Our birth story - August 28, 2011

This is the email that Daddy sent out to tell people about the day we were born. 

It {Saturday, 8/27} was a hellish night. Amy started contracting actually last weekend but her cervix was closed, and the contractions stopped with nifedipine enough to go home. Saturday morning, she woke up with contractions.  She took some nifedipine, and they got better.  We spent the day taking Ty (the cat) to the vet to get him microchipped and get his immunizations, and going to the furniture store down the street.  They were having a sidewalk sale with free ice cream! I went for the ice cream, but of course we couldn't leave there without getting a new couch! It was more than 50% off! Just the Bailey-colored sectional (with ottoman) that we were looking for, at a price that we just couldn't beat. We arranged for delivery to happen on Wednesday.  After that, we went to Taco Bell, grabbed some "linner" and headed home.

The contractions started up again hard and fast Saturday night around 6pm. She took 20 mg nifedipine to stop contractions, we sat and watched movies ("Billy Elliot" and "Hot Tub Time Machine" believe it or not) and she chugged water to try to get them to calm down.  She took another 10mg of nifedipine at 10p, but when she was still contracting I called the hospital.  I asked the nurse, If I weren't the doctor what would you tell me to do? She said she'd tell me to come in, so off we went at 11pm.  When we got there, she was contracting about every 3-7 minutes.  She'd had some spotting earlier that day, and had some more when she gave the urine sample.  Dr. Cely came in to evaluate her - couldn't do a fetal fibronectin test because of the blood, but when he checked her, she was dilated to about a fingertip and 80% effaced. He called Dr. Balderston in Eugene, and they decided that we should be transferred to Eugene.  She got the first dose of steroids, a shot of terbutaline, and mag for the ride to Eugene.  Poor thing - so many needles, and hot flushes to boot! I was at least able to find a fan to put at her bedside to try to keep her more comfortable.  At this point, I had to call our parents and let them know what was happening, and how much we didn't know yet.  When the ambulance came to take her to Eugene, I felt so helpless watching her leave on the stretcher.  Anxious, I went home to pack.  It was just before 2am.  I looked around the house, trying to figure out what to pack, what she might need, not knowing how long we'd be there or what was going to happen.  I settled the dogs in the basement (Nana was coming in the morning to take care of them), packed a bag and drove 2 hrs to Eugene. I can't say I remember much of that drive, except that along I-5, I looked out my window and there was Orion, low in the eastern sky. 

I arrived at 4:30am, parked the car, and checked in with security.  The cavernous lobby was empty and quiet, but looked more like a lodge than a hospital! She'd been there about an hour.  She got several medications to try to stop the contractions, but they just kept coming. At 5:10a, she looked at me in shock, and said, "Oh! My water just broke!" From this point, the contractions got a lot stronger and more frequent.  Dr. Balderston came in and did an ultrasound.  Baby B was transverse back down, so he was concerned that he'd come down breech if his brother delivered vaginally (he was vtx). Amy didn't want to deliver one vag and one c/s, so if her labor progressed we decided to just proceed with c/s if B didn't roll over to back-up.  He also checked her cervix - at this point, her cervix hadn't changed much. 

I think it was around 7:30-8:00a when Baby A started to have some deep decelerations with the contractions (I think he was pretty far down in the vagina by this point), which were confirmed on ultrasound by MFM.  Given what baby A was doing, Dr. Balderston recommended we move to having the babies.  Talk about a flurry of activity! Anesthesia came in to talk to Amy about the spinal, the nurses were given pre-op meds and handing me paper scrubs, and we were in a flurry.  Amy was hurting so much at this point with her contractions that she was breathing through them and asking for her epidural.  I was scared but trying to stay focused on supporting her and keeping her calm.  She kept saying, It's not time yet, it's not time yet, they're not ready.... I had called our parents when we were transferred to Eugene, again when her water broke, and now I had to call and tell them that Amy was going into emergency surgery.  They came quickly to wheel her to the operating room, leaving me to get ready and wait anxiously in the hallway in a chair just opposite the OR doors.

It seemed like I sat there forever! I made the parent calls, letting everyone know what was happening.  I remember thinking about how I was always on the other side of this, how could this happen, what will happen to our babies, why am I wearing the bouffant cap rather than the surgeon's cap... Finally they came to rescue me and bring me into the OR. 

Love at first sight

They had already started the surgery by the time I came in to sit next to Amy's head.  Baby A was probably halfway down the birth canal because they needed a vag hand to get him delivered! He was whisked away into the adjoining resuscitation room, and looked pretty blue.  Dr. Balderston was having a hard time getting Baby B out, too- balled up when they tried to maneuver him out, plus Amy contracted around him. Amy said she could feel him reaching up into her throat to get the baby out.  I could feel her body moving as they tried to wrestle B out of the uterus.  Finally he was out and whisked away to be with his brother! I followed them to the resusc room.

Baby A had some trouble when he first came out, probably combination of the decels and getting shoved up out of the vagina. They did intubate him, and scared Daddy to death when they called for the crash cart, but his heart rate shot up as soon as the tube was in, and they extubated to CPAP after giving surfactant. Baby B did much better - never intubated except to give surfactant once he reached the NICU. I followed the babies to the NICU while they finished Amy's surgery.  They were both grunting and retracting when we first hit the NI, but by the time Amy came out of recovery they were both breathing comfortably.

Dr. Balderston took me to the recovery room to sit with Amy.  She was doing great! Already talking and munching on some graham crackers.  We called family, let them know that the boys had been born, and that they seemed to be doing well.  Once she was ready to be moved to the floor, the nice thing here is that when Amy came out of PACU, they wheeled her right to the NICU to meet the boys. She got to see B briefly in the OR but she hadn't met A yet, so it was a very special moment. I took lots of pictures of our new little family.  :)

Everyone is doing great. Amy is a superstar, eating and up to brush her teeth this morning, and starting to pump.  The boys are troopers - Baby A is 3 lbs, 17 1/8 inches long, born at 08:25am.  B is 2lbs 12.4 oz, 16 1/4 inches, born at 08:27am! They were able to drop the CPAP to 4 last night {Sunday night} and still on room air. They will probably be here until they are 36 weeks, depending on how they do. Social work is coming today {Monday} to talk to us. No facilities to room-in like at Evergreen because rooms are too small, but they have a guest house and arrangements with a couple nearby hotels, too.




Baby B in resuscitation room shortly after birth

 

Baby A in resuscitation room shortly after birth