XP: C & A's Birth Story (Long)

LegallyBlonde217 · August 2012

Back story: I was put on hospital bed rest at 30 weeks after one of my bags of water ruptured. I had to stay there until I delivered, which would have been at 34 weeks no matter what. So I was already in the hospital when all of this happened.

I woke up Sunday (July 29th) at 33w3d to the rest of my already ruptured bag breaking. The resident thought it might have just been from Baby A moving her head away from my cervix and sort of "uncorking the hole," causing more fluid to leak out. My OB agreed because at the time, contractions were there but only about 10 minutes apart and started getting even further apart from there. I wasn't even feeling them. BUT she said she wouldn't be surprised if I went into labor within 24 hours. That was around noon. Around 3:00 I started feeling stronger contractions that seemed closer together so I ate lunch (because I knew Labor & Delivery wouldn't let me eat if they sent me down there) then called my nurse to put me back on the monitors. I was having contractions about 5 minutes apart. I called and told DH to get back to the hospital ASAP. A L&D resident did a speculum exam to check for dilation (because my bag was ruptured, they wouldn't do internals unless I was very obviously in labor). I was 1cm so she told me to just hang out until they calmed down or got so bad that I needed something for the pain. DH arrived about 15 mins later and within 30 mins the contractions were so bad and close together that I was pretty much crying. I called my nurse and told her I needed to go down to L&D right away. She took her time, of course. After another not as friendly call from me, they finally came and rushed me down to L&D.

Got to L&D at 6:30pm. Contractions were were 2-3 mins apart and lasting 1 1/2 mins each. I was getting no break in between. A resident did an internal and said I was 3cm and fully thinned. She said she was pretty sure the on call OB would be fine with me getting the epidural at only 3cm since my contractions were so close together already. Got the epidural. LOVED IT!!! I did have a "window" that the epidural didn't cover, but it just felt like nerve pain in my butt and thigh during contractions. It hurt, but it actually helped me know when a contraction was coming once we go to the pushing stage. OB came in and checked me and I was already 8cm. I went from 3 - 8cm in about 2 hours. She came back in an hour and I was 9.5cm. Half hour later I was fully dilated and ready to push.

We started pushing in the L&D room at 12:30am. (I had to deliver in an operating room in case Twin A was delivered then Twin B had to be quickly c-sectioned.) Pushed there for 2 1/2 hours before we finally went to the OR. Pushed for a little less than 30 mins in the OR then Alexandria was born at 3:27am. The NICU team brought her over to me and let me touch her face
after they evaluated her. She was 4lbs 5oz, 17 3/4". Apgar 9/9 and breathing room air with no help.

Unfortunately, I stopped contracting after she came out. So they gave me Pitocin to start them back up so I could deliver Twin B. I just rested and labored down for about 30 mins then started pushing again. My epidural was getting weak and I was having a hard time pushing through the pain. The only nice thing about delivering in the OR is that there's an anesthesiologist right at your head who can up your epidural at any time! So they upped the meds, but it was a little too much because I got a little too numb to even feel my pushing. The contractions also weren't coming on very often so we weren't getting as many chances to push. Pushed for about 2 hours before my OB suggested we start thinking about using forceps to get him out. I wanted no part of that so I told her I wanted to try a little longer. I knew the epidural was wearing off just enough that I could feel my pushing enough to control it better. So I made it my mission to get that baby out with no tools. We pushed for 3 more sets and Christian John was born at 6:33am. The NICU team brought him to me after evaluation and let me hold him for a minute. He was 3lbs 8oz, 17". Apgars 9/9 and breathing room air with no help.

Now is where it really gets complicated. One of my placentas had basically fused to my uterus. It's called a retained placenta and it's very uncommon. (something like 1 in 2500). So I couldn't just deliver it normally. They had to manually remove it from the uterine wall in pieces. My epidural was pretty worn off by then and it was the most painful thing ever. So they upped my epidural again AND put a narcotic in my IV to try to relax me. Then as a result of the placenta issue and the fact that I had twins, I hemorrhaged. So they gave me all kinds of meds to stop the bleeding at the same time that they were trying to remove the placenta. I was pretty high at this point because of the narcotic, but I remember most of it. Though, I kind of wish I didn't. I couldn't really see what was going on, but DH said it was a blood bath in there. He was really good about it all. He watched all of that and didn't really let me know just how bad the visual was. What I remember most is that I was so tired and wanted to close my eyes, but I was afraid I wouldn't wake up if I fell asleep.

I finally got to recovery around 8:30am. I had to get 2 blood transfusions, but they made me feel quite a bit better. The delivery left me severely anemic.

If I could delete everything that happened after I delivered the babies, I would say my delivery was very good overall. Even though I pushed for a total of 6 hours, I got both babies out safely. I didn't tear so I don't have any stitches. I had an amazing L&D nurse, too.

We're madly in love with our daughter and son, and we can't wait to bring them home!