- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Multiples
My twins' birth story, for those who love 'em :)
I made it to July 6-36w4d. My water broke at 4:30am, and unlike when it did
with DD (I thought I peed myself like 4 times before the "oh duh"
moment) I knew what happened. Woke DH up, made it to the bathroom
before it started gushing, and insisted on taking a shower. By the time
my quick shower was done I was having contractions (with DD my water
broke at about 5:30am, but I didn't start having contractions and I
wasn't dilated but to like a 1 by the time we got around and fought
morning military base traffic-it took Pitocin to get things started with her).
We dropped DD off at our neighbor's house and by the time we got to
the hospital it was 5:30 and I was having pretty intense
contractions-about 5 minutes or so apart and so painful I couldn't walk
through them. I had a lovely gush in the parking lot that completely
soaked me. We went in and thankfully DH had called ahead to tell
them to expect us so my file was ready and waiting, and since I gushed
in the parking lot they were basically able to just swab my leg with the
ferning strip to confirm that yup, it was time. I asked which doctor
was on call-there are four of them, two would deliver a breech baby B
and two of them, if he didn't flip after she came out, would do a
c-section. One of the doctors who would deliver breech was on, but
unfortunately the shift change happens at 7am, so I was joking about how
we'd just have to deliver these babies by 7 then... gave everyone a
good laugh.
This is where it got ridiculous. I got in there, they started the admission process, and checked me-I was dilated to a 5. I warned them that with DD (water breaking till delivery with her was 9 hours-including all that time in the morning that I wasn't contracting/dilating/not even in the hospital yet) I went from a 4 to a 10 in an hour. The admission process took FOREVER... a half hour at least. They couldn't do a thing till then. My contractions picked up quite considerably-by the time I was admitted they were only about 20-30 seconds apart and VERY intense. I had to then sign all of the 5 gazillion consent forms-double on a lot of them because of the twins. By the end my signature was pretty illegible. I hadn't initially wanted an epidural, but if they ended up having to move to a c-section for B they'd have to put me under and DH would have to leave the OR. So I of course decided to get one and since I was going to get it wanted it immediately... BUT they had to do bloodwork first. Thankfully all of this moved along pretty quickly-when the paperwork people were finished the phleblotomist was waiting, and when she was finished the anesthesiologist had the cart ready to go (between bloodwork and epidural my doc came in and checked me and I was at a 7). Got the epidural, doc literally checked me right after that and I was at a 10, her head was right there, and I was getting the stroooong urge to push. Good thing my epidural didn't take the 20-30 minutes to kick in that he said it might!
They started to fly then. I had been telling them that they better hurry because I could feel that it was going quickly... don't know if they were taking me seriously or not but it sure was quick! They wheeled me to the delivery OR (I had to deliver in there just in case) and at 7:00 there's a text on DH's phone to his mom saying that I was fully dilated ready to push and he was just waiting for the OK to go in-once I was on the table I felt like she was about to just fall out and so I asked if DH could PLEASE come in now and the other doctor who would deliver me breech magically appeared and went to go get DH (turns out Dr. B called Dr. D when he knew I was there and in labor-Dr. F was on duty next and she's one who would have cut, so I don't know if Dr. D would have stayed if he had to or what) and then it was time to push.
I had Ava at 7:07-she was 5lbs5oz and 17 1/2 inches long. After she was out the doctor reached up and broke Patrick's water-he was still sitting up high so he kind of had to fish around and bring him down and in position (so for any of you envious of my short labor remember you probably didn't have a hand and arm up inside of you, haha)-I was tired at that point so it took a little longer to push him out but he came breech at 7:20, 6lbs even and 18 inches long.
Ava was great-tiny but great-but little Patrick had some issues right from the start. He had RDS and ended up being sedated and intubated and choppered up to Charleston to the NICU that afternoon after we got to (finally) spend a couple of minutes with him in the nursery. That was awful to see and DH was an absolute mess over it-it was all I could do to not break down because I knew it would just make him worse. He got three courses of some steroid medicine and was on oxygen for a couple of days, and then was a "grower and feeder" for a day or two-when they thought he'd be able to come home he ended up not being able to regulate his body temp one day and then the next day when his temp was fine his bilirubin level was high (though not high enough for lamps) but he ended up being able to thankfully come home Tuesday. It was a very long, stressful week for us but we were just thankful it wasn't longer than that, especially after seeing some of the other NICU babies. We joke that since he's our third child he just needed a wild story to start out his time in this world with
Overall, I've never once felt like I delivered twins-the doctors did great. Delivery day I felt like I did a few too many ab workouts, but that's about it Adjustment is going great here at home. They eat and
sleep. Breastfeeding isn't going great but we're working on it. They are soooo cute to watch
together-we are loving this so much. Here are some pictures!
4 days before I had them-my legs and feet were SO swollen! I feel like I have twigs now, comparatively!
Today-10 days old
This is where it got ridiculous. I got in there, they started the admission process, and checked me-I was dilated to a 5. I warned them that with DD (water breaking till delivery with her was 9 hours-including all that time in the morning that I wasn't contracting/dilating/not even in the hospital yet) I went from a 4 to a 10 in an hour. The admission process took FOREVER... a half hour at least. They couldn't do a thing till then. My contractions picked up quite considerably-by the time I was admitted they were only about 20-30 seconds apart and VERY intense. I had to then sign all of the 5 gazillion consent forms-double on a lot of them because of the twins. By the end my signature was pretty illegible. I hadn't initially wanted an epidural, but if they ended up having to move to a c-section for B they'd have to put me under and DH would have to leave the OR. So I of course decided to get one and since I was going to get it wanted it immediately... BUT they had to do bloodwork first. Thankfully all of this moved along pretty quickly-when the paperwork people were finished the phleblotomist was waiting, and when she was finished the anesthesiologist had the cart ready to go (between bloodwork and epidural my doc came in and checked me and I was at a 7). Got the epidural, doc literally checked me right after that and I was at a 10, her head was right there, and I was getting the stroooong urge to push. Good thing my epidural didn't take the 20-30 minutes to kick in that he said it might!
They started to fly then. I had been telling them that they better hurry because I could feel that it was going quickly... don't know if they were taking me seriously or not but it sure was quick! They wheeled me to the delivery OR (I had to deliver in there just in case) and at 7:00 there's a text on DH's phone to his mom saying that I was fully dilated ready to push and he was just waiting for the OK to go in-once I was on the table I felt like she was about to just fall out and so I asked if DH could PLEASE come in now and the other doctor who would deliver me breech magically appeared and went to go get DH (turns out Dr. B called Dr. D when he knew I was there and in labor-Dr. F was on duty next and she's one who would have cut, so I don't know if Dr. D would have stayed if he had to or what) and then it was time to push.
I had Ava at 7:07-she was 5lbs5oz and 17 1/2 inches long. After she was out the doctor reached up and broke Patrick's water-he was still sitting up high so he kind of had to fish around and bring him down and in position (so for any of you envious of my short labor remember you probably didn't have a hand and arm up inside of you, haha)-I was tired at that point so it took a little longer to push him out but he came breech at 7:20, 6lbs even and 18 inches long.
Ava was great-tiny but great-but little Patrick had some issues right from the start. He had RDS and ended up being sedated and intubated and choppered up to Charleston to the NICU that afternoon after we got to (finally) spend a couple of minutes with him in the nursery. That was awful to see and DH was an absolute mess over it-it was all I could do to not break down because I knew it would just make him worse. He got three courses of some steroid medicine and was on oxygen for a couple of days, and then was a "grower and feeder" for a day or two-when they thought he'd be able to come home he ended up not being able to regulate his body temp one day and then the next day when his temp was fine his bilirubin level was high (though not high enough for lamps) but he ended up being able to thankfully come home Tuesday. It was a very long, stressful week for us but we were just thankful it wasn't longer than that, especially after seeing some of the other NICU babies. We joke that since he's our third child he just needed a wild story to start out his time in this world with
Overall, I've never once felt like I delivered twins-the doctors did great. Delivery day I felt like I did a few too many ab workouts, but that's about it
Adjustment is going great here at home. They eat and
sleep. Breastfeeding isn't going great but we're working on it. They are soooo cute to watch
together-we are loving this so much. Here are some pictures!4 days before I had them-my legs and feet were SO swollen! I feel like I have twigs now, comparatively!
Today-10 days old
This discussion has been closed.
Re: My twins' birth story, for those who love 'em :)
Wow-too funny! We live near LB, my husband works at the air station. Are you being seen at Naval or in town? There aren't any MoM clubs here-we should get one started, I know another mama who is just a week or two further along than you
Bummer! Gotcha-It's a great town, huh? We're going to try to manipulate orders so we can stay as long as possible
That's where I delivered is at BMH. As far as I know Charleston is the closest one but I'm not about to make that drive just to be involved in it especially since 17 is torn up right now!
"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..."