Please excuse my dirty kitchen, but I had planned to clean it in the morning, and well, I woke up with contractions that were intense and close together... so yeah, that didn't happen.
So I made it to 35 weeks and 4 days. Not bad for twins! Like I said, I woke up Saturday with pretty bad contractions, so I clicked my trusty contraction timer app like I had every day for the previous two weeks and decided to track them just for kicks and giggles. Nothing was going to happen, right? I mean, literally everyday for the last two weeks I had felt them like this and even so much that I had gone into l&d once and contemplated going in another time. But they just got closer and longer. My app started it's alarm "call your doctor, go to the hospital" So I went into the front room and told Ben to get the kids ready and call your mom, it was time to go in.
He waited for his mom out front and I went in, pausing every two minutes to wait out a contraction. I got to the desk and told them how bad they were and they said they would get a room together. Six contractions later I was still at the desk... so like 15 minutes... A doctor walked up and said, "get this poor lady a room! Can't you see she is in pain??" Still no room. He was a funny guy. He stayed and joked with me until I got in a room a few contractions later.
They got me in a room and monitored for less than an hour, they couldn't reach my doctor so they asked the on call doc and she said to admit me. So I changed room and soon after the contractions slowed, but I was a four already. I was able to get an epidural soon after, thank goodness:) I was in the hospital begining at two and didn't progress very quickly. I had one of my waters broke around seven, because my dr was in a movie and told them to wait until he was done. Thanks, doc... my nurse was funny, she told me I needed to ask to push my button to get more epidural medicine, after about the fourth time of asking she let me push whenever I wanted. I made it to a six about 10:30 and was starting to feel the epi wear off. (With Abby the epi only worked half way so I know what that felt like, and there was NO WAY I was pushing out two with a half strength epidural!!) So they called the anesthesiologist and had him fix whatever was wrong. Well, that did it. I went from a six to a ten in about three minutes.
I had to be in the OR just incase I needed an emergency c-section (but I didn't, HOORAY!!). It was a weird feeling in there, so cold and sterile. The doctor showed up and asked if we were waiting on anyone, well we had let the mothers know as soon as we found out and Sherry got there just in time. (my mom made it for the second one) . Little Georgia made her debut with two pushes at 11:15 pm, weighing 6 pounds 4 ounces, and Elizabeth came a little later, with five pushes at 11:22 pm weighing 6 pounds 6 ounces. Georgia had been baby b the entire time, but at my appointment two days earlier had started to push her sister out of the way.
They put Georgia on my chest when she was born, and then whisked her through the window to get her checked out. Izzy was placed on my stomach, and she wasn't breathing. They were rubbing her chest and everything became a blur. I had heard Georgia cry, but not Izzy, I was a little nervous, but I didn't have time to think about it.
I had developed a high fever during labor and they think that is why my contractions were so close in the begining and then died off after I was admitted. Luckily I went in or it could have done something to my babies. This is one of the reasons they both landed in the NICU. Well, Elizabeth would have anyways, but that is why Georgia needed to go there.
I wasn't able to see the girls until the epidural wore off and I could get into a wheelchair, so I decided to get a little sleep, it had been a long day! The first two pictures are how I saw the girls for the first time (minus Ben, he had gone home by the time I saw them). Little Elizabeth was hooked up to cpap. I almost cried the first time I saw her little squished face and her breathing so fast. She also had a feeding tube in her mouth and an iv in her hand.
Georgia had an iv in her hand, and a horribly bruised opposite hand. Later Ben told me how the nurse trying to do the iv must have been new or bad at her job because they poked her so many times and finally let someone else try and she got it done the first try.
This is when we got home. It was so cute, Georgia was fussing and I put Elizabeth in with her and she immediately calmed down. I think they missed each other;)
This was our life for a while. They both started in isolettes, and Ben would stop by every night after work. My amazing mother-in-law kept the kids the entire time I was in the hospital. I was discharged on Monday. My poor doctor, I had a break down when he told me. He kept saying, "don't cry, please don't cry." Hello! You are telling me I have to leave my babies. So I called Ben and tried to tell him what was going on, but he told me later he couldn't understand anything I was saying:) Well, I went down to the NICU and they told me they let breastfeeding moms "board". Which meant I got a room, free of charge, so long as they didn't need the room. Later I was moved into the NICU boarding room, turns out it only had a flippin fold out couch... Wish I would have just stayed upstairs in the uncomfortable bed, at least I didn't have springs poking me.
This was another part of our daily life. These boards showed us their progress, what their goals were, and who was looking after them daily.
I really should have written down days, but I think she went off cpap on the second or third day. So here she was down to high flow (the tube in her nose) and still a feeding tube. She never had to be on oxygen, but she needed the pressure of the air going in to help her lungs function.
They want you to do as much skin-to-skin time as you can. It was amazing to watch Izzy's monitors when Ben would hold her. Her breathing rate was always much higher than they wanted it to be, but when he would hold her the breathing rate would drop dramatically.
Poor little Georgie, since they had destroyed one of her hands and her iv went bad in her other hand, she had to have an iv put in her scalp. She was able to breastfeed pretty much from the begining, but they put... something... in her iv to help her urine output until my milk came in.
They both went under the billi lights on Thursday. Their levels were both elevated, but in the consider lights category. But had they not put Georgia under she would have been discharged Thursday and I would have had to leave Izzy sooner. Georgia was discharged Friday, and while it was so hard to leave her, it was almost a relief to be out of there. Abby and Jack (well, mostly Abby, Jack still didn't want to come home) needed to be back to normal.
Leaving Elizabeth behind at the hospital was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I bawled the entire way home. I then had to try and split my time between home and the hospital. I would go in once during the day and then after Abby and Jack went to bed. Luckily it was the weekend so Ben was home and I was able to do that.
This was on Friday, about an hour after Georgia was discharged. I didn't find out until I went back late that night that they had taken her off high flow!!! She had problems at times when they would try and wean her so it took longer than they thought to get her off of it. Then she just "needed" a feeding tube. I had a few AMAZING nurses, but the some not so great ones. I know she had a difficult time when she finally started eating, she needed to be burped multiple times a feeding and be encouraged to eat. My amazing nurse took out the feeding tube, but then she took two days off (how dare she;) and the feeding tube was put back in. Then she was back and I told her my frustrations, how I knew she would eat if they would just try! So she talked to the doctor and told the nurse the plan, feed, feed, feed, just make her eat! Work with her and do whatever it took to make her eat. Well, the night nurse fed her at seven and said it took her an hour, then I was in at ten and it had been 45 minutes so she went and talked to the nurse practitioner. Izzy's nurse wanted to put the tube back in! Luckily, the NP said no!!! Every time they put the tube in she would be kept there another 24-48 hours.
So that was Monday. I went in to rounds on Tuesday planning to ask when I could maybe expect her to come home. (I was told saturday/sunday... well that came and went and of course I bawled...) so the giant group of doctors, nurses, dieticians, etc. came in the room and went over her progress. Then the NP looked at my nurse and said, "Well, what is keeping her?" and I had my amaing nurse again, she said with a smile "Nothing". So I was thinking, hooray! Maybe tomorrow! Then the NP said, "Well, let's get her outta here!" I cried.
This is when we got home. It was so cute, Georgia was fussing and I put Elizabeth in with her and she immediately calmed down. I think they missed each other;)
When Georgia was discharged she weighed 5lbs10oz.
Izzy was discharged at 5lbs12oz.
I hope none of you ever have to go through the NICU experience, but just know if you do they are AMAZING. That is the only way I could handle leaving Elizabeth, knowing that she (for the most part;) had nurses that loved on her and kept her best interests in mind. I am so thankful to have them both home and healthy!!
My mother-in-law was so awesome and not only kept my kids, but she and my sister-in-law came and cleaned my entire house and did all our laundry while I was in the hospital. I don't know what I would have done without her... probably gone off the deep end being I would have had to leave the babies in the hospital the entire time by themselves. Georgia was in for 7 days and Izzy was in for 10 days.
Twin pregnancy was absolute hell. I tried so hard not to complain, (in fact, my doctor said that is how he knew I was done, I told him the appt before I had them how hard it was getting) but now that it is over, well... I had to start in maternity clothes at eight weeks, by thirty weeks NOTHING fit anymore. I literally had to have a nap EVERY afternoon, or I couldn't function. I had arthritis for the second and third trimester and couldn't bend my fingers without them hurting. Regular contractions since 29 weeks. The fear of something happening to one or both of them, and worrying everytime I thought one of them hadn't moved that day (their arms and feet were all in the middle so it was hard to tell them apart). I have had so many people tell me how much they want twins because they are so cute. I love my girls, and would have another set, so long as I didn't have to be pregnant with them!!
Wow, did anyone make it through all that? ;) Time to go love on my girls...
