The past 7 weeks of pregnancy were pretty normal. It wasn't until 37 weeks that I felt my belly was stretched to its max, I wasn't getting enough sleep or getting comfortable, and just ready to have my babies.
From 32 weeks, I started having weekly NSTs (non-stress tests) on my girls. Basically, I went into Winnie Palmer, they hooked up each baby for about 30-45 minutes to listen to their heart beat, and then went home. Each week the girls have done a wonderful job. Their heartbeats rose and fell at a regular rate.
Starting around week 33/34, Dr. Merritt continued to ask us about c-section vs natural birth. We were adamant about having a natural birth. She was fine with that but wanted to let us know that many doctors at the practice would not deliver a breached baby and we may have to have a natural and c-section delivery depending on the situation. We knew the potential dangers.
At 35 weeks, we received our last ultrasound. The tech said that Baby A - Emily - was about 6 pounds (5 pounds 8 ounces) and Baby B - Allison - was about 7 pounds (6 1/2 pounds). Allison was still breached. After much discussion with Brian, prayer for the "right" decision, and consideration....we decided to go with a scheduled c-section, for 37 weeks. Originally, after talking with Dr. Merritt, the hospital had Thursday, 9/20 available for a scheduled c-section. However, it wasn't confirmed. The next day we received a phone call saying that 9/20 didn't work out with Winnie Palmer, but 9/21 at 1:30 was available. We had it set...until a few days later when they moved the time to 12:30 on the same day.
I continued to work for 2 weeks. It was interesting having an official "end" date - if the girls didn't come sooner on their own. I wasn't too nervous and it truly didn't hit me until the Thursday before.
Nothing really happened from week 36 to week 37. My stomach grew larger, my feet continued to swell, bedtime was uncomfortable. Except one big thing...
The Wednesday before my c-section I had a "scare." As I was walking in the supply room at work, I had some water trickle down my leg. Well, after having numerous people come surround me, the nurse determined that was normal and my water had not broken. Which was fine with me, because at that moment, I don't think I was mentally ready for babies. I had started to prep myself for Friday, no sooner.
Thursday came and went, I had my pre-op appointment in the morning and that was about it. At my pre-op appointment, I was told to be at the hospital at 10:30 and eat nothing after 2:30 am.
Brian and I went to bed around 11 on Thursday, in preparation of waking up at 8:30 the next morning. The last thing I ate was around 10, big mistake. I really wish I had ate something at 2:30, but I knew little of what was to come the next day.
We woke up Friday morning refreshed. We got ready, Brian was able to eat breakfast...I just brushed my teeth. I wasn't even allowed to drink water, so the water to brush my teeth had to suffice. After putting antiseptic on my stomach to prep for surgery, we got dressed and ready to go. We packed our car with everything we needed for the weekend (assuming we were only going to be in the hospital until Sunday or Monday).
We arrived at the hospital right at 10:30, we were a little late because as we drove (right as we got onto the 408 and paid a toll), we realized that we didn't have Brian's license, our phone chargers, and a few other items. We turned around, picked up these items, and then started our journey again.
After checking in to the front desk, we were instructed to go to level 2, Labor and Delivery floor. Brian (patiently) and I (nervously) waited in the waiting room. I was quite nervous while waiting. I had never been a patient in the hospital, let alone, have to go through surgery and have my stomach sliced open. It was quite comforting seeing Pastor Mike walk through the elevator doors. He had come to talk with us and pray before the operation began. What a great feeling to know that so many people were praying for us and our girls that mid-morning/early afternoon.
The nurse called me back to the room. She asked a few questions before having me change into my gown. After changing, I walked back to my preparation pod. The nurse hooked up both babies to a monitor, the exact monitors that I used every time I had my NSTs. The nurse gave me an IV for fluids, checked my blood pressure, and did a few other prep work items. Putting the IV in hurt the most, I still have a little mark from where it was. :(
A soon while after, the anesthesiologist came in. They discussed how things would go for getting my epidural. I got my epidural, it wasn't that painful. Actually, the IV hurt more than the epidural. The only scary part was that they said I should feel a tingle down either my left side or my right side....well I felt the tingle down both sides. so they kept asking me if I could feel things and how I was doing. I started numbing right away, so I don't know why I felt tingling down both sides of my back.
Dr. Merritt had called the nurse to see if we could start at 12:00 instead of 12:30. I love an efficient doctor. :) Well, the nurse said she wouldn't necessarily be ready at 12:30, but 12:15. Dr. Merritt arrived shortly after calling the nurse. It was great seeing her. I thanked her for doing the c-section because seeing her truly calmed me down. She made a joke about texting her parents. We talked about why she had to text both of her parents even though she knows they are sitting right next to each other. She has such wonderful bedside manner, I couldn't ask for a better doctor.
We entered the surgery room at 12:19. I love that there's a big clock as you enter the operating room. There were about 15 people in the freezing, cold room. They moved me from the bed I was in to the operating table. This was the only point in time that Brian was not with me. They had to prep me first and then bring him in.
Thankfully the nurses didn't have to tie me down to the table. After all was prepped, Brian came in. The nurses/doctors did a "time out" and stated the procedure, time, etc. Then we started.
Emily was "taken" out at 12:42. We heard her cry and it was so relieving. I only felt a bit of pressure when Dr. Merritt (I assume) was taking out Emily. She was our chunky one, weighing 7 pounds 8 ounces.
Allison was "taken" out at 12:43. She didn't make a sound while being taken out. And truly, I didn't feel any pressure when she was taken out. Allison weighed 6 pounds 3 ounces. Both babies scored a 9 on the apgar test when they were taken to be with the nurses.
Both babies were able to stay with us in the operating room. Brian snapped pictures all the way along. The girls did great and I'm so glad they weren't whisked away to the nursery or NICU. They put Emily on my chest first. I hugged her beautiful self, as much as I could. Then they brought Allison. We took a family shot together. It was beyond beautiful. Both girls were as perfect as could be. Then they let daddy hold the girls. :) More pictures were taken.
Then finally they started stitching me up and took the girls to the nursery. Brian went up with the girls.
While they were stitching me up, we were all talking about crazy things. We were listening to the music playing in the OR and Dr. Scott (Dr. Merritt's assistant, another OB at the practice) tried to name the song and artist....which then got into a discussion about the game Song Pop, which lead into a discussion about dead singers. This was about the time that I started feeling sick, then felt nauseous, then felt hungry. Dr. Merritt made a joke about how I went through all those feelings within about 3 minutes. My anesthesiologist gave me some medicine to help the nausea feeling go away, but by the time he gave it to me I felt hungry instead.
I was wheeled back into my pod where Brian came back down to visit me. He said the girls were doing wonderfully and in the nursery. They were running some tests on the girls and we'd be back upstairs soon. Prior to the surgery, the nurse who was prepping me did inform me that there were woman who had not received a room yet that had their babies that morning. She said it would be a wait before receiving a room and only 5 babies were allowed on that floor (due to the number of nurses on that floor). I expected to wait, probably be in my little pod until 3 or 4...no problem...it was around 1:30 at that time. Plus, they said I would have to wait to move until I could move my legs....Well, when I was wheeled back into my pod I could already move my toes....by 1:30 I could lift my legs. I was recovering and wearing off from the anesthesia a lot faster than anticipated.
Well, needless to say, 2:30 came and went. I was moved into a different pod. This pod was more of a "recovery" pod instead of a "prepping" pod. Since there were so many girls on that floor they lifted the no more than 5 babies rule. They brought the girls to me. I was over the moon! Brian and I got to spend some time together, but then that is when people started to trickle in. Brian was able to give up his purple (VIP) tag and give it to other people so they could see me and the babies. I am so blessed that so many people stopped by to see me. That definitely kept my spirits high, considering I was moving no where fast out of my pod.
Due to overcrowding in the postpartum rooms, many women were kept in the recovery pods that evening. The worse part about being stuck in the recovery room...no food was allowed. It was miserable. The nurses could see I was hungry, I mean I hadn't eaten since 10:30 the night before, it was over 12 hours later...thankfully the nurses were able to get me fruit punch with ice chips. The ice chips are soft, not the crunchy square ones...so it was almost like eating an icee.
Around 8:15 the hospital FINALLY moved me to a postpartum room. Some of my family and Brian's family came to visit us...when they ran some of my vitals the nurse and tech discovered I had high blood pressure. High as in 160s - 170s. The nurse wanted our families to leave. This is when I had my major melt down. Of course I had high blood pressure, I had been in recovery ALL day, had NOTHING to eat, and I was being moved from one floor to the next. I didn't want our families to leave, they had been waiting all day to see the girls.
Unfortunately, everyone had to leave except Brian. The nurse had to check my blood pressure every hour. And we kept the girls in the room with us. Allison slept wonderfully that evening, Emily not so much. Whatever we did for her would not soothe her. I ended up keeping her in my lap and falling asleep (oops, that's against postpartum rules...no sleeping with your child in the bed).
My blood pressure continued to rise and fall throughout my whole stay at the hospital. I am on blood pressure medication now because of it. :(
Our weekend in the hospital was fine. Nothing too exciting happened. We had many family and friends help and visit us. I enjoyed eating food that I didn't have to clean up afterwards...and room service always asked if I wanted dessert with my meal (um yes, cherry pie!!).
Brian did a wonderful job helping me up out of bed, lifting the girls up, being my support system. Brian and I both said you don't realize what you need to "do" in the hospital as the husband. I never imagined him having to do certain things that are part of life (part of recovery from surgery and recovery from being pregnant) that he jumped into doing without complaining or making an "ew gross" expression. We both agree that we love each other more and more every day. The bond of these two girls and just going through the past 9 months (and more, since we struggled with fertility) has just grown tremendously. Sigh, I love him. I can't wait til he comes home (today was his first day back at work).
By the end of the weekend, nurses weren't even considering us going home on Sunday. We dealt with that.
By Monday morning, the doctor on call said she wasn't sending us home Monday. Frustration hit again! Emily had elevated levels of jaundice. I had elevated blood pressure levels. We just felt like we would all heal and get better at home. But no, nurses and doctors refused. I was walking around since Saturday afternoon, I had limited my pain medication since Sunday early AM, why was I being held "hostage?"
After accepting the fact that our family wasn't going home, we decided to just deal with it. We "went out" to eat down to the first floor. We left the girls in the nursery and had a little date. We walked around the cafe (and got to pick an assortment of food), we went to the gift shop...It was nice. :)
We finally got released on Tuesday afternoon. Everyone was released by 5 o'clock Tuesday. We were driving home and on the road by 6 and arrived home at 6:30.
Being at home has been amazing. We are all adjusting well! This past week Brian stayed at home. It has been wonderful growing and fostering our family this week. Having an extra pair of hands is extremely helpful. My pain levels have been next to none. I pretty much only take 1 pill a day and most of the time its either when I go to sleep or right as I wake up. I'm hoping that by Wednesday I'll be off pain meds, then I can drive!
Our family has truly appreciated everyone bringing us meals, lending a helping hand, or sending out encouragement via facebook, text messages, and e-mails. We can't thank you all enough! God is truly faithful and taking care of our family via those surrounding us.
I am slowly but surely going to start responding/answering facebook and e-mail messages. I have a few other items on my to do list as well...but I will get around to it!
If you want to see pictures of our adorable little girls that Brian has taken via our camera, you can go here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/g09hfd5ri3vrbta/sV-eAF20oT#f:IMG_0212.JPG. This website will continually update. While we were in the hospital it had 30 pictures, when we returned on Tuesday it had 50, and now it has 98 pictures. Save the link and continue to look for updated pictures!
If you want to help us with bringing a meal, you can sign up via the Care Calendar. We have set up a website where people can sign up to bring us a meal on a specific day. The website is: http://www.carecalendar.org/.
I will leave you with a few pictures that I have taken via my phone :)
Allison
Emily
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