Birth Story (Twins & Preeclampsia)

Finally getting around to writing this as I sit pumping in the NICU. I’m going to kind of just get the details out since it’s getting fuzzy. Babies are doing great by the way.

My pregnancy was pretty uneventful. I had a few bleeding scares and a horrible first trimester; but pretty normal after that. No major complaints. 

Around 28 weeks I went in for a routine OB appointment. They found protein in my urine and my blood pressure was high. She told me it looked like I had the start of mild preeclampsia and sent me home with loose bed rest orders and a 24 hour urine collection. 

I went back for a follow up appointment a week later and my blood pressure was still high and my 24 hour urine came back with more protein. My OB immediately sent me over to Labor and Delivery and told me to expect to stay there for the duration of my pregnancy. Cue meltdown. I called my husband at work to let him know what was happening but told him not to rush over that I was going to be there for the long haul. 

The next 4 days were pretty miserable. I had my blood pressure checked every 30 minutes around the clock and the babies were constantly hooked up to monitors. It made it impossible to sleep. I got the steroid shots the first and second day I was there. Things were going pretty well. My blood pressure was under control thanks to some medicine so I expected to fully make it to our goal of 34 weeks. I checked in to the hospital on a Wednesday and the following Saturday morning I got a visit from my grim-faced OB. She said that my labs were bad, they indicated that my liver and kidneys were starting to fail and that we needed to deliver the babies the next day. I called my husband who was already on his way and he called my mom back home in Maryland who immediately hopped on a plane and arrived that evening.

That day they started me on a magnesium IV that made me feel horrible. Tired, dizzy, woozy. They put a catheter in because of this–most painful thing ever…I made them take it back out an hour later and opted for a bed pan.

My C-section was scheduled for 10am the next morning. We got pushed back to 11am because of an emergency. I don’t remember much from the delivery. I remember that the spinal block and the whole procedure were much better and less painful that I was expecting. I also remember thinking that it took longer than I thought it was going to. 

Violet came out first at 11:32am, they held her up across the room for me to see. She had a head full of dark hair! Wyatt came out at 11:33am and they rushed him off pretty quickly. My husband went with both babies to the NICU. Violet had to be intibated and given Suboxen to help her lungs. Both babies were then put on CPAP machines and put under lights to help their livers? Violet weighed 3 lbs 3 oz and Wyatt weighed 2 lbs 12 oz.

  
The rest of the day is completely lost on me. As soon as I got back to my room I started vomiting and going in and out of it. I remember trying so hard to stay awake because I wanted to see the babies but I kept passing out. The next morning I felt much better but was having trouble getting a deep breath. Because of this, they wouldn’t let me see the babies until later that afternoon. I remember being so upset and angry at everyone. 

When I finally got to see them I had such mixed emotions. I felt so much guilt for the condition they were in (even though they were doing really well). I did skin to skin with each of them that day. I still didn’t really know what they looked like because they had CPAPs covering their faces.

  
I was discharged from the hospital 4 days after they were born. Thankfully, my mom stayed in town for another week to drive me back and forth to see them. 

After about a week, both babies were off of their CPAPs, lights, and on room air. Almost 4 weeks in and Violet is weighing a little over 4 lbs and Wyatt is close to the 4 lb mark.

Physically, I feel great most of the time. A week and a half after their birth I was already down 40 lbs from losing all the fluid!

I’ll leave you with some recent pictures of my little loves.