We checked into the delivery suite a little after 6am Friday morning (you know I'm always running late!) I was hooked up to all kinds of monitors, and the pitocin drip began. Craig started a twitter feed to keep everyone up to date on how things were progressing. He had quite a following! After a couple of hours, with the drip being turned up periodically, my wonderful labor and delivery nurse gave me something called Nubain to help with pain until the epidural could be administered. If I could order this stuff by the case....wow! So, I napped while we waited for my contractions to do their job.
Everyone was pretty patient while we waited. Daddy and Papa took turns updating people in the waiting room (I'm pretty sure every seat in the waiting room was full with family waiting to meet these little girls - they sure were loved even before they were born!) Even though I was in and out while on pain meds, I did hear some comments about my snoring and how it should be videotaped. I'm grateful to see that no video has made an appearance, at least to my knowledge. :)
On one occassion, Dr. Lepi came in to check how much I had dilated. He whipped back the sheet and proceeded to check with no warning, and I thought poor Marc and Michael's necks might have just snapped right off as quickly as they turned and focused as hard as they could on the TV above our heads. It was quite comical. After Dr. Lepi left the room, I said, "I hope you didn't look directly at it - you'll be scarred for life." Poor guys......
So, after about 12 hours I believe, we headed to the OR to get ready for delivery. I'm not sure on exact timing. I was a little busy. :) We had to deliver in the OR just in case twin B (Eliza) decided to flip after twin A (Kate) was delivered. Dr. Lepi is a little strict in his OR and only wanted one person to be with me in the room during delivery. I decided that Craig should be there since I have tendency to panic in medical situations, and knew that if Eliza flipped and a C-section needed to happen, or if anything had gone wrong, I would need him there to keep me calm and focused. I was very nervous going in since twins was a new experience, and Craig was awesome at keeping me positive and relaxed. I'm good at having babies, and he's good at supporting me through pregnancy and delivery. We make a good team.
Luckily, we had some wonderful nurses who were able to sneak Marc and Michael in to the back of the OR so that they could see the girls right when they were born. I have to say the entire staff at Genesis was amazing- Dr. Lepi, the nurses, the anesthesiologist -everyone! The labor and delivery nurse was absolutely wonderful, and stayed with me throughout the day, even though she ended up being there a little over an hour over the time she was supposed to go home. It makes such a big difference to have great people caring for you!
So, after being prepped and ready to push, I think it was 3 cycles of counting to ten 3 times to bring Kate into the world. She was face up, so she took a little extra work. She was checked out and doing well, and Miss Eliza slid into place head down. The only complication was that she was face up also, making her delivery challenging as well. She took a little longer, I think it may have been 5 cycles of counting for her to make her appearance. There were about 25 minutes between the deliveries of the girls. Eliza decided to scare everyone just a little upon arrival and came out a little banged up with a black eye and some bruising. She also had a little trouble breathing and had to have some oxygen. An alarm went off in the back of the delivery room while they were working with her, which is never something you want to hear. Luckily, she perked up and was fine after receiving a little tender loving care in the NICU overnight.
After the babies were delivered, the epidural had worn off, but the placenta still needed to be delivered. Problem is, everything started to contract before the placenta was delivered, so Dr. Lepi had to work to get it delivered, which basically means he was pushing down as hard as possible at the top of my abdomen, while reaching inside to pull the placenta out. It was not at all pleasant, and hands down, the worst part of delivery.
After delivery, I visited with my girls for a little bit, they went home with their grandma and grandpa, I took a quick shower, and Craig went and picked us up chicken parmesan and meatball subs from Picnic Pizza - Heaven!! It tasted incredible! I love Picnic Pizza on any occassion, but after you haven't eaten for an entire day - any food you eat tastes amazing.
April 25th started out with a waiting room full of excited and anxious people, a community of facebook and twitter friends, and a delivery room with 4 lifelong friends ready to make a dream come true. It ended with 2 beautiful new baby girls, lots of smiles and happy tears, and a day too memorable to ever forget. Thank you for sharing our journey. <3
~ I'll do an entry on the events after delivery later this week~
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