Wednesday, March 27, 2013

An Extra Special Delivery

 Ok if you are not for birth stories scroll to the bottom for all the photo goodness!!

Birth Story
We had some pretty bad snow storms the last week of February. I was 34 weeks and started getting braxton hicks for the first time in my pregnancy.  They did not get any worse but by the end of the week something just felt a little off.  On Feb. 28th I went in for a BPP and both girls failed.  I checked into L and D and boy am I glad I did-we got a tour and met some nurses.  The girls ended up passing their NST test, but I started to worry about the effect the irregular contractions were having on the babies. 

All weekend long I had constant cramping but nothing horrible.  Monday I went to volunteer and while there the cramping started to get a little worse.  However, I could not count them very well so I decided to go home and try to sleep it off.  That night was a long night, but I was really trying to hold out for my Drs appointment on Tuesday morning.  

That morning I woke up and felt good.  I figured it was just another instance of false labor-how wrong I was!  Luckily Mr. Project took me to my appointment.  On the way there I had the most gut wrenching pain in my life.  At that point I figured it was the real deal.  The doctor wanted me to have the BPP which both girls passed and then checked me.  I was at 2.  He decided to hook me up to the machine and monitor my contractions for 20 minutes and check me again.  While on the machine I had the gut wrenching pain again and did not register at all as a contraction.  I kept thinking all the other contractions were fine...but how is that pain not a contraction!!!  After 20 minutes I was at a three.  Dr. P decided it was go time! 

I got wheeled over the hospital.  My appointment was at 9:00 and I was checked into the hospital at 11:10.  The hospital was thinking they had time, however; Dr. P wanted them delivered now since they were both breech.  In hindsight we are so lucky he moved so quickly.  After they realized how quickly he wanted me back in the operating room-things started to happen quickly.  I was wheeled back to the OR at around 12:30.  Dr. Peck came in a little before one and started the section before Mr. Project was back with me.  He had just sat down and they announced Lydia was here. 

It seemed like hours (when only seconds) before we heard her cry.  When it came I have never cried such happy tears.  She was born at 13:03 and weighed 5lbs 7.5oz and was 17 inches long.  Clara came a minute later at 13:04 weighing in at 4lbs 7.5 oz and also 17 inches long and crying right away.  The only part of the c-section that I felt was Dr. P tugging her out from my ribs-she was super high up there!!  I got to see the girls for a minute before they went back for observation. 

Since I had been in labor before the operation-it was decided I had to keep the epidural in until the next morning.  Since the girls were under observation I could not see them for at least 6 hours.  At first they said Lydia would be able to come out and see me after those 6 hours-then things took a turn.  The reason Lydia did not cry right away was because she had blood in her lungs.  The nurses later said she was covered in blood clots.  They thought she had just swallowed a little since she showed no signs of distress before the operation.  However, that was not the case.  The pains that I had felt that morning was her placenta abrupting.  Due to this I had lost a lot of blood and she had a few tummy troubles from swallowing a lot of it.  Finally, after 12 hours I got to go back the nursery and see my ladies.  They did 15 days in the nursery to gain weight and to let Lydia's tummy troubles resolve themselves.  We are so lucky they never needed oxygen or had any horrible effects of coming a bit early!

Twin love


Clara 

Lydia
We took the quilts in and both girls loved looking up at them.  Who knew how comforting they really would be!


 

3 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the arrival of your beautiful girls! I'm so glad everything turned out okay.

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  2. What treasures they are!! So glad everything turned out well!

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  3. they're precious!!
    Congratulations Meghan! And I'm so glad they're both here! Good job mama. Thrilled with you, though I imagine you're fairly exhausted.

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