Let's start from the beginning, shall we?
Approximately 1 hour after posting on the blog that "these turkeys are done", I went to the bathroom only to discover that it seemed my water had broken. I guess these kiddos didn't like being called turkeys! :)
I called the Dr. who told me to go to the hospital to confirm that indeed, my water had broken.
I called George and Farid, who I have to say, were far more calm, cool, and collected than I was at that point.
I called Jill, who was celebrating her birthday with friends downtown and God bless her, she hopped in the car and came to pick me up and take me to the hospital.
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| Don't hate the socks, man! My feet were cold! :) |
We arrived at the hospital at about midnight. They quickly confirmed that the water had broken. Good news is, I wasn't in active labor. The body was being nice and lazy which I am OH so thankful for, as it bought us lots of time. Our Dr. and the hospital staff were all wonderful about taking care of me and were also aware of our unique situation and allowed us to just hang loose until Farid and George arrived and then we could really induce labor. Much of the waiting time was spent monitoring the babies heart rates which proved to be quite difficult as they were both still moving around an awful lot and so their heart rates would frequently fall off the monitor and the nurses would have to re-locate them.
Just after 1:00 PM, the guys arrived here in Denver, and we got the show on the road! Pitocin was started and we began having regular contractions shortly thereafter!
The contractions started out quite bearable, and spaced apart.........and then that changed. Oh, boy....did that change. :) Jill was an amazing coach...her sense of calm, her ongoing encouragement, was extremely helpful. The guys continued to remain cool as cucumbers throughout the entire laboring process. In between contractions, I felt fab-u-lous, so we used that time to laugh, joke, and we MAY have all been spotted working on our computers! :)
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Contraction. Eyes closed, slow, deep yoga breathing.
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In between contractions.
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Let me backtrack just a bit. At my last prenatal appointment, the Dr. had given me lots of information about what I could expect on delivery day. A few things that I learned? That they encouraged me to have an epidural. That we would be delivering in the OR. That there would be many, many people in the OR helping out with delivery.
- Epidural. With twin vaginal deliveries, there is always some added risk. Particularly since Baby B (Gustavo) was breech. They said that although the decision was entirely mine, they felt more comfortable having an epidural already in place before delivery. They explained to me that once Baby A (Milena) was born, they would try to manually turn Gustavo around from the outside. Apparently this is not a very comfortable process. Also, should there be a problem being able to deliver the second baby vaginally, an emergency c-section becomes necessary. At that point, there isn't time to put an epidural in place so I would have to be immediately put to sleep for the rest of the delivery. I REALLY DID NOT WANT THAT!
- Delivering in the OR. Because of the potential complications stated above, they told me that we would be delivering in the OR. I was a little bummed to learn that since an OR seems like such a small, cold, stark environment to deliver in. But hey, not my choice, right?
- Lots of people in the OR. Yeah...this is a fact. Soooo....you've got yourself 2 doctors and 2 nurses for me. 2 nurses for the babies, an ultrasound tech, an anesthesiologist, and several assistants. Now let's add me, Jill, George and Farid. That's a full house!
On that note, back to laboring...
I was scared to get my epidural. I don't know why, but I was. I also knew that if and when the contractions became too painful, that fear would no longer be there. When the contractions became intense, the nurse asked if I was ready, and at that point, I told her no. The fear was still greater than the pain. Then the contractions became even more intense and much closer together. It became more and more difficult to maintain my calm, deep breathing, and I had less and less time to "recover" between contractions. The nurse had a heart to heart with me. She let me know that she thought now was a good time to get the epidural in place. She felt that things would be moving at a rapid pace from here on. I asked to be checked. I was only 4 cm. dilated.
I caved.
And boy am I glad I did. She ended up being exactly right. Things moved rapidly. The anesthesiologist came in and placed the epidural. Once in place, they checked me again. I was 6 cm. dilated. They predicted we would be ready to deliver in an hour. They were wrong. Half an hour later, I was checked again and I was complete. 10 cm. dilated. It was game time.
Things began to move quickly. The Doctors and nurses began preparing me. Jill and the guys were brought in scrubs. They all looked SO cute!
Once we were all set in the OR, it was "pushin' time". Now let me just say this about that. I am a pusher. A pretty kick ass pusher. I have never really had to push more than once. So these twins...which were bound to be much smaller than my own children should be no problem, right? I could give it a good grunt and out they'd fly, right? Wrong.
I pushed. Hard. Like Julia Roberts vein bursting out of the forehead hard. And still it took 4 pushes to get tiny little Milena out. And what an amazing moment that was! I remember saying "Oh my gosh! She's SO cute!" And she was. Her Daddies thought so too.
Milena. 4 pounds and 10 ounces of pure sweetness.
Born November 6th at 7: 02 PM
Once Milena was out, Gustavo took that as his cue to get his butt in order. Or should I say, his HEAD in order. The Doctors were thrilled that Gustavo was turning his head right around, just as they hoped he would do. They gently held him in place, head down, from the outside, while his sac moved down closer to the birth canal. I pushed through several contractions to get that sac to come further down. Finally, his bag of water burst and he was ready to make his entrance. Again, cue the Julia Roberts vein in forehead.
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I hope that this photo isn't too graphic. It really was such a beautiful moment.
George holding his daughter, watching his son being born while Farid supports me
and the Doctors work their magic.
And let's not forget Jill who took AMAZING photos and video of the whole thing. |
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Gustavo. 5 pounds, 4 ounces. Absolutely precious and such a content baby!
Born November 6th at 7:36 PM.
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| Gustavo and Milena meet for the first time, outside the womb. |
What an amazing day! What a beautiful moment! What an incredible journey!
Cheers to healthy babies, happy Daddies,
and a surrogate who feels an overwhelming sense of Joy, Pride and Love.
Yep. That just about sums it up perfectly.
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| A FAMILY AT LAST! |
