Birth Story part 2-

So we get to this nice labor and delivery room and we do a lot of waiting to see what time the c-section will be...we know it won't be too long, but the waiting was nerve wracking. A lot of people kept coming in to talk to us...anesthesia, the surgeon, a doctor from the NICU came as well and we had a long talk with him about what to expect for our boys, who were being born at 35 weeks 2 days. Due to their gestational age they were going to be required to do 18-24 hours in the NICU for observation. He described what we could expect as far as an IV in them and a board on their arm, he said he had never had a 35 weeker not need an IV..and some leads on them to monitor their hearts and breathing. We talked about if they needed an extensive stay in the NICU that they would transfer them to the hospital we were going to deliver at back home, that they do that often, which made me feel much better.

We made some phone calls, it was still a bit early but we called my mom and we called Tim's dad, who actually happened to be in Boston for a work conference and had stayed overnight the night before. They were so excited and planned to come to the hospital after the babies were born.

After a lot of waiting, the hubs put his scrubs on and they came and said it was time to go. They put me in a wheel chair and to the OR we went. They made my husband wait outside while they did prep and the epidural.

The room was not very big and it was packed with stuff,,,2 incubators and a lot of people. Each baby had a team of nurses and a doctor for them ready. I sat on the table and they did some stuff and then it was time for the epidural. This sucked. I can not lie. They had to stick me about 6-8 times and they could not get it where it needed to be. She kept saying push your back out, lean forward more and I was trying but by now I was so upset. Being stuck hurt so much, despite them trying to numb it. It was the worst part of the whole procedure and at the end I was just begging to be knocked out. The anesthesiologist pulled out this lil toothpick sword thing you might get in a drink and started poking me and asking do you feel this do you feel that and I could feel it all and I was really worried that they were going to start before I was numb. They kept adding more medicine and tilting the table to get it to go where they wanted it, but the epidural did not work as it should have. Finally I was numb though.

They brought in my husband and they started the surgery. I was in tears from the epidural debacle and my husband was given a stool to sit in, but the anesthesiologist was in the way he couldn't even get very close to me. He asked if he promised not to pass out if he could stand up and watch and they said no, but they lowered the drape so he could see more.

Then came the babies. I didn't feel much of anything. I heard you feel pressure and tugging but I didn't feel that at all. I felt nothing. They pulled out baby A out and he cried right away. They took him to the warmer and did their thing with them. Then came baby B, he didn't cry right away, which made me concerned, but a few minutes later I heard him as well.

They asked me 10 times if I was sure that I wanted my tubes tied and I did, and so they did that. The closing up took much longer than getting the babies out.

We were then brought back to the same room we started in. The babies got to come and spend about 2 hours there with us since they were so healthy, they were given that time with us before being taken to the NICU. It was amazing. I did skin to skin time with them both and tried nursing them but they were too tired for it. We held them and just stared at them. They were perfect.

With an epidural they usually give you morphine in it which curbs pain for about 18 hours...but since the epidural did not work how it should have the morphine did not work so they gave me a pain pump to help with the pain. The pain was a bit intense, but it seemed muffled by the joy of holding and meeting my little men.

After about 2 hours they took the babies to the NICU and the hubs and I were left alone....his dad came shortly after that and visited for a while. Tim took him up to the NICU to see the babies...I couldn't go anywhere until my legs started working! They were so heavy and numb and I couldn't move them from the epidural.....

After a while they were ready to move me to a different floor where I would recover. They took me on the stretcher and our first stop was the NICU to see the boys. It was really wonderful to have them take me right there and see them. Then we went to our room on the 10th floor. Tim's dad and now his stepmom stopped by again to see us.

After we settled in, they had me order dinner. Let's talk about the food. The food was amazing..out of this world. You had a menu, like in a restaurant, and you called anytime between 7 am and 7 pm and ordered food. And it was OUT OF THIS WORLD. It was not cafeteria food at all, but instead amazingly fresh and wonderful. Fresh fruit, wonderful turkey clubs...just amazing. I was in heaven.

After a while I asked the nurse if I could go up and see the babies again. She said she was too busy to take me, which made me sad and angry. My husband said he would take me and she said I had to walk around first. I got up and walked some and it hurt like hell. THe 3rd shift nurse came on and I again asked if I could go see my babies and she was wonderful and got us a wheelchair and my husband was allowed to wheel me up to spend time with our boys.

It was midnight by this time, and we were also waiting for Tim's brother to arrive from CT with our bags and stuff. He was super kind to drive 3 hours after putting his kids to bed to come to Boston with our stuff so we could have what we needed/wanted. He got there late, around 12:30. Tim went down to greet him and put our stuff in our room and then brought him back to the NICU to see/hold his nephews. He stayed for about 20 minutes only and then started the long drive back home.

We were told the boys could come down to our floor and the regular nursery as early as 5 am but it would depend on the order the doctor saw babies in. We went back down and tried to sleep, but I didn't have much luck with sleeping.

Oh, during this time I started pumping...as soon as we got into our recovery room. Each room had a pump in it, which was nice. They hooked it up for me and I started pumping. I got very little and they actually had me put it on the long cotton swabs and the babies were given them to suck on...there was that little coming out. But I was determined to get them breastmilk, or the early stuff that is so wonderful for them.

Next to come...Sunday through Thursday.