On The Night You Were Born: Part Two

Justin and I settled down for the evening on Wednesday and our parents went home. The plan was for them to come up that morning unless I progressed really quickly, which we doubted.

More than ready!

I tried to get some rest before the induction started, but that was impossible. First, I was super anxious. The biggest issue though was how uncomfortable I was. I ended up standing most of the night until my epidural because my hips hurt SO bad.

My nurse started pitocin at midnight after starting an IV. She was such an angel that night. I was so scared and in a LOT of pain but I wanted to hold out before the epidural. Also, I knew that once it started "active labor" and got the epidural, she would break my water and I would have to start magnesium. Because I was severely pre-eclampsic I had to be on a magnesium sulfate drip until 24 hours post delivery. More on that to come.

The pitocin was slowly increased and I began to have some fairly steady and strong contractions. My back and hips hurt already from the pressure of two large babies, and I started having back labor. I was in a lot of pain but wanted to tough it out before getting the epidural so I could stay off the magnesium as long as possible. I labored for a couple of hours on a birthing ball and standing. Finally, my angel of a nurse strongly encouraged me to go ahead and get the epidural so I could rest and she could break my water. About 4:00 am on February 21st, I decided to get the epidural and get things moving. IT WAS THE BEST THING THAT HAD EVER HAPPENED to that point. Ha! I felt amazing after the epidural, was dialated to 4cm and completely effaced, and able to rest. However, the magnesium drip began at that point.

And that is where things get hairy.

From about 8:00 am forward, I barely remember anything at all. Magnesium sulfate is a horrible, scary drug. I felt like I was burning from the inside out even though I had the chills. I could not keep my eyes open and had no energy or strength. My memories of the day include waking up long enough to ask Justin if "the button was green" on my epidural because that meant I could push it for more medicine and having the anesthesiologist come in twice to push a bolus of medication because I was in labor for so long the epidural began to wear off.

Waiting it out.

I am told people were in and out of the room and if I even woke up, all I would do was stare through them. Justin stayed in the room with me the entire time. I know he was scared and nervous. By 10:00 pm on February 21st, I had not dilated past 7cm even with the pitocin turned up on the maximum drip. My contractions had all but stopped and my body was too tired from the pregnancy and labor to move forward. Because my uterus was already SO stretched out from carrying two babies, even with medication, it would not contract.

I vaguely remember my doctor coming in, sitting down on the side of my bed around 11:00pm, and saying, "Claire, it is time to get these babies out. Now." Almost 24 hours after beginning to labor, my plan of a vaginal delivery was going straight out the window.

On the Night You Were Born: The Beginning

When I last updated about my pregnancy with the twins, I was 36 weeks and was a permanent resident of labor and delivery.

I ended up spending close to two weeks in the hospital before actually delivering. Each day, my blood pressure would creep up a tiny bit, but never crossing the line of "we have to deliver now."

On Wednesday, February 19, my OB came in to check me. I wasn't dilated but A's head was extremely far down and I was completely thinned. At this point, the cerclage to stitch my cervix shut was still in place. With all the pressure I was extremely uncomfortable and suffering from what I affectionately named "lightening crotch" all the time. To top things off, my OB informed me that she was leaving that Saturday morning to go to Hawaii. She hadn't mentioned it before because honestly no one ever thought we would make it that far.

Needless to say, I was pretty upset. My OB is the only one who practices at the hospital we chose who will attempt to deliver twins where B was breach vaginally.  So if I didn't deliver by Friday night, not only would I have a c-section, it would be by a doctor who had never treated me. This was terrifying to me.

We decided that the best thing to do would be cut the cerclage stitch and see what happened. This was done bedside in the room with no medication. It was honestly no worse than a pelvic exam. I immediately dilated to two and started contracting. We thought that was the beginning!

However, overnight my contractions slowed and I didn't dilate anymore. Thursday morning my OB came to check me and nothing was happening. I asked her to strip my membranes. She decided to let me walk that day and would come back to check me that afternoon. Of course, nothing happened. Upon her return, she went ahead and stripped my membranes. Now - that was painful. 

She also informed me that she had gotten permission (because I wasn't quite 37 weeks) to induce me on Friday. We decided to start the induction at midnight to give us plenty of time..... Our parents came up to visit and we decided for everyone to head home and try to sleep. We had plans to get sleep that night as well because we knew Friday would be a long day. Well, if we only knew what was to come......