The Miller Family: Twins' Birth

So I keep waiting to get completely caught up to post about the twins birth, but lets face it, it may never happen. I happen to be sick with the flu today and so laying in bed has provided a perfect opportunity to get some posts done. I really wanted to go in sequential order from the summer but if I don't blog about this now, my memory may completely delete all details. :)

So at about 32 weeks we noticed that Baby A was not growing quite at the rate she had been so the doc decided to start doing nonstress tests (NST) frequently to make sure that she was doing ok. At 34 weeks as we were doing these they noticed that her heart was staying the same rate and not "peaking" like they want it to. So they had me start coming twice a week. By the next week when they did my ultrasound (which happened once a week at least anyways) they discovered that my placenta was starting to deteriorate and they said that if I haven't gone into labor by 36 weeks then they were going to do a C-section (cause Baby A was laying breech across my cervix. Baby B was head down and ready but A was not letting that happen.) At that same appointment they checked me and I was at a 2. But after I left the office I kept having contractions. I decided to clean out the car not knowing when things were going to happen and it was a pig sty, but mostly to try and keep my mind off of the pain. That night there was also a soccer game at the high school and that sounded like a great distraction so we went there and I kept hurting a lot but I never thought it was labor cause nothing was consistent. But that night was a miserable night of sleep, or lack thereof. My back and belly kept hurting so bad but I once again didn't realize that it was contractions.

I went in to the doc again the next day so they could keep a close on Baby A and after I told them about all my pain they checked me again and I was at a 3+. Dr. Ott wasn't super keen on that told me that I could be in labor and he wanted to do another NST. Baby A's heart still wasn't cooperating super well and so he told me to go home and relax until the afternoon and not to eat cause there was a good chance that I could end up having the C-section today and then to come in that afternoon and he wanted to check me again. So I was obedient, kind of, and went home and sat and finished sewing the car seat covers and then went to Kathryn's cause she was watching the other kids and I wanted to ask her about C-sections since she had them with all of her kids. Well, after going back to the doctor's and checking me, I was at a 4. He said I was definitely in labor and to go straight to the hospital and get checked in and have these babies in the next couple of hours!! Wow! Talk about a panic moment, yet exciting. I went and got Ray from school and we headed to the hospital.

I don't feel that this pic does justice for the size that my belly really was. I was so big and so uncomfortable.

So on August 24 we got checked in to the hospital and settled in our room. They gave me the blasted IV and i almost passed out, like usual and then they came and said that it was our turn. I was kind of starting to panic at this point about going into surgery and worried about the babies health. They gave me the spinal block and then strapped me to the table and then they let Ray come in which was a huge relief to have my "rock" there.

Don't you think he could totally pull off being a doctor? :)

They made sure I was all numbed up and started the surgery! Holy smokes, I was gonna meet me babies finally!! The first pulled out Baby A at 3:57 pm and showed her to me for a brief second and then took her away to check her. About a minute later at 3:58 pm Baby B was born! They showed her to me for just a second and also rushed her away. As they were sewing me back up Ray went with the babies and it was complete torture not holding them right away like I have with the other kids. After they got me up to the recovery room I started getting really sick from the anesthesia stuff and started throwing up....a lot. I might add that this is a horrible experience right after your stomach has been cut open. But the worst part was that I was too sick to leave my room so I couldn't see the babies yet. But Ray came in a little bit later to tell me about the babies. We decided to name Baby A, Abby Jean, and Baby B, Brooke Katherine. Abby weighed 4'14" and 45 cm (17 inches) long. Brooke weight 5'8" and was also 45 cm long. They were immediately taken to the NICU and placed on CPAP to help them breath and feeding tubes. It was pure torture sitting in my hospital room and not seeing the twins yet!! It wasn't until about 3 in the morning that I had quit puking and Ray was able to push me in a wheel chair to the NICU. It was so sweet to finally see my babies but also very difficult cause they were in the isolettes hooked up to all kinds of monitors and machines. I wanted to help them of course and it was quite the process to get them out with all the wires. I am extremely thankful that nothing was wrong with the health of Brooke and Abby and it was just going to be a process to get them adjusted to life outside the womb and learning how to eat on their own.