XP: DoubleP's Birth Story

DoublePortion · July 2014

(Sorry for no formatting, I'm posting from my iPad.) I'd felt crummy all weekend but Sunday night, June 29th, about 11:30 I started having severe pain in my lower right abdomen as I tried to go to sleep. It felt like I had pulled a muscle or ligament that just wouldn't relax. I decided to try taking a bath to see if the hot water would help. It didn't and I ended up sitting in the tub crying. Finally at about 1:30am I woke up DH and said I needed to go to L&D. I felt the babies were fine, but wanted to make sure and also get something for the pain. We arrived at the hospital 30 min later and waited to be see. The triage OB was delivering a baby so it was 4am before she saw me, determined it was baby A's position causing the pain and offered me Morphine. I accepted the med as I didn't think it could be the baby's position and planned to follow up with my OB. The whole time I was being monitored and they continued to monitor me for a little while after the Morphine shot. The triage OB came back in and said that due to my blood pressure they were going to admit me and she felt I would be getting a c/s that day, but would let my OB decide. At 5:30am I was admitted and started on magnesium sulfate. It wasn't as bad as I had anticipated, but definitely made me feel out-of-it. At 6:30am the nurse came in and said she'd just spoken to my OB and I was having a c/s in 1 hour! Thanks to the magnesium a lot of the details are fuzzy, but I don't remember being scared or worried. The whole c/s team was great and getting the epidural was super easy. DH came in and looked like he wanted to cry as he said "we are having babies today!" The c/s is a weird sensation. I could feel touch and tugging, yet I couldn't. DH said I made hilarious faces as I lay there. My whole body was pulled back and forth and it was a strange feeling. Both babies were put as having been born at 8am. Our boy, Graeme Oliver, was first at 5lbs 5oz and was followed by his sister, Brenna Elise at 3lbs 15oz. Their cries were beautiful and brought tears to my eyes. They were taken across the hall for assessment as I was closed up. A few minutes later NICU team wheeled them by in isolets so we could catch a brief peek at them. Apparently I lost about 800mls of blood and DH said I passed out after they transferred me from the OR table to the bed. He said the nurses were shaking me and saying my name, then asking the anesthesiologist what he gave me. I only remember being moved to the bed and taken to recovery. I must've gone to sleep around this time as I'm missing a chunk of what happened between a nurse taking blood in recovery and then waking up when being moved to the new bed in my room. I spent the rest of the day in bed and remember very little other than the LC showing me how to pump. I wasn't able to see or hold my babies. Tuesday I was given 2 units of blood and the mag was stopped. My nurse convinced the NICU nurses to let her bring me over to at least see the babies. (They usually wouldn't allow it since I had the IV with blood running.) I tried leaning over to rub Graeme's arm but it hurt my incision too much. Brenna's isolet was closed and I couldn't even see her face from how she was laying. Later that day, when I was off the IV, I was able to hold Graeme. The nurse tried to get me to come back at a feeding time until she heard that I hadn't held him yet. Then about 11pm I was able to go back and hold my sweet Brenna and finally see her face up close for the first time. They are perfect and so sweet! They both have been doing great and are making progress daily. We just need them to take all of their feeds by breast or bottle and gain more weight so they can come home. Let me just say, postpartum hormones are no joke! About day 3, when my milk came in, so did the flood of hormones. Several times I've burst into tears and then started laughing because I know it's the hormones making me cry so much. DH probably thought I was going crazy at first! lol Recovery from the c/s has been so much easier than I anticipated. It's important to stay ahead of the pain, even if you feel like you're fine. A c/s is definitely not what I wanted but it's really been a breeze. Maybe that's because I'm not caring for a newborn or two around the clock! lol The biggest struggle I've faced is pumping. My supply is so low, which I've heard can be due to the mag delaying it. Not sure if it's true, but I hope so! I am exhausted from all the frustrating pumping sessions and trips to and from the NICU. I can't wait till my LOs are healthy enough to come home. I might just sit and hold them all day, every day! Graeme on left and Brenna on right