The Dramatic 2 Weeks Before Arrival

I guess I feel the need to document the crazy two weeks that led up to the twins arrival. I can't believe they are almost three weeks old. It seems like it has been six months, but then when I think about it, 3 weeks old isn't very old at all!

On Sept. 2, 2009, at my doctor's appt. Dr. Neville became concerned because I was 1/2 cm dialated. The previous appt. I was completely closed. So, she put me on some medication and a week later, I was dialted to 2 cm. That was when she sent me to labor and delivery to be monitored. The contractions were not strong enough for me to feel, but apparently I was having them, so they loaded me up in an ambulance and sent me to the hospital downtown, where Dr. Tabor was. Ambulance ride, not on my recommendation list of things to do. One because I was just a little freaked out by the whole situation and two because they are rough! I mean, you feel every single bump.

So once they get me to the hospital, they start hooking me up to all kinds of monitors and machines and sticking me with needles. Dr. Tabor came in and just shook his head at me. Then the nurses proceeded to spend the next two hours finding the babies heart beats. They finally irritated Dr. Tabor enough in their inability that he went and got a sonogram machine, stuck it to me and immediately found both Reid and Ella. He told one nurse, they are both there, now leave her alone and see if they can calm down. All their poking and prodding was not helping the whole contraction situation, at least in my eyes, and apparently Dr. Tabor agreed.

He then put me on Magnesium, and I mean the highest dose allowable, for 12 hours. He asked if I had ever been drunk, because I was about to have the worst hangover of my life thanks to the magnesium. No I haven't ever been drunk - and I don't understand why anybody would ever do that a second time if that is how being drunk makes you feel.

It was like nothing worked! It took every once of strength I had just to raise my arm so they could drain more blood from my veins! And a side effect of the magnesium is fluid on the lungs, so Dr. Tabor has a strick no liquids or food of course rule while on the magnesuim. So, I went without a drink or even a sip of water from 2 p.m. until 9 a.m. - the most miserable 19 hours of my life. The nurse would let me swish water around in my mouth but made dang spanky I didn't swallow any of it!

They also gave me two shots of steriods. The first nurse did not know the meaning of hip/butt and basically stuck me in my lower rib cage! I barely survived that one!

But, all that got the contractions to stop. So on the morning of Sept. 10, I was only dialated to 3 cm. Upstairs to the pregnant women on bed rest wing I went. And there I stayed for the next 10 days. On Friday, Sept. 18, Dr. Tabor considered letting me go home, but he wasn't there so one of his partners checked me. I was still at 3 cm, but he refused to make a decision until he could consult with a 2nd partner. He said I should stay put through the weekend. Now, this doctor I did not like at all. When he came into the room, he didn't even speak to me, just started rattling things off to the nurse. He then left and I never saw him again - I didn't feel confident in his abilty at all!

So, you can imagine my stress level when at 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 20, my water broke, and I was told that this Dr. was the one on call all weekend!!!!

Back down to labor and delivery I was taken. But this time I wasn't having any contractions, so he put me on a low dose of magnesium, still not fun, and disappeared for the rest of the morning. All night I just kept asking when Dr. Tabor was scheduled to be back. I was even on the verge of insisting the hubby find his contact information and call him! But I didn't. When nothing progressed, I got sent back upstairs to the pregnant and bed rest wing. Where things maintained all day and night Sunday. Still never saw the "bad" docotor, which honestly was fine with me.

I was never so happy to wake up Monday morning and find Dr. Tabor staring at me! He asked what I did to piss the other doctor off - because he didn't understand why he tortured me with the magnesium again if I wasn't having contractions. Before he left my room, I made him give me his schedule in full detail!

Around 12:30 p.m. that day though, I started having contractions again and these were way different because these were painful! I called the nurse down around 1 p.m. to tell her, and she gave me the whole, keep track of them for an hour, yada yada yada, well 30 minutes later, there was no need to keep track anymore. They were coming fast and seriously painful!

Back to labor and delivery I was wheeled! But this time - I went straight into an operating room! They hustled hubby off to get changed into scrubs and left my daddy standing in the hall way watching them wheel me into the OR. I was in somekinda pain and was immediately hit with PAPERWORK to sign! What the heck! They seriously need to come up with a better arrangement than that!!

The nurse told me Dr. Howard would be doing the c-section because Dr. Tabor wasn't in the hospital. That I was okay with, because I liked Dr. Howard. So in the chaos of nurses and doctors running around - and I mean it feels very hectic in that OR, the drug man starts explaining to me the epidural process. At this point I don't care I just want the pain to stop and quickly because I was getting to understand what they mean when they say you feel the urge to push!

So there I was attempting curl into a tight ball with a huge belly and on a little narrow operating table, closing my eyes as I feel a very large needle being inserted into my spine. And to my great surprise and relief, when I opened my eyes, there was Dr. Tabor bending down staring at me. He said "What are you doing? I just texted Dr. Neville, that you had ruptured but were doing good!" To which I replied "You jinxed me!" From that point everything from mid chest down began to go numb!

The hubby finally showed back up - I know he was doing his very best to be calm for me, but I could tell he was nervous too! The drug man, aka anesthesiologist, that stood at my head gave us a running play by play of what was happening on the other side of the curtain. And while you don't feel any "pain" you most definately feel the doctors being very rough and lots of pushing and pulling and it really does take your breath away.

I also could of done without him telling me, "they got your business out... now they are working on putting your business back in you.... they are sewing up your business now.... almost done putting your business back... I appreciated the running commentary, but really not a very pretty visual image he painted!

I did get to hear both kiddos cry when they were born and they did bring them over to let us see them before they wisked them away to the NICU. They also have or are trying out a new kinda of epidural drug that has morphine... i think... or somekinda super drug in it, that is supposed to decrease the pain once feeling starts returning. And man, I think it worked like a dream. I only took one pain pill that night and then just survived on Ibprofen for the next day or so. Really I felt like I had just had a really intense work out and was super sore the day after.

Thursday morning Dr. Tabor said I could go home finally and was back sitting in our recliner by noon and at a baseball game at 7 p.m. that night! Now we are just waiting for Reid and Ella to come home! Can't believe all that was only 3 weeks ago...

Oh, and for all those women that say, "oh the minute you hold your baby, you completely forget all the pain!" SO NOT TRUE! Believe me, I love and adore my children more than anything in the world, but I still very CLEARLY remember the pain and surgery!!! VERY CLEARLY REMEMBER!