You'll have to excuse the tardiness of this post, but I had twins...so no further explanation necessary! :)
Just to let you know how it all went down, I'm here with my shortened birth story because I have only about 4 minutes until hell breaks loose here. But since you all shared with me the pregnancy, you should share in the birth!
So, Monday the 4th we checked into the hospital, we had already prepared someone to pick up Emma at pre-school depending upon how long
it took to get the twins - I expected that later that day we would have the babies...big fat hell no to that. Anyone who has never been induced raise your hand (notice mine are still typing because I have now been induced with ALL 3 of my children!). First you can get a gel inserted around your cervix used to soften it, and to bring on contractions. When that doesn't work, they move to an I.V. drip to do the same thing, but more powerful. Well, this hospital has a reputation for wanting to do things "natural" - they don't even do episiotomies because they find it better to heal via a tear than by cut. But we chose this hospital because they had "tricks" on how to move a transverse twin into position (see previously disgusting post!).
Funny how my short story seems to get so long...anyways, on Monday they gave me the gel at around 9:00 a.m., I had contractions and dialated to 3 cm, but at around 6:00 p.m. my contractions fell off. Instead of giving me the I.V., they told me to go to my room, rest up and tomorrow morning we'd start again. I was CRUSHED! Again, after all this time, and then being told I would get induced...I fully expected to have those babies that day! When we went up to my room, I met my roommate who told me she had just had her baby after 10DAYS OF RECEIVING THE GEL! I was livid. I though no way in hell would it take that long!
So the next morning I spoke with the Dr. and told her how disappointed I was, she reassured me things would go smoother so off we went for another round of gel. Later that day (April 5th), I had dilated to 5 cm after having contractions all day. But alas, around 9:00 p.m. they dropped off and I was again sent to my room. How the hell do you stop at 5 cm???!!! I'm halfway there...you just keep going!!! But they were not of the same mindset.
**I'm sure I don't need to include the amount of frustrated tears that dropped from my face, and the expletives that were directed towards these ignorant M.D's, but go ahead and picture it!
Here comes Wednesday, the 6th. This time, I had asked to speak with the Chief Dr. of the ward, I WAS PISSED. So he, along with 5 other Dr.'s came to speak to me, and I enlightened them on my definition of "induce labor", while he enlightened me on his definition of "nature". After I said to him that I would get up and leave the hospital if they only gave me one more dose of the gel and sent me packing. He "promised" me that I would have my twins TODAY, and that HE would personally deliver them. He later added that he couldn't deliver them between 12:00 and 7:00 p.m. because of a meeting...so I should "wait for him". I then told him, "I don't know you. How can you "promise" me that I will have the twins today, especially in light of the past 2 days!!!??". He said that we wouldn't stop this time, we'd keep going no matter what. I conceeded and we began with the gel.
It was a long day of labor, and back labor! (Romy was sitting on my sciatic nerve and would send shooting pains down my right leg with every contraction). By 12 noon, my water still hadn't broken, but I was about 5 cm dilated and had seen a birthing tub during one of my many hallway walks. I asked if I could labor in there a bit, and it was wonderful! Of course I felt like a beached whale sitting in the water...but in the end, it also allowed my body to relax a bit, and my water broke in the tub. Then the fun really began. Within an hour, I was dilated to 6 and having strong contractions. It was then I asked for the drugs!! :) I was so tired, and it reminded me of Emma's long birth, and without the drugs I think it would have gone directly to a C-Section because I just didn't have the energy to continue. It took the stupid guy 6 attempts to get the needle in right! He kept saying, "lean over more, bend your back like a cat more". Um, dude...I have 2 babies in this belly o' mine...there is NO MORE LEANING AVAILABLE!
Alas, I only had the drugs for like 1.5 hours when they said they needed to turn them off so I could begin having stronger contractions. They really wanted the babies to get moving, and so did I, so I agreed and off the drugs I went...
Now here's where the fun begins: Again, I labored for hours without the drugs, I squatted with each contraction, I breathed as deep as I could to help with the pain, I think I even cried more tears of frustration. The Midwives there (one particularly who was extra wonderful) had tried to strip the membranes, and would check my cervix to see how open I was and each time it hurt like hell. I would push everytime she would sweep the membranes to try to get Romy's head deeper in place. It was the hardest I had worked in all my life.
7:00 came and went. No Chief Dr. to check on me. I had heard they were calling him in between to give him updates, but never again saw him. By 10:45 p.m., I was 9 cm dilated and they told me I had one more hour to try to get them out, then they would operate. It makes me cry now just thinking about it...
They didn't even give me the full hour. They came back in about 45 minutes and turned back on my drugs...they were going to operate. I've never had an operation, and just was crestfallen to hear that my children were going to now come by C-Section after a combined 39 hours of labor. I had worked so hard to have them natural after almost EVERYONE had told me to just schedule a C-Section. Crushed was my only feeling.
So, they prepped me, they wheeled me, they cut me, and at 12 minutes past April 7th, Romy Jeane was pulled from me, 3 minutes later...and ALOT OF TUGGING AND PRESSURE, Henry James came screaming into the world. Christian was by my side the entire time, I just focused on him during the entire procedure to drown out everything that was happening...it almost worked.
Opa Randy & Romy
Papa & the Piggie!
No one had any idea how big Henry was. Not even the stupid Hospital who had done a "high risk ultrasound" on me because my own ObGyn had said that he was considerably bigger than Romy. At over 23 inches, and 9.4 pounds...he was WEDGED between my ribcages so good that they told me even if Romy had come natural, they would've broken my ribs with their "tricks", and possibly have harmed Henry in the process; and in the end he would've come by C-Section anyway. That made things a little better. Later that morning, the wonderful Midwife I had had also came to the Maternity Ward to see the babies and to tell me that I couldn't have done anymore than I did to get them to come natural. I had given my best, and that it would've turned into a C-Section anyway, so that I should be proud. It made me feel a bit better.
And that's the story! Sure, there's extra bits...but who has time for those now?? These twins are a handful. Romy is the feisty one of the two, and with each ounce she takes on becomes more and more pretty. Henry is a lazy boy with 2 eyeballs the size of golfballs! They look NOTHING alike, and are definitely they're own individual children. They sleep in the same crib, and aren't easily disturbed by the other one's crying - so far. Emma is AMAZING with them, and just loves to touch them and tickle them, and wants desperately to be allowed to hold one on her own! We're not ready for that yet. Mice and Men?? LennY??? Yeah, that's Emma.
This is how we roll...
So, if you don't hear from me for a while. I've got my hands full. But I love all of you and hope to post more pics and stories about our Party of Five in the near future!
p.s. Is this a good time to ask if anyone wants to visit me????? ;)
xoxo
