• About

A Moment In March

~ the moment that changed my life forever

A Moment In March

Tag Archives: Birth Story

The Boys Birth Story (Part 2)

19 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by amomentinmarch in NICU, RAINBOW BABY, TWINS, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Birth Story, c-section, NICU, Preemie, TWINS

It's time!

It’s time!


It is amazing how quickly everything happened once they decided Feb. 1st would be the boys’ birthday. My call with Chris was not very long. The whole conversation consisted of “Just got off the phone with Dr. K and I am having the babies today.” And, just like that he was in route to the hospital. By the time I hung up, I had 2 nurses in my room. A hospital gown, hair net and socks were laid out on the foot of the bed, and they were gathering supplies to put an IV in my arm. For a few minutes everything felt very rushed. I hadn’t really had time to digest the news. When you go into labor you have hours not minutes before the babies arrive.

Chris made it to the hospital in record time and we called our parents to let them know. I could tell Chris was nervous and honestly so was I. I was, after all, only 30 weeks and few days along. But, I also had a strange fleeting moment of feeling nostalgic. This would be the last day I would EVER be pregnant. This was the last time the boys would be 100% dependant on me and only me to provide for them. As hard as my pregnancy was, a big part of me enjoyed my pregnancy.

Soon my doctor arrived in my room. She reassured both Chris and I that at the boy’s gestational age they would do just fine. She was excited because I had made it so much longer than she originally thought and because we were all about to meet the little guys. She was dressed like she was heading out to dinner not to an operating room, so she gave us both a hug and went to change clothes and get scrubbed in.

As soon as she left, the nurses were back in my room. They grabbed the cord blood collection kit to be sure it wasn’t forgotten about in all the excitement. They gave Chris coveralls, shoe covers and a hairnet and explained they were going to take me down now and they would be back soon for him. He couldn’t be in the room while I got my spinal, but would be there in plenty of time for the birth.
As I entered the operating room, it was cold, brightly lit and, it was bustling; lots of people making sure everything was ready and in place. I was expecting a lot of people, but thre must have been 20 people in the room. Seeing so many in and out of the delivery room made me nervous and reassured at the same time.

This was it, it wouldn’t be long now.

They had me sit on a hard table. The nurse anesthetist introduced himself and told me he would be right by my side the whole time. He was very calm and reassuring in the mist of all the chaos. The anesthesiologist came over and introduced herself and told me it was time to get started. She told me I would feel pressure in my back. She was right, that was a good way to describe it. I took one final look around the room before lying back on the table. There were 2 incubators now fully surrounded by doctors and nurses. All the surgical tools were spread out on a table. There were still many other nurses and respiratory specialists walking about the room. I laid back and they hung the curtain; for a brief moment I panicked. The curtain was so close to my face and I am claustrophobic. The nurse anesthetist, seeming inside my head, noticed and before I could react asked that they reposition it. I looked to my left as they were walking Chris into the room.

Before they begin they test the spinal. They rubbed a cold wet cloth on my arm. Then they rubbed the same cloth on my stomach. I feel the pressure but not the cold or wet. I took a deep breath and tried to relax, but in my head I knew there were so many unknowns.

Soon, I felt an odd sensation, it didn’t hurt, but I felt it. I could feel myself laying so still, intently listening to everything, waiting for some indication that the babies were okay. I began to get nauseous and immediately was given something to remedy that. I was also given something to make me relax. I heard the doctor say the amniotic fluid was clear. I assumed that was a good thing. She asked Chris if he was ready to stand up and take a look.

I watched him as he stood up, he just stared. “Take a picture”, I told him. He raised the camera and snapped away as I heard the doctor say he is out and he is a good size. Chris began looking a little pale so the nurse anesthetist advised he sit back down. I realized I was holding my breath. I had not yet heard the baby cry. Then I heard it, it was soft and distant, but still music to my ears and for a moment I could breathe.

Before the doctor moved on to baby B, she collected Landon’s cord blood and cord tissues. She didn’t think she was going to be able to get enough cord blood, but collected all she could. Viacord could let us know for sure, but these are preemies with cord blood flow issues.

Soon we were on to Baby B, my problem child, the reason we were in the delivery room. But, baby B, aka Nolan, was also my feisty baby. Again, I felt myself holding my breath as she confirmed the fluid was clear and there was plenty of it. Chris stood once again and snapped a few pictures. I heard the doctor say, “he is smaller, but not as much as I worried he would be.” Nolan didn’t make me wait as long to hear his cry. His was a bit louder as if he knew I needed reassured that was going to be okay.

Before I knew it, Landon had been taken down to the NICU, I never even got to see him. Chris was giving me a play by play of what he could see. I knew he needed to be in NICU quickly, but was sad I didn’t get to see him first. The nurse anesthetist was going to be sure that didn’t happen again. “Hey guys, over here, mom did a lot of work, she should get to see the baby,” he said as they were getting ready to head out with Nolan. They rolled his incubator over by me and one of the nurses lifted him up so I could see him. He was crying. All I could really see was a big mouth on a very small baby.

With a normal pregnancy and normal c-section the doctor would hold the baby up, get it slightly cleaned off and passed immediately to mom or dad. When they are tiny there is no holding them up and once they go to the NICU, hours pass before mom can visit. After all, the spinal has to wear off before you can feel you legs, and then they won’t let you sit up for another couple of hours. The nurses told me it was common for women not to head to the NICU for 12-18 hours after delivery.

I had never really thought about it until a couple of weeks before the babies were born. A friend of mine told me about her experience with a c-section and her babies going straight to the NICU. The whole way through my pregnancy I had known exactly what to expect, but this little detail caught me off guard. I was crushed at the idea of others seeing my babies before me. I did all the work.

When we got back to my hospital room, my parents were waiting for me. They wanted to make sure I did okay in surgery and my mom began helping pack up the room. It is amazing how much you can accumulate in a short time. My doctor stopped by and told me she went to the NICU before coming to see me to make sure all was well. “They are doing really good and they are bigger than I thought” she told us. Landon was the bigger baby around 3 lbs and Nolan was closer to 2 ½ lbs. She also told the nurses to keep me in my room, the room that had become home atleast until the following day. Standard procedure would be to move me within a few hours to the mom and baby ward. After my doctor left, so did my parents; they all agreed I should try and get some rest.

About an hour or two later my mother-in-law came to visit. By this time, the spinal was wearing off and I was beginning to feel my legs again. Before, I was in too much pain the nurse brought a pain pump in and I discovered morphine really makes me itch. To counter the itchiness, I was given Benadryl. To say I was out of it would be a huge understatement, pain meds and benadryl! My mother in law left for a little while to pick up some dinner for her and Chris, I was so tired and nauseas there was zero chance of me eating anything. Even though I wasn’t eating I do wish they had picked something other than shrimp fajitas, the smell and the nausea didn’t mix well. While they were eating my older brother stopped by the hospital to visit. It was a nice distraction from the nausea.

One of the nurses stopped in as she was leaving for the night to let me know she had stopped by the NICU and the boys were doing well. During the conversation, she realized Chris had yet to go to the NICU. He had stayed with me so we could visit them together for the first time. The nurse offered to take him down there and my brother and mother in law asked if they could join. I reluctantly said yes. I am not sure if it was because I was just so tired or not feeling well, but I didn’t stand my ground. I would now be the fourth person in the family to see my babies. I thought it would be a quick visit, but it was not. Over an hour past, then 30 minutes more; I laid in my bed and began to cry, mostly out of jealousy that I couldn’t be down there too.

When everyone got back in my room after the visit to the NICU they were talking about how little but handsome the boys were. I heard about how much hair they had and before anyone could say another word, I snapped. “I don’t want to hear about it, I don’t want anyone telling me about my babies, I just want to see them.” By this time it was after midnight, so my brother and mother in law headed home. The night nurse recommended I get some sleep, but I was not going to sleep until I saw my boys. So, nine hours after I delivered them, the nurses loaded me into a wheelchair and we headed for the NICU.

IMG_0010

The boys were in 2 separate rooms; really the rooms were more of open divided bays. Both were in their Giraffe incubators, each with their very own nurse. We headed to Landon’s room first. They lowered the incubator as far as it would go. It was hard to see what he looked liked, but one thing was for sure, he was tiny. I needed a better look, so I attempted to stand up. As soon as I stood up, I began to shake and got very light-headed. The NICU nurse recommended I sit back down; after all, she works on babies less than 5 lbs not adults. I took her recommendation and slowly sat back down, but first I studied every detail of Landon. I couldn’t see his face because of the CPAP machine helping him breath. He was so little and thin that he didn’t even fill out his skin, but at the same time, he was perfect. He did have a lot of hair considering he was born about 10 weeks early.

IMG_0005

Next we headed over to Nolan’s room. Once again, I needed a better look. I stood up, but only for a minute. I only thought Landon was small, until I saw Nolan. Nolan put small into a whole new perspective. His face was also hidden behind the CPAP machine, and he also had a surprising amount of very blond hair.

It was surreal seeing my babies for the first time. Even without seeing their face, they were the most beautiful sight, wires and all. My night was complete. Our family had grown by two. I could now get some rest.

Landon

Landon

Nolan

Nolan

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • More
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

The Boys Birth Story (Part One)

20 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by amomentinmarch in Pregnancy, RAINBOW BABY

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Absent End Diastolic Blood Flow, Bed rest, Birth Story, Hospital bed rest, subsequent pregnancy, TWINS

** I have been a bad blogger lately.  I had intended to blog often while on hospital bed rest, but writing on the iPAD without a real keyboard was frustrating.  Then the boys arrived and…well…I have been a bit busy.  So, almost 5 months later, I thought it is about time to share the boy’s birth story.

~

My hospital room

My hospital room

Chris and I had celebrated both Christmas and New Years from my hospital room and a few fairly uneventful weeks had past.  I had reached the 28 week mark.  This milestone I felt to be a rather large accomplishment (major developmental issues decease at 28 weeks) and I wanted it celebrated.  Chris had picked up some tulips (my favorite flower) and a cookie cake.  The cake read Happy 28 weeks!  Of course, Chris had to explain what happy 28 weeks meant to the cake decorator; apparently it was a first for her.

An ultrasound tech I didn’t know showed up to do my daily scan a few days later.  Up to this point, I had seen the same handful of techs every day.  I had become really good at looking at the scan and knowing what I was seeing.  I could tell if the diastolic blood flow was normal, intermittently absent, or completely absent.  I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary on the scan.  Later that day, I was told the scan showed some intermittent reversal, (see Absent End Diastolic Blood Flow for an explanation) and that I would be NPO after midnight.  NPO basically means no food or drink.  They would come the following morning and rescan me and see what the scan shows.  If it is better, I will stay pregnant; if it is worse they will likely deliver me.  My favorite ultrasound tech came the next morning to do my scan.  She looked over the scan from the day before showing me what they saw as reversal.  She questioned the reversal and said it very easily could have been that I was lying on the cord and in the future to roll towards my side a bit and see if it changes the scan.  It also could have been archiving, a term I eventually heard often, but am still not clear on.  Her scan showed intermittent absence.  About 30 minutes later my doctor called to tell me to eat breakfast, they would not be delivering me that day, she also expressed some question to the validity of the earlier scan.

About a week later, I had another scan that showed reversal, only this time it showed more reversal.  I knew it when I saw it on the monitor.  The tech said she would have to have the doctor interpret the scan to say for sure.  In other words, yes, that is reversal.  This time I was nervous, I thought for sure I would be having the babies.  Finally the specialist came by and told me I would be NPO and they would be checking the scan again in the morning.  Much like last time, the morning scan was good.

The next time I had a scan that showed reversal was the morning of my baby shower.  We knew it was only a matter of time before the babies made their arrival and my wonderful girlfriends felt everyone should get to have a baby shower.  They pulled the whole shower together in less than 5 days. All the doctors, nurses, and techs new my shower was happening that day.  The nurses spent part of the prior day clearing out the perinatal testing room and getting it set up with tables and chairs.  It isn’t often that a baby shower takes place in the labor and delivery unit. After my bad scan, I was worried I might be having my babies that day rather than the baby shower.  After all, this scan was the worst one yet.  My doctor was out of town, so the other doctor from her practice stopped by to check on me.  As soon as she got in the nurses advised her of the bad scan.  She told me, she was going to call my doctor and the specialists so we could plan the day accordingly.  First she spoke to my doctor; since she was traveling and wouldn’t be back in town until that evening; even if they did decide to deliver I could still have my shower.  This got me wondering how often baby showers and birthdays fall on the same day?   Then she spoke to the specialist who said we would follow the same protocol as before, NPO after midnight rescan in the morning.

My doctor was there for the scan the next morning, once again it was good.  I would not be delivering that day.  She and I discussed the frequency of the reversal and my other labs.  For some time we had been debating what would be the thing that would cause delivery. I was inching towards HELLP again or at a minimum Preeclampsia.  My platelets had been steadily declining for weeks and I was getting closer and closer to the 100 line.  When I first got to the hospital my platelets were 235, now they were 129.  I also had higher levels of proteinuria, but so far my blood pressure was steady and liver enzymes were good.  Of course, I had the blood flow issues, so the reversal could potentially cause delivery.  Or, due to the blood flow issues, Baby B (aka Nolan) might stop growing in which case they would deliver me.

Mid week, I had another bad scan followed by a good scan the next day.  This was becoming very routine.

The very next day, I had another bad scan.  The frequency of bad scans was increasing. They again had me NPO and rechecked me Friday morning. That morning I asked them about possibly doing a growth scan.  I wasn’t scheduled for one for another 5 days, but with all the reversal I felt it might be good to move it up.  The tech wouldn’t do the full growth scan early, but did one quick measurement.  She said they don’t seem far off, but Baby B does seem smaller.  Other than that the scan was fine.  Everything seemed normal except my ankles had begun to swell.  Noting major, nothing more than one would expect at almost 31 week; seemingly minor. Yet, I have learned things aren’t always as they seem.  One of the specialists stopped by and advised I would not be delivering that day, but he wanted the nurses to keep a close eye on my blood pressure over the course of the day.  As he was leaving my doctor was walking in the room.  They spoke for a minute and then she came in and told me basically the same thing.  She said don’t be surprised if I have the babies very soon, maybe groundhog day (Saturday), maybe super bowl Sunday.

After my doctor left, I ordered breakfast and logged into my laptop.  My hospital bed had also been my office for the last 7+ weeks.  No point in using up my maternity leave before the babies arrived.   It was a busy Friday, plus thinking the babies might be coming soon, I was trying to wrap up loose ends.  The phone in my hospital room rang. It typically rang at 1:00 pm if I hadn’t called in my lunch order or at 5:30, if I hadn’t called in my dinner order.  Who eats dinner at 5:30?  But it was just after 2:30 and I had already had lunch. My room phone ringing for anything other than meals was not common.  I answered and my doctor was on the line. She said change of plans; you are having the babies today.   This was not at all what I expected when I answered the phone.  Still shocked at this news, I mustered out an okay.  She explained they reviewed everything beginning with the frequency of the reversal, not to mention when they were seeing it, they were seeing more reversal and it was becoming less and less intermittent, my labs were not good, and there is concern Baby B isn’t growing much if at all.  It was becoming the perfect storm.  All the reasons we had speculated they might deliver me, were happening at once. While this was not yet an emergency situation, they were not sure I would make it through the weekend without it becoming an emergency delivery.  Also, she had checked the schedule and was not comfortable with the amount of staff on for the weekend.  With it being super bowl weekend, should anyone call out, it could leave them short staffed and create a dicey situation.   I needed 2 full teams since I was having twins and she realized the “A team” was there that day.  She checked with anesthesia and they had an opening at 3:30.  As she is telling me this, I glance at the clock and realize that is less than an hour away.  She said she would have preferred to spring that news on me in person, but with the short timeline she figured she would call me as she drove to the hospital.

I got off the phone with her and called Chris.  Luckily he answered… (to be continued)

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • More
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Recent Posts

  • Ansley’s 7th Birthday
  • Cerebral Palsy
  • Allergies
  • (repost) St. Patrick’s day- 2011
  • (repost) The Before Snapshot

Archives

  • March 2018
  • March 2017
  • June 2015
  • March 2015
  • November 2014
  • February 2014
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012

Categories

  • Ansley
  • Cerebral Palsy
  • Grief
  • Hope
  • NICU
  • Nolan
  • Pregnancy
  • RAINBOW BABY
  • Songs
  • Stillbirth
  • TWINS
  • Uncategorized

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
    Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
    To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
    <span>%d</span> bloggers like this: