Tale of the Twin's birth!

First let me start by saying pictures are to follow but I wanted to write down the story of the twin's birth before I forget some of the details.

When I found out I was pregnant with twins almost everyone told me that twins come early. I heard and read all sorts of stories about twins arriving anywhere from 32 weeks to 36. Since Cambree arrived at 36 weeks herself I was certain I wasn't going to make it the full 38 with my weeks. Imagine my surprise (and discomfort) when I was only 2 days away from my scheduled c section date of February 2nd. At this point I was 37 weeks and 5 days along. I could NOT believe that I was going to be 38 weeks pregnant with twins. I mean who does that anymore? I don't know that many people who went 38 weeks with twins and of course as much as you want your twins to stay in as long as possible so they are healthy, at 37 weeks you just want them out. I was all but begging the doctor to take them at 37 weeks but he insisted I wait the whole 38. Keri measured my waist and I was sitting at 57 inches round! To make a long story short I was miserable and it was a struggle to get through EVERY day.

So January 31st came and I was starting to get nervous for the arrival of my twins. Keri had taken the cars out to get cleaned and I was itching to get to the BX to pick up a few things I needed for the hospital. He got home and I headed to the BX alone. From the second I got into car to head out I knew it was a bad idea and I probably shouldn't go but I proceeded anyway. I could literally barely fit behind the wheel. I started having the WORST back pain and it was a struggle to even walk through the BX. We are talking serious pain and again I had the thought I should not be out doing this. Luckily I got my stuff and made it back to the car and home. I spent the rest of the day in bed in the worst pain.

We had just gotten Cambree to bed when I went into the bathroom and it all started going downhill. I started bleeding a little bit (muscus plug stuff) but grew a little concerned when it didn't stop. I called my sister who told me I should probably go into the hospital. I thought she was over reacting and called my mom. She was concerned too and the bleeding kept up so I ended up calling my doctor's wife (we are all in the same ward together) who called her husband who told me to call Labor and Delivery. I called L&D and explained I was bleeding more like just a little bit and they told me I should just come get cbecked out and to bring an over night bag just in case. I hopped in the shower to clean up and got dressed. Keri called Vickie Wilkins who was going to be watching Cambree for us while we were in the hospital. (Vickie is one of the BEST people I've ever ever met. She also happens to be the Bishop's wife) My overnight bag had been packed for weeks but when the babies never came I slowly started using the stuff I had packd in it so it was a rush to get it repacked. It didn't take long for Vickie and the Bishop to get to my house (they live close by). I was up in the bathroom and blood was getting pretty much everywhere. Vickie came up the stairs to help me and I kept asking her if she thought the bleeding was normal. Lucky for me she stayed calm but helped me get down the stairs and into the car. She called my doctor once we actually got in the car to tell him we were on our way. (Nice things about having the doctors in our ward!)

Ugh the roads in England are so tiny and so bumpy and the drive from Feltwell to Lakenheath was brutal. Every bump was painful. We arrived at the Lakenheath hospital and Keri pulled right up to where the Ambulances arrive at the ER. He helped me out of the car and I was just gushing blood in the parking lot. I just stood there while Keri ran to get a wheelchair. The wheelchair came and up to L&D we went.. mind you there was a trail of blood the whole way up. For some reason I felt dumb about bleeding everywhere and kept saying sorry! We got up into L&D and they got me into a gown and a room. Again I asked the nurses if this bleeding was normal. How could it be normal? It didn't stop. They assured me it was fine and started my I.V. Lucky for me my regular doctor was actually on call that night so he came in and talked to me. I felt reassured when I saw him. He is a pretty great guy (and his wife is really awesome.) He told me we were just waiting for everyone to assemble and we would probably be starting in like 25 minutes. The anesthesiologist came in (mind you he looked way young and cute) and told me instead of an epidural like I had with Cambree's c section I was going to be having a spinal block. I was less than thrilled because that meant I would be totally awake during the c section and that made me nervous. Anyway I got wheeled back to the operating room and the fun began.

Luckily I had THE BEST nurses with me that night. I was SO scared and they were great. Keri wasn't allowed in the room while I got my spinal block so I was nervous. My nurses (who had monitors on me monitoring the twins while I was getting my spinal block) let me hold their hands and one of them kept whispering comforting things to me. I cannot tell you how much I appreciated her. The spinal block was less fun .. took forever to do.. and was painful. During the process I kept gushing out blood. At one point I warned the nurses... you are about to get wet. The blood would gush out and get all over. The block got done... Keri came in.. and we got underway. It didn't take too long before Ashley came out. She arrived at 10:51pm. I was so excited when I heard her cry. Austin came next exactly one minute later at 10:52pm. The thing about him is that he didn't cry when he came out and I started to get nervous. Infact once Austin came out I didn't get to even seen him until after I was done and back in my room.

Well later I found out I had placenta abruption which is why I was bleeding so much. I also found out later that Vickie was worried about all my bleeding but kept calm for me. My doctor said he didn't realize what was going on until he walked in when I was getting my spinal block and he saw all the blood that was gushing out. He also said there was a blood clot in my uterus and the worst was that poor Austin had injested a lot of blood in the placenta. When he came out they had to suction out a lot of blood from his lungs. He also had another problem. I guess when babies are born their first instinct is to pull their hands in towards them. Austin put his hands out which was an indication of a problem. The whole time I was in the hospital he had to go three times a day to get antibotic's. Luckily everything turned out okay and everyone ended up being fine but it could have been a scary situation. I'm glad my sister was in tune enough to tell me from the second I started bleeding that I needed to go in.

Well it's been a month now and the twins are doing pretty great!! It is quite the struggle but definitely worth it! I can't imagine not having both of them. It has definitely been a crazy ride from the time I found out I was having twins until now!!!