The Squish Twins' Birth Story
Sept 20, 2015 18:19:06 GMT -5
Post by Squishy622 on Sept 20, 2015 18:19:06 GMT -5
TL;DR (oy this got so long!): Water broke at home at 35w, uneventful labor augmented with pit and heavenly epi, twins delivered vaginally, 2nd twin by successful breech extraction, 1 week NICU stay for one twin, I’m not pregnant anymore YAY.
It was dinner time on Labor Day, 9/7. I was 35+2 and my induction had just been scheduled for the following week due to mono/di twins. My husband was cooking and I was about to go get some fresh air and watch LO play outside, but first made one of my every-5-minute trips to the bathroom. I finished, went to grab my shoes, and felt a tell-tale gush. There was no questioning what this was, but I was still a little incredulous. I scurried back to the bathroom and sat back down on the toilet, and sure enough, more gushing in little spurts.
My first and only thought at that point…. “I’M SO EXCITED TO NOT BE PREGNANT ANYMORE!!!” It was scary to have this happen early, but I had been preparing myself mentally for a pre-term delivery for weeks since it was more likely to happen than not, so the fear was barely on my mind.
We sprang into action; I hopped in the shower while H called L&D to let them know we were coming, packed a little suitcase for LO, and totally burnt dinner. He ran LO over to our friends’ house and got home just as I finished packing some last minute things. I had been contracting for weeks, but they became slightly more noticeable during this time.
Quick ride to the hospital; I’m really glad that I was wearing black pants and that we remembered to bring a towel in the car. Got checked in around 8 pm. Was only 1 cm dilated so the resident recommended starting low-dose pitocin to get things moving. I declined and asked to wait a while before rushing into anything.
At midnight, my contractions had gotten more frequent but not by much, so I agreed to the lowest dose of pit after a good talk with the attending. We put on The Sound of Music (my favorite movie of all time) and H got some sleep as I felt the contractions increase and started to get really excited to meet my babies. The pit was increased each hour for the next few hours.
I had another check at 4 am. I was 4 cm, 60% effaced, and still -3 station. Requested an epi; felt impressed with my very wimpy self for lasting a few hours on pit contractions. Things I said I’d never do: let a resident place my epidural. But I did, and it was heavenly. For the first time in months, I was feeling no pain. I truly didn’t realize until then how much discomfort I’d been in, it was an angels singing kind of moment. I proceeded to get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep, also for the first time in many many months.
I woke up around 7 am feeling that unmistakeable pressure. I was checked and just about 10 but Baby A was still pretty high so I labored down for a while.
[Side note, though most of you know this already: after much agonizing, I had decided on an attempted vaginal delivery with breech extraction of Baby B. Long story short, this is a procedure sometimes offered for vaginal delivery of twins when the first one is vertex and the 2nd one is breech, since the first one paves the way. I was a good candidate for it but there are risks. Regardless, it's standard at my hospital to deliver twins in the OR even for a vaginal birth, since the emergency C rate is much higher, and even more so for attempted breech extractions].
Before I knew it, H had his scrubs on and I was being wheeled into the OR. I burst into tears on the ride... I had been anticipating this moment for so many weeks and it was finally time. Everything from here on out felt so surreal.
Things continued to feel surreal as the OR filled with throngs of people. There were 16 people not counting us. 4 NICU staff for each baby, 3 OBs (2 residents and an attending), anesthesiologists, and nurses. Oh and the guy who wheeled my bed in stuck around... WTH?! My epi had worn off just the right amount; I could feel contractions and a bit of discomfort, just enough to push effectively.
After 15 minutes of pushing, Li.ly Pea.rl came out screaming at 9:11 am and immediately tried to grab the scissors they were using to cut the cord. While the NICU team checked her out, the OBs did a quick ultrasound, saw that Baby B was still breech, and proceeded with the extraction. This was the most terrifying part for me but it was totally uneventful. The doc reached in and pulled her out by her feet, having me push for her head. And then there were 2; Mir.iam Ade.le was born at 9:14.
I had some hemorrhaging, so it took a while to get that under control and stitch me up (2nd degree tear), but I didn't care because after a little while they handed me both of my babies!! We were fully expecting the girls to be whisked off to the NICU indefinitely because they were born so early, but they checked out beautifully. Still surreal.
The rest of that day wasn't great for me, I had some complications from my recovery (more bleeding, a fever, severe shakes from one of the meds, and some bladder-related fun), but that was all resolved by the next day. We think dehydration was the culprit for a lot of that.
Everything went well in the hospital, the girls even got to room in with us, until the night before we went home. M failed her car seat test (a routine test for preemies) and wound up needing a week in the NICU. She was having O2 desats and every time she had one, the clock for discharge reset 3 days. We are all home together now and enjoying the very sleepy preemie phase while it lasts.
My pregnancy was rough from start to finish, but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat; these 2 little squishes are so amazing, and so identical… I cannot for the life of me tell them apart yet.
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It was dinner time on Labor Day, 9/7. I was 35+2 and my induction had just been scheduled for the following week due to mono/di twins. My husband was cooking and I was about to go get some fresh air and watch LO play outside, but first made one of my every-5-minute trips to the bathroom. I finished, went to grab my shoes, and felt a tell-tale gush. There was no questioning what this was, but I was still a little incredulous. I scurried back to the bathroom and sat back down on the toilet, and sure enough, more gushing in little spurts.
My first and only thought at that point…. “I’M SO EXCITED TO NOT BE PREGNANT ANYMORE!!!” It was scary to have this happen early, but I had been preparing myself mentally for a pre-term delivery for weeks since it was more likely to happen than not, so the fear was barely on my mind.
We sprang into action; I hopped in the shower while H called L&D to let them know we were coming, packed a little suitcase for LO, and totally burnt dinner. He ran LO over to our friends’ house and got home just as I finished packing some last minute things. I had been contracting for weeks, but they became slightly more noticeable during this time.
Quick ride to the hospital; I’m really glad that I was wearing black pants and that we remembered to bring a towel in the car. Got checked in around 8 pm. Was only 1 cm dilated so the resident recommended starting low-dose pitocin to get things moving. I declined and asked to wait a while before rushing into anything.
At midnight, my contractions had gotten more frequent but not by much, so I agreed to the lowest dose of pit after a good talk with the attending. We put on The Sound of Music (my favorite movie of all time) and H got some sleep as I felt the contractions increase and started to get really excited to meet my babies. The pit was increased each hour for the next few hours.
I had another check at 4 am. I was 4 cm, 60% effaced, and still -3 station. Requested an epi; felt impressed with my very wimpy self for lasting a few hours on pit contractions. Things I said I’d never do: let a resident place my epidural. But I did, and it was heavenly. For the first time in months, I was feeling no pain. I truly didn’t realize until then how much discomfort I’d been in, it was an angels singing kind of moment. I proceeded to get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep, also for the first time in many many months.
I woke up around 7 am feeling that unmistakeable pressure. I was checked and just about 10 but Baby A was still pretty high so I labored down for a while.
[Side note, though most of you know this already: after much agonizing, I had decided on an attempted vaginal delivery with breech extraction of Baby B. Long story short, this is a procedure sometimes offered for vaginal delivery of twins when the first one is vertex and the 2nd one is breech, since the first one paves the way. I was a good candidate for it but there are risks. Regardless, it's standard at my hospital to deliver twins in the OR even for a vaginal birth, since the emergency C rate is much higher, and even more so for attempted breech extractions].
Before I knew it, H had his scrubs on and I was being wheeled into the OR. I burst into tears on the ride... I had been anticipating this moment for so many weeks and it was finally time. Everything from here on out felt so surreal.
Things continued to feel surreal as the OR filled with throngs of people. There were 16 people not counting us. 4 NICU staff for each baby, 3 OBs (2 residents and an attending), anesthesiologists, and nurses. Oh and the guy who wheeled my bed in stuck around... WTH?! My epi had worn off just the right amount; I could feel contractions and a bit of discomfort, just enough to push effectively.
After 15 minutes of pushing, Li.ly Pea.rl came out screaming at 9:11 am and immediately tried to grab the scissors they were using to cut the cord. While the NICU team checked her out, the OBs did a quick ultrasound, saw that Baby B was still breech, and proceeded with the extraction. This was the most terrifying part for me but it was totally uneventful. The doc reached in and pulled her out by her feet, having me push for her head. And then there were 2; Mir.iam Ade.le was born at 9:14.
I had some hemorrhaging, so it took a while to get that under control and stitch me up (2nd degree tear), but I didn't care because after a little while they handed me both of my babies!! We were fully expecting the girls to be whisked off to the NICU indefinitely because they were born so early, but they checked out beautifully. Still surreal.
The rest of that day wasn't great for me, I had some complications from my recovery (more bleeding, a fever, severe shakes from one of the meds, and some bladder-related fun), but that was all resolved by the next day. We think dehydration was the culprit for a lot of that.
Everything went well in the hospital, the girls even got to room in with us, until the night before we went home. M failed her car seat test (a routine test for preemies) and wound up needing a week in the NICU. She was having O2 desats and every time she had one, the clock for discharge reset 3 days. We are all home together now and enjoying the very sleepy preemie phase while it lasts.
My pregnancy was rough from start to finish, but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat; these 2 little squishes are so amazing, and so identical… I cannot for the life of me tell them apart yet.
