My Mo/Di twins are here

MawrtyrB · November 2009

My midwife called me Monday around lunch time to see how I had done through the weekend. I had had contractions on and off but nothing that sustained. She was concerned that I wouldn't make it through the Thanksgiving holiday without going into labor. Since I was planning on delivering at a small hospital they were concerned about having enough staff on hand especially since my first delivery was so quick, so she wanted to induce me on Tuesday. I was really torn about having an induction because I really wanted another natural birth. I went into the office Tuesday morning and we decided to go ahead and do it.

DH, I and my doula arrived at the hospital around 12:30 pm, but another girl had gone into labor so I had to wait until 4:30 to start the pitocin. I was already 4 cm dilated. I was kicking myself for not bringing Uno cards or something to occupy our time. We put on my Ipod and listened to super girlie music. DH for once didn't even complain. By 7:30 I was still not feeling much pain but I was dilated enough for them to break Baby A's water. Things kicked into gear after that pretty quickly. Though surprisingly I felt much more in control this time. We were able to utilize a lot more of the Bradley relaxation techniques. DH was great and stayed really involved. I labored almost the whole time in the rocking chair. The last hour or so the midwife stayed in the room with us. She even took me to the bathroom herself, which was surprising.

I had some Reglan for nausea around 10:30. I had puked my way through most of DD's labor and delivery so we had planned on this. At 10:45 pm they laid me down to check me. I was a solid 8 cm. The midwife said she tried to stretch me out but I was staying put at 8 cm. She walked out of the room to put the rest of the staff on hand and they were going to talk about getting ready to transport me to the OR for delivery. Not a minute later, I rolled over on my side because I felt like I was going to get sick. As I started retching I realized I was having that same puking/pushing feeling I had with DD. I started screaming. The midwife ran back in and grabbed my legs. Just as they rolled me on my back, Baby A (Holden Christopher) just shot out of me and onto the bed. And then everyone really started to freak out. They whisked up Baby Holden. Nurses were running to get the warmers and all the gear that had been staged in the OR because they couldn't move me. A nurse and the back up OB jumped on me to try to hold Baby B in position. That really hurt. I'm in labor and I have two people on top of my belly. But it worked. 9 minutes later Baby B (Connor Thomas) delivered himself with no real help pushing from me. Connor was our bigger baby. They let me hold him for a while. I never even got to see Holden until they started to clear the room, but my DH stayed with him and my doula stayed at my side.

The whole thing was really overwhelming. At least I didn't have to go to the dreaded OR but we could have done without all the drama there. I was in shell-shock for most of the first day. Holden Christopher was 5 lb 2 oz and Connor Thomas was 7 lbs 7 oz. They were sharing a placenta and you could really see why the weights were so uneven. We got a great picture of the placenta. The membrane was still attached. Connor had a much bigger section of the placenta and the diameters of their umbilical cords were drastically different, like comparing your thumb to your pinky finger.

Both boys are doing great and eating like piglets. Both spent a little time in the nursery the first day. Connor had some fluid in his lungs because he came out so fast which was affecting his breathing and Holden had low blood sugar from the diabetes drugs I was on during the end of the pregnancy. Both came home with me and are doing just fine now, except for some jaundice. I feel surprisingly well. Not having an epidural with either birth I felt fine and anxious to go home. I had a bit of tearing similar to what i had with DD but the stitches don't hurt much at all and I've had very little swelling, probably because I didn't have to push much. I'm going to give props to my chiropractor. I think it really helped me to have a fast delivery. Though maybe this time, he did too good of a job. We're nicknaming little Holden "Cannon Ball".

lnle · November 2009

wow, what an amazing story!!! congrats on your boys!

efhoping2010 · November 2009

Wow, congrats on the quick birth of your boys, glad all is well

nygrl79 · November 2009

Congratulations!!! Thanks for posting your story.

macchiatto · November 2009

Wow, what a strong mama! I love that you were able to have a Bradley birth with twins. I wanted to look into that but there are no Bradley instructors in my area.

(I did end up having an induction but also an epidural! Worked out though since Baby B came out by breech extraction.) So glad your babies are here and healthy.

How far along were you?