Born Monday July 16th 2012 at 4:25 and 4:28 pm
This week has been quite the whirlwind! Friday night into saturday morning I started to have some contractions nd they were close and getting stronger. So I called the on call midwife and they told me to go in to be monitored. We dropped D off at grandma and grandpas at 2 am and drove to Newberg. I thought we were going to come home in a few hours bc the contractions weren't that bad.well we were there We found out I was contracting every 2-4 min and they were getting stronger. They checked me and was at 3cm dilated and 60% effaced but my cervix was very high.
So they decided to send me over to the bigger hospital with a nicu and I got to travel by ambulance! Quite the ride. I got put on mag sulfate to try to stop contractions and then got shots in the bum for steroids for baby's lungs.
We got to st Vincent's hospital and I stayed on the mag and got more shots rough out the night. They ended up taking me off the mag about 36 hrs after they started and I waited to see what my body wanted to do. Well maybe 5ish hrs later small contractions came back. Didn't think much of it till they started to get painfull and they re back to back. They put me back on mag and gave me oxicoden along with ambian to try to let me sleep and bam..contractions were not stopping. So they had the nurse come check my cervix and she said I was dilated to a 6! My cervix was soooo high though and touch that was painful. I then lost my mucus plug right after and they asked me if I wanted the epidural. This was it! I got all ready for the epidural and boy did it hurt. I cried. i was shaking. I remember getting it done with Dulany and it didnt hurt at all. This younger lady (probably my age) - it felt like she got me 10 x in the back. Well I then tried to prepare myself for a vaginal delivery.. or an attempt to. Nope...I slept a bit and woke up and the doctors said the epi and mag made the contractions almost completely stop. I slept through the night with contractions only happening a few an hour. So they checked me the next morning and it was basically like i never went into labor. The dr came in and said i was actually at a 5 and not a 6 like the nurses said. (part of me was disappointed... i was very tired at this point. I knew i wanted my babies to stay in longer and bake a little more. But i couldn't handle being on all of these meds and incredibly tired for much longer. I then feared id have to be in the hospital for another week (34 weeks is when they wont stop labor) or worse - hospital bedrest till they came later.
Then the nurse came back and said they were going to take the epidural out and they did - wish it was that painless going in. And then they came in to take catheter out and iwas so excited i was going to be able to shower! well by that time, i guess i started to bleed some so they were making sure everything was ok and it was. I started to freak out a bit and called Tom who wasnt there that he needed to get there quick (thats what the nurse told me incase something was happening) They wanted to keep the babies on the monitors to make sure they were ok (no shower.. boo!) and they saw that i was started to contract again but it wasn't painful. This happens everytime my contractions stopped. they would slowly creep back up... they wouldnt hurt and then they would get more painful. Then a few hours later they picked up and boy did they pick up. I have never been in SO much pain in my life. i thought the contractions before were bad.. no way. I couldn't breath, they were in my back, i was crying... trying to breath. I get a lot of women go through this pain... but arent their babies down in their pelvis when this happens? I had one baby there but another baby lodged in my ribs. The contractions would hurt down low but once they got to right under my boobs - i struggled to breath. One nurse even came in and saw my bright red face with tears struggling to breath through each contraction (which were back to back with out breaks.. whew!) and knew i was in active labor. This is when the Dr's came and saw i was progressing and said i needed to make a decision about if i wanted to go natural, vaginal with an epi or cesarian section. I was very surprised that the Dr's were very open about what I wanted and they said they couldn't chose for me and they just said how everything would work each way and that each way was certainly possible.
at that point i was scared to go vaginal and that colton wouldnt drop or he would turn funny and i would have to have a double whammy. I was also exhausted. I was there for 3 days now on and off medications, had compressors on my legs keeping me from sleeping, already went through labor on and off for so long, i was scared the epidural was going to stop labor again. I asked Tom what he thought and he said whatever i wanted he would be there. I wanted someone to tell me what to do! I honestly just wanted the pain to end and get my babies out. I was contemplating a csection all day that day so i went with my gut decision and just said lets go do a csection. Right when i said that my nurse said "i had a feeling you wanted to do that and dont in any way feel guilty or feel ashamed in choosing it" - i was SOOOOOO nervous. the Dr. said ok well then you will see your babies within the hour. Thats when i started to freak out a bit. I wasnt given a chance to really prepare mentally for what was about to happen.
They got scrubs for Tom and while in the worst pain ever they prepped me for the csection. They wheeled me back into the operating room and i was in so much pain i wasnt really nervous. i just wanted the pain to be over. They put a spinal in my back and my whole body went numb, gave me some oxygen and laid me down and put the sheet up so i couldnt see anything. Tom couldnt be in the room but luckily i loved my nurse and she was there holding me the whole time because i was shaking and in pain. I didnt realize how serious it was... my nurse had to call out all my information to all the people in the OR to make sure everything was right. The room was bright, all white, cold...Then they let tom in and he held my hand and it seemed like within seconds we heard Kempton crying. I didn't realize it was going to be that fast. I actually cried knowing he came out screaming and i even got to touch his hand before they took him back to the NICU. Then it took awhile for Colton to come out. he was on his back and they were trying to get him out and he got bruised pretty bad on his arm and one side of his back. It was the strangest feeling with them going in and trying to get them out. There was pressure but it was so weird. Its like when you're sticking your hand into a bunch of goo trying to find something and searching all over to grab it out (like on fearfactor!) But when they got him out 3 minutes later he didnt cry and she i saw him for 2 seconds before they took him back to the NICU. For some reason, i wasnt scared for him since he didnt cry. I knew he would be ok. Kempton was 4lb3oz and 16 1/2 inch long and Colton was 5lb2oz and 18 inches long.
Kempton didnt need help breathing and colton needed a little help from the cpap but just for a few hours that night.
recovery was a big blur...definitely didnt even think about that. Right when they finished iwas shaking uncontrollably. My dr (who was amazing by the way!) who did the c-section said it was totally normal but it was intense shaking..and its weird when you cant feel half your body. Then i got nauseous. I cant even begin to exaplin the feeling i had of throwing up (nothing since i hadnt eaten in days!) and the feeling of my stomach and insides going all over the place since i could feel that but not the outside. tom felt so bad since there was nothing he could do. About an hour later they went to wheel me to my room but they let me see the boys first. they wheeled me on my bed and i was able to hold kemp for the firsttime. then i went over to colton but since he was getting help breathing i could only touch him. i then had to go back to my room. it was aweful leaving my babies.
they already graduated from the Nicu they were at into a different one because they weren't super sick or had serious problems. they're both have a feeding tube, Kempton is in a warmer to regular his temp and Colton got bruised so they gave him the jaundice blanket/light to help with him getting it.
we have been able to do the kangaroo style holding where we are skin to skin with them and I have even been able to see if they will go to my breast. They both have been able to find it and suck a little but obviously itll take them a good while to be able to nurse.
we are now getting ready to get discharged and its going to be a very bitter sweet moment. I don't know how i'll leave my babies (we're an hour away from the hospital where they will stay for 2-3 weeks if everything goes ok) but at the same time im ready to see Dulany. Im not sure if she's figured out whats going on but ive been gone for almost a week and i dont want her to forget who her mamma is!
anyways, here are some of the pictures for now. We will keep getting pictures and updating!
(ps. they wouldnt let me shower the whoel time i was there until 24 hours after my surgery - so that is why i look rather disgusting in most of these pictures!)
Kempton Dean
Colton Thomas
Holding Kempton after surgery
Couldnt hold Colton but got to touch him after surgery.
First time skin to skin with Kempton
Colton after getting off the help of breathing.
Can you believe it?? we are a family of 5!
