Surro-Twins
Just letting you know that on Tuesday, September 15th Jackson and Colton were born into this world at 29 weeks!
Jackson- 3lb .8oz,
Colton- 2lb8oz
I went to the hospital around 10am feeling mild contractions, and wanted to get checked to make sure everything was alright. They monitored me, and gave me a shot to stop the contractions. For an hour I didn't have a single one. I decided to take a nap, but thought it would be prudent to go to the bathroom before I got to comfortable (they had me drink 4 bottles of water lol). I had a contraction on the toilet, one at the sink, and another by the time I got back to the bed. I let the nurse know, and they called my midwife to come down to the hospital and check me out.
I got up again to go pee a second time maybe 15 minutes later, and WOW there was the bag of waters, just right. right. right. there. I called a nurse in, and she sprung into action. I got back in bed and within about 10-15 minutes my water burst and Jackson was born footling breech! I was lying on my back in a tilted back bed shouting that "Damnit, I am getting UP!" but the nurse (who rightfully was terrified) was begging me not to and was afraid that he would be stuck in my cervix and being so tiny his cord would prolapse and he'd be in serious trouble. So I begrudgingly stayed on my back for the few minutes it took and he came out in a rush with my water. He was born in his sack until he was about 50% out! The nurse looked like she was going to either shout in victory or faint when he cried the first time. :)
Right then the docs, my midwife, and I'm pretty sure every other nurse for miles, came into my room. An ultrasound confirmed that Cole was head down and his bag of waters was bulging. I started to labor him down, and his water broke, but he just wasn't coming. A second ultrasound showed that he had turned positions. The OB confirmed that there were "small parts and cord presenting" and my midwife (who is as anti-unnecessary-cesarean as I am) confirmed that we needed to do a c-section to prevent compressed/prolapsed cord and save Colton. The OB had his hand (read: whole frickin' arm!) in me, trying to hold the baby up off of the cord. He was transverse and could not come down through the canal, and with the waters broken, we couldn't do a version. And with his small size and the nature of the emergency we couldn't do amnio-infusion.
So off we were, with epic quickness to the O.R. In fact, it was so fast, one of the nurses had to pull my skirt and shirt up over my head on the way! So there I was in the hallway on the gurney, nude and trucking into the O.R. with my skirt and shirt hung up on my IV lines, with an OB's arm in my vag. Oi. At the time it was terrifying but in retrospect it's hilarious. I wish I could have seen me!
We get into the O.R. and my midwife helps scoot me over on to the rediculously tiny operating tables, OB removes arm, and instantly hunches me over so the anesthesiologist can go poking about in my spine. It was so fast, and so sudden, and then boom. Where are my legs? They helped me flop gracelessly back onto the table, and then the sheet went up , and someone was asking for a razor. At which point I start to panic again, thinking they were going to cut me open with a razor blade. Not one of my more logical moments. My midwife leaves to go get my husband, and I'm in this room I never expected to be in, amidst a wild flurry of nurses, and doctors I've never met introducing themselves politely to me and promising they'd save the little guy and I. At one point I flopped my hand out and asked the anesthesiologist if he would hold my hand until my husband came because I was scared. He obliged :)
My husband came in, and they were already getting started. "Will they test to make sure I can't feel anything?" I had asked. "Oh yea, they'll pinch you first" says anesthi-doc. My eyes must have really widened because he reassured me that it's a REALLY INTENSE pinch, lol. When Jules got there, I felt a lot better and we started chatting (why folk where jostling my uterus and such) about how blue scrubs work for him, and stuff. The docs were playful too much made me feel better, and one said to the other at one point "Hey don't you drop the uterus on the floor" to which I responded that I wanted one of them to wear it as a hat. Both laughed.
I don't know when they got Colton out, and I never saw him or heard him before he was whisked away. I do know that the docs did a great job and even though he was really stuck, instead of giving me an L-shaped incision on my uterus which the level of contorted and stuck usually calls for, they just extended my low transverse cut a few more inches. It's longer, but much safer for future VBACs. The docs and my midwife assured me that they did everything they could to preserve my reproductive integrity, which means a lot to me.
The parents arrived a few hours after the birth, and come to sit with me in my room for a while to see how I was doing. It's amazing to know that I didn't just give birth to twin boys. I gave birth to a family. I created these children, and made a mother and a father out of people. :) Surrogacy is amazing.
The boys are doing well, are up in Boston Childrens' Hospital getting the best care they can get :) I was so impressed with the fact that both boys, as tiny as they were, breathed on their own for 4 hours with little difficulty in a level one nursery until they were brought up to a level 3 NICU. They were strong and mighty right from jump! I didn't get to see or hold either baby (what with all the initial commotion, and then the fact that I'm not mom so I can't go into the nursery to hold them etc). I don't have any pictures to post yet, but I'm hoping that once things calm down a little bit more for the parents, that they'll send me some pictures of those little buddies!
Things I've learned from being a natural hospital birther, turned unassisted home birther, turned emergency cesarean birther:
Natural birth is infinitely less complicated, and over all much less painful (when incorporating healing time).
Sneezing, coughing, vomiting, and laughing suck after a section.
Natural birth comes with a high afterwards, section delivery comes with a low.
The body is wise.
Medical technology is great when it's used sparingly! Very Sparingly.
Do not get behind on your meds in the first 48 hours.
Will post pictures as soon as I've got them! Thanks for reading my birth story!
Jackson- 3lb .8oz,
Colton- 2lb8oz
I went to the hospital around 10am feeling mild contractions, and wanted to get checked to make sure everything was alright. They monitored me, and gave me a shot to stop the contractions. For an hour I didn't have a single one. I decided to take a nap, but thought it would be prudent to go to the bathroom before I got to comfortable (they had me drink 4 bottles of water lol). I had a contraction on the toilet, one at the sink, and another by the time I got back to the bed. I let the nurse know, and they called my midwife to come down to the hospital and check me out.
I got up again to go pee a second time maybe 15 minutes later, and WOW there was the bag of waters, just right. right. right. there. I called a nurse in, and she sprung into action. I got back in bed and within about 10-15 minutes my water burst and Jackson was born footling breech! I was lying on my back in a tilted back bed shouting that "Damnit, I am getting UP!" but the nurse (who rightfully was terrified) was begging me not to and was afraid that he would be stuck in my cervix and being so tiny his cord would prolapse and he'd be in serious trouble. So I begrudgingly stayed on my back for the few minutes it took and he came out in a rush with my water. He was born in his sack until he was about 50% out! The nurse looked like she was going to either shout in victory or faint when he cried the first time. :)
Right then the docs, my midwife, and I'm pretty sure every other nurse for miles, came into my room. An ultrasound confirmed that Cole was head down and his bag of waters was bulging. I started to labor him down, and his water broke, but he just wasn't coming. A second ultrasound showed that he had turned positions. The OB confirmed that there were "small parts and cord presenting" and my midwife (who is as anti-unnecessary-cesarean as I am) confirmed that we needed to do a c-section to prevent compressed/prolapsed cord and save Colton. The OB had his hand (read: whole frickin' arm!) in me, trying to hold the baby up off of the cord. He was transverse and could not come down through the canal, and with the waters broken, we couldn't do a version. And with his small size and the nature of the emergency we couldn't do amnio-infusion.
So off we were, with epic quickness to the O.R. In fact, it was so fast, one of the nurses had to pull my skirt and shirt up over my head on the way! So there I was in the hallway on the gurney, nude and trucking into the O.R. with my skirt and shirt hung up on my IV lines, with an OB's arm in my vag. Oi. At the time it was terrifying but in retrospect it's hilarious. I wish I could have seen me!
We get into the O.R. and my midwife helps scoot me over on to the rediculously tiny operating tables, OB removes arm, and instantly hunches me over so the anesthesiologist can go poking about in my spine. It was so fast, and so sudden, and then boom. Where are my legs? They helped me flop gracelessly back onto the table, and then the sheet went up , and someone was asking for a razor. At which point I start to panic again, thinking they were going to cut me open with a razor blade. Not one of my more logical moments. My midwife leaves to go get my husband, and I'm in this room I never expected to be in, amidst a wild flurry of nurses, and doctors I've never met introducing themselves politely to me and promising they'd save the little guy and I. At one point I flopped my hand out and asked the anesthesiologist if he would hold my hand until my husband came because I was scared. He obliged :)
My husband came in, and they were already getting started. "Will they test to make sure I can't feel anything?" I had asked. "Oh yea, they'll pinch you first" says anesthi-doc. My eyes must have really widened because he reassured me that it's a REALLY INTENSE pinch, lol. When Jules got there, I felt a lot better and we started chatting (why folk where jostling my uterus and such) about how blue scrubs work for him, and stuff. The docs were playful too much made me feel better, and one said to the other at one point "Hey don't you drop the uterus on the floor" to which I responded that I wanted one of them to wear it as a hat. Both laughed.
I don't know when they got Colton out, and I never saw him or heard him before he was whisked away. I do know that the docs did a great job and even though he was really stuck, instead of giving me an L-shaped incision on my uterus which the level of contorted and stuck usually calls for, they just extended my low transverse cut a few more inches. It's longer, but much safer for future VBACs. The docs and my midwife assured me that they did everything they could to preserve my reproductive integrity, which means a lot to me.
The parents arrived a few hours after the birth, and come to sit with me in my room for a while to see how I was doing. It's amazing to know that I didn't just give birth to twin boys. I gave birth to a family. I created these children, and made a mother and a father out of people. :) Surrogacy is amazing.
The boys are doing well, are up in Boston Childrens' Hospital getting the best care they can get :) I was so impressed with the fact that both boys, as tiny as they were, breathed on their own for 4 hours with little difficulty in a level one nursery until they were brought up to a level 3 NICU. They were strong and mighty right from jump! I didn't get to see or hold either baby (what with all the initial commotion, and then the fact that I'm not mom so I can't go into the nursery to hold them etc). I don't have any pictures to post yet, but I'm hoping that once things calm down a little bit more for the parents, that they'll send me some pictures of those little buddies!
Things I've learned from being a natural hospital birther, turned unassisted home birther, turned emergency cesarean birther:
Natural birth is infinitely less complicated, and over all much less painful (when incorporating healing time).
Sneezing, coughing, vomiting, and laughing suck after a section.
Natural birth comes with a high afterwards, section delivery comes with a low.
The body is wise.
Medical technology is great when it's used sparingly! Very Sparingly.
Do not get behind on your meds in the first 48 hours.
Will post pictures as soon as I've got them! Thanks for reading my birth story!