I am feeling a little apprehensive lying in the hospital bed
all by myself. This is not how I
envisioned things would be today. I
guess I thought I’d be surrounded by family and ‘extended family’. But I suppose that will be the case soon
enough. Tom left to help Kaela. On her way home from Corvallis, she got
stranded on an ice-covered road behind a driver who partially slid off the
road. Like I need something else to
worry me! After rescuing Kaela, he plans
to head back to work, mainly to wrap up some things and get his laptop. If I have these guys soon, Tom will be taking
a few weeks off to help me. I have a
feeling the boys will be delivered today, but despite all my current pregnancy
discomforts, I really don’t want this yet.
I know the longer they stay inside of me, the better the chance they’ll not
need to go to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). I am 35 weeks, 6 days along -- well beyond
any significant risk -- but if born today, they would still be considered
late-preterm babies. Babies born at this
time can be less physiologically and metabolically mature than full term
babies, but because they are twins, they naturally mature faster than a
singleton. So despite the possibility of
early delivery, I really feel the boys are perfectly fine. Once
again, I am trying to stay positive. My
ongoing motto is B Positive!
The nurses check on me periodically. My blood pressure is elevated, but this time
not from “white coat syndrome. It’s
real. The results from my “pee tank”
confirm that I am in the beginning stages of preeclampsia. It’s starting to look more and more like
today, Friday November 14, 2014 will be the birthday of Noah and Beckom Benson.
Then I meet Dr. Warnock for the first time. He is working surgical births tonight. He works for the hospital, not for the group
of doctors I have been seeing for the last 8 months. He’s really nice, but I’m a little sad
because I really wanted Dr. Winkler to deliver these boys. Based on the preeclampsia results, he
announces “Today’s the day. These boys
need to come out or you are all at risk”.
I guess I knew this was coming.
The doctor asked me if I wanted to try a vaginal birth. From the beginning, I was prepared for (and
requested) a c-section. I had one before
with my son so I knew I could handle it.
I politely refuse. To me, having
a vaginal birth is really personal and it just didn’t feel right to me as a
Gestational Carrier. Plus doing it with
twins scares me. He says, “Okay, then
you’re on the schedule for 6:30pm”. Holy
Crap, here we go! This is really
happening!
I immediately text Holly with “Todays the day!”, and “I’m next in line for surgery”. She calls right back, crying and giggling with
excitement. She says “Really?! We have been waiting for this day and here we
go”. Next I text Tom, asking him to
please come back since it’s a go. Tom
didn’t expect this, and is maybe little mad at himself for leaving me. I assure him all is well. I’ll be right here when he gets back.
When the Dr. Warnock came back in to check on things, I
asked about Dr. Winkler. I really want
him to do the c-section. I let Dr.
Warnock know that I had nothing against him.
It’s just that Dr. Winkler has been a key part of this very special
journey. He says he understands, but
unless Dr. Winkler (who is not on duty or on call) magically shows up to do it,
he’s the guy. Sigh… I also
take this opportunity to ask him about who can be in the delivery room. He tells me it is all up to the Anesthesiologist. Luckily, we’ll have the same Anesthesiologist
Dr. Merrill had already talked to 4 or 5 months ago. I hope he has a good memory. He said yes to Holly, Darren, and Tom
then. Hopefully it is still a yes today.
Holly, Darren and Tom all show up at the hospital around the
same time. I can’t even describe the expression
on Holly’s face. She simply can’t
suppress her ear to ear smile, and her dimples are fully out on display. She’s nervous, but so so so happy. We take a few pre-birth pictures. When the anesthesiologist comes in, we all ask with
huge smiles “can all of us be in the operating room?”. We didn’t say it out loud, but our faces were
saying “pretty please…pretty please…pretty please!”. To our relief, he had no objections, quickly
answering with “Sure!”
Birth
About 6:00 pm they wheel me into the operating room to prep
for surgery. I leave Tom, Holly and
Darren to gown up for our “extreme event”.
It’s a little surreal to think this is all coming to an end, and in less
than an hour we will all get to meet the boys who have been growing inside me
for the last 8 months. I arrive in OR3
to bright lights and a whole lot of fancy equipment. I can see two warmers off to one side that in
just a short while these two will occupy.
When we get in there, I’m told to carefully slide over to the operating
table. Yeah, haha okay, I’ll just shimmy
my 192lb body over (I stepped on the scale at my Dr. appointment) so yeah,
final weight = 192! Eeek! Then they tell me I need to roll into a ball
so the anesthesiologist can do his magic.
Again, I laugh to myself. Roll
into a ball? I am already a ball! I do the best I can. It is the most awkward feeling. I can’t help to feel like I’m squishing the
poor boys to death. Luckily, it was over
pretty quickly. Then my lovely nurses
tell me it’s time for the catheter. Oh boy,
I forgot about that gem. So even though
I’ve had my lower extremities invaded on multiple occasions for the last 8
months, this feels the worse. The room
is so bright, and all I can think right now is thank goodness I recently went
to my sugaring appointment. If you’ve
never been sugared, Google it. If you are in the Portland, OR area I recommend Sugar Bee's All Natural Hair Removal! Lacie is AWESOME! You’ll
thank me later.
After I’m all prepped and covered up, they bring in Holly,
Darren and Tom. They direct Tom to stand
by my head and Holly and Darren to sit in chairs at my feet. As we’re waiting patiently, our nurse informs
us that Dr. Winkler is scrubbing in to help with my C-sec. I am so happy I seriously want to dance, but obviously
I can’t at the moment. Apparently he was
checking on my status, since he sent me for observation. (Afterwards, the nurses whispered to me: “You
must be very special. Doctors NEVER do
this.”). The actual caesarian and
delivery occurred quickly. Dr. Winkler and Dr. Warnock really don’t mess
around. They give a few instructions,
check to make sure I am numb then start cutting me open. They are calm, confident, and even chat about
a conference they are both attending. They also find out that some of my Rn’s
are also attending. They started making
plans. Yeah, no big deal, we’re just
birthing some babies here. We find out
later that when the doctors are chatty during surgery, it’s sign that
everything is looking good!
When Dr. Winkler has my belly open, he says “All right,
we’ll have babies in less than a minute”.
Tom is peaking over my drape to watch.
I thought he’d be too be grossed out to watch, but I find out later that
he couldn’t see the actual incision anyway.
First out is “baby A” (Noah), as he is closest to the cervix. Then Dr. Winkler announces “baby B will be
out in less 39 seconds”. It is such a
random time, that we all remember it. I
can’t see anyone but Tom, so I’m trying to move my drape to see the
warmers. If I could JUST MOVE THE
DRAPE! My sweet anesthesiologist gives
me a hand by moving my drape a little so I can see. I think he really just wanted me to stop
moving. I don’t see much, but I can tell
they have each baby at a warmer. When I
finally hear the cry of a newborn babe, my tears start flowing. I can also hear Holly softly sobbing with
joy. It’s a comforting sound because I
know she is watching her LIVE little boys take their first breaths. I learn later that Noah struggled a little to
take his first breath. So even though
Noah was born first, Beckom was the first to breathe. I faintly hear the nurse with Beckom say to Holly
“Come here momma and carry your son to the scale”. Soon after, as I’m still lying on the
operating table, Holly comes over so Beckom and I can meet. I am instantly in love! He has this squishy little worried look on
his face that just melts my heart. He is
just perfect!
They have Holly and Darren carry the boys to my recovery
room so Holly can nurse them. Tom stays
with me while they staple me up. All the
while, the doctors are still chatting away.
I think to myself, these guys would all be so cool to work with.
When they wheel me back to the recovery room, Holly and
Darren are there admiring their beautiful new little boys. Holly has nursed both of them and Noah is in
her shirt for the skin contact. The
nurses ask Holly if they can put Beckom on my chest, and she says yes. This is something they didn’t do back when my
children were born. Newborns can’t regulate
their temperatures very well, so having skin to skin contact is a good way to
help. The nurse unbundles Beckom and
lays him on my chest. Even though he is
small, I think “How did he and his brother fit in my stomach?” It doesn’t seem possible.
Amazingly, even though they were born 4 weeks early, they
didn’t need any Neonatal assistance.
Once Noah started to breathe, it was never an issue again. Noah was the “heavyweight”, weighing in at
5lbs 13oz. Beckom was two ounces lighter
at 5lbs 11oz. I had almost 12 POUNDS OF BABY IN ME!
Oh my god, we did it! 🎉👐
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| Holly |
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| Darren |
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| Here we go! |
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| Last picture of them inside of me |
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Mom and Dad - You can see the pure JOY of this moment!
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