Birth Story Part 1: SURPRISE! You're having babies today!

The twins' birth story in a nutshell: at a routine doc's visit, my blood pressure was high--turns out my platelet count was also low and dropping, so my doctor decided we needed to have the babies STAT. Read on if you want all of the details (I really wrote them all down so we'd remember--so prepare yourself)...

I had a weekly doctor's appointment scheduled with my OB/GYN's office. Dr. Salgado was great and we officially scheduled my C-section for September 21, with her as my delivering doctor. She said everything looked fine, except that my initial blood pressure reading was a little bit high. She told me to relax, and that in 5 minutes someone would come and take my blood pressure again--and that, although it was likely nothing and there was no reason to be alarmed, if it didn't go down, I'd have to go to the hospital to have it monitored. When someone tells you that, seriously, just try to relax--but after 5 minutes of deep breathing, my blood pressure was still high so Dr. Salgado told me to go to the hospital for observation for a few hours, just to make sure that my blood pressure returned to a normal level.

I called Daniel on my way to the hospital, so upset. Hanging out the hospital had not been in my afternoon plans (not that I really had any afternoon plans, being on bed rest and all--but still! I was going to get lunch, and I needed a pedicure...not to spend the afternoon at the hospital!)--I'd just left the house for a quick appointment. What about Spud? What about all of my stuff? Anyway, Daniel (per usual) totally calmed me down and told me not to worry, and that he would come and meet me at the hospital. I checked into the labor and delivery department and was set up in what they call the triage area of the floor--four semi-private beds where they monitor people before admitting or releasing them. I was hooked up to monitors to hear the babies' heartbeats and to feel for contractions--turns out I was having some, so the nurse wanted to give me fluids. Through an IV. IN MY HAND. Not a popular option with the patient--so I gave the nurse an entirely practical alternative solution--can't I just drink the water?! But no, the nurse figured that an IV was more efficient, so in the back of my left hand it went. Ouch. She also took blood for the tests they needed to run--then the waiting began. While my blood pressure was going down nicely, we had to wait for the results of my blood tests before they would know enough to let me go home. The nurse all but assured us that we'd be released, and apologized profusely that it took so long (the lab hadn't received the samples or something, so it took much longer than it should have--randomly, someone in a bed next to us worked in the lab and called down, which ended up expediting the process in the end).

Anyway, after over three hours of waiting (and being incredibly pregnant and laying on the least comfortable hospital bed EVER), we overheard the nurses talking with one another, saying that everyone in the triage area was going to be discharged once the doctor checked everything. It was one of my doctors, Dr. Rothman, who came and took a look at my labs--all he had to do was give us the green light, and we could go home. Unfortunately for that plan, he was concerned that my platelet count was kind of low. He decided to have me admitted to the hospital to be monitored overnight.

Fail. I was a mess. It was really upsetting to have to spend the night alone at the hospital, especially being ridiculously pregnant, hormonal, and uncomfortable, and not knowing what was going to happen the next day. Daniel, as always, was very sweet. He went home, took care of Spud, grabbed dinner, then came back to spend the evening with me. I cried when he left for the night, feeling very lonely and nervous.

This is me--huge belly, IV in hand, toe nails red.

I was all keyed up, but my nurse gave me an Ambien so I could get a couple of hours of sleep. The nurse came in and checked my blood pressure every three hours through the night--and she came in and drew about 10 vials of blood at 6 in the morning (the nurse was young, very nice, and totally unable to find a vein in my arm--she had to bring in a more experienced nurse, who ended up taking the blood from my hand--NOT a lot of fun at 6 in the morning). All through the night, the nurse had been telling me that my blood pressure readings were great, and that she anticipated that I'd be released in the morning.

Dr. Rothman came around for rounds at 7 a.m. I overheard him outside my door, asking if "dad" was around. I pretty much knew then that I would not be going home that morning--and probably not going home again without having had our babies!

Turns out that it was a good thing they'd kept me overnight, and that my doctor had caught the early warning signs of toxemia--while my blood pressure was lower, my platelet count had dropped precipitously overnight and the babies needed to come on out. And soon! Dr. Rothman said Daniel needed to get to the hospital, as we were going to deliver the babies that morning. You can imagine the phone call that Daniel got (which he didn't answer the first time--panic!--because he was in the shower). I was calm enough, but it sent him into a chicken-running-around-with-it's-head-cut-off frenzy, racing around the house getting dressed, walking Spud, then racing to the hospital (he was in such a hurry, it was a good thing he remembered necessities like pants).

I sent the following text to my family: Please keep sleeping, no freaking out--but it looks like we'll definitely have babies before noon today!! Exciting!! Of course, my mom called immediately--I basically hadn't stopped crying from the night before, so of course we were both bawling on the phone (it was really hard to be so far away from our families as we were going through all of this). I was equal parts excited to have our babies and anxious/scared/nervous about the C-section. I had to work hard to keep it together.

We found out at that point that Dr. Siegel was the doctor on call at the hospital that morning who would be performing my surgery. He had a quick procedure to take care of, then I was next up. So Daniel and I spent the few minutes we had making arrangements for Spud, sending texts to friends, talking on the phone with family, and trying to prepare ourselves for what was shortly to come.

At 9:30, a sweet, fabulous nurse named Tracey came and got us from the hospital room and walked us down the hall to surgery (well, some of us walked--for others, it was the final waddle). Daniel was diverted to a room to change into sterile clothes, to join me shortly. I was surprised that the operating room was so small. The nurses and hospital staff really made all of the difference--Tracey held my hands and had me bury my face in her neck as I bent at the waist and curved my back for a spinal. I was terrified at the prospect of getting a spinal--and it hurt, and it was weird. I felt the needles that delivered topical anesthetic to the sight--I then felt a deep pain and pressure as the spinal was administered. It was then entirely bizarre and uncomfortable to lose all feeling in my legs and torso--I could still feel pressure, but no pain. Weird. Finally, Daniel was able to come in and join me.


Dad's suited up and excited to meet the babies!

Mom's freaked out, drugged, and has been crying (or on the verge) for hours.

One of the nurses had put up a sheet near my face to block my line of sight for the surgery. She asked Daniel if it was high enough for him, and Daniel asked her if she would mind raising it a little bit higher--fair enough, considering what was going on on the other side! Not a few minutes later, all of a sudden, the doctor said that the surgery was already underway, and that we'd have babies out in a few minutes.

At 10:08, Dr. Siegel delivered our baby girl. I felt a lot of pressure, then heard her cry. The doctor said a few times over that she was "a little rosebud." I'd been crying the whole time, and now was crying tears of joy and relief--Daniel was crying too. They took her over to a warming bassinet and started working on her while the doctors moved onto baby B. I felt EXTREME pressure that almost took my breathe away--and then our baby boy was delivered. He joined his sister to be cleaned off and examined while my surgery continued.


I was surprised at how quickly they were done with the surgery and had me closed back up. The nurses brought our babies over for Daniel to hold--I remember looking over and seeing him with two beautiful babies in his arms, one baby per arm. Daniel said it was clear to him at that moment that the coloring of our two babies was very different. Addison was pink and alert, and Jackson was a little bit gray--very soon after that, the nurses whisked the babies off to the nursery (and Jackson went from there to the NICU).

Evidently, the scene was a bloody one--I wore a pair of fuzzy blue socks into surgery, and one of the nurses tactfully asked me if I wanted them back because they were spattered with blood. I thanked her for the offer, but said it was OK to throw them away. And then Daniel and I were off to recovery...