Let me back up a little bit to start our story. Since the beginning, I just assumed that I would have a vaginal delivery. The more I talked to other MoM’s (Mothers of Multiples) I realized that a vaginal delivery was virtually unheard of when it comes to the delivery of twins. Many doctors feel that a vaginal delivery is just too risky unless both babies are vertex (head down). My twins were lying in a vertex and breech position. Uh OH! Delivering breech babies is not common practice in the year 2010, but was very common not too long ago. My wonderful OB, Dr. J, felt very confident that I would deliver these babies vaginally given they were in a good position at the end of the pregnancy. Daddy, however, was really concerned about the delivery since we had such a rough time with our first baby, Parker. Daddy let me know he supported me in any decision I made, but he thought it would be best if I opted for an elective c-section. I thought and thought, but finally came to the decision that I would try for a vaginal delivery. This brings us to August 17th a day that will go down with the other two best days in my life, marrying a wonderful man and the birth of my first baby Parker Joseph.
After weeks and weeks of doctor’s appointments with the OB and MFM, 5 weeks of bed rest, and 5 weeks of testing two times a week at the hospital the big day was finally here. Chris and I headed to the hospital after a tearful “goodbye” to my little P-man. We arrived there at approximately 8am. We got checked into our room and met our nurse, Gloria. I got changed into my gown, monitors strapped to my belly, and the IV fluid was started. Dr. J came to do a quickie U/S (ultrasound) to check the positions of the babies. They were still vertex/breech, no luck in Baby B flipping around. I asked Dr. J if we should change our plan for a vaginal delivery. He responded with a question, “Are you having second thoughts?” Basically, the ball was in my court. He told me we could do a c-section if I wanted, but he was confident that we could go with our original plan. Ugh, I would rather someone make these types of decisions for me. My cervix was also checked and I was at 4cm. I was having contractions on my own which was reassuring.
Time for the big guns! The nurse ordered the pitocin which was going to amp up my contractions and push my labor along. When Gloria started the pitocin, she started with a low dose and increases it by 2 every thirty minutes or so depending on how your body responds. When pitocin was started the contractions started but they weren’t too painful. After a while, Gloria came to check my cervix again and I was 5cm dilated. She asked me if I would like my epidural. My answer was a huge HELL YES! I wasn’t in much pain but if I could go through this labor/delivery virtually pain-free that would be wonderful.
Shortly after that I was introduced to Rebecca, the nurse anaesthetist. She began the process of starting the EPI, but she mentioned that I had small cavities and she was struggling to get the catheter inserted. She eventually got it and gave me my test dose. I felt instant relief, but not too long I started feeling the contractions again. Strange, considering I had this EPI placed in my spine. I tried to tough it out for quite a while without saying anything because I thought I was just being a baby. Gloria came in to check my cervix again and I mentioned my pain to her. She said she would start with putting in a catheter to empty my bladder to see if that relived my pain. I was 7cm dilated when she checked me. When she was prepping me to insert the catheter I was in pain. I felt the catheter being placed and it was not fun.
At that point, Gloria called the anesthesia team. Rebecca came in and used a cold swab to determine where I was numb. I wasn’t numb at all; ahhhh this is why I was in so much pain. I wasn’t a baby after all. So she decided to put in another dose of medicine. Suddenly, my ears started ringing, my lips went numb, and I started testing metal in my mouth. I instantly let Rebecca know and everyone started running around yelling. I remember asking, “Am I going to be okay?” It was really scary. They immediately turned the EPI off and let things settle. I was given two options: 1) They could reinsert the EPI in a new place 2) Or go med-free (this was not an option for me because of the breech extraction). I asked them to call Dr. J and ask him what he thought was best. I could just go for the c-section at this point or have them reinsert the EPI. Dr. J thought it was best to reinsert the EPI and I trusted his decision.
This time they sent in another nurse anesthetist, Annette, to try this again. I was glad the same nurse didn’t do it. I am sure the first nurse was fine, but I didn’t want to risk the same complications a second time with the same nurse. The nurse made the same comment about my small cavities but was able to successfully insert the EPI. This time I felt instant relief and felt really numb. Now I was able to “enjoy” my labor and chat with my husband. This EPI story doesn’t end here though. Slowly but surely I started to feel sedated and lethargic. My face started to feel really numb. I asked my Mom to call the nurse again. Anesthesiology was called back to my room again. I was numb from my lips to my toes. We went from not being able to get numb to way too much. Annette turned the EPI dose to the lowest possible setting. I slowly felt the EPI wear off and felt much better.
Gloria came back into my room to check my cervix; I didn’t feel a thing this time. Woo hoo! I was 8cm dilated and Gloria felt that if they broke my water I would be fully dilated in no time. As she left the room, she mentioned she would call Dr. J about breaking my water. Just a few minutes later she came back to let my know that Dr. J said to just let things happen naturally. At this point, I asked Gloria if I would feel my water break since I was numb. She didn’t have a clear answer, we would just keep checking me. Gloria hadn’t been gone 10 minutes and started feeling an amazing amount of pressure. I wasn’t sure if this was a result of the low dose EPI or something was happening. I sat there for less than five minutes and decided I should mention this to my Mom (who also happens to be a nurse). As I opened my mouth to let her know about the pressure I felt a huge POP! Along with a gush of water. Woo hoo! My water broke on its own.
Several nurses came running in and asked me, “Are you feeling an urge to push?” The urge to push???? It was like a train was coming down the track full speed ahead and didn’t have any brakes. Now remember, my EPI was turned down to the lowest possible dose. The midwife said to me, “Well, you can’t push right now.” Are you kidding me???? For any Moms reading this, you know that this is like telling you to stop breathing. It is a natural feeling that you can’t stop. Well, apparently Dr. J was not at the hospital and we had to wait for him. The quickly ran me down the hallway to the OR. As we were flying down the hallway, I heard the surgical technician ask my nurse, “What is the presentation of these babies? Vertex/Vertex?” Gloria responds, “No, vertex/breech.” The surg. tech. shouts, “What????” And this “What??” echoed across the entire room of nurses. Not the thing I needed to hear when I am about to deliver these babies. As I mentioned earlier, breech extraction is not a common practice this why the entire room of 12+ hospital staff in the OR was shocked.
We arrived in the OR and got everything set up while we were waiting for Dr. J. They just kept telling me not to push, which was virtually impossible. The anesthesia was in the process of being increased since Dr. J was planning on the breech extraction of baby B. I needed to be really numb for him to get a hold of my sweet baby girl.
After what seemed like five hours, Dr. J entered the OR and had me begin to push. I pushed approximately three times and I head the sweet cries of my little man. The whisked him away to the warmers to be cleaned and measured. The U/S tech put started the U/S so Dr. J could see the baby B. At that point, I head Dr. J say, “I got a butt”. I leaned up and asked, “So we are going to be able to do this?” (Of course, I still had the fear that this wouldn’t work and we would have to have an emergency c-section) He answered the sweetest words I ever heard, “Yes, we can do this.” He asked me to push, I think I pushed about three times and out she came.
Unfortunately, she looked horrible. I honestly thought she was still-born. I saw my marriage and life flash before my eyes. I would never be able to forgive myself for choosing a vaginal delivery if she didn’t make it. I also knew my husband would never forgive me for my decision since he was so against this choice. I asked Chris to go over to where they were working her and the nurses stopped him. This didn’t make me feel better. Then I heard her sweet cry and they put her in my arms.
Mason Dominic and Audrey Harper weighed exactly the same at 5 pounds 12 ounces! Mason measured 19 inches and had Apgar scores of 8 and 9. Audrey measured 18.5 inches and had Apgar scores of 2, 9, and 9. She had a rough start but came back like a champion. I wouldn’t change anything about their delivery and I would do it all over again if I had to. We were at the hospital less than 48 hours and they are doing great. I love these sweet babies more than anything. It was an experience that I will never forget and glad I have these memories to cherish forever.
