Hey Everyone- Bre here!
We are all doing great. I'm now home and recovering well and Calin & Teagan are still in the hospital for just a couple more days. They are doing great, but babies under 36 weeks gestation need to prove they have the drive to eat well on their own for a week. They should be coming home by Monday morning!
SO...
Who wants to hear the dramatic ending to a long, challenging, roller-coaster ride twin pregnancy?!?!
Of course, the birth had to be just as dramatic and crazy as the past 8 months have been. Why should I have expected anything easy, simple or dull? :)
Here is a play-by-play of February 10, 2008:
7:15am- I wake up gasping for air and feel something in my throat obstructing my airway. Immediately I start panicking, freaking out, and run to the bathroom mirror to see what the hell is in my throat causing the choking.
I can't figure it out because I'm freaking out and unable to breathe. Next I run to Nick's side of the bed, shaking him and trying to YELL "911", "911", "911"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nick takes a couple seconds to comprehend the fact that I can't breathe....then he calls 911.
7:18- Fire truck, ambulence, and police cars arrive at the Walton's house. I've figure out that I can breathe slightly thru my nose only, but continue to gag and drool because I can't swollow.
7:30-Oxygen is helping me breathe easier thru my nose and I'm in the ambulence on the way to Methodist Hospital. Luckily, Ethan woke up just after the ambulence pulled away so he didn't have to witness me in distress.
8am- My mom and dad arrive to take Ethan so Nick can meet me at the hospital.
9am- They have a diagnosis... UVULITIS. My uvula (the dangling thing in the back of the throat between your tonsils is your uvula) was hugely swollen and blocking my throat. They have no idea why this happened and they defaulted to "viral" or "sinus infection related."
9:30-I've passed thru the ER and now have a room in the ICU. They've hooked me up to breathing machines and monitors and pumped me full of steroids, benedryl and antibiotics to reduce the swelling.
10:00am- Are those rythmic contractions? We start timing them....hmmmmmm.
11:00am- We call the Rooney household to update them and mention that my contractions have been 10 minutes apart for an hour now.
11:30am- The OB team comes to my room to hook me up with more monitors and give me an exam becuase now the contractions are 5 minutes apart and getting stronger.
12noon- I'm now 1cm dialated. The OB docs give me a drug to stop/slow labor. They wanted to focus on controlling my breathing and swollen uvula before a possible delivery.
12:30- The drugs didn't stop the contractions. They are now 2-4 minutes apart and I'm dialated to 2cm.
1pm- The OB docs can't stop the labor and they announce we'll be having a birthday today!!!!
2pm- Breathing is still limited, but under control enough for my C-section. Both babies are breech and I would have needed a C-section now anyway because I wouldn't have been able to breathe enough for a vaginal delivery.
2:30pm- Family arrives and I'm headed to the OR for surgery prep!
3:10pm- Teagan comes crying into the world!
3:11pm- Calin follows!
Happy Birthday Twins!!!!!!!!!
The recovery has been a little tough, especially with the uvulitis. My hemoglobin levels dropped to a 7 (11 is the low end of normal) and I had a blood transfusion on Tuesday night. Considering everything I've been thru in the last week, or 8 months, I'm doing GREAT! It's wonderful to feel like I'm on the road to recovery!
I promise I'll post pictures by tomorrow. I've been spending all day/night feeding the babes at the hospital since I was discharged on Thursday night.
Pictures soon, I promise!
