At the last doctor appointment check up my blood pressure had risen to a new level; never had any blood pressure issues before (and it "rose" but not to a crazy level) so that was a new sign for preeclampsia. Which looking back now makes sense - I had a bunch of other signs too such as intense heartburn, the crazy swelling all over. So due to the high blood pressure I was required to do a 24-hour pee analysis which meant peeing into a jug for 24 hours to measure the protein levels in my urine. I proudly carried my jug of pee into the hospital around noon on 7/28 so it would be analyzed that day. We continued to go about our day, I went into work for a bit, ran some errands, rested a bit. Around 11pm there was a call from the doctor on call at the hospital and she said "Hi Kelly, I have your results back. Any protein level higher than 300 we consider high for preeclampsia, your levels were in the thousands so I'd like you to come in, get monitored, and you'll be having your babies tomorrow". WHAT! Not the call I was expecting at 11pm so I got in the shower, shaved my legs, triple checked what we've packed for the hospital, and was admitted in the hospital about 12:45am on 7/29. Funny enough, I said my goal was to work until the day I delivered...and I went into work on Saturday 7/28 to finish up some things! So I literally worked until the day I delivered :) I'm proud to say that.
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| 7/29 - 65 pound weight gain and stretch mark battle wounds |
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| Headed for the operating room |
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| Proud pappa |
Fast forward a bit...didn't get much sleep being that I had a catheter, blood pressure monitor, two IVs, and hourly blood work.Babies hadn't turned so we were still 1 vertex,1 transverse which meant C-Section. Turns out my platelet counts were below 100, which meant anesthesia could not be administered in the spine (too risky that there would be bleeding and hemoraging and you don't want to mess with your spinal cord) so I was required to be completely out under general anesthesia. Which unfortunately meant that Todd was not able to be there, and I was not awake so neither of us were "present" for the birth of our children. I went to sleep, woke up 3 hours later with two babies next to my bed and a beaming husband. A c-section under full anesthesia is a highly organized event - to prevent the babies from being affected by the medicine, within seconds of being out the babies both had to be delivered. So I had three anesthesiologists there, 2 doctors, probably at least 3 nurses, and then a nurse for each baby once they came out. Todd paced outside of the operating room door just waiting to hear the first cries of our little babies. I can only imagine what he felt during that time.
Recovery on their birth day was rough,unfortunately I don't remember much of that day at all. I just remember being really thirsty and they would only give me ice chips. Todd was a great dad, trooper talking to the doctors, nurses, making all of the phone calls...as I slept and said some funny stuff while I was under.
Overall I think it was a blessing in disguise to have a c-section versus trying a vaginal delivery. The scar is AMAZING, I don't see how they got two babies out of it. 3 days afterwards I was walking around. It hurt to get out of bed, but once I was up and around it wasn't so bad. I just passed the 2 week mark and the stitches have dissolved, really no pain, I'm lifting and doing everything I think I want to be doing at this time. I honestly think I would have had more pain or complications with a vaginal delivery. The only thing I regret about this process is I didn't really experience anything of the "miracle of birth" that I was so jazzed about after the labor and delivery class. I didn't have my water break, no contractions, no pushing, no hearing my babies first cries...I went to sleep and woke up with babies. Some may say I'm lucky for that, but I still think that's missing out on a piece of the whole motherhood process.
Now that we're home we're settling into our routine. I've gained a team mate in the parenting process - Todd is extremely involved and thoughtful. We've each gotten into our "roles" in the house, who is better in the morning or night or 3am. As much as I wanted to breastfeed and nurse, twins adds an added level of stress that changed my nursing plans. I was successful in the hospital, and the first few days at home but Olivia had a latching problem (pre-mature babies tend to) and they were both up at different times so my boobs never had a break. Instead after some reading and some advice from other mothers of multiples I am exclusively pumping and feeding breast milk through the bottle. So babies are still getting the benefits of breast milk but I'm able to time it better, feed both at once, and also others can help feeding the babies too which is REALLY great. I pump either during their feeding or right afterwards so I'm always at least one or two feedings ahead and the bottles are ready in the fridge. If worse comes to worse I can supplement with formula but for the most part I've been able to keep up with them.I just finished a feeding and it only took 40 minutes to bottle feed, burp, and change the twins. If I was nursing it would take 40 minutes just to nurse, and Emmett is such a little piggie he could be 40 minutes on his own!
I'm excited to finally be able to use some of the baby gear we have - it's funny I was so worried about not having socks or gloves for the babies - and they've worn them maybe twice? But the few things I cannot live without at this point: wipes warmer, swaddle sacks, burp cloths, boppy pillows and swings. We also tried having the babies in our room the first few nights...after 3 nights of that they went into the nursery and are sleeping in cribs with a monitor.Babies make so much noise coo-ing and fake crying that we were up all night just wondering if it was a "real need" or a "fake cry". Now we just wait for the monitor that only plays for "real cries" and we are sleeping otherwise which is really nice.
So far two weeks in this new adventure has been great, it's amazing to think it all started in a test tube with a prayer :)
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| Our new family |
