Monsters Are Eating My Brain

You may or may not have noticed my prolonged absence from the internet world.
It all began November 9th. I was feeling just horrid. Between the swelling, the itching and everything, I just couldn’t handle it. I finally broke down and called the nurse around 3:30 pm and she suggested I come in just to get my blood pressure and urine checked. The blood pressure was a little bit high, and the urine came back with proteins. Since the clinic was about to close, and my doc was on call, they did some bloodwork and sent me on to Triage at the hospital to be observed. The babies were looking fine, but with the proteins and such, my doc decided to keep me for a 24hr urine collection (to count the proteins). That came back pretty high, so she decided the best plan would be to keep me there on bedrest for a while in order to give the boys a little time to grow and keep an eye on what was now pre-eclamsia.

I spent the next week miserable in the hospital, but my doc did tell me that if things hadn’t started up on their own before Saturday, she’d go ahead and induce then (since she was on call Saturday).

By the time the week was over, I was swollen up to my hips, could hardly move, and my blood pressure was creeping up and up. I was so glad to see Saturday come.

Saturday morning (the 18th) they moved me upstairs to a laboring room and I waited around for them to come check me. Unfortunately, when they did, they found (much to my surprise and the doc’s as well) that I was efaced about 60%, but not dilated! My doctor basicaly told me that if she induced, this could end up being a 2 1/2 day deal because some people do not induce easily from that point. She gave me the choice to induce or to go ahead and just do a section that day. Well, this had me in tears because the prospect of another 2 days feeling like this was daunting. However, giving up and doing a section when everything was perfect for a normal delivery was a devestating thought. Adam and I talked about it, and we decided to go ahead with the induction.

At 10am they placed the pill next to my cervix (it was called mezosoplex or something?). It’s job was to finish “ripening” the cervix such that contractions might start and open the cervix.

At 2pm they checked me and I was dilated to 2 1/2 cm. They decided to go ahead and break Gavin’s bubble so they could put a better monitor on him.

At 4pm they checked and I was at about 3 1/2 cm dilated. More waiting to do.

Close to 6pm I got my epidural. Ouch that kinda hurt, yikes! I got he was a little off at first, but once he got it in, it was amazing. The first time in MONTHS that I have not been in pain!! However, my spine is not thanking me for that this week. It’s pretty achey and sore.
After this, they started up some pitocin, as contractions slowed down once the epidural was in.

Around 6:45pm They checked me again and were surprised to find me at 8 centimeters! They said they’d be back around 2 hours. Well, around 7:30ish I contractions were REALLY intense and suddenly I started feeling the urge to push. The resident came in to check me and, boom, I was at 10 centimeters! They brought the doc in and had me start doing some practice pushes, but the doctor decided it would be better for the baby to come down a bit farther before they really had me start pushing, else I’d wear myself out. So she had me “labor down” for 40 minutes. Let me tell you, THIS was hard and painful. Even with the epidural, at this point the contractions were painful because of the pressure from Gavin in the birth canal. It was REALLY hard to NOT push during those contractions!
When the doctor came back around 8:45 or so, she had me push twice and then told me (in mid push!!!!) to stop and they RAPIDLY made preparatoins in the Delivery room so they could get me in there since these babies were NOT waiting. By 9:00 they were moving me to the delivery room. Once preparations were finished and I could FINALLY push, I think I only pushed through about 4 sets of contractions and boom, Gavin was born at 9:32pm.

Now the doc turned to the other baby, whose bag was not ruptured yet. She wanted to make sure, before they did rupture it, that it was a head and not umbilical or hands or anything that came down.

At this point I was starting to lose touch, getting tired and all. I do remember, when I pushed the doc saying “get back get back” because she was thinking the water would break. I wish I would have had this part on video because even through the pain, I found this all quite humorous for some reason. I still chuckle when I think of it. The water didn’t break when I pushed so the doc gets WAY back and gives the resident the bag breaking instrument. So, as Adam describes it, here is the resident standing as far back as she can reaching in to break the water. Now THAT I felt. It felt like 2 gallons of water just shot forth from my body and across the room. It was So loud and apparently the resident was thoroughly drenched from chest to feet. (good thing she was wearing water resistant linens). So yes, even in my delerium, I found this incredibly funny.

Anyhow, once the water broke, I pushed through 3 sets of contractions and Liam was born at 9:47pm!

Gavin Henry weighed 5 lbs 4 oz
Liam Jackson weighed 4 lbs 14 oz

I was so sick in my hospital stay, I forgot to ask what their apgars were! I’m annoyed at myself for that.

Gavin did very well, was breathing on his own and everything.
Liam was having a bit of trouble being a little smaller and the ended up having to take him to the NICU.

I thought the labor and delivery went great (much faster than I’d anticipated!) The experience, however, went downhill from there. Apparently I was bleeding pretty bad and lost a lot of blood. They had to give me 2 doses of Hemobate for the bleeding (my thighs are STILL sore from those shots!!!) The unfortunate thing about the hemobate was it makes you ill. I was puking before they even delivered the placentas. There was a little bit of “repair work” to do, as I had an “average” tear. So all of that medicine combined with the blood loss hopped me up. By the time we left the delivery room, I was out of touch. Once back to the labor room for recovery, the epidural wore off and my blood pressure went UP. They had to put me on magnesium sulfate. That stuff is NO good. I pity anyone who has ever had to take that stuff for the 24 hour period. Oh my gosh I was sicker than a dog. First, the first big dose hurts like hell going in. It burns the IV and even the body feels yuk. Then it made me start puking. Ugh, like I hadn’t had enough of that in the Delivery room. Secondly, you cannot eat or really drink on that stuff, and by the time I was off of it, it had been almost 48 hours since I had eaten or drank a thing. Yes, I had fluids going in by IV, but unfortunately, that does NOTHING for the horrible thirst I had to endure for 2 days.

Being that I was so ill, we did end up having Gavin sent to the nursery and brought in to attempt feedings with me. The next morning I was with it enough that he could stay with me (since I had help in the room) and we spent most of the day just laying in bed sleeping together (well, I was more drifting in and out than sleeping). It was nice, but I did miss that my other little guy wasn’t with me.

So late the 2nd night I was able to get off of that horrible mag and I finally started feeling a little better, but I was so weak. They moved me to another room
The next morning (Monday) my doctor basically told me that I would be discharged today. While I was ready to be home, part of me was sad because little Liam was still in NICU. Not only that, I was still not well. I could hardly walk, hardly function, I was so pale from blood loss.

But, home we went (Gavin and I) that evening, despite all of it.

Talk about bittersweet. I had one baby to take home, but not the other.
That was rough, let me tell you.

At any rate, I was so ill and surprised they sent me home (same ol’ insurance company excuse). The first few days were horrible. It took days before I finally started to feel a little bit better and the swelling started going down.
Liam was able to come home on Thursday, Thanksgiving (talk about giving thanks!)
So, our family is finally home and all together. I’m still very overwhelmed, though it is getting better.
Breastfeeding is going so-so. I have no doubt we’ll be able to switch to exclusive breastfeeding in time.
Gavin was at 4 lb 14 oz when we came home, and as of Monday, he was back up to 5 lb 3 oz.

Liam came home at 4 lb 11 oz and is now back up to birth weight (4 lb 14 oz). We go back for another appointment and weight check next Wednesday.

Speaking of weight, I have dropped about 47 lbs in 12 days! Most of that has been water weight. It is amazing to watch the body transform so quickly. I have ankles again! There is only some swelling left now in my legs and feet, so hopefully that will be gone in the next couple of days. I am only about 23 lbs from my pre pregnancy weight, so that isn’t such a bad number to be at. (yay!)

So, over all we are doing well. Still trying to establish our new routine and manage to do some sleeping.

I will try to get some more pictures posted soon!

Posted: Thursday, November 30th, 2006 @ 8:07 pm
Categories: Jelly, Peanut Butter, The Twin Journey, What's New With Us.
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