I went in on Monday, June 22nd for a prescheduled fetal echo. There was nothing wrong. My husband has a heart condition so it was purely for screening purposes, and both babies passed with flying colors. Before I left they took my blood pressure, because when you go to the doctor they always take your blood pressure... It was high. After sitting for 10 minutes and trying again, the doctor said he was going to admit me to labor and delivery just to monitor me for a couple of hours. Weird. But ok. I felt perfectly fine. They checked me in and gave me a hospital bracelet and I stupidly took photos of it and myself smiling in my hospital gown, thinking this was some sort of silly precaution that I could IG and blog about later that night.
Well they monitored, and it didn't go down. In fact, they made me pee in a cup and turns out I had gosh darn preeclampsia. I really didn't even know what that was and still felt fine so I called to cancel my obgyn appointment for the afternoon, and said I would call back to reschedule the next day. Well, a few hours turned into "we'll keep you until Wednesday" to "we might keep you until the babies are born" (my due date wasn't for another 2 months plus) and my smile quickly turned to an annoyed panic wondering what the heck kind of medical bills were in store for me. I felt fine. Can't I just go home??
On top of this I was apparently having very regular contractions. Strong ones that they couldn't believe I couldn't feel. They kept checking me and checking me to see if I was dilating, but I wasn't at all. Completely shut. Ain't nobody coming out of there! Phew!
My husband went home to pick up his computer so we could at least watch Netflix and my phone charger since we seemed to be in for the long haul. We sat, and watched, and eventually tried to sleep. Sleeping in the hospital was difficult since I had 3 heart rate monitors attached to my stomach (one for each of us) that seemed to move each time I would alter my position, and the nurse had to come in and adjust them every time.
Finally I must have drifted off, at least for a little while when I awoke to a team of doctors and nurses standing around my bed talking about me, but not really to me, about what they needed to do next. The next thing I knew the doctors were wheeling me out of the room and I turned to yell out for my husband who was asleep on the couch next to me. I could tell he was starting to wake up when I lost sight of him, but at least I knew he would realize that they had taken me somewhere.
The doctors told me the babies were going to come out now, and recognizing the urgency in their voices, I simply responded ok just in time to get a mask to the face and a deep deep sleep before finally waking up in excruciating pain. They babies were out. By then, they were already being cared for in the NICU and I assume my husband was there with them. My in-laws and mother had come to the hospital and were in the room with me when I woke up shaking like a leaf and rating my pain as a 10! A freaking 10! Luckily my mother-in-law is a somewhat important person around those parts and made sure they pumped my meds up to a point I could stop shaking and basically fall back to sleep.
These photos were taken by the doctors and given to us so we could see what they looked like. |
Because of the preeclampsia, I was on this magnesium drip for the next 24 hours or so which basically caused me to lose a day of my life. Meaning, I can account for about 20 minutes of Tuesday, and other than that I am completely clueless. It wasn't until about mid morning Wednesday that I'd say I could carry out a conversation with any logical thought. And on Wednesday afternoon I met the girls.
When I say I met the girls, I mean I sat in my wheelchair and looked at them through the plastic isolate. They were small. Really small. They had lots of tubes and cords attached to them and big oxygen masks over their faces. I could sort of see the side of their arms, and that was about it. I'll be honest it was a really bizarre feeling and not at all like I had thought meeting your baby for the first time would be. Like, I hardly felt they were mine and was honestly more interested in laying back in my hospital bed than looking at these creatures any longer. I still had no idea what they looked like and was being asked numerous times for their names, so I finally just told my husband to make the executive decision, and he did.
Babies at first sight! |
We stayed for a few more days and continued this routine throughout the week of daily trips the NICU (trip, as in down the hall) and looking for a few minutes. Once they let me change Reilly's diaper which was probably comical because she was so small I was terrified of breaking her or handling her in any way whatsoever.
Saturday I was discharged from the hospital. We made one last trip to the NICU before we left, and suddenly today was the day. Today they asked me if I would like to take Rosie out of her isolate and hold her! I was petrified. Like literally praying to God that her heart would keep beating and her lungs would keep breathing if I took her into my arms, but I held her. I was smiling ear to ear. She was the cutest thing I'd ever seen in my entire life. The next day was Reilly's turn and I'm pretty sure I held my breath the entire time.
First Rosie hold! |
First Reilly hold! |
Long story short, you know that everyone is now home and healthy, but that journey is way beyond a birth story! Stay tuned or look back for details about the twins NICU days!
Thanks for sharing your story. I can totally relate. When my water broke at 29 weeks I calmly went to the hospital. I just assumed they would fix me up and send me on my way. Boy, was I naive.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your story. I can totally relate. When my water broke at 29 weeks I calmly went to the hospital. I just assumed they would fix me up and send me on my way. Boy, was I naive.
ReplyDeleteWow, I can't imagine how scary all of that must have been. I'm so glad you and your babies made it home safe, may the next stage be more enjoyable! Congratulations on mamaing these precious little ones! What a journey you have started! :)
ReplyDeleteYou are so strong! It was great reading the story but I can't even imagine how you felt going through this. So great to hear everyone is healing :-)
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness girl! YOU ARE AMAZING!!!! I'm so sorry that their birth came so unexpected and not as you had wished, however I am so glad you all are home safe, happy, and healthy!!!
ReplyDeleteWhew! Oh my goodness! I leave the blog world for a year and a half and miss all this?! First of all, congratulations! Second of all, you are my hero with that story. Thirdly...do I really want to try to have kids now?! lol. So happy everyone is doing well. And so happy I'm back in blog land to read all these amazing things!
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