Twins: the birth story

Wow! Two weeks ago today, I doubled the amount of sons I have!

Thursday, September 9th I began having contractions every 15 minutes starting around 9am. They were quite sporadic. I thought it was strange. "Could today be the day?" I went in for my normal weekly check-up at 2p that day. I was dilated to 2cm. My doc said things looked good. He even said maybe we will have babies tonight. We were pretty excited!

Let me remind you (& myself) this was the hardest pregnancy I've ever had. I was in severe pain all day. Everyday. I hit 37 weeks and wanted these babies OUT! So when I started contracting I was so ready.

Jump ahead to Friday, September 1oth at 1am I was woken up by contractions. Amos was up, dressed, finished packing the bags. I took a long shower. Then, I got tired and went back to bed. After Amos realized I was asleep he laid back down (fully dressed and ready to go!). We snoozed until a little after 6am when the big boys woke up.

So I called my doc in the morning as I was having contractions again. He wanted to see me...soon. We got in at 10am. I was so determined that today was the day. My Mom and Dad had the big kids already so we were ready to pop these babies out. Once to the doc's office they hooked me up and saw that I was having contractions but they were very spread out. So they checked my cervix to see that I was now at a 3cm. But, again, progression was slow. I was so tired and discouraged that I was only at a 3. The doc told me that he thinks "your uterus is so stretched from carrying twins and already having had two babies that sometimes it does not work as effectively as a normal uterus." My thoughts: "Oh, great!"

Then he said, "I am going to call the hospital and you should head over there to be monitored. So Amos and I grabbed some lunch, a pumpkin latte, parked in a nice sunny location, chilled for a bit and talked, then headed to the hospital. Before we went in we walked around the parking lot five times and I did squats. No joke! Once we got to triage and got hooked up she said the same thing. "You are having them just not close together. If we don't see your body progressing we will have to send you home." I felt like crying. While waiting for the doc on call to come in and check on me, Amos and I went for a walk. I did squats again in the bathroom. :) I wanted these babies out!

Doc showed up and checked me. 4cm! Progress! We got admitted to a laboring room and hooked me up to a slow pitocin drip. You know what this meant! BABIES! Soon! I was so thrilled and so SCARED!

Would I have a c-section?

Would the boys be ok?

We prayed. A lot! This was going to happen through God's strength in accordance with His plans. Not ours. We also got so many amazing messages via text, Facebook and Twitter! Thank you, all!

From 3pm to 11pm I slowly progressed and then it was go time. I started the pushing in my room. Six seconds into the 1st push, it was apparent Trey was ready to move and move quickly. The nurse said, "Woah! Alright...we're good. Let's get over to the O.R." Yep! Definitely go time!

Off to the OH SO COLD and frightening O.R. There were about 16 people in there including Amos and me. A NICU team for each child. A few nurses. A med student in rotations (which I personally approved - SO glad the doc asked me prior to) PUSH! PUSH again! Out came Trey. He looked great! Amazing!! Then seven minutes later our sweet little Elliot came out with just three pushes! I was so excited to hear them both scream and cry. It was the best sound ever. Healthy baby lungs!

And then there was two. We were taking care of two babies. I was/am nursing two little babies. (Mr. Blonde note: After Quatro was born, I actually said out loud to the entire troop in the room, "Wow! There really are TWO of them!" /laughter/) We were holding two little miracles.

Beyond their delivery, things have been perfect. We stayed two more days at the hospital with our new little men. The staff were all so amazing as they have been for the birth of all our boys. It's only been two weeks, but they've continued to hit all their benchmarks. They cry like they're supposed to. Toot like they're supposed to. Pee like they're supposed to (Trey shot Mr. Blonde once already - won't be the last time I'm sure). It's all so crazy, so tiring and so wonderful! I still am in complete awe that these two beautiful boys were formed in me by the One who formed me! I love getting to know each of them!

We have so much more to share. These last two weeks have included brought about much more than just our two new guys. Like my Dad sustaining major injuries. LA's first full day of pre-school. My best friend's engagement. I also have some great reviews coming up on Pediped shoes, Eleven shoes and Label Daddy!

-Mrs. Blonde