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.

Baby Noble: A Support Story

On July 8, Chelsea and I stepped into what would become our final visit to the doctor.  We had been anticipating this day for the last week, eager to find out about any progress in the pregnancy.  After a brief check-up, Dr. Tsai (who could be described as cold) informed us that little progress had been made since last week’s check-up.  He performed a sweeping of the membrane which had a 50/50 chance of helping Chelsea into labor naturally in the next 2-3 days.  After this quick procedure an induction date was set for July 11. 

Having spent the last 40 weeks anticipating the arrival of our child, my mind was put at ease knowing that there was a definite end date set for our pregnancy.  Chelsea was decidedly more nervous.  She had spent hours reading and researching the possible downsides to an induced birth.  Two days came and passed without even a mild contraction, and I grew increasingly more excited as Chelsea became more nervous.  Who could blame her; I certainly wasn't the one having to pass a child through my body!

Tuesday night was relatively uneventful, dinner at a so-so hamburger joint and a couple hours reading at the local Barnes & Noble. We made it home later than usual and headed to sleep for the night.  I was out for only 15 minutes when Chelsea shook me awake, “I think it’s happening.”  Everything was cloudy. I was incredibly groggy and probably groaned a few unintelligible words as I came to.  I looked up to see her tearing up as she looked intently at the timer on her phone.  As I came out of the haze she told me the contractions were regular and had been happening for 15 min off and on.  Reality set in.  We’re going to have a baby. Tonight! 

I jumped into the shower to wake up.  We took turns timing the contractions for the next two hours.  I grabbed pillows, clothes, the pregnancy exercise ball, a car seat, snacks, towels, cameras, phone chargers… anything and everything my mind could think of.  After 2 hours of regular contractions I tossed it all into the car and we headed to the ER at the hospital.  Driving in the car gave me the first chance to really reflect on what the heck was happening.  I grabbed Chelsea’s hand, smiled and said “We’re going to have a baby.” I spent much of the ride trying to remember everything that we covered in our birthing class.  I wish I had paid a little more attention to the odd instructor of our class who enthusiastically taught us how to properly groan, moan, and massage.  I tried hard to hide my panic and be strong for Chelsea.

via

We arrived at the hospital ER around 2 in the morning and were rushed to the triage room in the Birthing Center.  Chelsea was wheeled in while I carried ALL of our stuff.  I looked like a pack mule and was laughed at by the staff and the folks in the waiting room who all correctly guessed that we were about to have our first child.   After an uncomfortable hour of contractions (and a few painful exams) in the triage room, the nurses were sufficiently assured that Chelsea was indeed in labor.  We were moved to the birthing room 1007 where we would later have our beautiful baby girl.  The room was perfect, except for one detail, there were no chairs for me to sit at Chelsea’s bedside.  I spent the remainder of the night sitting on the exercise ball meant for my wife, helping her work through the contractions. 

I immediately began to transform the bright sterile room 1007 into a relaxing place for my wife.  We turned off the lights, opened up some aromatherapy lotion, cued up some Enya music and worked on our relaxing moaning.  The nurses must have thought we were some crazy new age hippy couple.  While all this might sound silly, as a man it is hard to watch your wife suffer through wave after wave of contractions.  Out of love you try to do anything and everything you possibly can to help her through each of the increasingly painful waves.   By my estimate Chelsea went through about 135 contractions ((60/4)*9hr), labor is by all means a marathon… not a sprint.

                

At 6:30AM our doctor broke Chelsea’s water, rapidly accelerating her labor.  The final hours of contractions were a blur, and it wasn't long until she began feeling the urge to push. The nurse paged the doctor who rushed into the room and prepped himself to deliver our baby girl.  I stood by Chelsea’s side, unable to do anything but hold her hand and whisper some words of encouragement.  It was amazing to watch her in delivery; everything was coming so naturally to her.  I’ll spare the gory details.  I watched on as she gave her final push, looking over at my wife, “you did it baby, she’s beautiful!”  A few tears rolled down her face as she saw our child.  I smiled ear to ear as I turned my focus to cutting the cord. The emotions of such a moment are immensely difficult to put into text.  As a father and a husband I was proud, shocked, relieved, excited, exhausted, and unbelievably in love with both of the wonderful ladies that will forever be a part of my life.             

Baby Noble: A Birth Story

Disclaimer:  This story is incredibly long and has honest details about giving birth.  

My last scheduled doctor's appointment was Monday, the 8th.  My doctor stripped my membranes as part of the exam, which I was not expecting but it was the next step since I was officially over my due date.  It was uncomfortable and made me feel incredibly crampy.  He said we had a 50/50 chance of it working but if we hadn't felt anything by Wednesday morning that it wasn't going to work and the next step was induction.  I hadn't progressed any further than I was the week before and we decided to schedule an induction date for Thursday, the 11th.  I was so disappointed.  I had such strong feelings against being induced and I so badly wanted to feel how labor was meant to feel naturally.  I wanted to feel contractions and labor at home for as long as I could. Induction seemed so forced and unnatural.

Tuesday night, we went to Barnes & Noble and read for a few hours.  I mentioned on our way home that my stomach was kind of hurting but I didn't think anything of it since I had been dealing with so many cramps over the past 2 days.  At about 11:45, I felt a very strong cramp that felt totally different than what I had been feeling.  I tried closing my eyes and falling asleep but in a few minutes, I felt another strong cramp.  I downloaded a contraction tracker app on my phone and waited for 2 more to pass before I woke Carson up.  I started crying because they hurt pretty bad (and I remember thinking "geeeez this just the beginning and they hurt like this!?") and because I was so happy that she got to come on her own.

We hopped out of bed and both took showers.  As we got our things ready for the hospital, whoever was closest to the phone would start timing when my contractions started.  From the get go, they were about a minute long every 5 minutes.  We knew we needed to have 2 hours of contractions 5 minutes apart before we could head to the hospital and that time FLEW by.  I tried sitting on the exercise ball like our birthing instructor recommended but I felt each contraction so much in my butt that it was pretty uncomfortable for me to sit.  Standing and moving around were the most comfortable ways for me to handle the waves of contractions.

We got to the hospital right at 2:00 am and they took us up to the birthing center immediately.  I was 4-5 cm dilated in my initial exam so they went ahead and admitted me.  We settled into our room and dimmed the lights, started playing relaxing music, and Carson began massaging my back.  I had initially requested to not be hooked up to an IV, but when I came in they said I was a little dehydrated, so I had to receive some fluids.  

When they took me off the IV, I was able to walk around for about 30 minutes.  I tried to use the exercise ball again, but every time I moved, the heart rate monitor would slip around and an angry nurse would come in and tell me if they continued to lose the heart rate, I would have to stay in bed. I lost the heart rate enough times that I eventually gave up and just got back in bed.  As soon as I laid back down, I got incredibly nauseous and threw up, which resulted in being hooked back up to the IV.  I was stuck in bed from that point on.  My labor seemed to be progressing pretty quickly though.  Carson continued to massage my back and every hour or so I would rub some lotion on my hands and I would hold them near my face when I had a contraction so I could inhale the smell.  Believe it or not, it was a huge help.

My doctor came in to check on me around 6:30 am.  I was around 7 or 8 cm dilated and he wanted to go ahead and break my water to progress things along further.  It felt like gallons of water left my body.  They were anticipating that I would give birth by noon.  I was also informed that if I wanted any pain meds that this would be my last chance.  I didn't even give it a second thought. I had made it this far drug-free and I wanted to keep it that way.

I entered into the transition phase of labor and someone must have told me that it should last an hour because I watched the clock faithfully for that hour just waiting for it to end.  I didn't even make it an hour before I started feeling the urge to push, which is one of the craziest feelings that I've ever felt.  It was like something else took over my body.  There was absolutely no relaxing during that phase.  My nurse checked me again and said I was 9.5 cm dilated and that I could start to push when I felt the urge.  I rolled over at one point and the baby's heart rate shot down to 80-90 bpm which was a major cause for concern.  They put an oxygen mask on me to help her heart rate stabilize.  

Soon after that they called my doctor in and they turned me flat on my back and prepped me for delivery.  It felt like my contractions almost came to a standstill.  I would push for a little bit at the beginning and then the contraction would go away.  I think being on my back completely stifled them.  Each time I pushed, the doctor and nurses kept telling me to push more and more but it felt so wrong because there was no feeling to push.  In between contractions, my doctor continued to stretch me, which felt completely miserable.  After a few contractions, I finally had her head out.  I remember thinking, "I thought it was supposed to get easy after her head came out..."  Her body certainly felt worse to me, but that might have been because I forced it, pushing it out without a contraction.

Allison Faye was born at 8:49 am.  She was 7 pounds, 10 ounces, 20 inches long, and had a true tight knot in her umbilical cord--something only one in 2,000 babies has.  We are incredibly blessed that we never experienced any complications from her knot.  It’s kind of impossible for me to put into words what it felt like when I saw my daughter for the first time.  She’s just the most perfect thing I’ve ever seen. 

Carson was such an incredible coach.  I would not have been able to do it without him.  During our birthing classes, we practiced relaxing and attempted to practice on our own but it never seemed to really do much.  Whatever he was able to do for me during labor was just something that I don't think we could have practiced.  It just kind of happened.  It seems cheesy to practice encouragement, I think.  But boy, does it make a huge different to hear someone you love so much tell you how great you're doing at something that is so incredibly hard and painful.  The best thing he said to me was "your body was made for this".  I truly believe that I wouldn’t have been able to go through the whole process without any drugs if he hadn’t been with me.