As continued from a previous post forever ago:
The first full day in the hospital brought lots of visits from doctors and nurses. The nurses had to come in every couple of hours to get the boys fetal heart tones on the monitor. They had to get 20 minutes solid. Normally these nurses have to do this for full term babies that have no room to move around so getting their heartbeats is no problem. I on the other hand was supposed to have 10 more weeks to go. Logan was and always had been down in my hip and if i stretched out flat on my back, he was a snap to get on the heart moniter. (for those of you that have been pregnant, you understand that laying flat on your back is anything but a snap for you.) Jaxson had so much extra fluid that he was still able to do flips (right up until he was born actually). He was the problem causer. He moved so much and so quickly that the nurses would try for hours (literally) to get 20 solid minutes of his heart beat. This got old so fast.
The doctors that came to visit told me very scary things in very nice voices. They told me the risks and probable complications of delivering early. Scary words like brain bleeds and underdeveloped lungs. They also told me that they will try to keep me pregnant for as long as they could (3-4 more weeks) but if I got an infection, that would be the end of this pregnancy and the boys would be coming asap. I loved the Neonatologist and I really liked the Perinatologist. The OB doc changed to whoever was on call for the day as my OB didn't service Chandler Hospital. She only worked at Mercy Gilbert.
The first couple of days weren't terrible. Honestly. Now when I think back on it and my feelings at the time, I remember it with calm overtones. Yes the steroid shots were awful but only for a little while. And yes searching for heart tones got really uncomfortable but it meant I got to hear the boys hearts on a very regular basis. To me, if I hadn't gotten an infection and if the magnesium hadn't effected me so terribly, I could have handled a few weeks of this. However, Heavenly Father had a different plan.
By the end of the second day, I already started to feel the effects of the magnesium. (The drug that was supposed to keep me pregnant while getting steroid shots) I felt super hot. I had a fan going on high every second. And this is on top of the already cold hospital room. Even Jared needed a blanket at night because it was chilly. So basically hot flashes and i felt like I was coming down with the worst flu ever.
I really don't want this story to come across as me complaining about every little detail. I remember that it wasn't that I was trying not to complain, it was that i really didn't have anything to complain about. My babies were healthy. I was happy that I was somewhere safe and that my husband could be there with me and that i was somewhere that if anything happened they could take care of my boys.
They kept me on magnesium even after the steriod shots because they thought it would help with the pre-eclampsia i was starting to show minor signs of. The problem was that the effects of the mag was causing more stress on my body than it was doing good for the pre-eclampsia. The finally took me off it at the end of the 3rd day. I had a very weak moment the night of the 3rd day where after feeling so uncormfotable, I felt that i couldn't physically handle staying pregnant for my boys for another 3 weeks. I really hoped that the Dr would decide to take them sooner. I felt awful for feeling this. I felt like i was failing as their mother. i kept hearing the advice that one day in the womb is like 3 days in the nicu for developement. How could I be so selfish as to not want them inside for as long as possible? Well on that 3rd day i have an ultrasound to check the boys. They each had to pass a test based on movement, lung movement, heartbeat. Logan didn't pass the first time. They suggested that it was possible the boys would have to be delivered if Logan didn't pass that afternoon. He did with flying colors. So I had at least one more day.
day four came and felt promising. the effects of the mag were wearing off but i was having a hard time breathing. ( a little more than is usual for a pregnant woman with twins) They decided to take x-rays of my lungs to make sure there wasn't fluid building up. Unfortunately the x-ray showed showed fluid. A little later they noticed my temperature was slowly increasing. After lunch the straw that broke the camels back was they saw blood traces in my urine. All of this meant that I was showing undeniable signs of infection. It was time. The boys had to come and soon.
it was surreal and a little anti-climactic to hear the OB come in and say ok your babies will be born today. They checked dilation. I was at a 2. My OB gave me my options. 1) Since I was dilated to a 2 i could try a vaginal delivery. However, if Twin B was breach they wouldn't try to turn him, he would have to come c-section. 2) c-section.
As soon as I found out i was having twins i knew that there would be a lot out of my control but my one thing i held to was that if there was an option, i do not want to risk delivering both ways. I didn't want to have to heal twice over.
My little Jaxson (Twin B) still had a lot of room to move. He was head down the day before but that didn't guarantee that he would still be at delivery. Also I didn't want to put them through the long stress of getting me to a 10 for delivery. C-Section was my decision. Normally they ask that you don't eat for at least 8 hours before hand, but I had just had lunch. because of the infection, it was deemed emergency and they couldn't wait for me to digest.
While we found all of this out, Jared happened to be on his lunch break from work. He called his boss to tell him he needed the rest of the day off. (The inconsiderate response from his boss was that his boss was still taking the next day off and Jared would still need to work, it still makes me frustrated to remember this!) Jared then found out who all was on call so that he could make sure he approved of who was going to be apart of this big moment.
the Anesthesiologist was his favorite to work with. She even asked him to assist her. She came in to tell me that she felt Jared was the best one at his job and she would love to have him assist her. He got to stay with me every second. He wheeled me in to the OR. Positioned me for my spinal block, he even put in 3 of my 4 IVs. All of the nurses came in and said hi to Jared. Everyone in the room chatted with him and me. I felt so nervous and comfortable at the same time. I even had a nurse tell me that the Operating assistant was so good that if she needed a c-section she would make sure he was the one that did it. This particular assistant joked about putting jareds initials in the closing.
To be continued....
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