A Double Birth Story

This story started perhaps sooner than this, but I'll start on July 1st.  I spent a fantastic Canada day with my children.  We went to a historical site, to a festival with bouncers and a magic show, out to dinner, and ended with an enjoyable time watching fireworks.  My husband was with my oldest at a campout outside of the country.  On July 2nd I had a doctor appointment.  My doctor looked at the results from my last fetal assessment.  After a few moments, my doctor said I needed to pack and go to the hospital that day.  My babies were not due till August 20th.  I had placenta previa, so my doctor said I needed to be at the hospital in case I went into labor as it would be extremely dangerous for me and the babies if I did.  She said I would have a scheduled c-section at around 36 weeks if I made it that far.  I said that is a bad idea.  I had 4 children at home that just ended school.  I had just finished working and my daycare lady was on holidays and my husband wasn't in town and I could not get ahold of him as he had his phone stollen on the trip.  My sister in-law was watching my kids so I could go to my doctor appointment.  I cried all the way there and told her the news.  She agreed to watch the kids until I worked things out.  I gave my kids hugs, told them I loved them and left to get my things in order.  I made several phone calls working out where my kids would be and packed some things, did a little grocery shopping, and my mother in-law took me to the hospital and dropped me off.  My c-section was scheduled for July 27th.  At first I could walk around and even go outside, but then they said that was too dangerous without someone with me.  So I mostly stayed around my room.  I learned how to crochet some things on Youtube and practiced making some purses, outfits for the girls - dresses, headbands, shoes.  It felt strange to be in the hospital and other than being uncomfortable, felt healthy.  They checked the babies heart beats regularly and I started to get very itchy.  I found out I had cholestasis of pregnancy.  With a medication, the itchiness became bearable.  Visitors were highlights of any day and something to look forward to.  The days moved slowly, but finally the 27th came.  Matthew and my Mom were with me.  I walked downstairs to the labor and delivery floor.  They only allowed one family member in with me, so while they prepped me, Matthew changed into scrubs.  The anesthesiologist came in with a student.  The student attempted to put an IV in.  He was unsuccessful and was digging around in my skin.  I asked that the anesthesiologist do it and made sure he was not administering the epidural.  He made me nervous.  The anesthesiologist got the IV in quick and easily.  Matthew came in.  I was laying down and could not lift my legs.  I was numb.  The epidural worked.  They cut me open and took one baby out fairly quickly.  The second baby was more challenging as she was transverse.  I was thinking this is easy.  I couldn't believe how quickly the babies came out of me.  They looked big and healthy.  The first, Lillie, was 6 pounds, 14 ounces and the second, Arielle, was 7 pounds, 1 ounce.  They were perfect, beautiful babies.  Matthew took a couple pictures of the babies, then looked at the ground and saw the pool of my blood.  I lost a lot of blood, about a litre.  The nurses were going to hand the babies to Matthew but he said he was going to pass out.  They hurried him out of the room, but not quite quick enough.  He passed out.  They stitched me up.  I was starting to have a difficult time breathing.  It hurt to breathe.  They told me I was ready to go into the recovery room, but my husband was recovering in my bed so they needed to find me another one.  Once they got me into the recovery room, I had some issues with clots coming out of me.  They needed to push them out and it hurt like crazy.  I lost a lot more blood, but I was fortunate to not need a blood transfusion.  Finally I got to go to a room.  I had visited the NICU during my time at the hospital, but my babies did not need to go there.  They came into the room with me.  I couldn't sit up at all.  My muscles were cut through.  They asked me if I had someone staying with me as they did not help with the babies.  I couldn't believe it, but my Mom agreed to stay to help.  The next two nights, my husband stayed with me.  It was crazy.  These beautiful little girls needed to eat and be changed and held and I was a mess.  I could barely move.  After 3 nights, I was sent home.  My parents stayed for a month, taking a baby at night.  After being home for a week and a half, my incision started to stink and didn't look very good.  I had to go back to the hospital.  My incision had to be reopened and drained.  It was really gross.   I had to stay there for three more days without the babies.  I wanted to get back home to help my parents as it was very difficult for them at night.  Fortunately, I was able to get home care to come to my house and take care of my wound, so I was able to go home.  Now they are 3 months old.  They are smiling and such happy sweet little girls.  They are a lot of work, but so enjoyable.  So grateful for all the help we have received from family and friends.  These girls are truly gifts from God and bring smiles and joy anywhere I go.  Not an easy road, but so worth it.  Love these little girls.  

Arielle Charity and Lillie Faith

July 27, 2015

In this picture, they are 4 days old.

I made their outfits during my stay at the hospital.

A Birth Story - Dallin

I must say every child I have had has come their own way.  Each pregnancy and delivery have been quite different.  Dallin's arrival was no exception.  My Mom and Daddy Ray came almost a week before my due date.  Every day we would say this would be the day Dallin would come.  So we really couldn't plan very much, but we used the time that we had to do lots of fixing things and organizing.  Cleaned and organized the laundry room, fixed the door on the toy closet and on the downstairs bathroom, changed all the burned out light bulbs(There were lots), trimmed the trees(Daddy Ray spent a lot of time outside in our yard), fixed where the vacuum hose hangs up, cleaned out the broom closet and the main bath linen closet, planted some of the garden.  We've had some fun too.  We went to Kid City, played lots of games, played outside, went for a walk and had a picnic by the river, the boys started soccer, my Mom came visiting teaching with me.
6 Days after my due date I had a doctor appointment(one I never thought I would make it to).  I was 2 cm dilated and the cervix was squishy.  So they scraped my membranes and sent me home.  The next day I had lots of discomfort to say the least, but still no real contractions.  8 days after due date, I woke up feeling fantastic.  Matthew had booked work off that day and the weather was amazing, so we went by the hospital for a fetal assessment and they checked my cervix again.  I was 3cm dilated.  My doctor scraped my membranes again hoping that I would go into labor on my own.  I was scheduled to be induced on Monday(10 days past due date) if I didn't go into labor.  Then we went home and spent a big chunk of the day outside playing with the kids.  At 8pm that night, the hospital called me to tell me that the maternity ward would be closed at my hospital till 8pm the next night.  That is when I figured I would likely go into labor that night, so I did a survey on Facebook to find out which other hospital was a better choice to go to.
9 days after due date, Sunday morning, my Tegan woke me up because she had to go to the bathroom and needed help pulling her pants back up.  I realized I was having contractions and Dallin was coming!  I usually have plenty of time, so I thought I would take a shower before waking up Matthew.  In the shower, I started to wonder if I actually had that much time.  So I finished my shower, got ready, woke up  Matthew and headed to the hospital at around 5:45am.  We got to the hospital at about 6:15, went into emergency not knowing where to go.  I had only been to the children's part of this hospital and it is huge. A car came and escorted us to the women's part of the hospital.  Then we had to register and I got wheel chaired up to maternity.  They took a look at me huffing and puffing and quickly escorted us into a birthing room.  By the time they checked me I was already 8cm dilated.  Much too late for an epidural.  I was sad and scared because I still remember my first two natural births with no painkillers.  They gave me a pain killer that doesn't stay in the blood for very long and some laughing gas.  It made it so I quit shaking and made the pain bearable.  I am not exactly sure what time it was, but things were feeling quite intense, so the nurse checked me again and I was fully dilated 10cm, but my water still had not broken.  So she called the doctor to come.  The doctor broke my water and a few pushes and about 10 to 15 minutes later Dallin was born at 8:44am. 9 pounds 10 ounces and 22 1/2 inches long.
The doctor was a little bit older and was at the end of a 24 hour shift.  She sat down in the rocking chair in between my contractions and rested.  I found that different.  And when I first saw Dallin, I thought he had freckles.  I later noticed that I had a rash under my neck that looked the same as Dallin's 'freckles'.  I think it might have been a reaction to the drug they gave me, but I'm not entirely sure.  The rash went away on both Dallin and myself.  So Dallin no longer has freckles.

Now little Dallin is a little over two weeks old.  We are all healthy and happy and loving our new addition to our family.