The Twins Birth Story

The morning of October 1st, I woke up extremely calm. (I know, I was shocked myself) One of my favorite nurses was working and I was her patient that day (by request, of course). She changed out my IV, wheeled a stretcher in front of my room and we were off. I think I had gotten so used to taking things day by day minute by minute, that I couldn't even think 5 minutes ahead of myself. So I contribute that to my calmness (and don't worry that's all about to change)

Elevator ride down to Pre-Op

(Amanda, my nurse, took this picture and said we would be happy one day she did. And I am)

 

I, again, had been prepped by my nurses and doctors on exactly what to expect. So I felt extremely comfortable going into Pre-Op. Two of my OB's were to be in on my surgery, one for the babies and one to watch my previa. Dr. Perkins was to be the main surgeon and my beloved Dr. Young was to assist her. I had seen Dr. Young the most through my pregnancy. He always took the conservative approach with me and made me feel safe.

 

In pre-op, my vitals were taken, the babies were monitored, and I had to take all sorts of stuff to "settle" my body (some grape sour patch flavored drink, minus the sugar, yuck, to settle my stomach and the contents that remained in if any)

 

Dr. Perkins came to see me in Pre-op to say hello and let me know she'd see me inside.

Then the anesthesiologist came in to see me with his nurse. THey were both super sweet and explained to me exactly what was going to happen with my spinal block. 

*side note- up until the day before my surgery I thought I was just getting an epidural. But I was informed I would be getting a spinal block that would make my body numb and unable to move from my chest down. My anesthesiologist told me a spinal block felt about 10% of what my IV felt like. THANK GOD! I hated getting my IV's in and if this thing were to only be 10% of that pain, I could handle it. His nurse then informed me she was solely in charge of me and my comfort. She would sit behind my head the whole surgery and give me anything I needed. That also made me feel at ease.

 

The next thing I knew, another nurse was whisking Adam away to get scrubbed in and I was getting wheeled to the OR. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. My anxiety completely swept over me. From the ride in the OR hallway to entering the room. It wasn't anything like I was expecting. I'm not exactly sure what I was imagining, but this hallway and room were cold and white and all I could think was "are my babies really going to be born in this room?"

 

I decided at that moment to just close my eyes. My nurse sat me up on the edge of OR table and my anesthesiologist started small talk with me (what are the babies names going to be? were they spontaneous or IVF?   where Adam and I worked? how we met?) Then he stuck me in the back, as a clenched onto a pillow and nurses hand. I really wanted Adam and was terrified without him there. After the doc was done things moved really quickly. they spun me around, threw a curtain up and I immediately started shaking and couldn't breathe. I was given oxygen and my nurse that was in charge of my comfort kept telling me "as soon as the boys are out, I am going to give you what is equivalent to 2 glasses of wine in your IV to make you stop shaking and take the edge off." ummm... can I have that now please?

 

I heard Dr. Perkins and Dr. Young come in. Dr. Young came around the curtain and said " Good Morning? How are we? Ready to have these babies?" and in that moment I felt safe. A familiar face I knew had my best interest at heart. Someone that had put so much time into my pregnancy, was now there for the final outcome.

 

Then my sweet Adam came in, all scrubbed in. I looked at him and said "We are never doing this again." At that moment I knew why God gave me two at the same time.* Everyone says this will change and I'll forget all about it, but just wait until I get to the recovery portion of my story and then let's see how everyone feels!

 

The doctors immediately started my surgery once Adam was seated. The next five minutes felt like a lifetime. I kept saying " Dr. Young, are they okay? Am I okay? Am I bleeding out? (if I haven't mentioned it yet, this was my biggest fear, as I knew with twins and my previa there was a greater chance of this happening and that there was a blood transfusion team waiting in the wings for me.

 

In about 5 minutes, we heard the doctors say, here comes Baby A! And then we heard screams. Beautiful screams that we were hoping to hear to let us know their lungs were great and the steroids had worked. I heard Adam say "Baby, he looks just like you" and then they peeked him around curtain for me to see and then he was off to be assessed. Then one minute later I heard Dr. Young say, "Dad get your camera ready." and I thought there was no way Adam was going to look over that curtain... but sure as shit, he did. He stood right up, brave as ever and started snapping away. And I am so glad he did. He have wonderful pictures that the two of us will treasure forever. (I have made him swear we will be the only ones to see them, however) And then a second set of screams.

My nurse leaned down to me and said " here comes those two glasses of wine, momma." Then, I heard, "5 pounds, 15 ounces and 6 pounds 2 ounces, and great lungs, NO NICU!!!!" I was so happy. Elated. I couldn't breathe I was so happy. The boys were then brought over to us and we held them for the first time. This moment I felt so alive.

 

 Adam was then whisked off again to recovery with the boys and I would meet them there shortly. They finished stitching me up and then wheeled me to recovery. From the time Adam left, the rest of the day was blurry. Those two glasses of wine must have done the trick. I do remember parts of the rest of the day. Here is what I do remember:

Being wheeled into recovery

seeing the boys being cleaned up and assessed again

The boys being brought over to me

The nurses getting the boys to latch on

Amanda, nurse, coming down to see me

the nurses trying to get me to move my legs (which I couldn't do)

and then I remember being on the elevator going back to my floor and all my nurses greeting me when I got off (this brought tears to mine and Adam's eyes)

 

 

 

The rest of the day was spent staring at our boys. My mom, sister and brother were there and lots of assessments were done on myself and the boys. I couldn't move from my stomach down still but I held the babies all afternoon.

 

my three beautiful boys

 

 

See you back here tomorrow for our first night together and the start of recovery....