If you'd like to know all the details, keep reading, if not, you can scroll down and just look at the pictures. No judgment either way!
So where did we leave off...ah yes, dilated to a 7 with the intention of inducing labor the next week. Well, we went to that appointment fully ready to have our babies. We didn't sleep much the night before because we were so excited for the next day! But when we got there we learned that the babies had moved up, I was no longer dilated to a 7, now I was only at a 5. I had undilated... I didn't even know that was possible! So we decided to wait, obviously they weren't as ready as we thought. We were bummed but eventually realized it was a good thing. However, my doctor had me schedule for the day before her scheduled on-call day at the hospital so that she could induce labor the next week, since my body was being so confusing. So we did that. At my 37w5d appointment I was back at 7, so we decided to go with the plan. The hospital would call and tell me when they had a bed available and we would go in and she would break my water when she started her shift Wednesday morning.
The hospital called around 10 PM Tuesday night to tell me they had a bed available, after I told the nurse that my doctor was going to break my water in the morning, she recommended that we wait until first thing in the morning to come in. We were happy to do so and sleep in our own bed that night.
So we got ready for bed and laid down.... anticipating another excited sleepless night.
Which is exactly what we got.
After laying in bed for about 15-20 minutes I had a pretty strong contraction. And then my water broke on its own! So I called the hospital back and told them we were on our way. The nurse laughed and said, "I knew that was going to happen!"
We got in the car and headed to the hospital. We had to go through the emergency room since it was now midnight and the main doors lock at 10. As I got into the emergency room waiting area I had a contraction, and just leaned up against the wall during it. The security guard asked if I needed help, but quickly put together what was going on... I mean I had a towel between my legs, I was heavily pregnant, and I'm sure I had a look of pain on my face. So he got me a wheelchair and wheeled me over to the admitting lady. She called labor and delivery and they quickly came and got us.
All of the nurses were certain that we would be holding one of the babies in our arms as we came into the birth center... thankfully that was not the case. They were so sure, in fact, that they had one of the baby warmer cribs on and warm to put the baby in, if that were the case! Again, thankfully, it was not the case. However, I was dilated to a 9 at this point. They got me all hooked up and then they started prepping me for the epidural, I got my epidural, and then let us sleep for a few hours. I'm not sure how or why we got to wait some, but we did. And the little bit of sleep was nice. Then around 4 the nurse came in and said it was time to get the babies out. Since we were having twins we delivered in the OR in case they would need to do a c-section. Both babies were head down so we didn't think that would be the case.
But like I said, things didn't go as planned.
They got me on the unusually small operating table. I'm not a big person, granted I was bigger than normal, but still not a big person and I felt like I was going to fall off of that table at any second. But we had other things to worry about. It was time to push. After 3 or 4 pushes at 4:23 AM Baby A came out, totally healthy! Tiny, but healthy! He was 4 lbs 12 oz and 18.5 inches long! From now on he will be called
Baby B stayed head down after Baby A came out, with a little help from the nurses, who pushed on my stomach to keep him head down. And we started to work on getting him out. Two hours later, he still wasn't coming. My cervix was closing and Baby B's heartbeat was starting to decrease with each contraction... slowly the room started filling up with more and more people (there was already a fair amount of people in there). The doctor decided that we needed to get the baby out via c-section. I really didn't want a c-section, but I wanted a healthy baby more than I didn't want a c-section, so they prepped me for a c-section. I was aware of what was going on, but it is all pretty hazy. I remember everything but I felt like I was in a fog or mostly out of it for the rest of the day. At 6:37 AM Baby B came out healthy as well, weighing 6 lbs 4 oz and 19 3/4 inches long!
The babies were in the nursery while they finished stitching me back up and while they took me back to my room. The boys joined me in my room not long after that and we worked on feeding them. I was SO out of it and also starving and had horrible cotton mouth. But we all made it!
After lunch my parents, Sweet Girl, and my Sweet mother-in-law came to visit us in the hospital. Sweet Girl was so in love with her brothers! Baby A was having a little trouble with his blood sugar level and regulating his temperature, so he pretty much stayed with me so I could keep him warm and fed. After a little while they all left and the nurses let us know that Baby B was also having a hard time regulating his temperature. They let us continue to try to get everyone regulated on our own, but sometime in the evening it was decided that they needed to go to the NICU for a little extra help.
This was definitely not in the plan! They were 37 weeks and 6 days! They were supposed to be perfectly healthy and come home with us after a night in the hospital.
But, you know what, it was okay. It all worked out.
Our parents worked out a schedule for them to take care of Sweet Girl while we were in the hospital. I was in the hospital for 4 days since I had a c-section. After I was discharged we rented a hotel room near the hospital and Sweet Girl and Pa came down and stayed with us, so we could be together (Sweet Girl was missing mom and dad and we were missing her). We were able to go to the hospital and feed the boys when they needed to eat and still be with Sweet Girl when we weren't at the hospital. It was such a blessing!
Other blessings about the boys being in the NICU is they got on a pretty good schedule, they had wonderful nurses who took great care of them and us, and they got out of the NICU pretty quickly! I was released on Saturday and they were released on Tuesday!
The day after we got home Sweet Girl got sick, so we've kept the boys in their room and Sweet Girl has been really good to not go into their room! She's been on antibotics for several days now and seems to be on the mend, so hopefully we can let her enjoy her brothers a little bit more soon! (I wrote this out a long time ago but got distracted and never finished it... she recovered and loved on her brothers ever since!)
Like I said, things didn't go as planned, but they've all worked out.. or are working out!
I didn't add the pictures in the story because it was easier to put them at the end. Also, because I didn't take many pictures. I was SO out of it the day they were born! And then I usually had my mind on other things when I was in the NICU, but thankfully my Sweet husband, parents, and in-laws were more on the ball.
Apparently, this is huge... that they are sharing a crib. The nurses told us it used to be acceptable but some regulation was made to stop nurses from doing it; however, do to so many babies born in the hospital, they didn't have enough beds so they had to put them together. Then they found a loop hole to keep them together... the nurses were abuzz with talk about what the doctor would say when he came in.... guess what he said... absolutely nothing...lol! I thought it was hilarious!
Sweet Girl climbed up on this and said, "It's coronation day!"... watched a little Frozen lately?
Close up of the boys... the pictures are blurry because in the NICU you have to have your phone in a plastic bag.
Finally breaking free!
We were only in the NICU for 6 days, but it was long enough and as we were walking out I kept thinking that someone was going to stop us and make us take them back in.
But thankfully, that wasn't the case and we were able to go home!
I'm so grateful for my parents and my Sweet in-laws, I have no idea how we would have survived January or February without them!
