Birth Story

Thursday July 2nd I had an appointment with my OB. My blood pressure was up a little, but she figured, like the previous times, that if I was sent to have it monitored in the hospital it would be fine. I had no proteins or sugars in my pee and everything looked okay. She did notice that my belly had dropped and I was carrying way lower. I was also having pretty regular contractions, never more than 4 an hour though. We talked at this time about having a scheduled C section on the 14th, but she said she didn't think they would wait that long. She jokingly said she was on at the hospital Friday and Sunday as I left the room...

I had a scheduled ultrasound (BPP and growth) on Friday the 3rd of July. The ultrasound the week before had looked really good with the babies both scoring 8/8 on the BPP and showing good growth. This time didn't go so well. Both babies were measuring smaller than the previous week (ultrasounds have a large degree of error for weight) and most concerning of all was that Baby A (Alex) had almost run out of fluid. I had noticed a decrease in movement the last couple of days as well. The Dr. (who happened to be the one who did my cerclage surgery) turned to me and asked how I felt about having the babies that day... She was really worried about Baby A especially.

I was checked into a room and Ian left to get our bags, to make plans for the animals at home and to meet up with my Mother. They hooked the babies up to monitors and kept checking in on the 3 of us most of the afternoon. My OB came to visit ( As she was working that Friday) as well as her student Drs. I was asked all kinds of questions, had multiple blood works drawn, filled out all kinds of forms and basically was prepared for the surgery. One nurse tried to get an IV into me and gave up. I wasn't considered an emergency C section yet as the babies were doing fine on the monitors, and I wasn't a booked surgery, so basically they were fitting me into what ever slot there was time.

At about 5 they came to take me to the pre op room. They warned me it might be a bit of a wait. Well it was... Every once in a while someone would stick their head in and let us know there was another emergency I was being bumped for. They were monitoring the babies and me and everything looked fine. Finally sometime after midnight they came in to say it was finally me next in line. They finally managed to get an IV into my hand after a few pokes and prods.

During our wait for the surgery, I started to have stronger and more frequent contractions. They were getting quite painful and were coming a lot more often, about 10 an hour at the end. So I think my body knew Alex had no water left and that I would have gone into labour soon if they hadn't already planned for me to deliver. It was nice not to have to make a rushed trip to the hospital.

Once things got going it moved fast, They took us into the OR after getting Ian scrubed up and gowned, masked and hatted, They gave him a stool and the teams went to work. The anesthesiology team had the most to do with me getting things all set up for my epidural. There was also 2 neo natal teams in place, plus a lot of nurses and other people getting set up. The OR is a small room and there was a lot of people all moving fast. It was a bit surreal.

Finally everything was ready for the epidural. It took a while for them to get everything ready. I sat curled around mt belly and a pillow and tried to take my mind to a happy place. The epidural took a while and after much poking and proding and a whole lot of pushing and a few twinges it was in place. When I had had my spinal for the cerclage surgery my blood pressure had droppped really fast (too fast) so this time they added the freezing really slowly to try to keep me a bit more stable. I lay down on the board, arms stretched out on the Jesus Cross and they seat belted me in and tilted me slightly to the left. At this point the freezing was moving up my body and suddenly I was hit with a huge wave of nausea. For a minute or 2 I was sure I was going to barf and the suddenly the freezing hit the bottom of my rib cage and the feeling was gone.

As soon as I was under and they made sure I couldn't feel anything the surgical team flew in. My OB was in charge and she had a couple of Residents with her. Like on TV they all came in with heir hands in the air, freshly scrubed in. Within minutes I was cut open and the babies arrived... There was less than a minute between the 2 of them. Alex arrived at 1:31 and Anna arrived at 1:32. Alex didn't cry for what felt like the longest few seconds of my life. It sounded like Anna cried as she was still in my belly. Seconds after hearing Anna I heard Alex from the side of the room start to cry and I was able to relax. The babies were finally here.

Each of the neonatal teams went to work cleaning, measuring, weighing and prepping the babies. Both were brought to my head for 5 seconds each, I said hello, gave them a kiss and they were whisked off to the NICU. Ian left with them at that point to see them installed in the NICU in their incubators. Neither of them needed any help breathing on their own and both did well on all the tests they gave them.

Now the longer part of the surgery took place. There was much pushing and pressure on my ribs, but other than that I couldn't feel a thing. They delivered my placentas and stored them (they were apparently being sent for testing) and closed up all the things they needed to inside. My belly was then stapled shut and tapped up from side to side.

After the C section was finished they got me into position for the cerclage removal. One of the residents seemed to be in charge of this, so I got to hear what was going on as he was talked through it. I was glad to have this done with the epi still in effect, as I have heard the removal can be very painful.

At this point I was wheeled into recovery and we sat there and waited for the freezing to leave. Slowly but surely I could feel one body part after another start to move. Ian came back to the recovery room to sit with me, and reported the babies were safely installed in the NICU. At this point they offered me ice chips, since I had had nothing to eat or drink for ages they tasted and felt so good in my mouth. Finally I was unfrozen enough, so they decided to take me to my room.

On the way to my room they took me on the stretcher to the NICU to see the babies again. Things were a bit foggy at this point and I was happy to know they were safely here and I was ready to sleep. They wheeled me into my room and I wiggled myself over from the stretcher onto the bed. It was now 5:00 am on July 4th. I had been awake now for almost 24 hours. There was no cot for Ian, so he curled up in a chair, and we both fell asleep for a few hours.

After a few hours of sleep my Dr came by to check how I was doing. She told me to get up and moving asap and that that would make things feel better and would keep the gas from building up in my belly. I was still hooked up to my IV and had a catheter in. We had called my Mom at our friends where she waited the night at 5 when I was back in my room, and told her to come around 8 to see us. With Ian and my Mom helping, I was able to get up out of bed and walk to a wheel chair. Moving wasn't the easiest with tubes, poles and pee bags attached to me, but between the 3 of us we managed to get things set up to go to the NICU. The first few movements after the surgery hurt a little, but I managed to breathe through them and once I was in motion, the pain was gone. I was also really motivated as I wantd to see my babies again.

I was wheeled down to the NICU, was taught how to scrub in and such , and the parenting began.