My last blog post posted Friday morning of last week, and a few things have happened since then, so let me fill you in on a little of what has been going on!
That same Friday morning, the 17th, I started what ended up being false labor. I woke up about 3:30 in the morning to some strong contractions. I got up to use the restroom and came back to lay down, and they kept rolling in strong about every fifteen minutes. I got up about 5:30 to move around and pick up the house, and they sped up to every five minutes, but got a lot weaker. I texted my midwife and she suggested eating something and trying to sleep to see what would happen, and by the time I woke up again a little after 8:00, they had died out to nothing. (I think I freaked Atticus out a bit, because when he got up to get ready for work I was already up and around, and told him why, but he didn't hear any news until he got home from work in the evening!)
So Friday ended up being intensely normal - I went to Walmart to pick up a grocery order in the morning, I dropped a few things off at Goodwill. You know. Normal life.
On Saturday the 18th, the morning started similarly. I woke up around six with contractions that were far apart, but regular and strong. About 7:00 I texted my midwife, apologizing for the deja vu, but that this was happening again, only this time the contractions got stronger once I got up and ate something. By the time I texted, they were every five minutes apart. Since Carolyn had over an hour to drive, I asked her to start making her way here. Todd started prepping the pool with hot water so that it would be ready when we needed it.
Carolyn got here around midmorning, and contractions were still coming. Until... they weren't. By probably around 10:30, they were very infrequent and varied in intensity. My water still hadn't broken, which was unusual for a typical labor. I was feeling so conflicted about what to do - do I tell her I think it may have been another false alarm and have her go home? Do I ask her to stay, mentally trying to force something that isn't going to happen? And if it picks back up, how will I know it's real labor in time to have her come back, without second guessing myself? Ugh. I've had labor like that in the past, and it really shakes your confidence.
Around lunchtime, Todd ran out to pick up some lunch for us, and while he was gone, Carolyn seemed like she was thinking labor had stalled out and that it might play this game with me another time or two before labor began in earnest. She was reassuring me it would be okay if it yo-yoed a bit, and that she would be available for whatever I needed, whenever it happened. I had one stronger contraction during this time, and then right around the time Todd got home, I had a major one that kind of turned the corner on things.
Suddenly, all I wanted to do was sit in the birth pool and eat my burger. It sounded crazy at the time, since just minutes before I hadn't even been sure I was in labor, and now I wanted to get in the pool, but I think I knew something had changed. So Carolyn and Todd finished filling the pool for me, and then changed the sheets on the bed while I got in. We chatted, we ate lunch, and the contractions started rolling back in again.
Eventually things got harder. I had Todd turn on some music so I had something to focus on. The water started feeling slimy. I got a nosebleed. I remember feeling like responding to anything took too much work - all I could think about was getting through it. I got to a point where I felt a little pushy, so I tried pushing a little, but I didn't even have the energy to tell them I was getting ready. I just kind of pushed and felt my water break.
The second time I pushed, I gave it everything I had, and was shocked to feel the baby come out all at once - head and shoulders both through with the same push! But I had been on my hands and knees, leaning on the side of the pool, and so I was turned away from the baby and couldn't see. I remember asking about the gender a couple of times but being surprised that moving around to see was surprisingly hard. The cord was short, so there was already very limited range of motion, but I also felt like my body was not relaxed yet.
This is where things get pretty foggy for me, so I might be remembering things a little out of order. I know the kids came running in- they must have heard that final push - and they saw him and we got to tell them it was a boy! His cord was super short, so he was only able to lay on my stomach, and Todd started bailing water out of the pool with a bucket to lower the water level because I was so tired and really worried I was going to let the baby's face fall in the water by accident. After the kids "ooh"ed and "ahh"ed for a little while, we had them head out of the room so I could finish delivery and get in bed.
It came time to deliver the placenta, which would give me more cord length to work with so I could move the baby to my chest, so Carolyn said to bear down whenever I had a contraction. I did, and gradually I was gaining a few inches of cord each time, but I couldn't figure out why delivering the placenta was hurting so badly and there felt like there was so much resistance. It's never pleasant, but it isn't usually difficult like that.
I remember looking down in the water as I gave the final push and seeing something white and feeling confused. I asked a couple of times if it was the placenta, because I was at least coherent enough to feel like it was the wrong color for a placenta but I wasn't sure what was happening. And then Carolyn lifted it up to me to see, and it looked like another baby! But that couldn't be right...
I looked at Todd and he was smiling and saying, "It's two babies! It's two babies!" I really didn't understand right at first but it started to dawn on me that he was trying to tell me it was two babies or something...! Even my midwife was needing a moment to process - Todd was the first one of all three of us to realize the truth!
I got out of the tub and moved to the bed to cuddle them and rest while I waited for the placenta(s!) to come, which took a long time. I learned that fraternal placentas, while there are two of them, most often fuse together, so they deliver like one, but have to detach from a surface area that's twice the size of a single. It took about two hours before they were totally detached and ready to deliver, and I was so tired the whole time, and dreading another delivery. Somewhere in there Todd cut the babies' cords so I had better range of motion and felt less anxious about feeling so closely tied to them while I still needed to move around. And then, the Lord in his kindness gave me such a sweet gift in not having to push at all to deliver the placenta. It literally just came out, and the anxiety of that last delivery was completely gone and I was free to relax and snuggle the babies.
That's when we called the kids back in to get better acquainted with their new brother... and surprised them with their bonus baby! Oh, it was such a magical moment to see their faces when they discovered the surprise. Like, who else on earth gets to witness someone experiencing being surprised like that?!
The whole day was strange, but full of the best surprises and the kindness of God in answered prayers. I had prayed for a linear, easier-than-it-has-to-be birth, and for a twin birth at home, I would say I got what I asked for! It was about nine hours from when it began to when the babies were out (plus an additional two for the placentas). They were positioned beautifully - neither was breech or lying funny in a way that impeded labor. The boy's cord was short and wrapped around his neck, the girl was born completely in her sac still (which is why she looked white and strange when she came out) and yet everyone easily pivoted and navigated each step of the way, and it was just perfect.
I told Todd that if I had it to do all over again, I don't know that I would change much of anything. I'm grateful I didn't know it was twins in advance, and that everything went so smoothly. And now they're here! Now, we just need to finally decide on their names...
3 comments :
This was just as big of a thrill as I'd hoped. I'm over the moon about these babies!
it wouldn't be a VV birth story without a burger in a bathtub. :)
when you're prepared to take one for the team and end up taking two instead :)
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