Thursday, June 07, 2007

Welcome William and Abigail




Abby and Liam's entrance into the world actually started on Friday, May 25. I had a non-stress test and biophysical profile that morning, followed by an appointment with my doctor. Everything looked good, and we were going to aim for an induction on May 30, which would be exactly 37 weeks - full term.

Martin and I went out to lunch, and I was feeling a lot of contractions. That afternoon, they were coming regularly - every 4-5 minutes - so we were sent to labor and delivery. Monitoring at L&D showed contractions every 2-3 minutes, and the doctor decided to admit me for observation. He said there was no way I would get through the weekend without having the babies. We camped out there, and by morning, my contractions were only 5 minutes apart. My doctor was at the coast for the weekend, and the doctor on call gave me the option of getting things jump started by breaking my water, or going home to wait it out. I opted to wait it out. I stayed in bed getting contractions every 5 minutes apart through Sunday afternoon. I was exhausted. Fortunately, after a nap, they contractions tapered off.

My doctor came back from the coast, and called our house Monday morning. As an aside, I have to say I have a great doctor -- she looked up our phone number in the phone book and called me at home at 8a on Memorial Day to see how I was doing and to offer moving up the induction. I told her the contractions had spaced out, and we decided to shoot for Wednesday. It seemed like an eternity, but I really wanted these babies to be full term.

I am generally not into "belly shots" but can't resist posting this so you can see just how big twins look at 37 weeks. This was taken on Tuesday, one day before they were born.


The rest of Monday and Tuesday were uneventful. Wednesday morning we checked into the hospital. I was already progressed to 4 cm, and was having contractions about every 5 minutes. They started the pitocin, and around 11:30a or so, I asked for an epidural. Just as they finished, my OB came in and broke my water. Two hours later, I had only progressed to 5cm. We thought were were on the slow boat to China.



Much to everyone's surprise though, the contractions got more intense, and one hour later, I told the nurse I felt like pushing. She checked, and sure enough, it was time. I was moved to the operating room, and we waited for my doctor to arrive. She got there just in time. Only a couple of pushes, and Liam was born screaming. Martin got to cut the cord, and Liam was declared healthy by the NICU staff.

They did a quick ultrasound to confirm Abby was still head down, and the doctor broke her water. Contractions slowed at this point, and we had to wait for her to descend. The nurse started telling me we had to get her out quickly, and while I didn't know it at the time, it was because her heartrate was going way down with each contraction. Pushing was difficult, as the contractions were not very strong, but Abby entered the world about 40 minutes after her brother, blue, with the cord wrapped around her neck twice. The doctor cut the cord, and within seconds, Abby was pink and screaming...also declared healthy by the NICU staff.


Both babies were able to room in with me, and aside from being jaundice, they were perfectly healthy.


A week at home, and we are all doing great. Abby reminds us a lot of Chloe as an infant, both in looks and temperament. She "leads" the feeding schedule, and let's you know when she isn't happy, that's for sure. Liam makes us laugh. He is generally more laid back. His facial features are very defined, and he has "looks" he give us and his sister that are priceless. You can almost see him thinking "shut up over there already" when Abby is crying. He also moves his arms and hands like he is doing Tae Kwon Do. It's pretty funny.







// posted by ornerymama @ 9:49 AM 1 comments

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