The Twins are Here! And Birth Experience

I am soooo behind on blogging about my time in the hospital and the twins' birth! As of now, I've actually been discharged and home with my parents for 4 days and the twins just turned 1 week old yesterday, meeting their 36 week milestone. But let's start from where I had left off (sorry if this is a long post)....

I ended up staying in the hospital on bedrest for 11 days, plus an additional 4 days after the twins were born. During my stay in the High Risk Perinatal department I had the protein in my urine rechecked 3 days after the initial test, which had shown 2 grams of protein in my urine and confirming the diagnoses of preeclampsia. After the second 24 hour urine collection, we were completely surprised to find that my protein levels had dropped from 2 grams to 400 milligrams! Still above 300mg, so I was still preeclampsic but mildly. It seemed that bed rest did wonders and I was pretty sure I would be able to go home! Unfortunately, another growth scan of the babies showed that Baby B, our little girl, was still growing smaller than her brother. By this point I was 34+ weeks and my OB recommended delivering the babies at 35 weeks to decrease the risk of further restricting the growth of baby B. A cesarean was planned for the upcoming Saturday when I reached 35 weeks. I had planned to blog during my entire stay at the hospital, but between all my visitors, nurses rounded,  fetal monitor checks, etc. I just forgot. Eventually, you stay in the hospital long enough the days start blended together. I am truly thankful to all my family, friends, and coworkers who came to visit me. It made the stay bearable and the days go by faster. I was also lucky of have an amazing group of nurses taking care of me! We had some great conversations, especially after they leaned that I was also a nurse in the hospital.

So onward to the twins arrival! The big birth day literally went by like a blur. Almost like your wedding day, some much is happening when you have a c section that you need to stop and remember to take certain things in. I am glad we had our camera to capture some moments. So, I went in for my c section at around 11:39am after having spoken to my OB who would be performing the procedure and my anesthesiologist. One of the perks of working at the hospital is that I got to choose my anesthesiologist, all of whom I personally know and work with on a daily basis. Luckily, Dr. Nguyen was on the schedule that evening and agreed to do my c section. I was happy that Dr. Lizardo was going to be the OB out of my group delivering the twins. Being that he's Filipino was pretty cool. So, going into the L&D operating room, I wasn't too nervous as I knew I had a great team and that our hospital had an excellent level 3+ NICU. My nerves finally kicked in when they sat me on the OR table and started prepping me for my spinal block. Having only one minor breast biopsy in the past, where I was completely sedated, I didn't know what to expect. I have had patients who have had spirals so I knew that my legs would be numb,I knew that my back would be numb prior to receiving the actual injection into my spine, but you're never really prepared. Luckily, the spinal wasn't so bad. The worst part was the slightly burning sensation that goes down your back, but its really brief and not as bad as I had expected. Soon a warm sensation ran down my legs and my sense of feeling from the chest down diminished. I was laid on the table, a Foley catheter was placed in (which I never felt), my hubby was brought in, and the show started. There were two neonatologists on standby; one for each baby. From the start of the c section to then twins actual delivery went by so fast! The worst part of the entire experience was the constant nausea that I was feeling from my blood pressure dropping because of all instant fluid loss and tugging of my insides. Thankfully, all I had to do was tell my anesthesiologist that I was feeling nauseated and she was quick to give me something of the nausea and low blood pressure. I was kept well informed of what was happening and so thankfully to have Brandon at my side to hold my hand and reassure me that everything was okay. At some point the pain meds kicked in and I started to get  sleepy; not sedated where I I didn't know what was going on. I could hear what everyone was saying, but I wanted to close my eyes.

Eventually, the twins were born at 12:09 each. It was really fast since they were little. Aiden James came out first; pink and cute. But he gave us a scare a it took him a while to start crying. I think I held my breathe for those entire few minutes until I finally heard him cry. Emilia Marie came out right after her brother and was thankfully crying right away. She was sooo tiny at 3 lbs, 13 oz compared to her brother who was 4 lbs, 8 oz! Brandon was able to get pictures and I got to see them, but they were quickly whisked away to the NICU. I was closed up and brought to the recovery too in a daze because of the pain meds. I spent some time sleeping with Brandon at my side. I ended up staying in the recovery area for about 2 hours because my blood pressure started rising. Eventually, they gave me some pain medicine for the cramping I was feeling, some blood pressure medication, and some ICE CHIPS! Oh, being NPO (nothing by mouth) since midnight is not fun when you are pregnant! When my blood pressure finally went down, I was taken in my stretcher to see the babies in the NICU before going to my room in the Maternity floor. They were so cute and tiny! I couldn't believe they were mine :) I ended up staying for 4 days recovering and visiting the babies in the NICU. As of today I feel really good. My incision bothers be from time to time, but I am off the narcotics and only taking Morton as needed. My incision looks like it's heading very well too. Getting up and walking as much as possible really helped get me back to some sense of normalcy. The babies are still in the NICU as of today, but I will leave that experience for another post! Would I do the who experience again? For those two, I would do anything, but being pregnant with twins was not easy! I instantaneously lost 20 lbs when they were delivered and still have more to go. The c section was not as bad as I imagined, but I was lucky to have a good experience. For now, imam pretty content with life. I am just happy that the babies are healthy and am enjoying them everyday. I can't wait to take them home from the NICU!