Audrey & Zoey's Grand Entrance

After three years of homeownership, including a year of working on our house (after finding mold in our guest bedroom the night before our honeymoon), we had finally gotten the house as complete as it was going to be for a while.  Finally, we were going to have a House Warming Party.  (This is why I tell people to have a party with nothing in there house as soon as they buy it because, for most of us, life catches up quick and the party never happens.)  This party was going to paired up with a Baby Shower as we were pregnant with twin girls due on November 16th, 2013.  We hoped that we would make it to October 19th (36 weeks) and all signs pointed that way so we scheduled the gathering for September 14th (31 weeks).

The day was lovely, friends trickled in through out the day to visit, take the grand tour and bring us sweet gifts for the girls.  By 7 that evening Dave and I were relaxing in the basement on our sofas trying to decide what to do for dinner...we had snacked all day but hadn't really eaten a meal.  Around 7:45 I went upstairs and had a BM and went back downstairs to relax and put me feet up. All of a sudden I said "Dave, this may sound weird but my anus hurts...not sure if I need to poop again." Well, being that I didn't want to shit the sofa I went back upstairs and sat on the potty.  

Ya know how when you're tummy hurts you just have to take off all of your clothes...well I stripped off my hand-me-downs and just didn't feel like anything was happening but my tummy still hurt.  Did I have gas that just couldn't get out through this huge belly? I got on the floor in the bathroom on a towel and tried cow pose and child's pose.  That made it feel a little better but thought, "I'm going to just rest in the shower and see if that helps." I love water and a good shower. I sat on the floor of the shower and did some more pelvic tilts.  Dave came upstairs to check on me and I told him I just didn't feel well and he gave me a hand towel to put under my knees and helped adjust the shower head so the water would hit me on my lower back.  I rolled around and sat leaning against the wall of the shower and put the towel over the drain and filled up the base of the shower until I had to let the water drain and then did it again.  I found all of this to be relaxing but I still didn't feel quite right. The belly is so big at this point it's hard to maneuver. I finally decide to get up and as I push my weight up from a squat position I loose about 8oz of blood. 

Um, "Dave," I yell.  He had been waiting in the bedroom.  "I just lost a lot of blood.  I think we should call the the doctor."  He calls the OB and begins googling my condition on my phone.  I continue to, on and off, lose blood and realize...well, I think, this may be the last opportunity for me to bathe for a while, so I wash and condition my hair and wash my face.  As I bathe he reads aloud what could be happening.  As soon as he read about the placenta separating I thought that was probably it. (I had a feeling I was having twins before I found out for sure too.) Dave begins talking to the midwife at the same time as I am sending him around the house to do things.  

"Dave, will you grab me the BROWN towel from the hall closet?"

I get out of the shower and talk to the midwife briefly and confirm that, yes, this warrants a trip to the hospital. 

"Dave, will you get a trash bag for me to sit on in the car?"

I sit on the seat at the end of the bed in my brown towel diaper.

"Dave, will you get my suitcase for the hospital?"

I look at the contents of the bag.

"Dave, will you put the dogs out and give them fresh water?  We may be gone awhile."

I had packed my toiletries bag earlier that day. Check. I have clean underwears and my maternity shirt (thanks Denise!). Check. I have all these items for laboring, yoga ball, ice packs, heating pad... Am I going to need these now? What else do I need to bring? 

Dave comes back up stairs.  "I'd really prefer if you were in the car."

I look back into the suitcase.  What else do I need to pack? And then I lose a bit more blood.  I finish getting dressed (I think it makes sense to through on a skirt over the towel :P) and go get in the car.

As soon as we pull out of the drive way, Dave asks, "Should we call your mother?"

It could be a false alarm.  I don't want to worry her.  So we don't call.  

I lose a little more blood.  We haven't even left the neighborhood and I call my mom.  

We got to the hospital at about 8:30.  We go through admitting (which seems to take forever, but I think I'm just anxious) and are moved into a birthing room.  I get set up with an ultrasound on both the girls and find out I am having contractions 1 minute apart!  I don't even really notice them.  The pain of the placenta sheering away is a constant pain.  I realize that I don't have the bag I've been using to go to appointments and therefore I don't have my birth plan.  I am trying to remember what it is I do and don't want.  I tell the nurse, "I don't want them to have the vitamin K shot." "Oh, and I don't want them to have the eye drops."  And then I realize, I also don't want to have them at 31 weeks.  THAT is not in my birth plan.  And then I'm laughing as I tell the nurses this as well.  I felt a huge relief being at the hospital and knew I just had to trust that everything was going to be fine. I find that laughing and joking was a good way to keep myself calm.  

When mom and Brian arrive at the hospital she says she can hear me laughing down the hall.  She has a moment of shock when she gets in the room and sees me there but after a hug from Dave she calms down.  I think at this point we all know that I will not be dealing with contractions for long (they have begun to cause me some discomfort) and begins to joke with me when they begin and I am working through them, humming, singing, etc.  "So, is that a contraction? You feel that?"  I was really happy mom felt well enough to give me a little shit. :D

Dr. Sheshadri arrives does a speculum exam and said I was 2cm dilated and that he can confirm that baby A's placenta has/is/was sheered/ing away from the uterus.  

"Are we admitting?" Asked the nurse.

"Uh, yeah."

At this point we're in a room with: Dave, Mom, Step-Dad Brian, Dr. Sheshadri, 2 nurses and an anesthesiologist and I am laying on a bed bleeding and having contractions and now I have to pee.  

Mom says, "just go."

They've got to have a bed pan...they do.  And yes, I pee in a bed pan in front of everyone.  And then announce, "Yes, I just peed in front of all of you."

Dr. Sheshadri and the anesthesiologist are discussing my options.  It is crazy how quickly plans change. The plan was no drugs, natural child birth and now I was happy to have the choice of either general anesthesia or the nerve block. Nerve blocks would have a quicker recovery time.  Nerve block please! Thank you. (It was fortuitous that Dave and I couldn't figure out what we had wanted to eat less than an hour or so ago as that would have resulted in there not being a choice.)  

I have a brief moment of thinking, "do I tell the doctor I want a natural child birth?  Is there time for me to dialte another 8cm."  Yeah, there's not.  It was a fleeting thought.

As we are discussing many things I have a nurse talking to me while shaving my pubes. (Yes, still with all these people in the room.)  I was mildly concerned at her ability to multi task in such a way.  I am pleased to say I was not cut by the clippers.  And where did all the hair go? I still have no idea.  And that was a lot of hair as it had been awhile since I had even SEEN my yonni so there was no way I was going to try and trim it myself...I am pretty sure I would have cut myself. :P

Everything is happening so quickly.  We are heading back for surgery.  Dave puts on a bunny suit as I go back to the OR.  I have to sit up on the table now and lean forward over the nurse completely naked and over this big belly so they can put in the nerve block.  This was very painful.  It also makes me feel a little sad.  This is all really happening right now.  This nurse is so good to me.  She has this naked bleeding girl leaning over her shoulder and she asks me, "What color did you paint the nursery?"  I tell her, "Thank you, it's okay, I'm just going to breath through this." (Side note: I finally got to see her almost a month after the girls were born and just hugged her. She made such a difference in that evening for me.  She was just so good to me.)  The nerve block is in and I lay back on the table. 

Ever since I got into the delivery room they kept trying to give me a gown to cover up wtih.  I don't get this at all It just seems silly to me and this continues to make me laugh (which I needed right about now) and tell the people in the OR trying to cover me up, "Why do you keep trying to cover up my boobs, I have great boobs!"  At this point there is a screen up between my lower half and my upper half. My arms have been taped down in a spread eagle fashion and I can no longer feel my bottom half.  I keep having to have the anesthesiologist translate to me what is being said near my lower half. This keeps me distracted. Another anesthesiologist shows up these guys chat about someone's vacation.  This keeps me distracted.  Then they walk away for some reason.  I am no longer distracted.  Although there are many people in the room I begin to feel very alone.  I begin to circle the drain and think, this isn't what I wanted at all.  What if it's too early? What if the girls aren't okay? What if...  Gratefully, Dave was finally sent back into the OR.  He held my hand.  I told him that I'd read enough about C-sections to know that he shouldn't look over the sheet.  He doesn't want to know what my insides look like.  I tell him to tell the doctor that we can get started.  Dr. Sheshadri says, "um, okay." (He had obviously gotten started awhile ago...yay nerve block!)  At first Dave doesn't say anything or he asks me something...I don't really remember now.  But then I said, "just talk to me. I don't care about what...just talk." And he did.  And I felt better.  

I am being tugged around.  This is the oddest feeling ever and eventually we hear one good cry which is quickly followed by another good cry.  There is nothing better than that sound when you have a child.  If they can cry, they can breath, and they are going to be okay.  They didn't hold them up for us or anything...and I didn't really care.  I knew they were okay.  And I just looked at Dave.  And I continued to feel even better. 

Dave got to go back and see them.  They finished up with me and we went back to room 6, the delivery room, and I don't remember much about this except the nurse asking me if I can move my legs.  I couldn't.  Not for a little while...also a weird feeling.

I didn't get to see the girls until noon the next day.  And that was okay.  I had my first surgery ever and needed to recover.  That night I would start to doze off and then my nose would itch like crazy.  Morphine is great for not having to feel your legs but the coming down from it is AWFUL! I wanted to just tear my nose off of my face.  I'd start to dose again and someone had to take my vitals, or give me drugs or teach me how to use the breast pump.  

I was very very happy we changed OB's and that we had changed to Wake Med Cary.  I really appreciated the philosophy's of both facilities and I think it relieved me of some anxiety when I had to just throw my birth plan out the window.  

Audrey Grace was born at 10:34pm was 3 lbs  11.3 ozs and was 39.5 cms long

Zoey Aleta was born at 10:35pm was 3 lbs 4.8 ozs and was also 39.5 cms long

Zoey Aleta - 4 Days Old - Smaller Than Mom's Big Boob

Audrey Grace - 6 Days Old at Big Wake in Raleigh - First Time Being Held By Mom