We welcomed Olivia Jolene (Baby A) 6lbs 1oz; and Alayna Kathleen (Baby B) 7lbs 7oz into the world March 24 2010! I was so happy with the delivery. My doctor, Dr. Thomas Judd, was out of town this week on a family emergency, but we still had his partner, Dr. Nick Weibell. I trust him just as much as I trust Dr Judd. The girls were born at 7:06 and 7:10 pm. Doctor Weibell could not believe how big they were for 35.4 weeks! The delivery was amazing to watch, probably the coolest delivery I have ever seen. We put TLC to shame!
It was an eventful couple of days leading up to the delivery. Sunday was full of hard contractions. We decided to head down to the valley to Mom’s house that evening to be closer to the hospital in case they decided to come out. By about nine that night the contractions completely went away. We stayed the night and went to a doctor’s appointment the next morning. Everything looked great to Dr. Judd and he said we could probably make it another week; maybe more (kill me now). Then we ran over to the perinatologist’s office to have their fluid levels checked. Baby B was still showing low at 1.9 cm. Other than that, they still looked great so we went back home to Heber.
Tuesday is when the adventure came to a head. I freaked Tyson out pretty good at work. He had just started a meeting in Midway when I called him in full labor. Luckily his boss was there to finish the meeting. He came home and we loaded up the car and headed down to the valley, again. The moment we got to the hospital the contractions stopped, again. We sat there with mom and looked at the hospital for a half an hour before deciding that nothing was going to happen. We went to Burlington for a little walk (a very long one involving 3 full tours of the Baby Depot in the back of the store). Then we hit up the India Palace for our last supper and then headed back to the hospital. It was 9 pm when we got back to the hospital. I decided to get checked before heading back up the canyon. They admitted me and the contractions were strong enough to change me from a 4 + to a 6. It was enough for the doctors to let me get induced. They wanted to wait until morning for the perinatologist’s to have another look at the fluid levels.
So, morning rolled around and my perinatologist, Helen is out of town this week too. Go figure. The peri in her place finally looked me over and after about 10 minutes worth of disclaimers and reasons I shouldn’t have the babies, said that B’s water was low enough for me to be induced. YAH!
1:00 pm, Wednesday afternoon, the pitocin drip started and the contractions soon followed. They start the drip at a rate of 4 ml per hour and increase it by 4 every hour. They say that 12 is the magic number. It’s not. I was at 16 when the Dr. Weibell showed up at 5:00 pm and still wasn’t feeling the painful contractions they said I should be having. They got the epidural in, after stabbing my spinal sheathing. They wanted to break my water, but decided to wait before they got an operating room ready. I was dilated to an 8 and they didn’t want them to fall out right there. The wait was on to get a clean operating room.
The broke my water the moment we got into the room and everyone was scrubbed in. We had me, of course; Ty, Mom, Dr Weibell, RN Kathryn, and the anesthesiologist. After pushing for 4 contractions, Baby A popped out. The poor girl looked like she’d been sat out for 8 months. Right after she was out and rushed off too another room for cleaning, Dr Weibell had his hand up me looking for Baby B. She was kicking squirming to avoid his grip, but he managed to get her. She was half way out before Mom and Ty came running back in from looking at the first one. B slid out after one more push and it was all over. What a relief! Dr Weibell could not believe how big they were. Especially Baby B.
We are all hanging out in Labor and Delivery now trying to recuperate. The girls are nursing amazingly well for their gestational age and I feel like I had a rail line just run through my middle section. Also, because of the mishap on the epidural, I got to do a spinal patch to stop the leak of fluid from my spine (I don’t recommend that). All in all, we have been blessed with a wonderful delivery and a beautiful pair of girls. Thank you everyone or the love and support through this long pregnancy.
Love Jolene (and Tyson for typing this for Jolene!)
