Gory Details

For those of you who like "girl versions" of stories, this is for you. For those of you who don't like to read long posts, this is not for you. For those who don't like detailed birth stories, this is not for you. Just look at the pictures. So, here goes...

At about 5:00, I suddenly felt a small gush. I had the thought that my water had just broken. However, it wasn't a large amount of fluid. I thought about it for a few minutes and decided to just wait and see what happened. Around 5:30 I decided I had to admit that my water had in fact actually broken. I started gathering things I would need to bring to the hospital. I could feel that I had started to cramp. I was kind of surprised, because I didn't have any cramping to speak of with Audrey. I was really glad when Scott finally got home from work, because the cramping was getting more obvious. As soon as he walked in the door I said, "Mom and Scott, I think my water broke about 45 minutes ago." Scott looked very surprised. As we were driving, I could tell that I was having contractions and not just cramping. They were surprisingly close together. I would say they were about 3-4 minutes apart. However, they weren't too painful. When we arrived at about 6:30, I made Scott leave the bags in the car just in case I was wrong. I was admitted to a room and changed. She checked me and said my water had in fact broken, which was a relief. I would have been annoyed at that point, because the contractions were picking up. I had dilated to about a 3 and was 80% effaced. Scott went down to the car to get the bags. When he got back, he gave me a blessing. The contractions were coming about every 1-2 minutes and took some concentration to get through. I was hoping for more of a break since I didn't have pitocin. She came back in about 7:30 or so to say she was starting an IV. She finally had everything set up about 7:50. By this time, the contractions were getting really uncomfortable. I was a 5 and 100% effaced. She said I'd probably deliver in an hour or two. Scott was massaging my hips to try and help with the contractions. He was really sweet and was trying to help. I was just in so much pain and I just wanted it to be done. I felt like it took her a long time to come in with the fentanyl. I was so pleased to see her when she finally came in! That was at about 8:15. I did get a little fuzzy feeling from the fentanyl, but I don't feel like it really made any difference at all. When she was done, she checked me again. I was at an 8! She left to make sure my doctor was hurrying and on his way. She sent someone in to set up the delivery instruments table. I was really struggling during each contraction. I finally asked Scott what time it was and he said almost 8:30. I was in so much pain! Then, I could tell I was complete. I knew I needed to push! Scott said, "Don't push!" Now, I don't know if I said it or just thought it, but I knew I had to push! I started pushing and he kept saying, "Don't push!" I guess the nurse walked in, because she later told me she heard me say, "The baby is coming! The baby is coming! The baby is here!" I felt the baby descend. I felt the baby come out. I don't think I pushed for more than about 15 seconds. I was fully aware of what I meant when I said, "The baby is here!" Well, Scott and the nurse apparently didn't fully understand, because the nurse put a glove on to check where the head was. Scott said they were both stunned to pull back the sheet and there was a baby on the bed! The baby was a girl! I was surprised, because I'd just figured the "probably a boy" was in fact a boy! The nurses rushed in the room and cut the umbilical cord and raced the baby over to the warmer and respiratory table. I was just trying to catch my breath on the bed, because I had a definite decrease in pain. A random doctor walked in. They had called a code white which is "We have a baby being born and no doctor! We need a doctor NOW!" He felt my uterus to make sure I was cramping down. He said, "You're still really high. You have something else in there!" I said, "What?! Are you serious?!" I felt my uterus and could tell it was still basically up by my ribs! Scott came over and said, "What's going on?" The doctor again said I had something else in there and asked if I was having twins. I said not that I knew of. The nurse rushed an ultrasound machine in the room and th doctor started scanning my tummy. He said, "You have another baby in there! Find the heart tones!" I started panicking! How could I be having twins?! I kept saying, "Are you serious?!" He checked me. I guess he did that to see if he could feel the other baby's head and my second water broke! That's when I knew I really WAS having another baby! I was in shock! I could barely think! Scott started to cry. The nurse was trying to find the heart beat and was saying, "Where should I look?!" The doctor said, "Anywhere! Just keep moving it around. You'll find it!" I was just stunned and couldn't think straight. I guess they found the heartbeat and that it was low and the baby was stressed. I don't remember hearing it. The doctor said, "You need to push! You need to get this baby out!" I was so shocked that I hadn't even registered that I needed to push. So, I started pushing. I was in a lot of pain again. I could tell this baby was bigger, because it took more effort to push out. I probably didn't even push for a minute and a second baby came out! I was just stunned and in shock! This one was a boy! The girl, Marie Margaret, was 5 lbs 6 oz and 18 inches long. The boy, Peter Hardy, was 6 lbs 11 oz and 18.5 inches long. In all the commotion and chaos, no one really noticed the time the babies were born. So, we said the first was born at 8:30 and the second at 8:38. After a few minutes of taking care of me, my doctor FINALLY walked in and said, "Twins! How did I miss twins?!" During fixing me up, he said, "I have never missed twins! I guess never say never!" Scott asked him how many babies he's delivered and he said, "Probably 6000! How did I miss this!" My doctor also commented on how it worked out that we didn't know I was having twins, because they would have done all kinds of tests and talked about c-sections and made things a lot more complicated. I just feel blessed that things went so well considering we didn't know! I guess we already knew one baby was head down, because my doctor had confirmed that. We were VERY lucky they didn't come earlier, because we have supplemental insurance that didn't kick in until October 1! Scott also found out later in the nursery that it's very common for one of the babies in a set of twins to end up in the NICU. So, we're very lucky they were both doing so well. Things finally calmed down in the room. It had been absolute craziness since about 8:00! The nurse told me that she looked at me when I came in and that I just looked like all baby. I didn't look exceptionally large. She said if she'd been told I was having twins, she would have said I was too small! She said I gave her two great stories! Not only did I deliver my baby on my own onto the bed, which she's NEVER had happen before, but I found out while delivering that I was having twins! With ultrasound, it's very rare for someone to not know! I never suspected, because I only gained 17-18 pounds and was measuring only slightly larger than what you should! I measured 38 cm when I was 37 1/2 weeks and they say those two numbers usually go together. I knew "the baby" was very active, but it never occurred to me that it was because I had two! My doctor said at my ultrasound that I only had one in there! We still can't figure out how it was missed. We have a video copy of the ultrasound that we are going to watch and see if we can see evidence of a second baby.

I'll post more later. It's late, but I wanted to get an update posted for all you eager readers out there. I've found our story is the talk of the hospital, my family, Scott's family, my ward, my parents home town, Scott's ward, etc. We've been overwhelmed with offers to help and are so grateful to have so many people who care about us.

So, here are some pictures.