some formula to make sure their glucose levels stayed up, but they switched to almost exclusive breastfeeding as soon as we were home from the hospital.
And that was my twin labor & delivery story. It went from slow and boring to crazy and overwhelming in about 1 minute thanks to Emery. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. God was so gracious. His hand of protection was on myself and the boys the whole time and I am so thankful that everything went the way it did. It was perfect.
