The Twin's Birth Story

Dr. Thomas was visibly excited when we made it to our 35 week appointment and the girls were still cooking! The c-section was scheduled for exactly 2 weeks after that. 36 weeks and 6 days. While I have never been so miserable or uncomfortable in my entire life, I really was thrilled that God has gotten us so far!

We knew from the beginning of the pregnancy that a c-section was likely. Sure enough - the girls stayed transverse and breech basically the entire pregnancy. 

On October 3 we spent the evening celebrating my dad's birthday and put the kids to bed at their home. We picked up mom on October 4th around 6:45am and headed to the hospital! I thought I would be nervous, but honestly I was so ready for the pregnancy to be finished and so ready to see the girls faces.... I was calm and peaceful. 

The beginning of the c-section was what I expected. Went in alone for the spinal with my sweet nurse. They kept telling me that by the time they wiped my belly with the antiseptic I shouldn't really feel anything, so the the nurse was surprised when I told her I not only felt the coolness, but I felt her rubbing my belly. Then Dr. Thomas did a pinch test. I definitely was more numb then a few minutes before, but also felt pain when she pinched. I didn't want to over-react and thought I might actually be imagining it.... I told her I felt more then I expected to, but was fine. So she started cutting...

I was not fine. I couldn't see my bp, but imagine it was starting to sky rocket. I turned to Blake, terrified, and said, "It hurts. I can feel them and it hurts." My knuckles were turning white I was clutching those metal bars so tightly and Blake immediately turned to the anesthesiologist and directed him to me. When he asked about my epidurals I realized I had forgotten to tell him that those have not worked well and I felt much of labor with Emery... I was verging on tears and moans now.

He quickly turned around and I could hear him rustling behind us and then I don't really remember anything for about 2 hours. 

Today, I finally asked Blake about the rest of the surgery. He told me that the anesthesiologist told him that he had to knock me out basically. He said that the girls were given their once over and then quickly whisked away to the nursery. I remember about the last 20 minutes of recovery and then it was time to go to our room! 

The girls did beautifully! When they got to the nursery, the nurses looked them over for some sort of distinguishing mark - They found none. :) Hadley and Ainsley never had to go to the NICU. There was no jaundice. I was able to begin nursing them that day. It went so much better then I could have ever imagined. The Lord was so good to them... to us. We even went home within 3 days -  both my doctor and our nurses were shocked at our desire to do so. :) There had been so much anticipation that I believe that I was just ready to start our adjustment. 

Recovery has been harder then I imagined it would be. My hemaglobin dropped 3 points in the first 24 hour period so I received several iron infusions and B12 shots. The girls weight had dropped 10% by Sunday(the day we went home) so we have been supplementing after I nurse and today they had shown significant improvement at their weight check. 

We have been overwhelmed by the prayers and service of the friends and family around us through out this pregnancy and delivery. We are grateful... So, so blessed. 

Even at only 9 days old, I find myself trying to imagine the past 9 days without the girls and stop myself....  I don't want to imagine the past 9 days without them. Our entire family(kids and all) adore these precious girls and are so glad they are here. We've been missing them...