Clara and Hazel's birth story

I'm sitting in the nursery, keeping an eye on our beautiful sleeping twin girls. 6am, and I finally have a little time to jot down how they got here.

I worked my last day on Friday, February 28. My blood pressure had been running high enough that my doctor wanted me to stop working. I was in the office until noon and finished the rest of the day at home. I took it easy, and other than a conference call, mostly rested and checked email.

We sat down to dinner, chicken breast and steamed broccoli, around 7pm. I wasn't very hungry, so I didn't eat much. I started having these gas-like cramps, but I wasn't passing a lot of gas or anything. I went to the bathroom a couple of times. After dinner, Kim took Katie and Penny to Hobby Lobby to pick out some stuff for a craft project. While she was gone, I started to suspect these cramps were actually contractions. I texted Kim and called my mom. We started making a plan for what to do with Penny in case we had to go to the hospital.

Around 11pm, I was starting to have pretty regular, timetable contractions 4-5 min apart, so I took my blood pressure. It was fairly high, so I took that as a sign that I needed to at least get checked. I was at 2-2.5 cm at my last appointment, so I figured this could possibly be the real thing. Kim stayed at our house so we could go to the hospital.

We got to the hospital just after midnight on March 1. I was actually really glad of the timing because it put us at exactly 36 weeks gestation. Every week counts! They put a bracelet on me and a nurse came and took us back to a room. She hooked me up to three monitors (one for contractions and one for each baby), and once they noticed my contractions were coming every 1-2 minutes (what??), they started me an IV of fluids to make sure I wasn't just contracting from dehydration. They took a bunch of blood to check on a bunch of things, and we settled in to wait and see if they were going to keep us or send us home.

We waited until about 3 or 4 in the morning before the nurse came back in and told us that, based on my contractions (which had slowed to every 5 min or so, but hadn't stopped or gotten any weaker) and my blood work, which showed high levels of uric acid (which can lead to seizures in the mother), I was going to have some babies today! Which was both exciting and terrifying to hear. The contractions were strong enough that, now that I knew I was staying, I went ahead and requested an epidural. I was concerned about labor moving quickly because it wasn't my first pregnancy, and I also wanted to have my epidural in place so that if they had to perform an unplanned c section, they could easily numb me up and not have to put me under in an emergency.

Around 7am, there was a shift change, and the new on call doctor, Dr. Williams, had them start me on Pitocin and break the closest bag of waters. Both babies were head down, so the plan was to try for a vaginal delivery (my preference, and also how Penny was born). Things were progressing pretty well until I got to about 6-7cm dilated. Dr. Williams performed the check and said, “I feel a face.” She frowned and said, “I'm not very comfortable with this.” Apparently, instead of trying to descend top of the head first, baby A was trying to peek out with her face. The doctor explained that this could cause neck injuries to her if she was born facing that way, or even issues like cord prolapse, where the cord comes out first and cuts off the baby's oxygen. She told me she wasn't going to rush me, but it looked like we were heading for a c section. She had the nurse turn me on my left side to see if the baby would move a little. I'll admit, once she left the room, I started freaking out a little. I called my mom and sister and let them know I might be headed for surgery. At this point, Cory was the only one at the hospital with me. They started hurrying to get there to see me just in case. I might have cried a little. I knew we would all be alright, but I just hadn't expected this little wrench. I figured I would either know I was headed for surgery in advance, or get to try pushing and have to convert to a c section. This was something different. A slight difference that changed everything.

Turning me on one side and then the other didn't help. The doctor gave me a little extra time to wait, which allowed my mom and sister to make it to see me. I really appreciate how kind Dr. Williams was in this situation; she did her best to allow me some control when I really didn't have any. She came back to check on me, and I told her I was ready. At that point, everyone sprang into action. They briefed me on how it would go and started giving me anti nausea meds and upping my epidural for the surgery. I said goodbye to my mom and Kim, and they wheeled me away, Cory following behind.

They had Cory put on scrubs outside the OR while they prepped me. I was totally naked and could see my reflection in the lights above me, which creeped me out a little. I remember being relieved when they put the sheet up; they angled it so I couldn't see them or anything else past my chest. Then they let Cory back in and he stood by my face and they began. I didn't feel any pain, thank God. That was one of my worries, that the pain medication wouldn't take fast enough or something. I do remember being so tired that my eyelids felt heavy. I was trying not to fall asleep while they worked.

I didn't have to wait long. After some vague pulling and tugging sensations, baby A, Clara Rhea, was born at 11:20am. Baby B, Hazel Marie, followed right after at 11:21am. Cory got to hold both of them and bring them to me. He was the one who thought A looked like a Clara, and B looked like a Hazel. I agreed immediately and that was it for names! Clara cried right away, and Hazel made softer noises but did okay. They were concerned about Hazel's breathing at first, but then she started screaming and they worried a lot less about it, haha. The decision was made that they didn't need to go to the NICU, so after they closed me up, we all headed to my recovery room together.

My twins' birth was so different from Penny's birth I can hardly compare them. Pretty much everything that could have been different, was. I can't imagine only having one of them, though. We're adjusting to being a family of five and it's pretty great. After I had Penny, I knew our family still wasn't complete. I wanted to experience pregnancy again, and I felt like someone was missing from our family. Now, I feel like we're all here. Cory and I and our three girls. It was a little more than we bargained for, but it feels wonderful and exactly right.

Expectations vs. Reality

On having a baby:

Expectations: You won't know all the answers. Duh.
Reality: Most of the time you know all the possible answers, and have no idea which is the right one, and every time you ask someone for advice it will be different. You will trust your pediatrician, but you will still wonder if you're doing the right thing.

Expectations: Falling totally in love with my baby, instantly.
Reality: Being instantly wowed by my baby, but taking a while for the deeper bond to develop.

Expectations: Not getting enough sleep.
Reality: Getting even less sleep than that.

Expectations: Being a parent would be fun.
Reality: Seeing my husband become a parent would be powerfully emotional (and fun!).

Expectations: Being an emotional wreck the first week back at work.
Reality: Being glad to have an outlet for adult conversation, and a full paycheck again.

Expectations: Being a "different mom" who wasn't part of that exclusive "mommy club" that seems to exist.
Reality: Being glad to have friends who have been through the early stages of motherhood already to know I wasn't alone in my frustrations about parenting, and to share in the joys that seem mundane outside of that perspective.

Expectations: Wanting to break out of the house often, and socialize as much as possible (with baby).
Reality: Being torn between being sad for not being invited to many events (wanting to socialize) and trying to keep the baby on a good sleeping schedule (wanting to stay home).

Expectations: Breastfeeding would either work or it wouldn't, and I would adjust accordingly.
Reality: Breastfeeding sort of works, and we do a combo of nursing and formula.

Expectations: Seeing her smile would brighten up any bad day.
Reality: Even better than expectations.

Penny's Birth Story

I want to go ahead and write this down before I forget the details (and I'm sure I have forgotten some already). I had a wonderful pregnancy. I felt so happy all the time. I wasn't sick much and didn't gain much weight. It had taken us a while to get pregnant so I was grateful for every day of it.

Toward the end, my blood pressure started to go up. It never turned into pre-eclampsia, but I did have a couple of short stays in the hospital for testing (a couple of hours at 35 weeks 6 days, and a couple of days at 36 weeks 6 days). I was on bedrest from the first hospital visit until delivery, and eventually put on medication for my blood pressure. Penny looked great at every ultrasound, but they were monitoring me very closely. Finally, my doctor said it was time to go ahead and induce at 37 weeks, 6 days. I was due on March 17 (St. Patrick's Day!), but Wednesday, March 2 at 4 am found me and Cory in the lobby of our hospital, checking in to have our baby!

I got called back around 4:30, and they hooked me up to an IV, checked me, and strapped on the monitors. I was worried about getting any pain meds too early because I was trying to avoid a C-section if the induction didn't go well, so I didn't get any right away. I wasn't feeling any pain that early, anyway. I was really shaky because I was so nervous - this wasn't how I had pictured having my baby! My nurses were really great, though, and Cory was so supportive. I made him take notes so I would remember when everything happened, and he acted as liaison for all the communications with friends and family.

By around 8am, the doctor came by and broke my water. After that, the contractions really picked up! I was starting to have to breathe through them. They told me it would take 20 minutes for an anesthesiologist to get to the room to have an epidural, and just to let them know when I was ready. I still held off for a while. I really wanted to experience labor for myself. The best way I was able to describe it that day was, "it feels like my uterus is in a trash compactor." Haha! My personal goal was to make it at least halfway dilated, and then if I was miserable I would get the epidural. I had to get to the personal point where it was scarier not to get it than to get it. The contractions got a lot stronger, and after getting checked again, I went ahead and got it. It took on the left side stronger than the right, but they rolled me on my side and it evened out.

Around 10am or so, the family started coming to the hospital and asking to visit. I had been worried about them all seeing me in a lot of pain, but since I had already had the epidural, I let them in. Cory's family had come up from Louisiana the day before, so we had all the grandparents there, plus my grandparents, my sister and her husband, Cory's brother, and our friend Sarah. It was a full house! Everybody came and hung out for a while, and around 12pm I think, I got checked again and I was already at 8cm. I told everyone I wanted to take a nap to rest up for what was coming up, but we all kept talking and visiting, and an hour later, I was ready to go! So much for that nap!

The doctor told the nurses to get ready and have me practice push while she went back over to her office to continue her regular schedule of office visits. Little did she know I didn't need much practice! They had me push for about five minutes and Penny just came right on down! They called the doctor back, and then I had to wait and not push while we waited for her to come back. Once she got in, it was all business. Another 10-15 minutes of pushing, and at 1:41 pm, out came our little girl! I immediately started crying, and they put her on my chest. Ten fingers, ten toes, beautiful and healthy and pink. 6 pounds, 13 ounces.

My blood pressure improved as soon as I delivered, so we both went home on time and in great shape. Our little family. :-)

photo by Charbonnet Photography.

Changing gears a little...

So, it has been a really long time since I've blogged! I've been getting multiple requests to start blogging again, and I have a really great reason.

photo by Charbonnet Photography

Penelope Ann

born 3/2/2011 at 1:41 pm

We love our Penny so much! Look for more posts soon!