Birth Story

Aren't they gorgeous?! Ahh, my heart just melts! If there is anything better than one super cute baby, it's TWO super cute babies ;)

I am finally getting around to all the details of the girls' delivery! Which, shock-awe-disbelief was fantastic! Worlds smoother than my singleton delivery! So because I am a visual/organizational freak I am just going to give you the birth story via timeline (with sidebars along the way).

First of all my ultimate goal or date I had set my mind to was June 2nd. That was the day the girls were going to be approximately 37 weeks 'completed' (full-term). I just had to make it to that day so I knew that they would be healthy, but any time after that was free game. *Also I was SO sick of people constantly saying "Oh you will never make it to June, there is no way you will go that far", I just had to prove them wrong, I was going to will those girls to stay in to June if it killed me. There at the end I thought it might! So for all those that said I couldn't...HA!! I DID!

The only problem with the goal date I had set was that it also happened to be the day Josh's cousin was getting married (pure coincidence), and Josh was appointed best man. So, I had to hope that I didn't go into labor during the ceremony or anytime readily before that. Although at that point I just wanted them out!! A girl can only that big and uncomfortable for so long.

June 2nd
I spent all morning running around like a crazy trying to getting things ready for Josh for the wedding and as luck would have it, it was also a drill weekend (of course!). We found out the night before Josh's pants no longer fit and...bonus...we couldn't find his shoes! So the morning of I had to exchange the pants at the mall, went to three different stores looking for shoes. All of which I had to do as quickly as I could because I had to run the items out to the base for Josh to try on, then run back to the store to get new sizes, then back home to get everything ironed and ready for him to wear for wedding pictures to be taken at noon! Phew!! For those that saw me in my final days, you know that there is absolutely nothing that happens quickly when you're lugging around a 37 week twin belly! I was so busy I didn't even realize it until I was on my was home to get his clothes ready that I was having regular, frequent contractions!

With all the errands run, clothes ready, and just before heading out to drop off Josh off at the site for photos and for me to go get a mani & pedi I went to use the bathroom....and surprise...there came the rest of my mucous plug. Just what you wanted to know. No it doesn't get any less gross with the second pregnancy...sorry ladies. Well there was no time to stop, off we went to drop of Josh! He had to drive my tahoe as I was still having contractions that were fairly strong. Luckily by the time we reached Gage park they had lightened up and off I went to get my nails done!

My mani/pedi was wonderful! The lady doing my pedi was surely god sent! She felt so bad for me being so big and uncomfortable she did a free additional foot and leg massage...needless to say she got one awesome tip! Everything seemed to be going perfectly as I had exactly enough time to get to the wedding and meet up with my in-laws who were watching Hunter for us that morning.

We successfully made it through the wedding and I even took Hunter to ride the Carousel while we waited for Josh to finish wedding pictures. While waiting in line I had a super proud mommy moment! I asked Hunter which animal he wanted to ride, thinking he would choose one of the fancy horses. Nope! He said "Mom I want to ride the sleigh". Surprised, (because no 4yo boy ever picks the lame sleigh) I asked him if he was sure and if he wouldn't rather ride a horse and he said "No I want to ride the sleigh, then you can ride with me (big grin on his face)". Being on hormone overload I thought I was going to cry in front of everyone because he was just so sweet.  So we bought our tickets and road in the sleigh...of course he did ask if he could ride again and the second time he opted to ride a zebra ;)

Seriously people, how sweet is this kid? Ugh, and how grossly swollen am I? 

After the ceremony it was off to the reception. Hunter having had no nap, was bouncing off the walls. Thankfully, my super sweet SIL Jennifer was a tremendous help and did her best to help me coral him during the reception. Although, there is only so much wild toddler you can handle at that stage of pregnancy and I felt myself getting very anxious. At that point I called in the backup and had my parents come and pick him up from the reception so he could go get his bubble bath (in a jet tub bath) and popcorn/movie sesh with the grandparents...what a rough life. Knowing Hunter was in good hands, the ceremony was over, the best man speech had been given, I finally felt like I had a moment to breathe (and have some cake of course)!! Then 10 min later my water broke!! Jen had made a funny comment, I apparently laughed a little too hard because in the middle of my laughter...POP! Not sure if my water had just broke or I had just peed (yes that happens in the last trimester more than any of us are willing to admit) I quietly stood up, with amniotic fluid all over the chair, and running down my legs. I snagged Josh as he was just walking by and whispered to him, then preceded to waddle myself to the bathroom to determine the verdict of "water vs. pee." I kept thinking to myself there was no way this was urine, but you can never be to safe. There was no way I was going to announce a false alarm in the middle of a wedding reception! I checked and sure enough, the girls were going to be on their way!!

I then grabbed my keys and told Josh I would go home get the bags ready, call the hospital, make the necessary calls/texts and then come pick him up and head in to labor & delivery.  Well, part of that happened...I did get some of the bags together but I wound up having to call Josh and have him get a ride home to help me finish packing. Turns out the girls were putting quite a bit of pressure down there and I wasn't as spritely after the adrenaline and excitement wore off from the initial water break. Josh arrived and off we went to have our babies :)

7:50pm- Water broke

8:50pm- Checked in to the triage room

9:30pm- Cervix was 1.5cm, 50% effaced

10:30pm- Transferred to delivery room (even though I would be delivering in the OR)

11:40pm- Started pitocin

2:30am- First cervix change, so this marked the "start of labor" according to my nurse, 2cm 80% effaced. I was having contractions about every 1-2min lasting 30-60sec but wasn't feeling them for whatever reason. The nurse palpated my stomach during the contractions and said they we strong because my abdomen was rock hard and said she was really surprised I wasn't feeling anything. So since I wasn't in any discomfort they went ahead and upped the dose of pitocin.

3:30am-Still having contractions but still not feeling them so I changed positions.

4:00am-Finally started feeling contractions but weren't too bad. Cervix check was 3-4cm 90% effaced. At this time I texted my mom and told her it was progressing slow and was going to be quite a while and told her not to come in. The nurse said based on how fast I went after my epidural with my son that she recommended I go ahead and get it before I started getting uncomfortable. I agreed and she called the anesthesiologist. (I had to have an epidural placed, whether they put medication in it or not, in case they had to do an emergency c-sec in the middle of delivery....and if they're going to put one in...it might as well have meds!) That and Dr. G had scared the heck out of me telling me that if Baby B flipped, they would try to turn her manually, which he said would be really painful.

4:30am- Contractions really picked up and got more and more intense...This is when I started thinking "Hmm, this starting to get really uncomfortable?!" This was the first time that it started to get where it was difficult to talk during the contractions.

5:00am- The anesthesiologist finally shows up! I wake up Josh (yes he has been asleep since 10:45)
and about 10min later the dr was ready to give me the epidural...which yet again something about sitting up on the edge of the bed really sped things up. I (just like with Hunter) had one solid contraction that stopped for about 30 sec then started back up and lasted the entire duration of the procedure...NOT FUN!! It hurt so badly my legs started shaking involuntarily.

5:20am- As soon as the doctor was done the nurse checked my cervix because she was thinking I had probably made some change while sitting up. She was definitely right I was now 8-8.5cm dilated and 100%  effaced. The nurse immediately got on the phone call to call Dr. Morrison to tell her things had picked up and I told Josh to text my mom and tell her she need to come to the hospital now! This is where I panicked, and had them go ahead and put in the loading dose and start the epidural medication. I'm not sure why... the pain sucked but was still tolerable. I guess I was thinking well if it hurts like this now, how bad is it going hurt when I have to push out TWO babies...and what if I tear and feel it...and what if they have to turn Baby B after A comes out. So I wimped out and got the meds. As they were starting the medication I felt quite a bit of pressure in my bottom and thought it was just my new positioning since I had to roll onto my back for the medication to distribute evenly. Then they started medication and the anesthesiologist hung out for 15 min to insure the meds took effect. By the time 10-15min had passed my contraction pain was gone, but I thought it hadn't fully taken affect because I could still lift my legs (one more than the other) and felt a LOT of pressure and some pain (really more burning) in my bottom.

[Side note: my epidural with Hunter was not a good one. They had administered WAY too much medication to the point I couldn't move either leg or even wiggle my toes, and I felt nothing. No pressure, no burning, nada. So the nurses would have to tell me when to push because I had no idea when I was having contractions. This is why I thought something was wrong with epidural because I could still feel so much. Now after a little epidural education I know that the one they did with the twins was perfect, and the one with Hunter was not good.]

Knowing that rectal pressure is a sign of being complete the nurse darted out of the room to grab the charge nurse so they could start getting the OR set up and the doctor notified. She then came back and did a cervix check......

5:40am- My mom walks through the door (she just made a 30-35min drive in less than 20min...the woman was flying!). She walks in, in the middle of the cervix check and the first thing she hears when she walks in the door is "Your complete, lets call the doctor because your ready to push."

5:50am- They got everything ready to go and wheeled me to the OR

6:00am- Dr. Morrison arrived

6:05am- I started pushing

6:12am- Miss Avery Elizabeth made her debut, the girl came out SCREAMING (she is definitely our more vocal one even now). 6lbs 4oz, 20" long!

6:15am- They broke Elleigh's bag of water (it hadn't broken yet, it had apparently be Avery's bag of water that had been leaking the whole evening). 6lbs 1oz, 19" long!

6:18am- Miss Elleigh Olivia made her grand appearance gurgling and squeaking. She had apparently gotten a big swig on the way out! Her cry was so much softer, she sounded like a little kitten.

Less than 4 hours of "labor," 13 short minutes of pushing, NO tearing!, NO stitches! These girls ROCK!!!! I guess easy labor was a fair trade off for a miserable pregnancy!

Hunter's labor was 9hrs with 1hr 15min of pushing, with stitches up and down!