Birth story

I am finally getting around to posting my birth story of the twins.

My contractions started New Years day around noon. They were sorta painful but not too bad. Enough pain for me to notice them! They were around 5-7 mins apart. I was laying on the couch chatting with a friend who had come to see me. The contractions slowed down but that night they started up again. They were painful but not enough for me to breath through them. I was jotting down the times every time I had one. I was able to get some sleep that night. The next day, the contractions were farther apart but getting more painful. This was the way it was all day. That night I noticed them getting stronger. Saturday was the same. Sunday, I called my friend who is a doula to come and see me and give me some ideas on how to get the contractions more regular if this was the real deal! My doula was very supportive and gave me some great ideas. She asked if I wanted to have my membranes stripped and I said no. I wasn't sure that I was in labor. My mom called that afternoon and said that she was coming in the next day to help and be there just in case I did go into labor. All Sunday night and into Monday, I had to stop and breath through the contractions. They were getting stronger and closer. I felt better if I was standing and then swaying back and forth during a contraction. Since my mom was there, I decided to call my doula again and have her come and strip my membranes. She got here around 9pm. She decided to check me for dilation first. I didn't get my hopes up since the last time my OB check me, I was at 1cm. Well, my doula checked me and I was at..... 4cm!!!! She said that I was in labor!! After she left, I tried to rest. I think I maybe slept an hour total that night. Laying down during a contraction hurt the most. I wasn't sure when we should head to the hospital. That morning, Tuesday, I hit a wall mentally and physically. I knew then that we were heading to the hospital that day. Again, I was very happy my mom was here. She stayed with Nate till our friend got to our house to watch Nate so that my mom could come to the hospital. Jason and I left for the hospital around 7:30am. We got checked in and I got changed into the infamous hospital gown. They started monitoring the heartbeats of the twins and mine. I had an awesome labor and delivery nurse! She did get a bit worried because my heart was racing. It wasn't bad, but they were a bit worried. They had a lady come in a do an ultrasound on the babies. I thought that was a bit odd, but oh well. One more chance to see my boys before really seeing them! Good thing they did the ultrasound because baby B turned breech sometime in the past 4 weeks of my pregnancy. The nurse called my OB and mentioned this and my OB denied me my VBAC. I was angry about the whole situation. I had my heart set on a VBAC. Before all this, my nurse checked me for dilation and I was at 5cm and 100% effaced! When she was checking me, she noticed that my pelvic opening was a bit small. After my OB said no vbac, Jason and I talked about it and prayed but I knew that it was going to be a c-section. The anesthesiologist came in and talked with us about what was going to happen. I will tell you I had the best people caring for us! Everyone was so very nice. I was able to walk down to the OR. That was a bit weird walking into an OR. It was cold and kinda intimidating. I hopped up on the table and sat on the side so my epidural could be put in. Jason sat in front of me holding my hands. I was very fearful of getting an epidural. I didn't have a good experience with my c/s with Nate. Obviously, this anesthesiologist knew what she was doing because it didn't hurt much at all and she told me what she was doing so I wouldn't be surprised. Everything was put in place, I was able to lay down. Jason moved so he was up by my head on my right side. After a while, my OB started my surgery. I waited impatiently to hear the cry of my babies! Baby A came first and was born at 11:11am. I saw the nurse take him to the warmer. The nurse took him to the wrong warmer and we all told her, "Wrong warmer"!!! The warmers had a note on them saying Baby A and Baby B so we wouldn't get the babies mixed up! I have to admit I was a bit surprised to see him looking gray. It didn't take long and they had him crying! What a sweet sound! Baby B arrived one minute later at 11:12am. The nurses brought the babies over one at a time for me to see and hold and snuggle with for a few moments. Daddy was busy taking pictures and cutting the cords. My OB was wonderful to leave some length of the cord so daddy could have the experience of cutting the cords! As I was getting stitched back up, the babies were getting cleaned up and weighed and measured. Baby A, aka Riley was 7lbs 3oz and Baby B, aka Jonathan was 7lbs 15oz!
After a while, they were done stitching me up and onto a bed so I could head to recovery. Daddy stayed with the boys. Oh, Jason was the only guy in the OR!! I thought that was awesome that everyone in the OR were women. My mom met us in the recovery room. Both boys nurses were in there too and so were the boys. I got to see the boys get their first baths. Riley's nurse helped me start breastfeeding with Riley. He latched on with in 2 tries! We had to work on Jonathan a bit but he finally got it.
I didn't stay very long in the recovery room before heading to another room where I would be the rest of the time. The hospital has a thing called "Cuplet Care". Basically, the babies stay with me and Jason the whole time unless we send them to the nursery.
The rest of the week was pretty much a blur! I was able to get out of bed on Wednesday. I was a bit shakey but had 2 wonderful nurses helping me. My iv and catheter came out Wednesday morning too which was so nice! Both the boys and myself had wonderful nurses. I had a great experience at St Lukes. I would recommend St Lukes to anyone. I did send the boys to the nursery at 10pm every night. I needed the sleep. My nurse would bring them back when they needed to eat.

Today, the boys are 3 weeks old. We had a great 3 week check up today. Both are gaining weight and are healthy.

My OB originally set my due date at the 6th of January. After we found out we were having twins, the date was changed to the 14th of January and left at that. Well, I had the boys on the 6th so I know in my heart, I went 40 weeks to the day with my twins. That is a rare thing these days. I am blessed that we were healthy throughout my pregnancy and both boys were healthy the day they were born

Wow, I didn't know this would be so long. I think I had better copy this for myself to keep. I know that my memories of Nate's birth day have faded somewhat. I probably should write those down too.