Our Story: Planning the Delivery

The OB said he doesn’t like to let moms of twins go longer than 37 weeks. Full term for one baby is 40 weeks. The 37 week mark was my 27th birthday. We scheduled the cesarean section for 37 weeks 2 days. Some twins like being twins but hate sharing a birthday. I didn’t want babies to have to share my birthday, let alone have the same birthday. I made a mental note to always have two cakes. Singing twice seemed a bit over the top for me.

At 36 weeks exactly, I started to have a pretty bad headache with seeing spots and ringing ears. I knew my blood pressure must be out of whack again. I decided it was time to head in to the floor for another check up. It was Wednesday, July 25th.

I got there and the old routine started: all the questions, pee in a cup, strip down and put on this gown that only covers about a third of me, and lay down. I got hooked up to monitors and machines checking my blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen saturation. The nurses squirted gel on my belly and started trying to find the babies heartbeats to keep tabs on them. I knew from the many ultrasounds where the little hearts were better than they did. So I’d point and they would start there.

Between the babies moving around inside and me changing positions out of discomfort, we would inevitably lose one or the other from the monitor. I would have to search for the heartbeat again. With all the slip sliding gel, it became difficult to even have the monitors stay in the right spot. Once we found the heartbeat again, sometimes Ryan would have to hold it there. Sometimes I had to push down hard to get the heartbeat to register on their little contraption.

Per hospital procedure, I wasn’t allowed to have any food for six hours prior to a cesarean section. Since a cesarean was the plan, I hadn’t had anything to eat or drink for a few hours. Not a fun feeling when you’re used to a constant buffet going in your mouth. I was super thirsty. I was starving hungry. But if we were going to deliver some babies in the next few hours, I guess I wasn’t allowed to be comfortable.

I was still only dilated to 2 centimeters. But I was almost fully effaced. The doctor was concerned about my blood pressure. He said that it was time to start thinking about delivering soon. I might make it to the scheduled cesarean date, but I might not. I could leave if I wanted, but I’d probably be back in a day or so. It was all up to me. My body was the problem. The girls were fine.

The OB said we could start a pitocin drip now to start contractions and deliver vaginally since both girls were head down. I was scared because Ryan and I had scheduled birthing classes, but it never worked out to attend. I told the doctor I never took the class. He said it was fine. He and the nurses had done this a million times and if I wanted to try, they could talk me through it. I turned to Ryan hoping he wasn’t all in. He seemed hesitant also.

The OB re-informed me of the risks of cesarean compared to vaginal delivery. I re-informed him of my concern for vaginal birth for Baby A and emergency cesarean for Baby B. He couldn’t deny this, but it isn’t a likely scenario.

Considering that my in-laws had to make a 5 hour drive to get to the hospital, I knew we needed to wait a little while. Ryan was calling his parents while I was trying to talk to the doctor. Ryan was so sidetracked that he didn’t even think to walk out of the room to call his parents. He was talking loudly while the doctor was trying to talk to me and find out what I wanted. I tried to wave Ryan out, but he just looked at me and kept chatting away. The in-laws were prepared with time off for the 37 weeks 2 days schedule that we had been planning for. But they knew it could happen at any time.

I wanted to just make a decision already so the doctor could get on with it. He wanted to go home or deliver some babies. I knew my father in law had his days off starting Friday the 27th. Did I want to schedule my babies birthday around my father in law’s work schedule? That seemed silly, but I asked if we could plan a cesarean for Friday morning. That would give the in-laws some time to get down here. The OB checked the schedule for Friday morning – all booked up. But there was an open spot the next morning. I guess if they hurried, Ryan’s family could get here in time for a 6am delivery.

I looked to Ryan to see if this seemed okay with him. He shrugged and said that his family was getting ready and would be leaving shortly.

My mom turned to me and said with tears in her eyes and patted my belly. “Talk to your babies and see if they are ready.” I immediately teared up. With all the people in the room, I really couldn’t concentrate. I was done being pregnant. But I wanted healthy babies. My blood pressure had stabilized enough that I could be released.

After probably twenty minutes of back and forth debating, I said, “Let’s do it tomorrow.” I felt so much relief knowing that I was only a few hours from being “done.”

I was released with strict instructions for the next morning. Be here at exactly 6am. Do not have anything to eat or drink after midnight. It’s best to shave your pubic area because our trimmer painfully pulls the hairs. Shower before you come. Use this antibacterial sponge scrubber in the shower. No deodorant or perfumes or makeup.

I went home with a flurry of thoughts. My babies would be born tomorrow. I had done my best and 36 weeks was pretty dang good.

I had so much to get done the night before. I needed to do a final check of my hospital bag. Don’t forget the pillows. I have to charge my cell phone. I need to check my email. I need to get the phone numbers for the insurance company. I need my insurance cards and drivers license. Where’s my chapstick? I can’t forget my contacts. I had to make phone calls and let everyone know that tomorrow was the big day. I had to eat and drink everything I could right up until midnight because I was going to be a long six hours after that.

I scuttled around the house doing last minute this’s and that’s. I sat down and wrote my final letter to the girls before they were born. Tomorrow, my life would change forever. Was it really so many weeks ago that I found out I was pregnant? Was it really that long ago that we were having only one and then it was twins? It seemed just yesterday that we found out we were having two girls. It had been me and Ryan for months. Now the next time I walked through that front door, I would be a mother of twins. We would be carrying two car seats and a diaper bag. This was all happening so fast.

I thought I couldn’t sleep well when I was pregnant and really tired. Now that I knew this would be the last “good night’s sleep” I would get for a long time, I could hardly sleep at all. I was excited and scared and nervous and anxious all at the same time.