In the wee hours of the morning on October 22nd, 2007 I woke up, needing to go to the bathroom (or having already =) details...) and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why I couldn't stop going! Every time I moved, more... I changed like 4 times. Okay, I know... this is funny. People who think they just keep peeing when their water breaks, but I was only 30 weeks and 6 days! So that's a good excuse for the idiocy right? I ended up going to back to bed during a dry spell but I was a little concerned, trying to figure out if it was IT.
So when Matthew got up I told him I was concerned and I think he would have been more concerned had I been, but I was playing it cool. I told him to go ahead and go to work and if I felt like we needed to run in I would let him know and we could then go to the hospital. I knew that a UTI was possible, and that often there was the same type of symptoms... so I kind of resigned myself to thinking that's what it was.
But I did say a little prayer... that if it was the real deal I would start to have contractions or some pain to clue me in. So, I did. Yup. I did.
When Matthew and I arrived at the now 'late' Cottonwood Hospital they did a barrage of tests and found out my water had broken and I was in labor. And it hurt =) They gave me a bunch of shots, some to try and stop labor and some steroid shots for the babies lungs. The steroids have to be in my system 24 hours for it to help the babies, it's a set of two... so in order for them to work I would need to stay pregnant for 48 hours. Apparently the needle was HUGE, I didn't see, Matthew was describing it in great detail though.
Then they gave me Morphine. Uhm. Boo to Morphine. I couldn't keep my eyes open. I could hear everything that people were saying and I understood and absorbed it all, but I must have looked stoned out of my mind. I just wanted to tell everyone that I could hear them... I just need to close my eyes... just for a minute. Had I tried to talk though, I am not exactly sure what would have come out of my mouth. It was crazy.
They needed to transfer me up to LDS hospital where there was a NICU that could handle the kids so they put me in the transfer ambulance. About mid-way the guy in the ambulance realized I was wincing from contractions. His understanding was that I wasn't having them any more... he was NOT prepared to handle a pre-term delivery! He timed the contractions, three minutes or so. So, me, still on Morphine, has no idea what's going on when they pull over on the side of the freeway. Needless to say... neither did Matthew who was following close behind! A woman climbed in from another ambulance, apparently SHE was prepared to deliver preemies if necessary.
Once we arrived at the hospital we were on watch with one-on-one nurse care. (Her name was Julie. =) ) I did keep having contractions though, no matter what they did. They wouldn't give me an epi though until they knew the contractions weren't going to stop, which I understand... but DANG! They ended up giving me some wonderful happy drug that made me melt when they gave it to me, it was wonderful. And MUCH better than Morphine!
The doctor who was working with us came in and said she just had to check me one more time before she left for home because she couldn't stop thinking about us. She did, and sure enough... I was dilated to an 8, and definitely going to have these babies! Hello epidural! Mwah!
They wheeled us in to the delivery/surgery room and asked me if I could scoot my bum to the table on the side of me, uhm... NOPE! Hardly. I was numb numb numb. I could barely function cognitively, much less physically! Dr. Rose, a Perinatoligist, and actually the wife of Dr. Jackson who was my Perinatologist, kept the ultrasound on the babies the whole time to make sure they weren't under stress and to make sure they didn't do any flip flops and another nurse on the other side watched the regular monitor. There was probably 8 people in the room, tons of privacy.
Dr. Rose told Matthew "You know this isn't going to be the touchy feely cut the cord type moment right?" To which Matthew said 'hooray!' actually, I don't remember his response, but I think he was glad he didn't have to deal with that gooey mess. He kept making jokes about it being a football team and the nurse who was with us all day being the catcher and he told her to make sure she didn't drop the ball in the end-zone. I think Dr. Rose was the only one not amused, and she wasn't, not at all. Ha!
The babies showed no sign of stress at all, Dr. Rose even commented "These are the babies we LIKE!" Duncan was born at 8:20 with a wee squeak and the 'It's a boy!' was said and then he was quickly passed from nurse to nurse and right through the window to the NICU and put on CPAP to help him breath. He was 4 lbs 2 oz and 17.5 inches long. Dylan followed 20 minutes later and she was so silent, tiny and floppy it took a minute for the 'it's a girl' to come. Her legs just flopped from side to side, and not open... Her APGAR scores were 2, 5 and 7. She was just put on Oxygen but then she had to be intubated because the trauma the feeding tube did to her little nares. She was 2 lbs 9 oz and 14.5 inches long.
Dr. Jackson came in toward the end and took a look at the placenta, Dylan had always been small and he said "Ahhh... that's the problem!" and he showed us her (disgusting) placenta. She had a velamentous cord insertion. Normally the cord goes into the placenta like a pencil poked through paper. Dylan's went almost there, then kind of knotted and the veins splayed out on top of the placenta rather than being buried within. Gross, but Matthew still wished he had a picture of it! This complicates normal deliveries, if they break the water (which they did for Dylan) they run a risk of knicking a vein and losing the baby! They didn't know Dylan had this issue, we are lucky!
Matthew got to see the babies earlier than I did, I didn't get to see them until about 12:30 in the morning. They were tiny, and adorable... we took lots of pictures, none of which did them any justice.
People always asked us if we were freaking out and Matthew and I never really did get scared. We knew that the right people were in charge and whatever happens will happen, and whatever that might be would be just fine. I think this is pretty much how we are, and I think it's why we were lucky enough to get Dylan! There we have it! Their story, all spelled out! Someday they might want to know!
Dylan's first night, in all of her glory. (That's my hand, and my pinky, look at your pinky and you will see how tiny she was!)
Duncan, as I saw him for the first time. they couldn't get an IV in so they had to do it in his head. He has tape on his nose for the CPAP too. We didn't really get a good look at his cute face for 6 or 7 days.
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1 comment:
What beautiful little peanuts! Ah the stories all NICU moms can tell, we should seriously write a book :)
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