Birth Story

After finding out that we were expecting twins, I set a goal of reaching 36 weeks.  I was concerned that if the boys arrived earlier, they would have health concerns and need to spend time in the NICU.  Once the three of us got to 36 weeks, I was very excited/proud and ready to stop being pregnant.  At the end of my 36th week I started having complications like high blood pressure, protein in my urine and severe swelling of my feet/legs.  All of these together are signs of preeclampsia.  The doctor increased the amount of monitoring for the boys but ultimately it was decided that we needed to induce due to increased risks of still birth for Isaac and life threatening complications for me.  I went to the hospital at 36 weeks and 6 days for induction.  Both boys were born via c-section the following day at 37 weeks.  There were complications during recovery for me but both Max and Isaac did great!

Last Belly picture!!! 36 weeks and 6 days.

                 

***Below is a detailed description of the birth of Maxwell and Isaac.  Stop here and only look at the pictures if you don't want to know all the details!

Isaac on the left and Max on the right
(All pictures are when they were 2 days old)

I went in for a doctor appointment on 10/27 where they found high blood pressure and low levels of protein in my urine. The doctor was concerned because these are signs of pre-eclampsia.  She gave me two options: go home and monitor urine protein overnight or be induced.  I decided to monitor overnight thinking the longer the boys incubated the healthier they would be.  We scheduled a recheck for the following day.  The three of us did very well overnight (or as well as you can at 36 weeks pregnant with twins).

Maxwell John

 I had Chris stay home from work on 10/28 to go to the doctor with me so we could make decisions together.  Again the doctor found too much protein in my urine and strongly recommended induction.  Isaac also had a non responsive stress test (meaning he was less active than they would like) so that made our decision very easy... it was time for induction.

Isaac James

Chris and I drove to the hospital (ok ok so we stopped for sandwiches because as soon as a pregnant women checks into the hospital for delivery they will only let her eat clear broth or jello) and got checked in.  Eventually (hospital time is different than real world time), an IV catheter was placed and pitocin was started to help make the contractions stronger.  It turns out that I was having contractions without realizing it.

Max (he likes getting his picture taken...Isaac not so much)

The pitocin increased the frequency of the contraction (as noted on the monitoring equipment) but I still was unable to feel the contractions.  The attending doctor arrived to check my dilation.  He said if I was more than 8 cm dilated he would give birth to the babies for me :) I was 6.5 cm dilated...so close.  The doctor informed me that I wasn't feeling the contractions because my uterus was so stretched from carrying twins that it couldn't really contract.  He said if he broke the bag of waters for Max, that would allow my uterus to tighten enough that it could begin to contract.

This lead to two important discoveries:
 First of all who knew that there was THAT much fluid around each baby-holy moly was I surprised. Second: the contractions when your water is broken start with a BANG!!!  The best comparison that I have thought of is that I was standing near the pool watching people swim and someone knocked me into the deep end where I was suddenly drowning.

 The contractions lasted approximately 45 seconds about 20-30 seconds apart.  It was excruciating because there was no gradual build up.  It was just--bam--here is a lot of pain.  I was able to handle the contractions for about an hour before I requested an epidural.  The anesthesiologist was my favorite person in that moment.  Just an FYI: no one tells you that you will continue to have contractions while a doctor is placing a needle in your spine and you cannot move.

I love this one Max (left) has his Are-you-sure-you-know-what-you-are-doing look and Isaac is screaming. This pretty much sums up my life right now :)

The epidural worked great and I was thrilled.  The nurses let me nap for a little while and continued to monitor the babies and my contractions.  About an hour later, they woke me up saying that Maxwell's heart rate would drop with each contraction but immediately returned to normal.  We tried changing position but he continued to have drops to his heart rate. Luckily upon recheck, I was 10 cm dilated and ready to start pushing.  With twins most hospitals require you to deliver in an OR in case surgery is needed.  So we took a trip to the OR where I began pushing with the contractions.  I pushed every 1-2 minutes for an hour, but Max refused to budge.  The doctor said that after an hour of no movement the chances of getting him to move were greatly reduced. Since both Max and Isaac were doing so well, I decided to try for another 30 minutes...still no movement.  At that time the doctor recommended a Cesarian section.  I agreed because after pushing for an hour and a half I was pretty tired and would have to push out two babies (also Isaac was breech and needed to be manipulated and that birth could still result in a C section).  The anesthesiologist added more drugs to the epidural and the doctor performed the C section.

Our first picture as a family of 6!
(4 of the human kind and two of the canine kind)

Maxwell John Beesley was born at 1:21 am on October 29th, 2016 weighing 6 pounds and 12 ounces.  Isaac James Beesley was born at 1:22 am on October 29th, 2016 weighing in at 5 pounds and 11 ounces.

I had a fair number of post operational complications, such as hemorrhaging--leading to the need for a blood transfusion, anemia that lasted for a month, severe pain episodes, the development of gallstones--leading to a future surgery (more on that later), and severe constipation.

We stayed in the hospital until November 1, 2016 allowing time for the blood transfusion and enough healing so that I could help Chris once we got home.

Isaac and Me

Max and Chris

It is so funny that even with all the complications and issues I have faced with the last month of pregnancy and the first month of their lives, I would do it all again in a heart beat in order to have these two in my life.