Parker Jesse (6lbs 10oz) and Olivia Ruth (7lbs 8.5oz) arrived on October 17th at 12:48pm and 12:58pm, respectively. In my last post I had told you how I had been having a number of contractions for several weeks--well they must have been doing something because on the morning of the 17th I woke up at about 4:30am needing to head to the bathroom (as usual). However something seemed a bit off and I was thinking that perhaps my water had broken. Within the half hour I was having regular contractions about 5 minutes apart. They weren't horrible, and I still wasn't sure this was the real thing. By 5:30am I was having contractions about every 1.5-2 minutes that were lasting about 45 seconds. Jason finally convinced me that we should call the doctor to see what they recommended. Because I wasn't sure the status of one of my tests, the doctor on call recommended that we come in to the hospital to see if my water had really broken. He warned me that I would likely have to come back home, but he wanted to see me just in case. So just before 6am we started calling our friends to try to find someone to come and stay with Hudson. We were able to get Kelley to be able to come over and she arrived about 6:30am. I was continuing to have regular contractions and got to the point where I couldn't really work on getting things put together to take to the hospital. Shortly after Kelley arrived Jason and I left for Yale New Haven Hospital. I knew that Hudson was in good hands and focused on what might be to come. When I arrived at the hospital I was in enough pain to request a wheelchair because I wasn't sure I could walk all the way up to the labor and delivery unit. As they were working on checking me in, the receptionist realized how quickly my contractions were coming and rushed me upstairs. In the triage unit they hooked me and the babies up to the monitors and were assessing the heart rates. The doctor on call for our service arrived and decided to check to see how far along I was--as a shock to us all I was fully dialated! Yikes! I had just hoped that I'd be far enough along to be admitted! =) At that point there was a flurry of activity to rush me into the operating room where I had to deliver (because of the fact it was twins). We had just enough time to text our parents to let them know that I was headed to the OR. I wasn't sure what my options for pain medicine were at this point, but they encouraged me to get an epidural in case there was need for an emergency c-section. So I was able to get an epidural and felt much better once that was in place. At that point I still wasn't feeling much pressure or urge to push, but they had me start trying. I pushed for about 45 minutes with little to no progress. They decided to let me "labor down" and wait and see what happened. The babies heart rates were looking really good, and we were thankful for that. It also gave us a bit of time to be able to call a few people and really update them on the situation. After about an hour of resting, the doctor wanted me to try pushing again. Like before there wasn't much progress and I wasn't really able to do much effective pushing. So the doctor wanted me to rest again, and to have my epidural turned off so that I could really feel the contractions. At this point I was discouraged and afraid that I might have to have a c-section. Parker's heart rate did a few scary things as well, and again I was fearful that something was wrong. Thankfully his heart rate came back to normal. I was really starting to feel the contractions again and motivated to try to make this really work--because I knew that a c-section was inevitable if things didn't go well. Thankfully I was able to push effectively and there was real progress now that I was able to really feel the contractions. It was about 30 minutes after the third session of pushing began that Parker was born! It was a big relief to know that he was okay. They showed him to us very briefly and then took him away to check on him. They did an immediate ultrasound to check on the status of Olivia to make sure that she stayed head down. Thankfully she did, but they noted that she was pretty high up. They broke her sac, but I was worried that I'd have to push for a long time before she'd be ready. Praise God that with the first contraction I was able to get her down so that they could see her head! I think I only pushed on 2, maybe 3, contractions before she was born. When she came out it turned out that she had her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck twice! But thankfully she was fine. They let me hold her pretty quickly and I actually felt pretty good! Unlike after I had Hudson, I could tell how much weight and pressure had been taken off of me!
Soon a person brought me Parker and let me hold him for a few minutes but said that he needed to go to the NICU for observation because his breathing was too fast. Thankfully Olivia was healthy and fine and she could stay with us. I was moved to a room on the labor and delivery floor and Jason's mom was able to come in and see us and Olivia. I am so thankful for the excellent nurses that I had with me during my entire time in the OR--they were fantastic! It was scary to have Parker go to the NICU and I wasn't sure how he was doing. Jason went with Olivia up to the maternity floor, and Jason's mom and I went to see Parker in the NICU. It was hard for me to see him there all by himself, and I felt that I didn't get a lot of information about him when I visited him. After I was moved upstairs, Jason was able to go and see Parker where they told him that he would be able to join us upstairs in just a few hours. Parker was just fine!
I am SO thankful that God allowed us to have two healthy babies and that I didn't have to have a c-section! My recovery from the delivery was actually better than it was after Hudson--even with the two babies they were much smaller than Hudson! =) We praise God that we all were home from the hospital two days after they were born.
While things have been crazy and busy, I am so thankful for our newest children. It is a pleasure to be a mom to my three children. I struggle some days to balance caring for all of them and our house, but I am blessed with a husband who helps me tremendously. We also had someone staying with us full time for the first 2 months of their lives! I could not have done it without the help of my mom (who stayed with us a total of 6 weeks!), my sisters, and Jason's mom. We also have had many meals brought to us by friends and lots of extra hands to help since our full time help was finished. God has really worked everything out so that we are provided for financially, emotionally and with the physical hands we need to care for these babies.
I will put more pictures in the next post, but here is a picture of the babies on the day they were born--just as Parker and Olivia were reunited after Parker's time in the NICU.
Loved being able to read about the experience in its entirety. What a great mom you are!
ReplyDelete