Late Wednesday night, February 10th, I still wasn't feeling great. I was still having contractions, and while they were irregular, they were becoming slightly painful. They tended to act up more if I got up and moved around so I tried to rest. I started timing the contractions, but they didn't seem to follow any sort of pattern. We weren't really sure what we should do at this point, so Matt gave me a blessing. After the blessing instantly felt relaxed. I was able to rest for a few hours. I woke up later, however, and started having more contractions. At this point I knew what we needed to do. In the blessing, Matt asked that we might know what to do, and it was clear: I needed to go to the hospital, even if I had to go by myself. Now, mind you, that the reason I needed to go by myself was because all of our kids were still sick and throwing up. Even after I left, Mason threw up again. So I woke up Matt at 4am and told him I felt like I needed to go. The plan was that I would go get things checked out and then I'd let him know what was going to happen next. So off I went to the hospital.
*
I arrived at the hospital 20 minutes later, only having had one contraction on the way. I marched up to the labor and delivery floor, and explained my predicament to the nurses at the desk. I told them I was having contractions, that they were painful, that I was pregnant with twins, and that I was only 29 weeks along. They put me into a triage room and started getting me hooked up to the monitors. In order to monitor the babies, I had to rest for 20 minutes. I waited out my 20 minutes and then the resident that was on for the night came to see me. Turns out, he knew Matt. (Most of the people I encountered during my hospitalization knew Matt. What can I say, he's a likable guy. :) ) But the resident did an exam, and determined that I was dilated to a 4. At that news I knew our situation wasn't good. He went through a few scenarios with me being dilated that far. He did, though, want to make sure the OB on that night came to see me. The OB that night was Dr. Eric Terpstra, the husband of a friend of mine. He's the department head of OB, so I was glad he was there. After the OB checked me out, and determined that I was indeed at a 4, he asked if had talked to Matt and if he was coming. I had called Matt right after the resident checked me, and he was jumping into action. We decided to call the Relief Society president, Nancy, and she was more than willing to come over right away. But after the OB checked me, we decided that the best thing to do was to try and stop the contractions. With this, I was admitted and headed into a labor and delivery room.
*
Once I was in my room, the OB started the medication to try and stop the contractions. They also gave me some steroids to help the babies' lung development. At this point, Matt arrived. It was also the time when the doctors switched over. There was a new doctor on, Dr. Jocelyn Mercado. Before he left though, Dr. Terptra made sure we were okay and taken care of. At this point we'd started talking with the doctors about transferring me to another hospital that had a NICU, but the hospital they contacted, Sharp Mary Birch, didn't want me transferred in my state--dilated to a 4. They didn't want me to deliver the babies in the ambulance on the freeway. Not a good scenario. We talked with the nurse anesthetist that was there, as well as the nurse practitioner that dealt with any preemies. We also had a lengthy conversation about doing a c-section. Since the babies were so little, and the second was breech, it would be best to do a c-section, if needed. We signed the papers for the c-section (just in case) and it was agreed that the OB would check me again. By this time, my contractions were not getting any better, but were coming rather timely. After checking me, the final word was that I was dilated to a 7, and I was in active labor. I would be going in for an emergency c-section. This was the hardest part to hear. Matt and I tried our best to hold ourselves together, but this was not the way we had hoped or planned for things to go. It was a very stressful, and very emotional course of events. But in no time, Matt was handed some scrubs, given instructions, and the OB and the rest of the nurses, etc. were getting me ready to go into the OR.
*
Not much time passed from when we got the final word about the c-section and when I was in the OR. They wheeled me into the room and had Matt wait outside while they got me ready. I was still having contractions, but they hoisted me off one bed and onto the other. I had to sit up to get the spinal, and once it was in, I was back down and everyone was prepping for the surgery. Matt came back in, and informed me that they were getting ready to start. Everything happened so quickly. Before long, and after a ton of horrendous pressure on my abdomen, baby A was born at 9:56. A boy. He cried a tiny little cry. One minute later, baby B was born at 9:57, a girl. Both babies were hurried to their respective little incubators, and each baby was intubated. At this point, each were also given a dose of surfactant to help open their lungs. There were teams of people working on the babies. Being only 29 weeks gestation, they were in great need of assistance. Matt made sure I was okay where I was, and went across the room to see the babies. He took a few pictures of each to show me as I was still being worked on. This next part of the story is somewhat of a blur. The babies were being taken care of, and the OB was focusing her attention on me, because I had begun bleeding and they couldn't tell where the bleeding was coming from. The babies were taken out of the OR, and we agreed that Matt should go with them. I was there on the table, listening to the doctor talk about the bleeding and instructing someone (I don't know who) to find the other OB that was there that day. The pressure and terrible feeling I had on my abdomen was unbearable. At one point in the delivery I had felt lightheaded, but the anesthesiologist gave me some medication to bring my blood pressure back up. The last thing I remember was looking at the blue paper drape, and trying to stay with it as best I could.
*
Now, quite a bit happened from the time I blacked out to the time I woke up, but the next thing I remember is waking up at 2:30 pm in the ICU. I had no idea what happened, but knew that it should not have already been 2:30, 4 and a half hours after the babies were born. Matt was in the ICU with me when I woke up, and the doctor was there shortly after. I had had some bleeding that they couldn't stop, and after loosing a decent amount of blood, they had to put me under general anesthesia. A few other doctors were brought into the OR to help Dr. Mercado, and once the bleeding was stopped, and a few tests to make sure it was, and a blood transfusion, the surgery was finished and I was taken to ICU for the night. The babies, by this time, had both been transferred. The plan was always that they would be quickly transferred to another hospital because the naval hospital didn't have any room at their NICU. But while I was out, the babies were both transferred to Rady Children's hospital. After the babies were born, they were both stabilized, and once they were ready, they were taken. They were taken at different times, however, Emmett was first and Molly was second. For the next two days, I remained at the naval hospital. Matt went to Rady Children's on the night of the 11th and stayed with them for a little while. He also went down there on the 12th and spent time with them.
Now, we need not forget the other kids... Thursday morning, when we told our families that we were having the babies that day, and that we were in a rather strange predicament, with the kids being sick and me in the hospital, my parents got in their car and drove through the night. Bless their hearts, they came to our rescue Friday morning. They even brought the older kids to the hospital to see me Friday night.
Of all our babies, the twins win the award for the most traumatic birth story. It wasn't near anything we had ever hoped for or planned, but they are little fighters and made their way into the world, albeit 11 weeks early. The birth, however, was only the beginning of their fight.
Molly Jean, 3 lbs, 2 oz
Emmett Paul, 2 lbs, 14 oz
Molly
Getting ready to transport
Emmett
Getting ready to transport
Molly in her incubator at Rady Children's
Emmett in his incubator at Rady Children's
Goodnight, babies. : ) Happy birthday. You came into this world much sooner and much quicker than expected, but you are loved beyond measure. How blessed we are to have you in our family.
