On what turned out to be our last appointment, they scheduled me out until our c-section date at 36 weeks but I remember telling the scheduler that I really didn't think I was going to make it much longer, though I was hoping to.
That appt was on a Thursday and by Saturday, I was really feeling like it would be in the next few days. I was trying to hold out for 34 weeks exactly because that was our due date for that first baby girl we lost and it was also my little brother's birthday. But all day Saturday I just didn't feel very well. My back hurt and I was having Braxton Hicks more intensely. Lydia was also doing some weird moving in there like she was trying to pop out alien style and I was kind of worried, but figured I would just talk to my doctor on Monday at our next appt.
I honestly was in it for the long haul and wanted to keep those babies growing inside me as long as possible since each day growing in me saved THREE in the NICU (and each day in the NICU cost $8,000 PER BABY). So I was a little disappointed when I thought my water broke. I am actually really kind of proud at how well I was doing mentally because in the first few weeks after finding out I remember being so scared of the mental game and how done I thought I would be.
I had just gone to lay down in bed around 11:30 and was trying to get comfortable. Dillon had rubbed my back but had gone to the bathroom when I felt something. I told him to grab a towel since I was going to stand up and check to see if my water had broken, but then it turned out to be blood.
Our doctor had told us that if I went into labor, my water broke, I started bleeding, etc, to head to the hospital and we would deliver since I had made it past 32 weeks. So we called the hospital to let them know we were coming, grabbed my bag (which I had taken to every appt the last few weeks just in case I was admitted), headed out, and called our parents on the way. I remember looking at Dillon and asking if he was ready because it looked like we were probably going to be having babies!
We were a bit nervous because of the bleeding, but it wasn't too much thankfully and had basically stopped by the time they checked me. Just after midnight they had checked me in and gotten us into a room, hooked up the babies to monitors, and had done an exam when they said I was only dilated 1 cm and wasn't actively bleeding so they were thinking of sending me home.
First they wanted to check the swab they had taken just to make sure my water hadn't broken, but we know they were pretty sure they weren't going to deliver that night because later a NICU nurse told us that the NICU was told (30 mins prior to our delivery) that the babies weren't coming that night.
But in the mean time my contractions had picked up and were real labor contractions in the hour between getting checked in and the dr's going to check the swab so I didn't think it was wise to send me home. But before we could voice that, all of a sudden I felt weird. It's still hard to describe, but it felt like the blood rushed to my ears and I just felt off physically. I told Dillon and he ran to grab a nurse. I was trying to explain what I was feeling to the confused nurse when the drs came back in. They were incredibly calm and said that "baby A's heart rate is kind of low (I looked over and it was 51!) so we're just going to take you in to the OR and monitor for a little, but if it keeps up we'll probably deliver. Do we have verbal consent?"
As calm as they were, we knew it was urgent because there were about 10 people who came into the room. The second I said yes to consent my bed was moving, someone was putting an IV in me, the anesthesiologist was flipping me over to start an epidural until the told him they were knocking me out, we got to the OR in a few seconds and then they had me shift over to the tiniest little operating table (and they all cheered and told me great job for how fast and well I crab walked with my huge belly), then they were throwing a catheter in me as the anesthesiologist said he was about to knock me out, and the last thing I remember is that they dumped a bunch of something on me which I later learned is what is called a splash prep when they are working so fast they can't do the iodine swap stuff.
Twelve minutes from when they came in to say they were taking me to the OR, our babies were born. Twelve minutes. It can take 10-15 to open someone up in a planned c-section. They were all born in the same minute, that's how fast they were working to get our babies out.
In order to get to baby A (Beck) with the terminal heart tones, they had to get baby B (Quin) out first (and usually baby A is first because they label them based off of who is closest to the exit, but baby B had shifted down in the last prior few weeks so he came out first). Once they got him out and got Beck out, they realized that the bleeding and my weird feeling had come from Lydia's placenta becoming detached (called placental abruption) and got her out fast as well, since this can be terminal, too.
Later we were told that we would have lost both Beck and Lydia if we hadn't been at the hospital. It makes my heart pound to realize how close we were to losing our babies. And in reality, since Beck and Quin shared a placenta, if we'd lost Beck there is a good chance we could have lost Quin or it could have left him with severe problems.
We are so, so grateful that things turned out way better than that! And even though Beck had a lowish APGAR score at first, he's a healthy, happy little guy now. And same with Lydia. We really couldn't be more grateful. Sadly, since they knocked me out, Dillon couldn't be in the room so we don't have any pictures or videos of their first moments. But we console ourselves with the fact that they were born healthy and alive!
Dillon had to wait in the room until they came to get him and asked him if he wanted to go meet his babies. I was still out for a while and I think I "woke up" a few different times before it finally took ;) After I was actually awake they wheeled me through the NICU so I could meet our babies on my way up to our room. I don't remember a lot (in fact I probably remember the fact that I was amazed my bed could fit through the doors more than I remember actually seeing the babies ha) so thank goodness we have pictures (in which I look pretty out of it still ha).
It was a whirlwind of a few days trying to recover and trying to pump every two hours (and sadly my milk never really came in, we think due to the trauma of the emergency c-section and the subsequent blood transfusions I had, but man did I try) and trying to figure out how to stand up and walk through the pain of a major surgery. I think that, since they are so common, people forget that c-sections are major surgery.
Thankfully I felt back to normal by 4 weeks, but it was rough for a while! My dr had come to see me the day after since he wasn't there that night to deliver and apologized about how big the incision was due to the emergency, but said they had stitched my muscles back together at least. I really think that aided in my recovery. No years of physical therapy for me! And really, who could be mad about a scar that allowed their children to be delivered alive?? Fine by me!
We knew our lives would change in an instant when the babies were born, and it sure did! It has been an amazing (obviously tiring), wonderful 4.5 months!
That appt was on a Thursday and by Saturday, I was really feeling like it would be in the next few days. I was trying to hold out for 34 weeks exactly because that was our due date for that first baby girl we lost and it was also my little brother's birthday. But all day Saturday I just didn't feel very well. My back hurt and I was having Braxton Hicks more intensely. Lydia was also doing some weird moving in there like she was trying to pop out alien style and I was kind of worried, but figured I would just talk to my doctor on Monday at our next appt.
I honestly was in it for the long haul and wanted to keep those babies growing inside me as long as possible since each day growing in me saved THREE in the NICU (and each day in the NICU cost $8,000 PER BABY). So I was a little disappointed when I thought my water broke. I am actually really kind of proud at how well I was doing mentally because in the first few weeks after finding out I remember being so scared of the mental game and how done I thought I would be.
I had just gone to lay down in bed around 11:30 and was trying to get comfortable. Dillon had rubbed my back but had gone to the bathroom when I felt something. I told him to grab a towel since I was going to stand up and check to see if my water had broken, but then it turned out to be blood.
Our doctor had told us that if I went into labor, my water broke, I started bleeding, etc, to head to the hospital and we would deliver since I had made it past 32 weeks. So we called the hospital to let them know we were coming, grabbed my bag (which I had taken to every appt the last few weeks just in case I was admitted), headed out, and called our parents on the way. I remember looking at Dillon and asking if he was ready because it looked like we were probably going to be having babies!
We were a bit nervous because of the bleeding, but it wasn't too much thankfully and had basically stopped by the time they checked me. Just after midnight they had checked me in and gotten us into a room, hooked up the babies to monitors, and had done an exam when they said I was only dilated 1 cm and wasn't actively bleeding so they were thinking of sending me home.
First they wanted to check the swab they had taken just to make sure my water hadn't broken, but we know they were pretty sure they weren't going to deliver that night because later a NICU nurse told us that the NICU was told (30 mins prior to our delivery) that the babies weren't coming that night.
But in the mean time my contractions had picked up and were real labor contractions in the hour between getting checked in and the dr's going to check the swab so I didn't think it was wise to send me home. But before we could voice that, all of a sudden I felt weird. It's still hard to describe, but it felt like the blood rushed to my ears and I just felt off physically. I told Dillon and he ran to grab a nurse. I was trying to explain what I was feeling to the confused nurse when the drs came back in. They were incredibly calm and said that "baby A's heart rate is kind of low (I looked over and it was 51!) so we're just going to take you in to the OR and monitor for a little, but if it keeps up we'll probably deliver. Do we have verbal consent?"
As calm as they were, we knew it was urgent because there were about 10 people who came into the room. The second I said yes to consent my bed was moving, someone was putting an IV in me, the anesthesiologist was flipping me over to start an epidural until the told him they were knocking me out, we got to the OR in a few seconds and then they had me shift over to the tiniest little operating table (and they all cheered and told me great job for how fast and well I crab walked with my huge belly), then they were throwing a catheter in me as the anesthesiologist said he was about to knock me out, and the last thing I remember is that they dumped a bunch of something on me which I later learned is what is called a splash prep when they are working so fast they can't do the iodine swap stuff.
Twelve minutes from when they came in to say they were taking me to the OR, our babies were born. Twelve minutes. It can take 10-15 to open someone up in a planned c-section. They were all born in the same minute, that's how fast they were working to get our babies out.
In order to get to baby A (Beck) with the terminal heart tones, they had to get baby B (Quin) out first (and usually baby A is first because they label them based off of who is closest to the exit, but baby B had shifted down in the last prior few weeks so he came out first). Once they got him out and got Beck out, they realized that the bleeding and my weird feeling had come from Lydia's placenta becoming detached (called placental abruption) and got her out fast as well, since this can be terminal, too.
Later we were told that we would have lost both Beck and Lydia if we hadn't been at the hospital. It makes my heart pound to realize how close we were to losing our babies. And in reality, since Beck and Quin shared a placenta, if we'd lost Beck there is a good chance we could have lost Quin or it could have left him with severe problems.
We are so, so grateful that things turned out way better than that! And even though Beck had a lowish APGAR score at first, he's a healthy, happy little guy now. And same with Lydia. We really couldn't be more grateful. Sadly, since they knocked me out, Dillon couldn't be in the room so we don't have any pictures or videos of their first moments. But we console ourselves with the fact that they were born healthy and alive!
Dillon had to wait in the room until they came to get him and asked him if he wanted to go meet his babies. I was still out for a while and I think I "woke up" a few different times before it finally took ;) After I was actually awake they wheeled me through the NICU so I could meet our babies on my way up to our room. I don't remember a lot (in fact I probably remember the fact that I was amazed my bed could fit through the doors more than I remember actually seeing the babies ha) so thank goodness we have pictures (in which I look pretty out of it still ha).
It was a whirlwind of a few days trying to recover and trying to pump every two hours (and sadly my milk never really came in, we think due to the trauma of the emergency c-section and the subsequent blood transfusions I had, but man did I try) and trying to figure out how to stand up and walk through the pain of a major surgery. I think that, since they are so common, people forget that c-sections are major surgery.
Thankfully I felt back to normal by 4 weeks, but it was rough for a while! My dr had come to see me the day after since he wasn't there that night to deliver and apologized about how big the incision was due to the emergency, but said they had stitched my muscles back together at least. I really think that aided in my recovery. No years of physical therapy for me! And really, who could be mad about a scar that allowed their children to be delivered alive?? Fine by me!
We knew our lives would change in an instant when the babies were born, and it sure did! It has been an amazing (obviously tiring), wonderful 4.5 months!
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