By the time we got to the hospital, the contractions were starting to get a bit more painful (about a 5 or 6 out of ten), but still nothing like the labor I remember with Caroline. In any case, we were glad to be there getting checked out. We walked over to Triage and got checked in. They monitored the heartbeats and contractions for about 20 minutes - they were coming pretty regularly at 3-5 minutes at that point (still only moderately painful). Then they checked my cervix and found it was about 4 cm dilated. They figured that was far enough- no one wanted this baby trying to come out butt-first.
So they called the doctor and started prepping me for surgery. They gave me a spinal block, which made me feel all tingly and numb. And made me generally feel a little loopy- like when you have laughing gas at the dentist. Once they had that and all of the other various IVs and things set up, they invited my husband into the surgery room, to hang out behind the curtain with me. The drugs made me really nauseous, so even though I hadn't eaten since much earlier in the night, and even though they gave me anti-nausea drugs, I did throw up. (And kept throwing up, on and off until a few hours after surgery- though luckily not during it!) So then the doctors were waiting for the pediatricians before pulling the babies out. It felt like they were poking around my belly, so I asked what they were doing, and the doc says "Oh, I'm just looking at your uterus." I had no idea they had even cut me open yet! So that was bizarre. And then before you know it, the other doctors were there and they started pulling out the babies. They were born around 5:30am, just a couple of minutes apart. I thought it would be more painful- at least some intense pressure or something. But no, it just felt like a weight was lifted from my belly. They both cried right after coming out, and kept going like mad until they were all cleaned up. They almost sounded like birds squawking or something. Mike went and hung out with the babies while the doctors stitched me up. Interestingly, they used stitches internally, but for the outside of the incision, they used some sort of surgical super-glue type stuff. I don't know anything about it, but it seems to be holding up pretty well, and it definitely made things quicker. We were off to the recovery room about a half hour after they were born.
In the recovery room, I got to hold them skin-to-skin and try to breastfeed. They just suckled a little bit, but it was good to get started at least. They did a lot of monitoring of me and the babies. The main activity seemed to be trying to get my uterus to contract. I guess it keeps bleeding until it starts contracting regularly and shrinking a lot. And I did lose a significant amount of blood that way and during the surgery. They had to press on it and give me two different types of drugs until it finally got down to the size they were looking for an hour or so later. It was probably good that I was still doped up on my spinal as well as IV painkillers, since I think it would have killed otherwise. The docs were a little worried about my blood loss, but not enough to do a transfusion or anything.
So eventually we made it up to the room for our stay. We got settled in with Mike and the two babies, and we all took naps in those first few hours. Julianne was making a little crying sound that they called "grunting" pretty consistently, and they said she was having trouble clearing her lungs and breathing properly. So a little later in the day they decided to send her up to the NICU to monitor her and make sure she was doing OK. She stayed up most of the day and then they brought her back to us that night. I was relieved that she was doing better. Even after that, it took her a long time to get the hang of nursing and even drinking from the bottle, unlike her sister Mirabelle, who latched so quickly and drank furiously from the bottle as well.
As for my own recovery- I was really exhausted, nauseous, and totally out of it that first day. I had conversations which I have no recollection of! I remember it being somewhat painful, but mostly I just remember being tired and falling asleep anytime I tried to do anything. I was able to stand up after about 12 hours post-surgery, and was walking to the bathroom (with help) by about 24 hours later. Once the IV painkillers came out that first night, things started to get a lot more painful, but I was also more awake and lucid, which was worth the trade-off. And the pain decreased (albeit slowly) after that.
They look a lot alike, but I don't think they're identical. Mirabelle's hair is much lighter (and has at least a little hint of Mike's red in it) than Julianne's (which is pretty dark, like Caroline's was). Mirabelle also has a little "angel kiss" on her eyelid, like Caroline did.
Vital stats:
Mirabelle Jane- born 5:33am. 6 lbs even; 19 inches
Julianne Christine- born 5:35am. 6 lbs, 3 oz; 19 inches
(Their middle names are after their grandmothers, and their first names were ones that Mike and I both liked.)
Getting all cleaned up
What big babies we have!
The new father of twins!
Mom gets her first peek of the babies
And her first snuggle!
What gorgeous girls! Julianne and Mirabelle
1 comment:
Congrats Mad! So you are in the same boat as me and don't know if you have identicals or not. I guess time will tell. I never think mine look alike until I look back on pics. My guess now is that they are identicals.
When they were born PJ was a whole pound less had almost no hair while AJ had a full head of black hair (they said it was a nutritional thing) and PJ has a birthmark.
Congrats on healthy twins! Rest all you can!
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