I am so excited to announce the safe arrival of my twins – Zoe Renee and Bailey Grayson. We actually got home from the hospital Saturday evening, but as you can guess, I’ve been a bit busy since then. I’m finally getting a chance to write everything down about their birth.
Short facts:
They arrived by induction on Tuesday, March 13 (36 weeks, 2 days gestation)
Baby A – Zoe Renee born at 4:48 p.m.
4 lbs. 13 oz., 15-1/2 inches
Baby B – Bailey Grayson born at 5:07 p.m.
7 lbs. 5 oz., 21 inches
Birth Story (warning, this is really LONG!) :o)
Monday, March 12, 2007
I had to call for an OB appointment as I didn’t have one yet for the week. I was lucky and got the last appointment time that day. When I went in, I found out that I was 2-3 cm dilated, my BP was high again and that the OB wanted to schedule an induction – for the next day! Eeek.
I called my sister-in-law, who was due on March 13, to let her know that “I had won the race” (LOL) and that I was being induced – I would probably have my babies first. She called back a couple of hours later to let us know that her water had broken and she was headed into the hospital that night. 2 hours later, she called and told us they were sending her home to labour until the morning, she was still only 2 cm. dilated.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
7:00 a.m. – I called the hospital to see if my induction was still scheduled for the first induction of the morning. I got the ok to come in, so we packed up the van and headed in.
8:00 a.m. – We got to the hospital and got settled into a room right away. I was lucky enough to have a nice private room to labour in, and found out that was also where I would be staying after the birth. When it was time, I would be delivering in the OR just in case we needed a c-section.
8:30 a.m. – The IV was in (took 2 painful tries), blood work done and my OB came in to break my water. I’m still 2-3 cm dilated and they started the Pitocin slowly (and would be increasing it every 30 min.). I had a fantastic labour nurse, Brenda, who really helped calm me down when all the different needles started to arrive (I’m TERRIFIED of needles).
9:00 a.m. – My sister-in-law is admitted to the hospital and she starts labouring three doors down the hall from me.
10:00 a.m. – I started to have some contractions. They didn’t hurt – they were more like cramps.
10:30 a.m. – The power to the hospital went out. We find out there is a fire in the hospital and at an adjacent transformer station. Lovely! But we didn’t have to move out of the room – they didn’t evacuate L&D.
12:00 p.m. – My OB checks me and I’m now 3-4 cm. He decided to increase the Pitocin at a faster rate now.
1:00 p.m. – My contractions are starting to get uncomfortable now, but still not bad. It’s at this time that my nurse tells me that my OB is in the hospital until 5 p.m. and the anesthesiologist is only dedicated to L&D until 3 p.m. I had to have an epidural because I was having twins, so I had until 3 pm. to get it.
2:15 p.m. – My contractions are much stronger now, but still bearable. But I knew the anesthesiologist was going to be leaving soon, so I said now was the time for the epi.
2:20 p.m. – We get the word that my sister-in-law had her baby girl! My niece Leah was born weighing 7 lbs. 11 oz. Yay!!!
2:45 p.m. – The epi was in – and it HURT! They checked me as soon as the epi was in and I’m now 6 cm. I also feel pressure now, but no pain – the epi was working well.
3:30 p.m. – I’m 10 cm now and everyone starts getting me ready for the OR. I end up having to wait a while because an emergency c-section came in and I had to wait for some of the people to finish with that delivery first.
4:15 p.m. – Finally everyone was in the OR and ready to go. In the OR was: my OB, a resident, my 2 L&D nurses, 2 nurses for each baby, a pediatrician, the anesthesiologist, my husband and me – a total of 12 people!
4:30 p.m. – I finally got the go-ahead to start pushing. I pushed through 3 contractions and at 4:48 p.m. Zoe is born. She was born breathing on her own and didn’t need any medical intervention. The OB and my L&D nurses start manipulating the next baby into place so that he’s head down. I pushed through 4 more contractions and Bailey was born at 5:07 p.m. – almost 20 minutes later and weighing more than 2-1/2 lbs heavier than his sister. The OB joked “so that’s what happens in 20 minutes!”
When Bailey was born, he was making grunting noises and was labouring with his breathing, so after the OB stitched me up (I had 2nd degree tears) I got to hold Zoe on the bed while they wheeled me back to my room. Bailey had to stay in the OR until the nurses could stabilize his breathing.
The rest of the night was kind of a blur because we all ended up having some issues after birth. Both babies ended up having low blood sugar levels and couldn’t regulate their temperature, so they ended up going to the NICU 2 hours after they were born – I didn’t even get to hold Bailey before he was wheeled out. As for me, the doctors were having serious trouble getting my bleeding under control and my blood pressure skyrocketed. At one point I had over 6 nurses and 2 doctors in the room working on me, and giving me at least 5 different medications to try to stop the problems. If the bleeding hadn’t gotten under control by 11:00 p.m., then I was scheduled to have a D&C. Luckily, the bleeding slowed down enough that they put me on watch for the night instead – and I avoided having the surgery.
The babies ended up staying in the NICU for 3 days – during which we had major feeding problems with Zoe and Bailey’s heart stopped – but they were able to revive him quickly. Everything got better after 3 days and on the 4th day, the babies were released from the NICU and were able to stay in the room with me.
Now that they are a week old, they are doing very well. Zoe is now the breast feeding champion and Bailey is slowing regaining his weight (he ended up losing 9.9% of his birth weight). My other boys are over the moon with the babies and they are being so helpful. It’s been so much fun to watch them interact with the babies – they are going to be very protective big brothers.
And that’s our update – we’ve had a lot going on! I can’t wait to see what’s next…having twins is certainly an interesting adventure.
