The Birth of the Boys...

On Friday the 19th, I went to Dr. Doom's for my appointment. I knew things were not going well when even I could see that baby A had very little fluid around him. The tech doing the u/s called Doom in to check for himself and he said I was off to the hospital for the rest of my pregnancy. I was 27 weeks and 2 pregnant.

My hospital stay was challenging, but the nurses did try to make things as nice as possible for me. I was hooked to fetal monitors 23 1/2 hours a day. I got a half an hour break to shower or visit the little outdoor garden in the hospital courtyard. I chose the half an hour to shower every time and then was plugged up to the monitors again. I didn't mind the monitors so much, but I had a reaction to the ultrasound gel they used with the monitors. (I am still having issues on my belly from that gel and it's been weeks!)

Baby A rarely moved and was easy to keep on the monitor. Of course that was because he had so little fluid that moving was a challenge for him. Baby B, on the other hand, never stayed still. I was constantly either checking for him myself or having a nurse come in to do it. There is nothing like being awakened in the middle of the night to have your fetal monitor moved a fraction of a millimeter to "find" my missing baby.

I continued to leak fluid every time I moved. It was especially bad when I was on my sides. I tried my best to stay on my back as much as possible.

I also had a contraction monitor on me all the time. This monitor had no gel with it, thankfully, but it had a huge knot on it that dug into my skin. It was like having a rock shoved into your belly all the time.

All of it was bearable, though, because it meant that the babies were still in me and still alive.

Their heartbeats stayed strong and consistent. There was no sign of infection indicated in my blood work. We were chugging along.

I was give terbutaline (sp?) many different times during that first week in the hospital. Strangely, I hardly ever felt contractions although at two different points before actual labor, they were around four minutes apart! I would feel a contraction every now and then, but nothing regular. Every time I had a shot, the contractions would go away or drop to only 1-2 an hour.

For those of you who have had terbutaline, isn't it such a lovely drug? I say that in the most sarcastic way of course. This drug did horrible things to me and I dreaded it every time I saw a nurse come in with it. My heart would race, I would get the most terrible shakes, and just felt miserable each and every time. The effects would last for an hour or two before eventually leading to an exhausted and restless sleep. Ugh. I hated that stuff.

Fast forward exactly one week to Friday, Oct. 26. A nurse woke me up at around 7:30 am to give me another shot of terbutaline. I was having four minute apart contractions for almost a hour and a half and completely slept through it. Apparently, that stopped the contractions. My contraction monitor showed little to no activity. I felt pretty good and thought all was well.

At 3:00 pm I got another shot of terbutaline, again for the four minute apart contractions. I had only felt a few of them and was quite surprised when the nurse came in with the shot ready. That didn't stop the contractions. They got stronger and I started to feel them more regularly. They gave me a dose of magnesium. That didn't stop the contractions, but they did slow down some for about hour.

While terbutaline made me all jittery, magnesium did the complete opposite. I felt like I was reduced to a pile of jelly. I felt sluggish, slow, and just plain blah.

I alternated between terb shots and mag. hourly until 2:30 am on the 27th. I was wired up from the terb. and then slowed down from the mag. over and over. I started to throw up and dry heave. I got diarrhea but wasn't allowed up from the bed. (That was so much fun to do while on a bed pan.)

At that point, the doctor on call came in to say that she thought I was in labor (couldn't check for dilation because of the cerclage) and that if they did stop the contractions, it wasn't for long so she recommended delivery. At that point, my contractions had stayed in the every 2-4 minute category for quite some time, so I wasn't totally surprised. I was sad that I couldn't last longer and frightened about what it could mean for the babies, but not surprised.

The babies were delivered at 3:31 and 3:32 am on October 27. It was a little surreal to go through the c-section with a room full of people. Each baby had at least five people ready and waiting for his birth. Plus there were the several nurses and doctors for me. It was strange.

Sha.wn was delivered first, but I strongly believe that he was Baby B during all of the monitoring. He never cried or made any noise when delivered. I had to ask if he was okay because it was so quiet.

Ja.son was delivered second. He let out a small little squeak when he was born. That was the only sound I heard my babies make for over two weeks.

Is.aac watched the entire thing and gave me an abbreviated play by play. Thank goodness for the abbreviated version. There were definitely things I heard/smelled that I could have done without!

After delivery, the babies were doing well. They seemed to be going strong for about six hours. Then they started to do some deteriorating...their breathing became difficult, they had transfusions, and a few other things. They were sick and they couldn't figure out why they had turned so suddenly. It turns out that both the babies and I developed infections while I was pregnant, most likely from the water breaking two weeks earlier. I had been on mega doses of antibiotics, so when they tested the babies' blood after birth it showed that there were no infections. They later found bacteria in Jason's lungs and contribute that to their sudden downfall in the beginning.

Sha.wn continues to improve at a fairly steady pace. He is now in an isolette and taking 18ml of milk every three hours. (They have officially surpassed my milk production.) He is maintaining his body temperature and looks like he is getting stronger.

Ja.son, though, is still having a hard time with things. He is back on the vent and was struggling to breathe last night. They took an x-ray and his left lung looked "wet". We are waiting for an update from the doctor to give us more info. Jason is feeding, but remains on 3mls of food per feeding. I am worried about my sweet little Jason. Be strong, little man, be strong.

Well, that was the story of the boys' birth. I will return soon with hospital week #2--my story--soon.