Meeting Two Handsome Little Boys! - A Birth Story!

So this week turned out nothing like how I had planned. I went to the doctor on Monday to have my NST and BPP ran as well as have a growth scan for the twins. Finally, both boys passed the NST. I then went into one of the ultrasound rooms to check on the boys. They did all of their measurements and it was immediately obvious that Ronin was much smaller than Orion, I could tell and the US tech said as much. So, when I went in to the room to talk to our MFM I was expecting some sort of bad news, but I was still kind of shocked by what she had to say.

"How would you feel about meeting your babies this week?"

One sentence dramatically changed my life.

We began talking about possibilities. She said I could wait if I wanted to, but she didn't feel that would be the safest option. She explained all of her reasoning behind wanting the boys to be born at just over 33 weeks gestation. She told me about the risks if I were to continue carrying them as well as the ones for delivering them. So... the decision was made. I would meet my babies that week.

Thayer and I then went upstairs to make our delivery arrangements with our regular OB. Again, we talked about the positives and negatives of delivering vaginally (since both babies were vertex or head down) and having a C-section. Because it was my first pregnancy, induction this early (33 weeks) may not have worked at all. There was also the risk of Ronin (the littler baby) becoming very distressed during contractions. He said even if induction were successful, the likelihood of me still needing a C-section because the babies were in danger was very high. So Thayer and I made the decision for the health of our children, it would be better to simply have a scheduled C-section. Our C-section was set up for the next day at 2pm.

As we left the doctor's office we told Thayer's mom (who was in town visiting). I immediately called my mom to let her know, and then began spreading the word. I was excited, anxious, but most of all, I was scared. 33 weeks gestation was still very early. Yes, I had the steroid shots. Yes, my babies and I would have the very best of care. But what if something happened? What if something went dreadfully wrong? I was so worried for my little boys.

I went home that night and prepared for the next day... the day I would meet my little boys.

June 18th, 2013

We arrived at the hospital at 12pm to prepare for my C-section. They took me, Thayer, my mom, and Thayer's mom back to the prep room. I changed into my gown, got my IV, had the babies monitored, had my blood drawn. Then the wait began. Finally they had Thayer change into his scrubs and got ready to take me back to the OR. I became more frightened.

I was wheeled back to the OR, and I got up on the operating table to await my epidural. My nurse (who was AMAZING!) comforted me as the needles were inserted in my back. I laid back and got situated and almost immediately my blood pressure bottomed out. They had to pump me full of several different medications to get it back up to normal. They checked to make sure I was completely numb and the doctor got ready. They brought Thayer in and had him sit by my head. I could tell by his eyes that he was scared too, for me and for the boys. I heard the my OB said, "Okay, I'm ready to cut." Not two minutes later I heard the most beautiful cry. I immediately started bawling. I saw them rush him over to the station to get cleaned up and checked over. Then I heard a second cry. I start crying even harder.

Both of my boys entered the world at 2:55pm!

The NICU teams ask if Thayer has is camera. He looks at me and I can tell he's torn. I tell him "Go. I'm fine. Go." So he leaves my side and starts snapping pictures of the boys. I hear them crying and I can't help but continue to cry. They get them all stable. (Their Apgar scores were 7 at 1min and 9 at 5min.) They load them in an isolet and take them to the NICU for assessment and take care of them. Thayer comes back to me and I tell him to go with the boys. And they start sewing me up. Not long later I'm taken back to my prep room for recovery for 2 hours so the epidural can wear off.

When my 2 hours were up, they wheeled me down to the boys' room in NICU. My boys were small... but perfect and beautiful. They are the most amazing thing I have EVER seen in my life.

Ronin

Ronin

Orion

Ronin

Orion

32w2d -- Less than a month to go!

Sunday marked 32 weeks! Where have the last 8 months gone? I can't believe I have less than a month left until I meet my little boys! I'm anxious, excited, scared, stressed, and happy all rolled into one beachball sized belly.

Yesterday (Monday) I had their weekly NST monitoring. Again, one baby wouldn't cooperate. Ronin decided he didn't want to wake up and get his butt moving. Orion passed within the first few minutes because he was feeling rather rowdy. When one of them fails we have to do the BPP. Again, Orion passed this in just over 3 minutes (they have 30 minutes to complete this test). Ronin did not pass. In a BPP they check for movement, muscle tone, breathing motions, and amniotic fluid amounts around each baby. Ronin did not pass the breathing motion portion. This meant that I had to go back to the doctor today and have the BPP ran again. Orion passed in less than 3 minutes today. He was moving and shaking and Ronin passed as well within about 10 minutes. I do admit, I sugared them up before the test and I ate about an hour before hand to hopefully make sure they were awake in there.

Also, on Monday Ronin was breech. I was in a lot of pain last night, especially my ribs and it felt like my skin was beyond stretched. I *knew* that Ronin had flipped around again. It was confirmed today during the BPP ultrasound. He is now flipped vertex again. Now the little turkey just needs to stay that way 1. so he doesn't cause me so much pain and 2. so I can deliver vaginally! It would be super nice to be able to have them the good old fashioned way (except with an epidural) than to have a c-section and deal with the recovery from that on top of trying to learn how to breastfeed and juggle two newborns.

On a side note, Thayer's mom gets in town tonight from Guam. We haven't seen her since our wedding in June 2009 and that was the only time I've even met her. It shall be interesting! I'm trying not to stress. The house is spotless and there are groceries in the cupboard. Not sure what more I could do.

32 weeks!

Clingy dogs... They definitely know something big is about to happen!

31 weeks - T-minus 35 days!

Well another week of pregnancy is complete. I am now at the 31 weeks mark and still going strong. I'm still not on mandatory bed rest, though I have decided it is in my best interest to take things easy. The babies are getting bigger. I'm not certain by how much, but next week is my growth scan.

Last Thursday I had an appointment with my regular OB (after my NST and fluid check). I see him every 2 weeks at this point and the MFM every week. They did the doppler and answered my questions. They measured my fundal height. I was 30w4d, but my uterus was measuring at 38 weeks. He said now that I'm measuring at full term I needed to have my hospital packed and in the car at all times. My body will essentially go into autopilot when it senses my uterus getting too big. Also, if anything happens to be found during the NSTs or growth scans that is cause for concern they will admit me either A) for more observation or B) to deliver the babies if it is bad enough. He just wants us to be prepared for these little boys to come at any time now. My induction/c-section is scheduled for July 8th. That is 35 days away. That's a little daunting to say the least
Today I had another appointment at the MFM office for an NST and fluid check. Both babies were being persnickety. For the first 10 minutes or so they did absolutely nothing. Guess they thought it was snooze time after waking me up at 5am. So the RN came in and buzzed them both. This got Orion moving, but all it did for Ronin was adjust his baseline heart rate. He just didn't want to wiggle. It was funny though, during the NST both babies ended up getting the hiccups so you could hear this little "hic, hic" tapping on the monitors along with the heartbeats. So after being monitored for 45 minutes and Ronin still not cooperating it was deemed that he failed the NST. When this happens they have to do a Bio-physical profile (BPP) on both of the babies. During this they look for the babies to both have practice breathing motions and to have a certain number of observable movements through ultrasound. Ronin was able to complete the entire test in just a few minutes. He decided it might be time to wake up. Then they went to check out Orion. He showed his practice breathing right away, but he thought it was still time to sleep and didn't want to move. He almost hit the time limit on the BPP before the tech was able to get enough observable movements out of him. I had to roll around on the US table from side to side, sit up, lay down all the way (which is incredibly uncomfortable) to try and get him to do something. If it's not one baby, it's the other! I do have good news, however. As of today, both babies are cephalic (head down). If they stay this way until July 8th then I will be able to have a vaginal delivery instead of a c-section!

I fear that Thayer are going to have our hands very full when these little boys arrive in a month because they are already very stubborn. (They get that from Thayer... lol).

School is now out, so I have the opportunity to take it easy. I've been trying to "nest" but it's difficult because most of the baby stuff is all packed away because we are going to be moving into our new house around July 1st. The ladies at work also through me a mini-baby shower. It was great! Everyone was so nice. I can't wait to go back in the fall and show off the babies.

Thayer and I are also preparing for the arrival of his mom. Her flight from Guam gets in June 11th. It's a little nerve-wracking because I've only met her once. I haven't seen her since I lost all the weight, and now I'm huge and pregnant. She's going to stay with us for a couple of days then drive out to the east coast to see the rest of the family and come back in time to see the babies before heading back overseas.

31 weeks!