First of all I have to apologize to Emily and everyone who I promised a timely blog update. As you can imagine things around our house have been doubly hectic (haha). The twins were born on August 4th at 7:19 and 7:28pm. Sara was able to deliver both of them without a c-section, which is something we are extremely grateful for.
Following are all the details, which are long and probably uninteresting to everyone but us but if you make it through to the end you might just get a trophy or something.
If you would rather have the short version it is that the twins were delivered on Monday August 3rd and are healthy. Now you can either read on or just skip to the pictures. Love you all!!
Before and After
Monday Morning August 4th -
Sara had a regular scheduled doctor's appointment at 8:45am where the doctor was going to check to see if she was dilated. She went through the regular NST which raised a little bit of worry with the doctor because during one of Sara's contractions one of the baby's heart rates went down, so he sent Sara over to the hospital to do an extended NST. Sara was dilated to about 4cm and due to the alarm of the heart rate about noon the doctor decided he was going to start her. Another small reason for concern was that she was at 36 weeks and that is when our dear Emma passed. So, they started her on low doses of pitosin about noon and prepped the surgery room for delivery.
The doctor had patients scheduled all day so he didn't want her to get too far along before 5pm. At 5 the doctor showed up and started upping the pitosin to increase contractions and get Sara fully dilated. He had asked several times if she wanted to deliver them or just opt for a c-section and Sara really wanted to deliver both of them. The prospect of trying to adjust to twins while recovering from a c-section was rather daunting. So about 6 they suited me up in scrubs (which Sara said made me look really cool) and they moved us into surgery. Earlier I had given Sara a blessing and told her that everything would work out well and she would be able to deliver the babies without complications, but we were both like scared little children as we moved down the hall from the labor and delivery department into surgery. Sara was visibly nervous and having a hard time keeping her composure. That made me try to put on a brave face and I kept telling her that everything would be OK. I thought I was fooling her into believing that I was confident everything was going to be fine, but she told me later that she could see that I was worried too.
The Surgery Room
Once in the surgery room everything seemed like a whirlwind. There was a multitude gathered to witness the births. Two doctors, the anesthesiologist, 5 nurses for sara, 4 nurses for the babies, and then me. I was told where to stand and was told that if I moved or got in the way I would quickly be escorted out of the room and not allowed back in. They hooked up an ultrasound machine which kept unexpectedly shutting down. The doctor seemed to keep asking for more supplies which were hard to find as they were setting everything up. Then there was a problem with the surgery table that Sara was on and they almost had to bring in another table. The stirrups on the table weren't working right so they had to bring in the "old stirrups" and set them up. All this was going on while Sara was having contractions and waiting to be told to push. Then the epidural starting wearing off on one side so Sara was feeling half of the labor.
Preparation Done
Time to break the water. The first baby was head down but not fully in the birth canal so if the umbilical cord came out with the water it would result in a c-section. Once the water was broken the head moved down and the first hurdle was cleared. Next thing that would warrant a c-section was if the first baby got stuck in the birth canal too long. It took about 20 minutes of pushing for the first baby to be born, but during that time it was discovered that the heart rate monitor we had didn't work with twins so they had to rush to the delivery room and snatch the monitor we had in there and get that set up. Throughout all this Sara had nurses at either side of her who were encouraging her and were a great comfort as the whirlwind kept spinning around us. Bella Rose was delivered at 7:19pm and after I cut the umbilical cord I actually did a little jig because I was so excited! The nurses and doctor were laughing at me because of this and a little comic relief was definitely welcome.
Next Hurdle
Two more hurdles to cross to avoid a c-section. The second baby was breech and our doctor was trained in breech births and had successfully done several so we were confident in his ability to help deliver her. He had explained to us that after the first was born if the baby did not quickly turn on her own he would need to grab her feet and pull her out. He quickly got one of her feet but she would not give him the other. Just at the point that he was about to abandon a normal delivery and cut Sara open an amazing thing happened. The doctor's words were that she kicked her feet out and springboarded off his hands, doing a somersault and placing her head in the birth canal. The second water was broken and time started ticking. The doctor had told us that if she wasn't delivered within 10 minutes it would again result in a c-section. At 8 minutes she had crowned and with a little help from a Kiwi (Not someone from New Zealand or the Hairy Fruit with Green Meat, but a little vacuum device that is attached to the head and used instead of forceps) Jemma Sage was born at 7:28, 9 minutes after her sister.
Twenty Tiny Fingers, Twenty Tiny Toes, Two Angel Faces, Each with a Turned-Up Nose
Bella looks like a total chunk compared to Jemma in this picture!
Bella Rose weighed in at 6lbs 12oz and Jemma Sage was 5lbs 7oz. They could be identical but due to the difference in weight it is pretty easy to tell them apart right now. The twins did great in the hospital learning how to eat and doing all the other things that little babies are supposed to do. We were able to leave the hospital with the twins around noon on Wednesday. There was no jaundice, no complications and the babies are healthy. Tomorrow they will be 2 weeks old and they have a doctor's checkup.
Despite the lack of sleep everything is going well. Sara's mom and sister came after we returned from the hospital and were here at different times and that was an enormous help to us. We also have AWESOME neighbors and friends who have dropped in with meals and support and encouragement. We really feel that we know what it is like to live in a Zion like society. Sara is feeling better every day and is really doing well. She can't wait to start running again and says it feels much better to have them on the outside than it did to have them on the inside.
So that is the long story. Hope all is well in your world. Enjoy the pictures.
Jemma in the nursery. The 2 fingers are to tell us that she was the second twin born. She regularly furrows her brow and looks concerned like this.
Bella just seems fat and happy most of the time.
Got this precious picture today. They were holding hands as they slept.
My little women. The older girls are doing great with the twins and are very helpful. Jemma is on the left and Bella is on the right.
Great Grandma Marble holding Bella.
Dad is holding Bella and Bet is holding Jemma
