My mom and stepdad drove up from Ohio the night before, an over 8 hour trip (she left Cincinnati, stopped in Toledo to pick him up, and then headed up here to Grand Rapids).
That morning, my husband left for class, and my mom and I headed off to what we were hoping would be a typical ultrasound and growth scan for the twins I was carrying. I was 36 weeks exactly, and so excited! 4 more weeks and my little girls would be in my arms! That was what I was hoping for, to carry full term. Little did I know my life was about to spin.
Lets flash back to two weeks before. I was sitting in a room down the hall with an ultrasound tech by myself having a routine ultrasound and growth scan. She left the room to get the doctor which was normal. He made it routine to come in and discuss the ultrasound and find out how things were going and answer questions. He had mentioned that baby B was growing a lot smaller than she should have been, her growth was slowing down. She had barely grown in a month, which was a concern and something he wanted to keep an eye on. This did not surprise me at first, the entire pregnancy both girls were on the small side, my husband and I are both small people. He said she was below the bottom 14th percentile, and if she dropped below the bottom 10th it would be a major concern and would be considered IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction) which would cause an early induction and more than likely a lot of NICU time. He wanted me back in a week for a BPP (biophysical profile) to check heart rate and cord function as well as other things and wanted me to have two doses of steroid shots that week. So we went on to have my normal twice a week NSTs and the BPP and the painful two steroid shots. He had scheduled me for an amniocentesis on the 25th of July to check their lung development to see if it was ok to deliver then. An alarm went off in my head. I left the doctors in tears, scared that something was going to go wrong. I knew very little about IUGR but knew amniocentesis and some of the horror stories behind it. I immediately called my husband and cried with him on the phone all the way home. I then called my mom, a nurse, and got her opinion and then called my mother in law and discussed things with her as well. We needed a plan. An emergency plan.
For two weeks my husband and I did research, asked other parents of multiples as well as our friends and family, and talked to my regular OB as well as the nurses at the office about the amnio and got their opinions. We decided the amnio was not the route we wanted to go.
Flash forward back to the 25th, the day I was scheduled for the amnio and other things.
10 am we reached the Maternal Fetal Medicine and checked in. They did the normal routine of peeing in a cup, blood pressure, weight check, etc. Nothing was out of the ordinary. I felt confident that the girls would be perfect and we'd spend the evening with my boys grilling out and enjoying the warm weather.
They called me back to the room, my mom sat in a chair next to me and the doctor came in. He started the ultrasound, checking every body part, their heart rate, their height, their weight and their cord function. He turned the machine off and the rest became a blur. He informed me I would need to be induced today, that I would probably leave his office and go to the hospital to have my twins. He needed to call my regular OB to have them schedule me in at the hospital though. He said baby B was IUGR. I expected to hear she was below the bottom 10th, but he said she had dropped even lower and was below the bottom 1st percentile and her cord wasn't functioning as it should have been, it was slowing down. This meant if I kept her in any longer, her cord would shut down, she would stop receiving nutrients and oxygen and she wouldn't make it. I would lose my Addisin. I am so glad my mother came with me because I was not able to drive from there. Because we live an hourish away from the MFM which is also close to the hospital, we were told to stick around the city until he called in case he wanted me to come right away. I called my husband when we left and informed him of what was going on. He was prepared to come down as soon as I told him.
My mom took my keys and we went shopping at a few local stores while we waited for my OB to call. We mostly just walked around some stores, hung out, sampled some food at Sam's Club. It was nice to have my mom there and kept me occupied.
Finally, what felt like an eternity but was probably an hour or so later, my OBs office called and we were scheduled for induction that night at 7:30 pm. We headed back to our house and spent the evening installing car seats, eating (or at least attempting to eat), packing my hospital bag, and spending time with my boys and parents. I admit, I was a wreck. All these emotions were crawling inside me. I was happy, sad, scared, nervous, you name it. I wanted to take a nap, but my body wouldn't stop. I had to keep busy to keep from thinking the worst.
My husband and I left the house around 6:00 pm, and headed to the hospital. We checked in and got settled into the delivery room. The nurses all came in to introduce themselves, the doctors as well. Cathy was the greatest nurse I could have asked for. All night she spent time with us, reassured us, made sure I was comfortable, and took care of everything. And Dr Getz was the most amazing doctor, so caring and answered everything, even the questions I'm sure I asked a billion times.
The original plan when we got there was to get my dilated by using Cervidil and then once I hit 5 they'd give me pitocin to start contractions. Their goal was to get me dilated enough by morning when my regular OB could be there to deliver. Well, they checked me and I was already a 3 and some regular contractions had already started from all the stress.
After two hours of discussion with the on call doctor and intern, and a call to my doctor, they decided to go straight for the pitocin and I'd have the girls whenever my body and the pitocin would let me.
Around 11:00 pm they started me on the pitocin and performed an ultrasound. Baby A was head down and B was transverse. Here goes the fun. They discussed with me and my husband that we would deliver in the OR just in case we had to have a c-section. Our goal was to deliver both vaginally.
The contractions weren't too bad. It was something I could handle. But around 4am I decided it was time to get an epidural. I didn't want to wait until the last minute and it be too late. They wanted the epidural too in case they had to do the c-section.
Around 6 am or so, Cathy came in to let us know her shift ended at 7 so if we didn't deliver around then she'd not be there and would introduce me to the new nurse. She went to empty my bladder and saw a head! It was time! She ran out into the hallway and called for the doctor. Sure enough, Emmalynn's head was right there ready to come out.
With the doctor, Cathy, the nurses to assist with the delivery, the ultrasound tech, the anesthesiologist and his assistant, 3 nursery nurses per child totaling 6, and a few other nurses who just wanted to witness a twin delivery, it was time to start pushing. It seemed like there were 25 people in the room, but I didn't care. I wanted my girls out safely.
We didn't have a chance to get into the OR. There was a c-section going on at the time in the room across the hall, and the girls were already wanting out. They did a quick ultrasound to see who was where, and saw B was still transverse. I pushed Emmalynn (baby A) out with no problem at 6:40 AM on Friday July 26, 2013. They did another ultrasound where B was to see what position she was in and had to find her. She, of course, had moved since there was more room. They found her way down low and head down. She was already trying to come out! All on her own! Addisin (B) came out at 6:45 AM, just 5 minutes after her sister.
While the doctors and nurses were doing their work, I happened to look over and see what I couldn't have imagined, and what I would never wish on anyone. They had oxygen masks on both my girls and were working on them, neither of them screaming or making any sounds. I watched a nurse holding Emmalynn as she ran her out of the room and into the NICU without a word, without me holding her, no kiss, no look, nothing. All I could do was stare at Addisin and hope everything was ok. I couldn't lose my little girls. My world was spinning and I was stuck on this table with what felt like no legs, no way to run after my little one. I asked my husband what was going on and he said he didn't know. I told him to go with her, so he ran out of the room to stay with Emmy.
I'm alone in this room with the doctors and nurses working on me and making sure I'm ok, and 3 nurses tending to Addisin. It seemed like an eternity, but it was only a few minutes later when they brought Addisin over for me to hold for what seemed like only a few seconds. They took her and rushed her out of the room.
Both my daughters were far away. I wanted so badly to be with them but I was stuck to this bed. I felt helpless. My husband returned and informed me the girls were on CPAP machines and were having trouble breathing. They were hooked up to all kinds of machines, monitoring their every thing.
A bit later, my legs finally started working a little, and they got me into a wheelchair and were wheeling me to a recovery room. We stopped by the NICU and I got to see my little girls, but still couldn't touch them. They were so amazing. Perfect little angels. I was so lucky. All I wanted to do was hold and love them.
After a few hours in the recovery room, my husband and I walked down to the NICU and visited the girls. They were doing so well. It had been about 6 or so hours since we had them, and they were both off the CPAP machine, but they were still on IV fluid and being monitored. Emmy was still having breathing problems.
The next few days were touch and go. Emmy was still having issues breathing, but they kept her off the CPAP machine. We got to hold them attached to the machines late the night we had them. It was the greatest feeling in the world.
The girls improved very quickly. Within 3 days they were off IV fluids and drinking from a bottle. Emmy had a few times where she had issues with her breathing and with her bowel movements. She had to have her stomach pumped twice because she got so constipated she couldn't breathe well. The third night they even took them off IV fluids and started weaning them off the heat machines. The fourth day they were finally able to come into our room and stay all day. We were so happy! Day 5, we were informed around 8am that we would be released around 10am! Our room started getting crowded with a ton of the nurses we had grown close to in just a few days. They were helping us feed the girls, pack things, making sure we were prepared for the event of having such tiny preemie babies at home. They were sad to see the girls go. But they were happy that they were doing so well!
I am glad that our delivery went so well, and our time in the NICU was short considering what the girls went through. We are very lucky our IUGR preemies are as perfect and amazing as they are.
I'm thankful we had such an amazing delivery staff and a wonderful NICU team. They were all so helpful. We met so many amazing people that I thank God for everyday. He brought them into our life for a reason. <3
My husband and I left the house around 6:00 pm, and headed to the hospital. We checked in and got settled into the delivery room. The nurses all came in to introduce themselves, the doctors as well. Cathy was the greatest nurse I could have asked for. All night she spent time with us, reassured us, made sure I was comfortable, and took care of everything. And Dr Getz was the most amazing doctor, so caring and answered everything, even the questions I'm sure I asked a billion times.
The original plan when we got there was to get my dilated by using Cervidil and then once I hit 5 they'd give me pitocin to start contractions. Their goal was to get me dilated enough by morning when my regular OB could be there to deliver. Well, they checked me and I was already a 3 and some regular contractions had already started from all the stress.
After two hours of discussion with the on call doctor and intern, and a call to my doctor, they decided to go straight for the pitocin and I'd have the girls whenever my body and the pitocin would let me.
Around 11:00 pm they started me on the pitocin and performed an ultrasound. Baby A was head down and B was transverse. Here goes the fun. They discussed with me and my husband that we would deliver in the OR just in case we had to have a c-section. Our goal was to deliver both vaginally.
The contractions weren't too bad. It was something I could handle. But around 4am I decided it was time to get an epidural. I didn't want to wait until the last minute and it be too late. They wanted the epidural too in case they had to do the c-section.
Around 6 am or so, Cathy came in to let us know her shift ended at 7 so if we didn't deliver around then she'd not be there and would introduce me to the new nurse. She went to empty my bladder and saw a head! It was time! She ran out into the hallway and called for the doctor. Sure enough, Emmalynn's head was right there ready to come out.
With the doctor, Cathy, the nurses to assist with the delivery, the ultrasound tech, the anesthesiologist and his assistant, 3 nursery nurses per child totaling 6, and a few other nurses who just wanted to witness a twin delivery, it was time to start pushing. It seemed like there were 25 people in the room, but I didn't care. I wanted my girls out safely.
We didn't have a chance to get into the OR. There was a c-section going on at the time in the room across the hall, and the girls were already wanting out. They did a quick ultrasound to see who was where, and saw B was still transverse. I pushed Emmalynn (baby A) out with no problem at 6:40 AM on Friday July 26, 2013. They did another ultrasound where B was to see what position she was in and had to find her. She, of course, had moved since there was more room. They found her way down low and head down. She was already trying to come out! All on her own! Addisin (B) came out at 6:45 AM, just 5 minutes after her sister.
While the doctors and nurses were doing their work, I happened to look over and see what I couldn't have imagined, and what I would never wish on anyone. They had oxygen masks on both my girls and were working on them, neither of them screaming or making any sounds. I watched a nurse holding Emmalynn as she ran her out of the room and into the NICU without a word, without me holding her, no kiss, no look, nothing. All I could do was stare at Addisin and hope everything was ok. I couldn't lose my little girls. My world was spinning and I was stuck on this table with what felt like no legs, no way to run after my little one. I asked my husband what was going on and he said he didn't know. I told him to go with her, so he ran out of the room to stay with Emmy.
I'm alone in this room with the doctors and nurses working on me and making sure I'm ok, and 3 nurses tending to Addisin. It seemed like an eternity, but it was only a few minutes later when they brought Addisin over for me to hold for what seemed like only a few seconds. They took her and rushed her out of the room.
Both my daughters were far away. I wanted so badly to be with them but I was stuck to this bed. I felt helpless. My husband returned and informed me the girls were on CPAP machines and were having trouble breathing. They were hooked up to all kinds of machines, monitoring their every thing.
A bit later, my legs finally started working a little, and they got me into a wheelchair and were wheeling me to a recovery room. We stopped by the NICU and I got to see my little girls, but still couldn't touch them. They were so amazing. Perfect little angels. I was so lucky. All I wanted to do was hold and love them.
After a few hours in the recovery room, my husband and I walked down to the NICU and visited the girls. They were doing so well. It had been about 6 or so hours since we had them, and they were both off the CPAP machine, but they were still on IV fluid and being monitored. Emmy was still having breathing problems.
The next few days were touch and go. Emmy was still having issues breathing, but they kept her off the CPAP machine. We got to hold them attached to the machines late the night we had them. It was the greatest feeling in the world.
The girls improved very quickly. Within 3 days they were off IV fluids and drinking from a bottle. Emmy had a few times where she had issues with her breathing and with her bowel movements. She had to have her stomach pumped twice because she got so constipated she couldn't breathe well. The third night they even took them off IV fluids and started weaning them off the heat machines. The fourth day they were finally able to come into our room and stay all day. We were so happy! Day 5, we were informed around 8am that we would be released around 10am! Our room started getting crowded with a ton of the nurses we had grown close to in just a few days. They were helping us feed the girls, pack things, making sure we were prepared for the event of having such tiny preemie babies at home. They were sad to see the girls go. But they were happy that they were doing so well!
I am glad that our delivery went so well, and our time in the NICU was short considering what the girls went through. We are very lucky our IUGR preemies are as perfect and amazing as they are.
I'm thankful we had such an amazing delivery staff and a wonderful NICU team. They were all so helpful. We met so many amazing people that I thank God for everyday. He brought them into our life for a reason. <3
My Twincesses
7/26/13
Emmalynn Faith
4lbs 10oz
18 inches
6:40am
Addisin Hope
3lbs 12oz
16 1/4 inches
6:45am
wow I didn't realize how much you guys went through....thats scarey. But Im glad the girls had the fight in them. They love their mommy and daddy. Im happy they are growing every day. Love ya girl
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! <3
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