Welcome, Harper and Samuel!

After I returned home from my doctor's appointment on August 31st, I made a few phone calls to close family and friends letting them know the babies might make their arrival over labor day weekend. I cautioned everyone not to get too excited though, because although my OB felt strongly that the babies would be born in the next couple of days, I was still in denial! After all, I had been four centimeters dilated for some time before this appointment and figured I could walk around at five for a couple more weeks! 

The afternoon went on, Chris finished up his work and tied up a few loose ends, just in case. Ben and I spent the afternoon together at home, we did a bit of rock painting in the back yard and snuggled on the couch. My sister wondered if she should come over after work to help with anything. Around 4:30 or so, I started becoming more uncomfortable and by 5:00 I asked Jessie to come over to watch Ben.  We planned on having Chris' parents take Ben over night for a sleep over if it was the real deal. At this point, I still felt like they could send me home so we decided Jess would come over and watch Ben for a couple of hours and if they decided to keep me at the hospital, we would have Jim and Carol come over and pick up the soon-to-be big brother. My sister arrived a few minutes after my call and I set to gathering a few last minute things, going over some instructions for Ben and breathing through contractions.I had plans to connect with Dr. C. by phone at around 7 to see how I was doing, but at 5:30 I called to let him know we were headed to the hospital, that my contractions were every 5 minutes and becoming more intense. He let me know he was finishing up at the clinic and would meet me there.

Our ride to the hospital was incredibly peaceful. It was a beautiful day, Chris had Ray LaMontange playing in the car, we chatted about how things were about to change, all the while I had no idea how quickly things would happen. Although the trip over was uneventful, it will be etched in my mind forever...it's almost as thought time stopped during that ride, because just hours later, our lives changed forever.

I was a little worried about traffic since we headed over in the middle of rush hour, but traffic was light on the Friday of Labor Day weekend. When we pulled into the parking ramp, I told Chris to leave our bags in the car, in case we didn't end up staying. It must have been the way I had to breathe through our conversation that made Chris decide to bring everything in (smart man!)

We checked into the maternal assessment center, a unit I had become familiar with during my pregnancy, having first spent time in there at 22 weeks when I had regular contractions and again at 24 weeks when we discovered I was at higher risk for a preterm delivery. We were familiar with the staff and the procedures there. The unit was full (did I mention August 31st was also a blue moon?). We were escorted across the hall to the overflow rooms by a sweet nurse named Suzie. As we got to know each other, my contractions started to intensify quite quickly. When she asked me what brought me in, I let her know I had been seen in clinic about six hours prior and was found to be five centimeters dilated at that appointment. She did a double take and couldn't believe I went home from that appointment, given that I was pregnant with twins. I assured her that I wasn't in active labor earlier in the day and that we lived very close to the hospital. She and Chris were joking and carrying on and at first I was able to manage a few laughs here and there and interject a few one-liners, but things changed within 15 minutes of my arrival. Labor had definitely started and my contractions were coming one on top of the other. Up until this point I was considering a natural, drug free delivery but quickly changed my mind. Although I was practically begging for an epidural, I was still surprised when nurse Suzie came in and told me I was 7 cm dilated and definitely NOT going home. For some reason, I just kept thinking I would be going home that night, definitely not having two babies!

We quickly made a few phone calls to our parents before I was wheeled over to labor and delivery. My parents made plans to head to the hospital and Chris' parents headed over to relieve my sister and bring Bennie over to their house for the night. 

Once we arrived to L&D we met the nurses who would get me through delivery, Bobbie and Kelsey. The anestesiologist arrived within minutes and got my epidural in place. I asked to have it started at the lowest dose possible, in hopes to be able to push effectively and avoid a c-section if at all possible. My parents and Dr. C. arrived around the same time. Dr. C. broke baby A's water and explained that although both babies were head down and things were looking good for a vaginal delivery, I would deliver the babies in the operating room instead of the birthing suite, just in case. He predicted the babies would be born some time after midnight. My parents and Chris talked politics and joked around. I updated a few close girlfriends and let them know it was really happening. 

Sometime around 9:30 or so I started feeling a lot of pain and asked my parents to head to the waiting room. Around 10:30 Dr. C. and nurse Bobbi both came into my room, took one look at me and said it was time to head to the operating room. He didn't check me, just said that the babies were coming soon. I guess he's seen enough mamas in labor to know when it's time. Things happened fast and all of sudden the room was filled with nurses in action. Chris hopped into his scrubs and off we went. The NICU team was called to the OR since the babies would be born four weeks early. I was having a very hard time coping with the pain of the contractions, and felt myself quickly losing my cool. Chris, the nurses and Dr. C. tried to get me to calm down, but their efforts were futile...I was scared out of my mind to deliver not one, but TWO babies! When we entered the OR I was 8 cm dilated, but quickly progressed to complete and by 11:20 was ready to push.

Harper Grace was born at 11:38 pm. I remember the nurses telling me she had lots of hair and I figured she would come out looking like her big brother (she does have hair, but nothing like the locks Ben was born with). Time seemed to stop as I waited for Chris to tell me the gender of our baby A. I heard him say she's a girl and felt my heart skip a beat. Dr. C. handed her to me and I fell in love. She was a beauty at 5 pounds even. 

 

After Harper was born the contractions slowed a bit and there was a sense of calm in the room for a short while. Chris and I took turns holding her, talked about names (we wanted to wait until baby B was born before naming either baby) and Harper nursed for the first time while we waited for things to pick up again. After some time, Dr. C. told me that Harper's placenta had partially detached, causing me to bleed heavily and that he was concerned. He placed an internal monitor to measure my contractions as well as a monitor on Baby B's scalp to more closely monitor the baby's heart rate. About 15 minutes later, the bleeding picked up quite a bit. They took Harper from me and told me they needed to deliver baby B very soon, because the bleeding was becoming dangerous. My doctor told me he was going to give it five more minutes and then would let me know what his plan would be. 

A few minutes later he came to the head of the bed, took my hand and without him saying a word, I knew what the plan would be. I wept silent tears, I had been hoping to avoid a c section throughout my entire pregnancy. I didn't want to have surgery...I was scared. I knew there was a very small chance that with any vaginal twin delivery, you can encounter problems, such as baby B flipping to a breech presentation. This would be one reason for what we would come to know as the "double whammy delivery," meaning baby A is delivered vaginally and baby B is delivered by c section. Baby B was still in proper position, head down, however because of the issue with baby A's placenta and the bleeding that followed, Dr. C. let Chris and I know that he would need to deliver our baby B by c section, and that it would need to be done very quickly. I was very scared at this point, but the delivery team was amazing and all that mattered to me was the safe arrival of baby B.

Within minutes, on September 1st, 2012 at 12:59 am, Samuel Philip arrived. Again, just as with baby A, I anxiously awaited hearing Chris tell me the gender of our baby. I heard him tell me we had a baby boy and I got my first glimpse at Sammie boy. My first thoughts were: 1. "He looks just like Ben" and 2. "He is very small." The nurses told us he weighed 4 lbs 1 ounce and I remember thinking, "that can't be right, they just told me today he weighed 5.5 lbs at the US." The NICU team took him to the special care nursery almost immediately, but not before we got a quick picture of our precious son. 

I spent some time in recovery while Chris took my parents to meet their newest grandchildren. The time seemed to pass so slowly as I waited to be stable enough to be wheeled up to see my two newest beetles. The nurses took me up to the step down NICU in the middle of the night. Although I have spent countless hours in and out of various ICUs as a nurse, I wasn't prepared for my own babies being hooked up to so much monitoring equipment. The nurses walked us thought everything and Chris and I were able to spend a few minutes taking in our precious miracles before I was shuttled back to the post-partum unit to get some rest.

Despite the exhaustion that was setting in from delivery, I couldn't sleep all night. I wanted nothing more than to get back up and see my babies! I spent the night in disbelief that they had finally arrived... our babies were here...We had hoped and prayed for these two little ones' for so very long, and they were here...safe and sound.

Final Days

I'm playing catch up now that things have settled into somewhat of a routine at home. But one thing I don't want to ever forget are those final days as a family of three. Ben and I spent that last week or so doing lots of fun stuff. He was on a little break from preschool before the formal school year started up again. I was reminded during this time how very much energy my precious little boy has (and by comparisons sake how very little I had at that late point in pregnancy). We spent much of our time painting various projects, making no less than 20 different creatures out of clay (his favorite was the red-backed spider made just for daddy), soaking up the final days of summer at the patio table (about as far as I could walk at that point, lucky for me he was just fine with that). I spent some of that time worried about how much time we also spent cuddled up on the couch watching Arthur and Phineas and Ferb, hoping that I wasn't stunting his development too much. Looking back on those days now brings sweet tears to my eyes, thankful that I was able to spend that time holding my little boy who seems to have grown by the day and is changing into such a big guy by the minute. I wouldn't trade those days for the world and know they will always hold a special place in my heart...my last moments as a mama of one. 

One of my favorite memories from those last few days was from the morning that I delivered the twins. Ben and I were hanging out in the living room and he decided he wanted to make birthday party hats. I made the first one (it wasn't that good, but he loved it) and Ben would make the designs. We made party hat after party hat and had quite the collection by the end of the morning. It was an ordinary day, filled with project making but it is one that will be etched in my mind forever. 

Chris and I spent our evenings at home watching several episodes of Sons of Anarchy. We celebrated my 30th birthday with dinner at home.   His present to me was a new dishwasher (something I had vied for since we moved into this house). Somehow he managed to line up the installation so it was set and ready to go just four days before the babies were born. For the most part we spent those last days enjoying our family of three, all the while waiting with anxious anticipation for our two little ones to arrive.

35 weeks

Week 35 was a big one, it was the week that our sweet little beetle #2 graced us with her presence. What about beetle # 3? Well, he decided to wait until week 36, but that story will have to wait for now.

On August 31st, 2012 I had my final prenatal appointment. Mama's weight was up an even 50 pounds from pre-pregnancy. Here I am just two days before delivery:

While I felt every one of those pounds those final weeks, I was proud of myself for putting on that weight despite feeling sicker than a dog the first three months of the twins' pregnancy. I wanted big, healthy babies and I did everything I could to put on the recommended weight. Speaking of weight, I had been documenting the babies weights compared to fruit the entire pregnancy, so why stop here, right? 

At 35 weeks, the Bradley babies were estimated to be the size of coconuts:


The appointment started with a growth scan where both baby A and baby B measured approximately 5.5 lbs. Living quarters were pretty cramped for the babies at this point, so the tech emphasized this was a best guess estimation. We would find out later that night that the measurements were fairly off for our baby B. From the growth scan I headed over to a non-stress test, where the babies heart rates were monitored for twenty minutes or so. It was the first NST where they both cooperated and stayed on the monitor the entire time! Both passed with flying colors and we were off to see Dr. C.

If I haven't mentioned in prior posts, my OB is a very popular doctor and he typically runs behind (very behind). This particular Friday was no different. I pulled up a magazine and settled in for the long haul, although this time I left the door open because it was hot in the office. He passed my room several times in between patients and made the comment that perhaps if he left me there long enough I would go into labor!

Once he saw me, it was clear that he might not have been that far off in his statement. We started off the appointment by going over any changes or concerns. We talked about the increase in contractions and how I had slept very little the night before because they were getting stronger and more regular, but nothing that was taking my breath away yet. He did an exam at that point and discovered I was 5 cm dilated. I wasn't in active labor from a contraction pattern yet and was comfortable enough (as comfortable as I could be at 35 weeks pregnant with twins!), but he felt labor was very close by my exam and asked that I call him in the early evening to see if my contractions were more regular or painful. So I left the clinic thinking perhaps the babies would be arriving soon but also was somewhat in a state of denial since I had slowly dilated over the last several weeks and the babies had thankfully stayed put. I honestly didn't really think this appointment was any different! In fact, I was in such a state of denial that we even made plans to have a couple friends over that weekend to celebrate my 30th birthday!

Little did I know things would change very quickly over the course of the afternoon!