I thought I’d better get on and write this before I forget it all! Yes, it all happened, and the girls are here. A little over 4 weeks ago, can’t believe it, the time has gone incredibly quickly and also feels like forever.
But we welcomed little Ivy Grace and Zoe Kate into the world on the 21st September. Here’s how it all unfolded.
The day before (Sat) I had been feeling a bit crampy and off. Nothing too unusual. I often felt a bit like this when I had done too much, and I just felt smashed, physically wrecked and knew I needed to spend the day not doing too much. I think Steph was going to come and visit and I asked her not to, just said I was feeling pretty wrecked.
I spent the day taking it easy, as much as you can when you have everyone from your inlaws here helping with the house. We got the kids moved into the same room which was a big relief. Matt and I said to each other that night as we went to bed that at least the kids were moved in now, so if the babies came, at least the big kids were sorted.
The next morning, Matt took the kids to church, I slept in for a bit and tidied up. I was feeling a bit crampy still and was feeling a bit of pressure in my bum which I had had before, but it was a bit more consistent. I was aware of it but didn’t actually think too much of it. I was constantly in some kind of pain or discomfort, so it was completely new!
Justine was coming over to visit and drop off some baby clothes around 12-1. Matt and the kids came home, we had some lunch and Matt was busy in the shed. I was becoming more aware of the consistency of the cramps and the pressure in my bum in particular. I said to Matt I think we might need to get this checked out. I was a bit teary, just because I was so over the pain and so tired. We called the hospital and they said to come and in and get it checked out. Matt jumped into action and called his parents and asked them if we could drop off the big kids. I sent Justine a text telling her I was having contractions and could we reschedule. She was already on her way and ended up dropping the clothes at the door, tapping on the window and wishing me good luck and heading home.
I had semi packed a hospital bag, but in terms of things for the babies, I hadn’t washed anything yet etc. We grabbed toiletries etc, phone chargers, loaded the kids into the car and headed to Matt’s folk’s place. I was uncomfortable, but not in heaps of pain yet. When we got to Matt’s folk’s place, the kids jumped out, rang the doorbell, and when Liz answered the door we took off. I felt kind of bad that we hadn’t said more of a goodbye! I didn’t explain the babies were coming, as I was in two minds as to if it was the real thing. I thought there was a very good chance we’d be sent home and I didn’t want to get their hopes up.
We arrived at the hospital, Matt dropped me off and went to park, and I headed to the women’s assessment unit. They admitted me quickly and hooked me up to the monitors to try and get a trace on both babies heartbeats as well as the contractions. Baby A was easy, Baby B was, as usual, being tricky and it took them forever to get her trace! They asked about my level of pain etc and as precaution gave me the drugs to stop labour and a steroid injection for the babies lungs if the labour couldn’t be stopped. The first doctor I saw said they’d monitor me and see what happened if the drugs would stop the labour etc.
Then there was a change in doctors, I saw a lady I had seen in the clinic a few times during my pregnancy. She did an internal and said I was definitely in labour, 4cm, my pessary ring was no longer around the cervix, just sitting there, so she pulled that out and said we were having these babies today. I had a drip inserted and the person doing it had to have a few goes, it KILLED!
That was all a bit of a shock, to be honest. As soon as that was said, people started coming and discussing options, still trying to get a proper read on Baby B too. They decided that as I was only 32+3, and they took babies from 33 weeks, I should go to the WCH. They might have taken me if it was a singleton, but being twins they would probably be smaller, so opted for the WCH. My pain was definitely increasing but was still really manageable. It was frustrating being stuck in bed, I wanted to get up and move through the contractions.
Before I knew it, I was being told an ambulance would take me, to get my clothes back on and meet them in the hall. I was strapped to a gurney and before I knew it, being wheeled into an ambulance. They had one of the more experienced neonatal midwives come with me. She was lovely, very reassuring and held my hand telling me what a great job I was doing. I don’t know if it was the vertical tilt of the gurney and getting into the ambulance, but once I was in that ambulance, the contractions became incredibly intense and fast. I felt like my feet were elevated higher than my head and the babies were squashing into my ribs. Baby b turned from head down to head up on the trip and I could feel her turning, it was really painful. I was pushing down on her trying to ease the pressure under my ribs. The ambulance had the lights and sirens and was cruising along, they were giving me regular updates on where we were and how far away, I couldn’t care less, I was just focussed on breathing through the contractions. The midwife and the ambulance officer thought it was all happening I think, they had the neonatal kit out and ready to use if need be.
Matt was following along in his car. When we got the hospital, I was wheeled through to a room and I asked to go to the toilet. It all felt a bit panicked. They discussed it for a minute and then agreed to let me go if the midwife kept an eye on me, I think they were worried I’d give birth on the toilet. I was popped onto another gurney and escorted very quickly to the birthing room on the 4th floor. By this stage, the contractions were full on and I was struggling to listen to anyone, just concentrating on breathing through them. They were trying to hook me up to the monitors to get the babies heartbeats and contractions again. it was very hard to be stuck in the bed with that level of pain.
The Dr arrived along with an entourage. She was pregnant, and really nice but also quite decisive which is what I really needed at the time. She said there’s no reason you can’t birth these babies naturally, but you will need an epidural if we need to turn the 2nd baby, if you’re happy with that, we can go ahead and get the epidural in now. At this stage, Matt arrived. He’d been told he’d better hurry or he might miss it all!
I said yes to everything and before I knew it, I was being helped into a gown, and the anesthetist was telling me what she was going to do. I was having contractions and trying to answer and care what she was saying. They said I had to stay still for the needle, Matt was holding me and helping me lean forward. The local needle made me jump, it was quite painful, but quick, and I was already in a world of pain, so it didn’t bother me too much. I didn’t feel the spinal go in, except an initial jolt of nerves like an electric shock right down the left side of my body.
Once that was all in, I was back in bed, back on the monitors and doing my best to cope with the contractions until the epi kicked in. They did an internal at this point I think. I was 6cm. It wasn’t long before the epi began to kick in and it was heavenepi to feel the relief and be able to relax a bit. They couldn’t keep a read on Zoe’s heart rate, so the next hour or so was spent with the midwife trying and Matt ended up having to hold it in place. There was a shift changeover, the next lady was able to get the heart rate reading by placing a tissue in a way that held it in place and got it! Matt was relieved, his arms were nearly falling off! I was pretty comfortable, I had my own top up button for the epi if I needed it, so was able to stay pretty comfortable. It was weird just sitting there quite comfortably, and looking over at the 2 warming beds in the corner of the room. Matt and I were both kind of weirded out by the fact that there were going to be 2 babies in those beds by the end of the night.
The doctor with the entourage returned a bit later and asked if we wanted to participate in a trial called
MAGENTA, seeing if giving a mother a drip with magnesium sulphate in it between 30-34 weeks gestation had any positive influence on the baby. They had trials with good results for babies born earlier than that, but no evidence for this gestation. I was given some time to think about it, Matt encouraged me to do it, and it meant we get pead follow ups for the girls for free until they’re about 6, so that was a good incentive. It seemed to take forever for them to sort it all out. They had to ring through some stuff and get a number to see what i got, the magnesium or the placebo one. Eventually they returned and had to put a drip in the other hand, again it took a few goes, and yep it really hurt! So I signed off on all the forms and it took about 30mins to go through my system. Matt went and grabbed some dinner and I just laid in bed and waited.
Once that was finally done, they came and did another internal. It was funny as the dr that came to check was the one who had put my pessary ring in when i was 20 weeks. Her name was Amanda, and she had been so lovely to me, and worked out she knew Liz from when she was a med student. Her parting words to me all those weeks earlier were “I don’t want to see you until you’re 32 weeks ok”. So when she came into the room it was a funny reunion of sorts with her saying hey you made it!! It was really nice to have a friendly and familiar face. She did an internal, I was 9cm, the epi hadn’t slowed my contractions at all, they were consistent and strong for those few hours. She said my waters were bulging, and after a discussion with her registrar, decided to break them. It was quite the flood, as expected! She said she thought it would be about an hour, and she’d come back to check on me then.
She had been gone about 30 seconds, along with about 7 people who were with her (twin births seem to need a lot of back up support!). The midwife I had was an older lady who was pottering around, and attempting to get me entered into the system there as all my notes and details were at the Lyell Mc Hosp.
I felt this pressure down below and i knew something was happening, i called to her to please come and check me, I could feel something. She came over and had a look and suddenly sprung to life with “it’s a head!’. Ivy’s head was out! She ran for the call button and was calling for help. Suddenly the room filled with people, I think Matt said there were about 12 people to suddenly appear. Before I knew it, Ivy had slid out completely into Amanda’s hands. It was so weird as I could hear Ivy crying as she lay between my legs at the end of the bed, but my belly was too big to see her at all. It was so bizarre. I find it hard to connect the pregnancy with the actual baby until it’s born, it was so amazing to suddenly hear crying and know there was an actual baby there. They whisked her away to the warming bed and after about 5 mins they brought her over to me for a quick look before taking her away to the SCBU.
The next 20 mins were quite surreal. The room was full of people and there was a real buzz in the air as operation get baby #2 out began. There was a head doctor, he was calling the shots and directing the registrar who was a different lady. They chucked an ultrasound on my belly and confirmed that Zoe was indeed breech. They checked my cervix again and it had closed back to 5cm which is very common after the first twin is out. The anaesthetist came over and said he was going to give me a big dose to make sure I didn’t feel anything as they were going to have to reach in and manually turn her. I said yes to everything, the dr put her hand up inside and had a hold of Zoe’s legs. She was trying to turn her, but Zoe was up really high and wouldn’t budge. They said they were going to try and deliver her breech, was I ok with that? I said yes without hesitation, now there was one baby out, I didn’t want to have to have a c=section for the next one! The midwife kept doing ice checks to see how the epidural was working, it was funny she kept lifting my gown to check where my boobs were saying she needed some landmarks!
My contractions had really slowed since Ivy had come out. The Dr was just waiting with her hand on Zoe’s legs, waiting for a good contraction to pull her out. I could only feel so much as the epidural was pretty strong, but i could tell when they were coming. It was so strange, just laying there with someones arm up your lady parts, with so many people in the room. Matt and I were exchanging looks of I can’t believe this is happening. I had such an incredible calm and peace over me though. I just had this feeling like it was out of my control, like God had this. I had two contractions and pushed for each of them with the dr pulling, but without success. The head dr said we had 5 more minutes before he was taking me for an emergency c-section. Again as much as I didn’t want it to end like that, I wasn’t concerned at all, it was quite surreal how peaceful I felt.
I had another contraction, I pictured the coffee plunger and pushed with all I had. Next thing Zoe comes flying out. They put her on my tummy and there were lots of gasps as she was fully in her sac. As they put her on my tummy the sac broke and there she was! It was amazing! I had this incredible sense that God had allowed her to come out in her sac, the safest way possible, completely protected. Matt got to cut the cord for her. Again she was taken to the warming bed and a few minutes later I got a quick cuddle with her before they took her off to the SCBU. Matt followed her down.
My placenta had come out with Zoe too, the dr said he’d never seen that before! So no third stage for me! I lost quite a bit of blood. They spent ages massaging my tummy, more than I’ve had in the other pregnancies. I had a small graze that didn’t need stitches. For the next 10 minutes people began to file out of the room, and soon enough it became quiet again, it was just me and the midwife. She was cleaning up and I was lying there, trying to take in all that had just happened. It was bizarre to be there without the girls, to have had such a short time seeing what they looked like before they were taken away. I was just kind of basking in the knowledge that it was over. The twin pregnancy which was to be honest, it’s own kind of hell was over! The girls were out, I never had to give birth or be pregnant again, and it had all happened so effortlessly really. My first epidural and I was giving it a major thumbs up! My pain level once I had it in was so low, it really seemed too good to be true.
Matt returned after awhile from the nursery with some photos for me of the girls. We got on the phone and called our parents and I texted the girls to tell them. Then it was just a lot of quiet waiting around again. I was allowed to have a shower after awhile. The epi had worn off enough for me to get out of bed and walk. I felt a bit sore in my tummy, but overall I felt pretty good really. It’s amazing how quickly you feel the relief after being so pregnant and huge! Once I was out of the shower and cleaned up, they were going to take me to the post natal ward. Matt requested I see the girls and not wait until the morning. I was really grateful the midwife said ok and wheeled me down there in all my glory, a gown, with my catheter hooked up to it.
I was taken through a series of doors, on a lift and then into a room with glass sliding doors. There was a lovely old midwife there who got Zoe out for us to have a cuddle and took a picture. Ivy had needed some oxygen, so we couldn’t hold her. But marvelled at her tiny little body through the isolette window.
It was crazy to see the girls and how different they looked, to think it had been them inside of me all that time. Before I knew it, it was time to be wheeled back out, and off to a room in the post natal ward. Matt brought my suitcase along, and then he had to go home. There I was at 2am in this quiet room, having just given birth, the most epic experience, but being all alone. I knew I should take the opportunity to sleep, but just like when Elissa was born, I was way too buzzed and couldn’t sleep. I lay there for ages feeling very grateful and going over in my head what had just played out that day.
The midwife visited and kept pumping on by belly! It was really sore, felt like I’d done 1000 sit-ups! She encouraged me to express some colostrum into the end of a syringe. I wasn’t very successful, so she sat there expressing it for me while we chatted. It wasn’t until later that I realised what a crazy thing that was, and how funny Matt would find it. It’s funny when you give birth how suddenly things like that aren’t as weird as they would otherwise seem!
I did eventually fall asleep and was awoken to a midwife checking on me, more pumping on my tummy and doing my obs. I got directions and headed down to the nursery as quickly as I could. I had that feeling you get when you’re completely wasted, but adrenaline is keeping you going. There were my two little babies in the isolettes, they were wearing these little fairy dresses. I got pretty emotional staring at their tiny and perfect little bodies, and wishing I could cuddle them. Still couldn’t believe there were here, and mine. Such perfectly formed little ladies, God is incredible, fearfully and wonderfully made. x
my little muses 