I wrote a novel, so prepare yourself. ;)
On Sunday, May 29th around 2AM I woke up with my usual aches and pains. I had pretty much been miserable the past few days, even going so far as to see a chiropractor. I was in serious pain all day and night because of baby B crammed up in my ribcage and also the tightness of my huge belly. So I cried it out for about 2 hours until finally I couldn’t take the pain any longer and I threw up. At that point I realized I needed to go to the hospital, so Joel and I drove there at 4AM.
The nurse came in and told me that I was contracting every minute, which was surprising to me because I thought I was just having Braxton Hicks. She immediately gave me a shot to stop the contractions. It worked for a little bit, and then they gave me Procardia pills to stop them even more. Those really didn’t work that much either, so I was put on a magnesium sulfate IV drip. AKA: the drip from hell. That is when everything started to go downhill.
They wouldn’t let me stand up once I was on “the Mag” and I was told that I couldn’t take a shower or walk to the bathroom until they got
both babies’ heartbeats recorded for 20 minutes straight. Sounded easy enough, except for how
3 days later they still had only gotten a few minutes at a time of each baby. There was just too much amniotic fluid to record baby A, and those monitors were TIGHT around my already huge belly.
Monday was a bad day.
Tuesday was probably one of the most miserable and painful days of my entire life.
Labor and delivery of two babies was nothing compared to the pain I was in for those days prior to my water breaking. I don’t remember a whole lot because I was begging for pain medicine and the nurse would put it in my IV and completely knock me out. Then, of course, the babies would be asleep and they couldn’t get the 20 minutes of heartbeats, so it was a vicious cycle.
I remember sobbing to Joel and telling him I just wanted to be put under and have the babies taken out of me. I couldn’t do it anymore. Joel had never seen me suffer like that and he had a really hard time during those days. It felt like my rib was being pulled away from my other ribs, and my whole stomach was so extended because of the polyhydramnios (excessive amniotic fluid) that I couldn’t stand or lay down or do anything without being in excruciating pain.
This picture shows how I felt for those 2 days, but I'm not sure why Joel looks so happy...don't be fooled.
On Wednesday, June 1st, I was finally allowed to take a shower. I think my doctor realized that I was on the verge of a complete breakdown and no progress was being made with the NST monitors. It was the best feeling in the world to be able to wash my hair after not having a shower for almost an entire week. Joel helped me get dressed and dry my hair and then he headed to his night class at 6:30. After standing up and organizing a few things, I sat down in bed at 7pm and water started
gushing out of me.
I called the nurse and told her that my water was breaking, and when they got to my room minutes later it was still
pouring out like a garden hose. It was INSTANT relief! YES!! It went through the hospital bed and covered the ENTIRE room floor. The nurses said they hadn’t ever seen so much water. They joked that it was the “Great Flood”. I was embarrassed that it sprayed everywhere when the nurse checked me, but it was also very funny.
My belly deflated almost instantly and I felt so good. I was already dilated to a 5 but hadn’t felt any of the contractions. Joel didn’t answer his phone and I was so scared that he wasn’t going to make it on time. His mom drove to MTSU and tracked down what classroom he was in, then interrupted the whole class and got Joel out of there. Poor Joel thought that something terrible had happened to me. Then he raced to the hospital (I don't even want to know how fast he was driving...) and he literally sprinted to my room. I was calm at that point because I knew he was on his way, but he started to cry when he got to my room because he was so worried and upset that he might miss it. It was such a sweet moment for us.
My contractions weren’t terrible, but they definitely started to hurt right around the time that I got my epidural. When the medicine kicked in, I felt SO good! I was dozing off to sleep when they came in and told me it was time to push. Talk about dilating quickly! Joel put on his doctor mask and scrubs and held my hand as they rolled me off to the Operating Room. I wasn’t terribly nervous, but my whole body and legs were shaking uncontrollably. The OR was bright—I mean BRIGHT! They lifted me up onto the table and put my feet in stirrups. My nurse kept counting to 10 while I pushed, but I would get so out of breath that I had to stop and take a breath before she got to "10". I had no idea that pushing was so exhausting! It was like a cardio workout and I felt so out of shape! I kept coughing and having asthma. Joel stayed by my head and gave me ice chips and kept telling me in my ear how great I was doing. I kept looking at the clock thinking about how I wanted them to have the same birthday, and stalling was only getting me so far.
"Can I have some oxygen?" "Can I take a break?" "Can I have some more ice?"
Then, Dr. Boerner came in and he was all business. It was about 11:45 and I knew he wouldn’t let me stall for 15 minutes until June 2nd. He had me pushing, then got out the forceps to help Summer straighten out (she was a little diagonal). I remember it felt like he was pulling her out of me as I pushed. Finally, she emerged into the world at 11:55PM on June 1st and they laid her on my chest as Joel cut the cord. Everything felt so surreal and I was in a bit of shock!
After Summer was moved a few feet away and cleaned up by her doctor, all the nurses placed their hands on my stomach. I asked them what they were doing and they said that they were just waiting for Emsley to descend down and needed her to stay head-down. Everything was sort of a blur at that point, but they finally told me to start pushing and I was much better at pushing now that I knew I wasn’t up against the clock. I pushed really hard just thinking to myself that I absolutely had to avoid having a c-section.
A few pushes later, Emsley came into the world at 12:05 on June 2nd and was put on my chest while Joel cut her cord. At that point I lost a lot of blood, including the placenta that they each shared, and I don’t remember many details. Joel went with our beautiful girls to the NICU while I got a few stitches, and then they wheeled me in to see the babies. I was really weak from losing so much blood, so I only looked at them for a minute before I asked to go back to my room. Then I ate a bunch of popsicles, threw up a lot, and finally went to sleep. Good times.
The end. :)
