So ... where did we leave off? Yes, in the middle of the c-section. There really isn't too much to tell at this point ... a lot of pulling, pushing, pressure, etc. And me and Chrissy and Ant were just kinda talking on the other side of the curtain. Suddenly the doctor said "Get ready!" and Chrissy and Anthony stood up to see their little girl being born. My sister immediately started to cry, and said "Oh my God, she's so beautiful! Thank you!" and sat down next to me crying and hugging me. I was crying, as was Anthony. I doubt there was a dry eye in the room.
Then just one minute later, the doctor again told them to stand up and look, and Anthony made is way out, feet first! Both babies were brought over to the warmers, cleaned up, and wrapped up in blankets. Sami was screaming her head off ... where Ant took a little longer to shout out, but soon enough he was letting his presence be known as well.
At this point, honestly, I was so spent, that it all kinda was a blur. I think I was just SO exhausted (having barely slept the night before) and it all finally hit me, since the birth was over and the babies were out. I just laid on the table as they closed me all up with my eyes closed, as Chrissy and Ant took a million pictures of the babies, held them, walked around with them, etc. It was a totally different experience than with my two, because after Boots and Moop were born, they were immediately taken to the NICU for 12 hours of observation. So I didn't even get to hold them in the operating room. Since Chrissy's babies were bigger and full term, they didn't rush them out. So we got to take lots of pics in the OR. At this point, they decided to let my husband in, so he came in to see me. Then Chrissy and Anthony left with the babies to go to the nursery, and me and my DH went to the recovery room.
This is when I started to notice that the nurses were concerned with my blood pressure. I could see it on the monitor, and it was like 160/90, which is really high for me. I was consistently 110/65 throughout my entire pregnancy. But I figured it was because I just gave birth. I didn't feel great, had a headache, my neck hurt, my back hurt, I was just uncomfortable. So I basically just closed my eyes and tried to relax best I could. I think I dozed off here and there.
About 2 hours later they moved me to my post-pardum room. It was AWESOME. It was private, HUGE, had a couch, recliner, flat screen tv, full table with 4 chairs, just a huge room. This was so great, because I delivered my twins at the same hospital, and ended up having to share a room, and it was the worst experience EVER. So I was so happy.
Once I was moved into my room, they gave me some pain killers and some blood pressure meds, and then everyone came in. My parents, DH, my brother, my sister and her husband and the babies, as well as my BIL's relatives. My sister also gave me my gift, a beautiful tennis bracelet as a thank you. Like I needed to be thanked anymore than she already has!
Besides having a headache and being tired, I was doing ok. And then my OB came in and said "Erica, you are pretty sick". That was kinda surprising, considering that I didn't feel bad. She told me that I had HELLP syndrome. I didn't know too much about it, but I knew it had to do with high blood pressure and something with the liver. They told me I needed to go on Magnesium Sulfate. And that I was going to be moved to the ICU. That is what scared me the most. ICU? Isn't that for people near death?? Yeah, that was pretty scary. So bye bye nice room, and off to the ICU. Luckily, they were able to find a room for my sister and her family to stay and visit with the babies. And me and my husband went up to the ICU.
I was only in the ICU for one night, thankfully. I was on the magnesium the whole time, and it just made me exhausted. I slept the whole time and just couldn't leave my eyes open. They came and took blood every few hours, and luckily all my levels were doing what they were supposed to be doing. The ones that needed to go up were rising, and the ones that needed to go down were lowering. So I was headed in the right direction, but my doctor did tell me that it could take a few weeks for everything to be back to normal.
So, I'll fast forward at this point. I went back to a regular post pardum room after one night in the ICU (not that great room I was in, but a private one, none the less!) They monitored me a little more closely than I guess the normal post pardum patient ... taking my blood pressure and blood more often to test everything, but everything was going well.
They finally set me free on the Saturday morning after giving birth. The babies left the same day that I did and went home with their mommy and daddy. It was nice that we were all able to leave the hospital together.
I did have one more scare after going home. The first night I was home, I woke up in the middle of the night with shortness of breath. It was worse when I was laying down, and I could hear this weird noise from my chest, almost like I had pop rocks in my chest, like a crackling. It scared me, so I called my OB to ask them about it, and he said I should go to the ER. So we called my mom to stay with the kids, and off I went! Ugh! We had a battery of tests, chest X-Ray, MRI, etc, and it turns out that I have fluid in my lungs from the HELLP. It actually looked like congenital heart failure, but it can happen to anyone who has recently had surgery, and it's a side effect of HELLP. So they gave me a diuretic to help me pee out a lot of the fluid, and told me it would work itself out.
It was definitely scary, and the whole thing was so unexpected. I mean, I carried twins before, and I have NO issues after they were born. So it kinda caught me off guard to deal with all of these issues after having this set of twins. But, most importantly, now 2.5 weeks later, the babies are healthy, I'm healthy, everyone is doing good, and that's really all I could ask for.
Thanks for reading all this if you made it through!!
Caba
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
The Birth Story - Part 1
Ok ... so now down to the birth story.
My c-section was scheduled for 730am on Tuesday morning. Since we had to be at the hospital between 6am and 630am, my mom spent the night Monday to get up with the twins, get them ready for daycare, and drop them off.
I could NOT sleep the night before. I literally slept from 11pm-3am, and that was it. I just was so anxious, excited and nervous! So I basically just laid in bed and watched soaps on my DVR waiting for 5am. I figured I would get up at 5am, take a shower, blow dry my hair, and do some last minute getting everything together. The Baby Story people wanted us to tape leaving the house in the morning, saying goodbye to the kids, etc. So we wanted to leave a little bit of time for that.
So after getting ready, DH grabbed the camera and we started taping. I went into the kids room, and told them that we were going to the hospital. They started saying the cutest things ... like "the doctors are going to take Sami and Anthony out of mommy's belly!" We've been prepping them! haha. So we said our goodbyes, and DH and I got into the car. I taped myself talking on the way to the hospital, and we got there about 615am.
After going up to L&D, everything was really smooth. The nurse came right out, had all my paperwork ready, and put all my medical bracelets on. They brought me back to a L&D room, and I got undressed and laid down. At this point I was starting to get nervous. The nurse came in, asking lots of questions, and Chrissy and Ant showed up, as well as the Baby Story people. So suffice it to say, there were A LOT of people in the room. At this point, it was my DH, Chrissy and Ant, 3 Baby Story people, and 2 nurses. The nurse tried to do my IV, UGH! That might have been the worst part of the entire process. She had to stick me 2 times, and couldn't get it, so she had to call in another nurse who finally got it. That sucked. They put the babies on the monitors just to verify heartbeats and all that. Then my doc came in and did a quick ultrasound just to see the positions. I also found out that one of the other OBs that I really like in my practice was going to assist in the delivery. So I felt VERY special! Two docs for me!
They made me drink this awful stuff that tasted like sweet tarts with a salty aftertaste. That made me kinda nauseous. Once everyone was all dressed in scrubs and all that stuff, they walked me down to the operating room.
It was agreed that my sister and her husband would be in the operating room with me during the procedure, with my DH waiting outside. Once the babies were born, Chrissy and Ant would follow them to the nursery, and then my DH would come in and stay with me during the end of the procedure and to the recovery room. They also only allowed the camera man from a Baby Story in ... the other two people had to wait outside as well.
The brought me into the OR first, alone, to do the spinal. That wasn't as easy as I remember it being from last time. It hurt a little more, and took a little longer. But once it was done, I was fine. They got me all ready to go. And then I felt REALLY sick. I started dry heaving and vomitting, but it only last like a minute or two. As soon as the anesthesiologists saw that I was sick, he gave me some meds, and they kicked in pretty quickly. So luckily that passed by. They then brought it Chrissy and Ant to sit down by my head.
At this point, things moved pretty quickly in my opinion. They started the procedure, and there really isn't much to tell about that. I felt pressure, some tugging, etc, but it's not uncomfortable. It's just weird to think of what you know is going on on the other side of the curtain, but can't feel at all! The only thing that was gross was that when they first started, you could smell it. I think they use a laser or something to cut, and it smelled, like burning meat or something. Me and Chrissy and Ant all kinda looked at each other and were like "umm, gross!", but luckily the anesthesiologist put oxygen in my noise, so I didn't smell it anymore.
OK, this is WAY longer than I anticipated, so I'm going to have to break it up into parts. And this ends Part 1.
Enjoy,
Caba
My c-section was scheduled for 730am on Tuesday morning. Since we had to be at the hospital between 6am and 630am, my mom spent the night Monday to get up with the twins, get them ready for daycare, and drop them off.
I could NOT sleep the night before. I literally slept from 11pm-3am, and that was it. I just was so anxious, excited and nervous! So I basically just laid in bed and watched soaps on my DVR waiting for 5am. I figured I would get up at 5am, take a shower, blow dry my hair, and do some last minute getting everything together. The Baby Story people wanted us to tape leaving the house in the morning, saying goodbye to the kids, etc. So we wanted to leave a little bit of time for that.
So after getting ready, DH grabbed the camera and we started taping. I went into the kids room, and told them that we were going to the hospital. They started saying the cutest things ... like "the doctors are going to take Sami and Anthony out of mommy's belly!" We've been prepping them! haha. So we said our goodbyes, and DH and I got into the car. I taped myself talking on the way to the hospital, and we got there about 615am.
After going up to L&D, everything was really smooth. The nurse came right out, had all my paperwork ready, and put all my medical bracelets on. They brought me back to a L&D room, and I got undressed and laid down. At this point I was starting to get nervous. The nurse came in, asking lots of questions, and Chrissy and Ant showed up, as well as the Baby Story people. So suffice it to say, there were A LOT of people in the room. At this point, it was my DH, Chrissy and Ant, 3 Baby Story people, and 2 nurses. The nurse tried to do my IV, UGH! That might have been the worst part of the entire process. She had to stick me 2 times, and couldn't get it, so she had to call in another nurse who finally got it. That sucked. They put the babies on the monitors just to verify heartbeats and all that. Then my doc came in and did a quick ultrasound just to see the positions. I also found out that one of the other OBs that I really like in my practice was going to assist in the delivery. So I felt VERY special! Two docs for me!
They made me drink this awful stuff that tasted like sweet tarts with a salty aftertaste. That made me kinda nauseous. Once everyone was all dressed in scrubs and all that stuff, they walked me down to the operating room.
It was agreed that my sister and her husband would be in the operating room with me during the procedure, with my DH waiting outside. Once the babies were born, Chrissy and Ant would follow them to the nursery, and then my DH would come in and stay with me during the end of the procedure and to the recovery room. They also only allowed the camera man from a Baby Story in ... the other two people had to wait outside as well.
The brought me into the OR first, alone, to do the spinal. That wasn't as easy as I remember it being from last time. It hurt a little more, and took a little longer. But once it was done, I was fine. They got me all ready to go. And then I felt REALLY sick. I started dry heaving and vomitting, but it only last like a minute or two. As soon as the anesthesiologists saw that I was sick, he gave me some meds, and they kicked in pretty quickly. So luckily that passed by. They then brought it Chrissy and Ant to sit down by my head.
At this point, things moved pretty quickly in my opinion. They started the procedure, and there really isn't much to tell about that. I felt pressure, some tugging, etc, but it's not uncomfortable. It's just weird to think of what you know is going on on the other side of the curtain, but can't feel at all! The only thing that was gross was that when they first started, you could smell it. I think they use a laser or something to cut, and it smelled, like burning meat or something. Me and Chrissy and Ant all kinda looked at each other and were like "umm, gross!", but luckily the anesthesiologist put oxygen in my noise, so I didn't smell it anymore.
OK, this is WAY longer than I anticipated, so I'm going to have to break it up into parts. And this ends Part 1.
Enjoy,
Caba
Monday, August 17, 2009
They're HERE!!
I'm sorry I've been so slow to post. I am going to post an entire birth story, but first and foremost I wanted to get some pictures up!!
I'm happy and proud to announce that Samantha Mary was born on August 11th at 825am weighing in at 6.2 lbs and 19 3/4 inches long. She came out first, screaming her lungs out! It was a wonderful beautiful sound!
Anthony Mark was born one minute later, at 826am, weighing in at a whopping 6.12 lbs and measuring 19 inches long. He took a moment to shout, but once he did, he let us know he was there!
Both babies are beautiful, healthy and required NO NICU time!! Yeah!!
I didn't fair quite as well, had a few issues after delivery, but I'll save that for the full birth story post ...
But, without further ado, PICTURES! There are lots more pics if you click on any of these pics and look at my shutterfly album ... I'm having a hard time picking just a few to display! They are all so cute!
Here is my sister's beautiful family! My sister is holding little Anthony, and Anthony is holding Sami.
The twins are fighting already! Although I prefer to think that Anthony was shielding Sami from the paparazzi!
Anthony all wrapped up and not looking happy about it!
Sami just peering out with one eye!
My twins meeting the new twins!
All dressed up and leaving the hospital.
And birth story to come, I promise!
Enjoy,
Caba
I'm happy and proud to announce that Samantha Mary was born on August 11th at 825am weighing in at 6.2 lbs and 19 3/4 inches long. She came out first, screaming her lungs out! It was a wonderful beautiful sound!
Anthony Mark was born one minute later, at 826am, weighing in at a whopping 6.12 lbs and measuring 19 inches long. He took a moment to shout, but once he did, he let us know he was there!
Both babies are beautiful, healthy and required NO NICU time!! Yeah!!
I didn't fair quite as well, had a few issues after delivery, but I'll save that for the full birth story post ...
But, without further ado, PICTURES! There are lots more pics if you click on any of these pics and look at my shutterfly album ... I'm having a hard time picking just a few to display! They are all so cute!
Here is my sister's beautiful family! My sister is holding little Anthony, and Anthony is holding Sami.
The twins are fighting already! Although I prefer to think that Anthony was shielding Sami from the paparazzi!
Anthony all wrapped up and not looking happy about it!
Sami just peering out with one eye!
My twins meeting the new twins!
All dressed up and leaving the hospital.
 |  |
And birth story to come, I promise!
Enjoy,
Caba
Monday, August 10, 2009
Just a Quickie
So, tomorrow is the day. C-section is scheduled for 7:30am. I'm not sure what the status of wireless is at my hospital, but I'm hoping that I can get online, post an update, and get some pics up here for you all to see!
Thanks for all the support along the way. It's really been awesome! I will update you all as soon as I can!
Caba
Thanks for all the support along the way. It's really been awesome! I will update you all as soon as I can!
Caba
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Hi guys ...
I'm still here! No babies yet! I'm 37w1d today, and still hanging in there! I had an ultrasound on Wednesday, and the babies are estimating in at 6.1 lbs and 6.8 lbs. Then I had an OB appt, and my cervix is completely closed. No dilation or anything! So that's a really good thing! My OB seems to think that I will make it to my scheduled c-section on Aug 11th. I actually think I might too!
Things have been getting a little tough over here. I'm really tired, I'm getting more and more uncomfortable, and I just can't move well. If I stand or walk around for any extended period of time I just get EXHAUSTED. Thankfully, my sister is like an angel, and has been over all the time, helping to take care of the kids. And every single weekend they go to her house and my mom's house for a night. So this weekend my sister and her husband picked them up at like 10am Saturday morning, and brought them back around 5pm tonight. It's so nice for us, because it gives us one night/morning every week where we know we can relax and then sleep in. Plus, we've gone to the movie every single week. This week was Funny People. I liked it.
It's amazing that I've made it further in this pregnancy than I did with my twins. Boots and the Moop were born at 36w3d. And by 36w I was dilated 1-2 centimeters. So I'm excited about how well I am doing ... I can't believe it!
Since I feel like I've been ignoring my kids a lot on this blog lately, I will offer up some pictures! All pics are links to shutterfly with more pics ...
Here are some pics from when my sister took the twins to a
local zoo near our house.
Here is Mr Moop playing in the kiddie pool at my mom's house.
And Boots wearing a fancy hat!
Here are Boots and the Moop at the beach ... We took a trip July 4th weekend and they LOVED playing in the sand!
Here are some pictures from a visit with my husband's family. We went down to visit his sister, and Moops and Boots cousin's Brandon and Allie. His parents came by too, so Grammy and Grandpa were there, as well as DH's cousin's wife, and her daughter Gracyn. All the kids had a blast playing in the kiddie pool!
My fabulous sister and her husband bought bikes for the twins. They are the cutest things ever. Moops is a CARS bike, and Boots is a Princess one. They even having matching helmets and knee pads! Look how cute!
And lastly a few pics I snapped randomly when the kids were laying around watching Dora.
Enjoy,
Caba
Things have been getting a little tough over here. I'm really tired, I'm getting more and more uncomfortable, and I just can't move well. If I stand or walk around for any extended period of time I just get EXHAUSTED. Thankfully, my sister is like an angel, and has been over all the time, helping to take care of the kids. And every single weekend they go to her house and my mom's house for a night. So this weekend my sister and her husband picked them up at like 10am Saturday morning, and brought them back around 5pm tonight. It's so nice for us, because it gives us one night/morning every week where we know we can relax and then sleep in. Plus, we've gone to the movie every single week. This week was Funny People. I liked it.
It's amazing that I've made it further in this pregnancy than I did with my twins. Boots and the Moop were born at 36w3d. And by 36w I was dilated 1-2 centimeters. So I'm excited about how well I am doing ... I can't believe it!
Since I feel like I've been ignoring my kids a lot on this blog lately, I will offer up some pictures! All pics are links to shutterfly with more pics ...
Here are some pics from when my sister took the twins to a
local zoo near our house.
Here is Mr Moop playing in the kiddie pool at my mom's house.
And Boots wearing a fancy hat!
Here are Boots and the Moop at the beach ... We took a trip July 4th weekend and they LOVED playing in the sand!
 |  |
Here are some pictures from a visit with my husband's family. We went down to visit his sister, and Moops and Boots cousin's Brandon and Allie. His parents came by too, so Grammy and Grandpa were there, as well as DH's cousin's wife, and her daughter Gracyn. All the kids had a blast playing in the kiddie pool!
My fabulous sister and her husband bought bikes for the twins. They are the cutest things ever. Moops is a CARS bike, and Boots is a Princess one. They even having matching helmets and knee pads! Look how cute!
And lastly a few pics I snapped randomly when the kids were laying around watching Dora.
Enjoy,
Caba
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