There are no other 3 letters to describe last week. I really want to take my time and make sure I get everything written down before I forget something.
Tuesday morning K was 37w1d and had a dr appt. She said she had been having BH, nothing real but thought Dr. B should check her anyway… Surprise: a “good” 3 cm! Dr. B said she couldn’t promise babies today, and breaking water at 37 weeks was iffy, but she would check the contractions and see what was going on. We went to the hospital and made some preliminary “this *could* be it” calls.
K was on the monitor from 11a – 1p and when Dr B came to check her at 1, she was just about 4cm and Dr B said “you’re staying!” I went to get K’s and the babies’ bags and K started walking the halls. When I left the hospital I was making calls and texting and couldn’t remember how to get back to Marilyn’s house – good thing I have GPS! I got the bags and headed back to the hospital. I still don’t think I was convinced this was really happening.
When Dr B came back around 2, K was a good 4 and her water broke – first time ever it broke with no intervention! I think that was when I *knew* this was really happening today! K didn’t have any pain (she might have winced twice all day) and we were able to walk and chat the whole time. It was not like any labor I have ever heard of and I think she was surprised as well.
At some point during the day I was thinking about the date, 2/22. I was really excited because I love dates and I knew that Scott could remember it. It hit me that our original consult with Kylene, Matt, me and the RE was on 2/22/10. I thought that was REALLY cool!
Epidural went in at 5pm and K was at 5cm (I remember saying “5 at 5, I can remember that!”) We were hoping that her sister would make it to the delivery and at that point she was 2 hours away. We all figured she had plenty of time. Although at that point K’s husband told me “Another hour or so and she’ll be done.” I thought he was nuts! I was thinking the babies would come at 10 or 11 that night. K’s mom got there and we all chatted some more. When Dr. B came back at 6:30 to check K, she said “Just as I suspected, you’re complete. Please keep your legs closed until we get to the OR.” WHAT?! That was crazy fast and I was NOT ready!! I sent a couple “she’s going to push now” texts and then the nurse had me put my gown on. Bethany wasn’t there yet but we found out that she wouldn’t have been able to go into the OR anyway so that made it a little easier to take.
Dr. B had made sure we were in the room closest to the OR and we went right in. All of a sudden a sea of blue gowns and white masks were giving orders and moving quickly. I was given a chair between the IV pole and K’s head. Dr B said “I told you there would be a lot of people!” It wasn’t just that there were a lot of people (13, I believe), but they all looked alike! (At one point I told someone to go be with the babies and she said “the pediatrician is with them.” I thought she WAS the pediatrician!)
Kylene found the handles on the leg holders and she pushed about 2.5 times and Alison Jamie came out screaming. Kylene and I were bawling and I just kept saying “oh my God. Oh. My. God.” It was unreal. But we knew the hard part was coming.
Dr. B took a deep breath and ‘went in’ to grab Rebecca. All I could see was the distress on Dr. B’s face. She looked so concerned and it really upset me. I was alternately looking at the warmer where Ali was and checking on Dr. B. She called for a “blue towel” and then said “Oh no you don’t.” Then she yelled “Nitroglycerin” and the Anesthesiologist said “I don’t have any.” Dr B said “it’s on the top of your cart.” So he sprayed something under Kylene’s tongue. (We had no idea what was going on!). After a few more harrowing seconds, Dr B pulled Rebecca Riley out and said quietly to the Pediatrician “I heard her clavicle pop.” I didn’t care so much about that as the fact that Becca wasn’t crying (or, I realized, breathing). They took her to the warmer and after some massage and oxygen she finally let out a whine. They were checking her collar and shoulder and you could already see bruises coming up on her arm and legs. Meanwhile, Kylene was taking a deep breath to push out the placentas. I was running back and forth checking on each baby and Kylene. When Ali’s placenta came out it just didn’t look right. I said to Dr B “that’s not right” and she said it looked like it had started to disintegrate. It finally made sense why Ali had been measuring so much smaller. The babies knew they were better off out than in!
Finally, Dr. B assured me Kylene was fine and I should follow the babies to the nursery. On the way out I saw Kylene’s mom and sister. I think I started crying again when I saw Bethany and hugged her and told them K was doing great and I was going to the nursery and would be right back.
When I got to the nursery they were weighing my “little one” Alison Jamie was 5lbs 1oz. Â I waited for them to weigh Becca and finally said “are we weighing this one or what?” They had already weighed her (my bad!) and she was 6lbs 5oz.
I think I took some pictures, looked around for something I should be doing and finally said I was going back to the room and to please bring the babies in as soon as they could.
When I got back to the room Dr. B was explaining what had happened with Becca. I told her that she needed to work on her poker face as she had me pretty concerned. Â She told me “Screw my poker face, I got the baby out!” We knew Becca was breech and there was the possibility of a c-section if Dr. B couldn’t pull her out. So when she first reached in she got a hand and a foot and knew that wouldn’t work. So she tried to push the hand back in and turn her. Becca’s arm was up over her head and her hand was around her head so there was no turning her so Dr. B had to grab both feet and pull. When she got her ‘blue towel’ (because, she said, babies on latex gloves are too slippery) Becca pulled both her feet back up. That was Dr. B’s “Oh no you don’t!”. So she got the feet but when she went to pull, Kylene had a contraction and everything ‘locked up’. Nitroglycerin relaxes large muscles so that’s why she needed that to relax K’s uterus and pull Becca out. We joked that we didn’t know who was having a heart attack…Kylene or Dr. B! When Becca came out Dr. B was sure she heard her clavicle pop, so she wanted the Ped to know that her collar-bone could be broken. But she told us bones heal and there wouldn’t be any long-term effects. [And, for the record, x-ray confirmed no fracture!]
As we were rehashing the 15 minutes in the OR I started to get very short of breath and dizzy. I leaned back against the wall and sort of slid to the floor. Dr. B threw me a pillow and told me to lay flat on the floor because I was hyperventilating. She called a nurse to bring me juice and everyone laughed when Kylene had to ask me how *I* was doing. She just gave birth to twins and looked way better than I did! So for anyone that heard I passed out in the delivery room – I merely hyperventilated in the recovery room!
After that it’s all a blur. Scott, Cass and Aunt Marilyn (K’s MIL) came over to see the babies and we made phone calls and sent texts and took pictures all night. I decided to go sleep at Marilyn’s because I really wanted the babies monitored in the nursery over night and one more night of sleep couldn’t hurt!
I am forever thankful that Kylene didn’t have a lot of pain with labor. I think I would have been a basket case. It was so nice to be able to chat and hang out. Watching our babies come out was the most amazing thing EVER. The fact that Kylene went through meds, shots, appointments, being uncomfortable, not being able to do things with her kids…I just don’t have the words to thank her and her family for completing ours. And I do mean “complete” 🙂
Best. Journey. Ever.
The End (or The Beginning?)
A Sibling for Cass 