TWINS!

On Friday, May 6th at 1:00 pm and 1:01 pm, our baby girls were born.  Abigail Jean (Baby A) was 4 pounds 11 ounces and Amelia June (Baby B) was 4 pounds 1 ounce.

To back up a little bit...once I hit about 32 weeks, our weekly scans with the specialist revealed that Baby B's growth had slowed significantly.  For most of the pregnancy, the girls hovered between 10-20% on the growth charts.  At this appointment, B had dropped to 5%.  2 weeks later, I had another growth scan and she had dipped below 5%.  The specialist changed their recommendation for a 37 week delivery to a 35-36 week delivery.  I met with my regular doctor at 34 weeks and we scheduled my C Section for Monday, May 9.  I would be 35 weeks, 6 days.  The following week, at 35 weeks, I went for another NST and the babies did not look as good as they had previously.  The nurses hooked me up to an IV and did an ultrasound to check on the babies.  Both babies looked okay enough that they allowed me to go home but my doctor gave me the option of delivering that day if I thought that would be best.  I left it up to her (since she was the doctor, after all).  She told me to come back again on Friday and to make sure that I had my bags packed.  If the babies didn't look stellar on Friday, they weren't going to play around, we would be having the babies that day.

On Friday, Carson and I went to the hospital for the NST.  We had talked about it and decided that if the option was given to us again, we would go ahead with having the babies that day.  When they hooked me up to the monitor, I was having somewhat regular contractions and that was actually causing Baby A distress.  Since A had shown no previous signs of problems, it concerned the doctor enough that they decided to admit me and push me to the front of the line to have a C-Section.
Everything after that was a whirlwind.  By 12:30, I was in the operating room getting prepped.  Just 30 minutes later, both babies were out!

Both babies were breech and Abigail came out feet first.  Once Abby was out, Amelia's arm started coming out first so the doctor actually gave me a shot to relax my uterus and performed a version so she could pull Amelia out head first.  It turns out that Abby's cord was in between her legs, which was causing her to not respond well to the contractions I was having.  It was really a blessing that we had come in on Friday and not waited until the weekend to have another NST.

When the babies were born, Amelia was actually doing much better than Abby despite being significantly smaller and got much higher APGAR scores.  They wrapped them up and showed them to us.  All I could think was how small their little faces were.  Carson got to hold them briefly, then they were whisked away to the NICU.  (Little did I know, I wouldn't see them again for another 24 hours.)  Once the doctor was finished with me, they wheeled me into an observation room where I could not stop shaking.  I felt like my teeth were going to break from chattering SO much.  Carson was able to check in on the babies as they got settled in the NICU.  He had to leave once they started working on placing the IV in their cord and came back to check on me.  I was still shaking uncontrollably.  After about an hour, they took me to a recovery room.  About this time, another patient started hemorrhaging so no one checked on me for about 3 hours.  Thankfully I had brought my own pump, and I was able to pump around 4 o'clock so the babies would have something to eat in the NICU.

 Amelia

Abby

All through that first night, I pumped every two hours.  Every two hours, Carson would take milk over to the babies, then he would wash my pump parts.  Every time I pumped, I got less and less.  By about midnight, I wasn't even getting a drop.  I hadn't had anything to eat since 6 AM on Friday.  After almost 24 hours of not eating, my body didn't have anything left.  I was finally able to eat breakfast at 9 and that made a significant difference in my production.

It wasn't until 1 PM on Saturday that I was able to get out of bed.  I took a shower and Carson grabbed a wheelchair so he could take me over to the NICU to see the babies.

The girls were born at 35 weeks, 3 days.  They stayed in the NICU for 15 days.  While a C-Section and NICU stay might not have been my ideal way to start their lives, I'm so thankful about how everything happened.  As a mother, I'm constantly being reminded that this is all in God's hands and he really does know what is best.  The girls are here and are healthy and that is all that matters.