Thursday, January 11, 2007 "The Birth!"

Well, we were in the home stretch with the pregnancy and all was as well as could be expected considering I was as big as a house, couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, and couldn't walk more than 5 feet without having a contraction! I was saying a little mantra all the time "Please stay head down, please stay head down". I was in some kind of denial about having to undergo a c-section, and did absolutely no research on it. I guess I was thinking somewhere, "If I don't know, it won't happen".

I'm sure you can see where this is heading! One night just as I fell asleep, I had a very sharp pain in my right side and it looked like a football was protruding from under my ribs! I started to cry, I knew what it meant...Baby B had turned, and turned with a vengeance! I went the next morning for my bi-weekly NST and when we got to the ultrasound portion of the test, my nurse said "Oh no! What happened to Sarah?" I was touched that she remembered the names of the babies, but was devastated that it did indeed appear that she had turned. The nurse showed me her position on the screen and said "Look, she's rolled herself up into a little ball!" Sigh. The nurse let my OB know about the change in positions, so we could discuss it at my next appointment.

With twins, the placenta(s) can degrade much more quickly than with a singleton, so a lot of doctors don't like to let twin pregnancies go much past 37 weeks. Twins tend to develop their lungs a bit faster than singletons, so a full-term twin pregnancy is considered 36 weeks, instead of the normal 38 weeks for a singleton. As soon as I saw my OB, he told me we needed to go ahead and schedule the c-section for sometime between 37 and 38 weeks. Larry helped pick the date, and we were lucky enough that the OB was open for it. We decided on Wednesday, February 18th, 2004 for a couple of reasons. The first one being, it was one less "number" for Larry to have to remember! :) Since our wedding anniversary is September 18, it's easy to remember February 18 for their birthday. Also, he could take just the day of the birth off, then take a week vacation the following week to help us all adjust. There wasn't anything for him to do at the hospital on Thursday and Friday while I basically just healed and rested, so this worked out perfectly.

On Tuesday night, February 17th, we went out for "one last dinner". Who knew when that would ever happen again! :) We went to Outback Steakhouse and just took our time. It was in the same parking lot as Babies R Us, so we did one more last minute run through! How convenient, huh? :) Oh well, it's not like I could sleep much anyway!

Wednesday, February 18, 2004...D-DAY!! It's all kind of a blur since once things got going, they moved pretty quick! We got checked in, moved into my room, changed into my gown, but not before taking one last pregnant picture!

I got all my pre-op stuff done, filled with fluids, babies monitored, IV's in place, and suddenly it was time. I wanted to just scream "Not yet! I'm not ready!", but of course I didn't, and of course I was as ready as I was ever going to get, so off we went to the OR. My friend Tammy grabbed my camera real quick and took this "flattering" shot! ;)

So, I go into the OR, and Larry gets to go get dressed up like a doctor (scary thought!), and the moment I've been dreading is here...the spinal. I'm normally not afraid of needles at all, I don't mind shots, don't mind blood drawn or IVs, but the thought of this big needle in spine did not sit well with me at all. I half hoped I'd pass out from fear. No such luck. I was almost pleasantly surprised though. The needle is not what hurt. What hurt was the anesthesiologists knuckles digging in my spine to find the spaces! I didn't even know when the needle went in! Just as I was relaxing, thinking this would be a piece of cake, the dry heaves started. What a horrible time to find out you're allergic to morphine! The one thing about this surgery I was looking forward to, ends up being my nemesis! :) Needless to say, the delivery for me was horrible, as I pretty much dry heaved the entire time. :( Good thing Larry was there with the camera!

***Warning, birth pictures to follow***


Baby A, Emily Nicole being born:

Baby B Sarah Elizabeth being born (butt first by the way, thanks to her rolling into a ball!):
Emily Nicole born at 1:00pm 5lbs.13oz. 18" long
Sarah Elizabeth born at 1:02pm 6lbs.2oz. 18 3/4" long


Daddy and the girls just minutes old!:

Mommy and the girls at home 4 days later!

Now, the real fun begins! :)