You're Having Twins
Dh and I had just moved back to Ohio (June 2004) and were celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary. Prior to this, we had discussed the idea of not having any more children. I wasn't positive, but leaning towards him having something perminent done. In August, I found out I was pregnant! What a surprise! I started wondering early on if I was farther along that they thought, but the OB dr just said I was right on target at my 1st appt (Sept). By my 2nd appt (October), I was measuring 2 weeks bigger, but not to worry. By my 3rd appt (November) I was measuring 4 weeks bigger. Now the dr wanted to do an u/s to get the exact due date. Never once did she hint around anything other than a big baby or wrong due date.

On November 15 (I was 18 weeks pregnant by this point), We (my mom, Noah, and I) went to the u/s appointment. The tech started out by saying "yeah, we have 2 in there!" As if we already knew this information, which we didn't. I looked over at my mom and I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head!
So she shows us all the major organs in both babies...we got to see all 4 chambers of each heart, kidneys, bladder, fingers, toes, etc.
Babies look healthy, they are right on target for my due date to stay at 4/18/05.
Baby "A"'s heart rate was 152
Baby "B"'s heart rate was 165
One weighs 8 ounces, the other 7 ounces.

Birth Story
On Feb. 14th (31 weeks pregnant) I went in for my regular OB visit. I had been having blood pressure issues with the last 2 visits, however, I was able to get the blood pressure down by the time I left the office. Not this time. I had an incling that something was wrong the day or 2 before because I wasn't feeling well and I kept telling Dh that I felt like my body was saying I was done. My Blood pressure was high and I was having trouble peeing (even just a little...not normal for a pregnant person). Once they were able to get some urine, they tested and my protein was at 3...which I guess was high (I haven't got a clue). They sent me to the hospital for what I was told was observation.

After getting to the hospital and having tests ran, the doctor on call came in and asked me if I knew what HELLP Syndrome was. I had read a little about it before, but didn't know much. He explained to me that basically it was a type of pre-eclampsia that mainly affected the liver. The babies HAD to be born within 48 hours!

So they ship me to another hospital that could handle babies under 34 weeks. By Wednesday (2/16) (after having all my steroid shots given to me), Daniel and Andrew were born. Daniel was born at 1:23 pm 2 pounds 15 ounces; Andrew was born at 1:25 pm 2 pounds 12 1/2 ounces. Andrew was 15 1/2 inches. Daniel was 15 1/4 inches . They are both breathing on their own, which is a big accomplishment.

Ok, now for the other tidbits about the delivery...On Tuesday, Noah was complaining of an ear ache, so dh left the hospital to take him to the dr. On his way he called me to tell me he wasn't feeling well...since the nurse had answered the phone (because I was in the restroom), she told him to get checked out too. Well, he had the FLU and wasn't allowed into the hospital!! So, he didn't get to see the twins until they were 2 days old! My mom came to the hospital to be with me since they were both sick...she was in the delivery room with me. Also, I had a chest cold...talk about pain after having a c-sect!! OUCH!

They spent 4 weeks in the NICU. And are healthy!

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The day I found out March 9,2005

I knew all along that I was carrying twins. I even joked with one of the girls at work right before I went for my US about if she wanted A or B. My sister went with me and I knew the tech from my prior PG. He told me the girl next to me just found out she was having twins...she was so happy. I threatened him with his life if he even thought he was going to pull a "twin" joke on me. He started the normal stuff and then chuckled. I reminded him of the threat when he asked me what I ate for breakfast that morning. My sister could see the screen at that point and blurted out " I think he wants to know if you ate another baby" I cried and cussed. I was SO scared. It was like a dream...

My birth story September 6, 2005

I had a scheduled c/s (37 weeks) and had no problems at all. Alex was born at 2:05 PM and weighed 4lb 7oz, Bell was born at 2:07 and weighed 5lb 13 oz.The babies went to NICU because of breathing problems. They spent a week and Bell came home 24 hours before Alex could. They both came home on apnea monitors but came off of them at 6 weeks.

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MeL
Alyssa-14
Megan-7
Sammy-5
Alex and Bell-2.5

You're Having Twins!

I actually wasn't aware I was pregnant until I was three months along. I had been having problems with a cyst and my periods were irregular. I was even on B/C pills! I remember starting to feel nauseous and attributed it to the pills making my body get all strange. Then I got an infection (female type, sorry TMI) and I was like ok I only get this when I get huge hormonal swings...what's going on?! So I went to the pharmacy and bought two items. A box of Monistat and a pregnancy test. Went home and I took the test first...I was floored! I had suspected but oh boy. I was NOT planning on getting pregnant. I mean why else be on the pills?!

So I go out and buy a big bottle of prenatal pills. I only told one person at first, a cousin I knew I could trust with my little secret. I waited a week and tested again and it seemed to me that the test was lighter than before and I felt dissapointed. I had had three miscarriages in the last 4 years already. Last time the test got lighter and I had lost the pregnancy because the hormones were leaving my body. My cousin said I was being silly, a positive is a positive so make an appointment to get a test at the doctors. So there I go and the test came up a violent bright pink! LOL I was nervous and excited and scared and omg all at the same time.

A week later I had dinner late, around 9pm. Went to bed at 11pm and about two hours later woke up with the weirdest feeling in my stomach. I knew I was going to throw up. So there I went, and I hugged my dear bowl for a good three hours practically non-stop. Now I was worried because I've had stomach problems before and have gone 11 hours throwing up because of it. So I hauled myself off to the ER. Poor taxi driver, I told him you might have to pull over because I don't want to mess up your car. And he had to pull over! Only once though LOL.

Get there and all the fun that ER is at that time in the morning la la la. I remember the stupid nurse at the registration window...oh you're pregnant? Well this is just morning sickness...you should go home and lay down. Um...wtf?! Go away and let me be sick until I get called. So then I DO get called into the main ER to get checked on. Of course I get nauseous as I'm walking in the door. I stand against the wall and tell the other nurse I need a bucket. And she just keeps telling me to follow her, over and over as if I didn't speak english. I wind up throwing up again and it hurts so much I wind up on my knees and STILL she's telling me to get up and follow her. So I yell at her "I CAN'T GET UP YET, LET ME FINISH THROWING UP!" The security guard at the entrance got pissed and I apologized to him but he told me it wasn't me or what I had done he was pissed at. Called the nurse some lovely names which made me feel better.

So an hour of tests and prodding and poking and stinking interns who have no idea what they are doing but doing it anyway (sorry to anyone who's an intern or knows one.) Finally they say let's check on the pregnancy to make sure nothing is wrong and it's going ok. In come two interns with the sonogram machine and they start looking around for the baby. They're standing there arguing with each other over what they see. I remember exactly. "Is that one or two gestational sacks I see?" "I think it's two, you see here? There's one and there's two" "Are you sure, it doesn't look like it" "Yes it's two sacks" "Ma'am did you know you were having twins?"

WHAT?!?!?! NO I DIDN'T KNOW! What a lovely way to find out too LOL So they print me out a copy of the picture. The first baby picture ever for my books. It looked like and alien head with two eyes LOL



Another 5 hours in ER and 2 more in L&D and finally I was sent home and told to watch what I eat!

Did I mention I had used my cellphone camera to take a picture of the sonogram picture and sent it to my mother and asked her if twins run in the family. Yep that's how I told her, while I was still in the ER and she was on vacation in Florida!

I told bf that afternoon when I got home from the ER. Sent him down for crackers and gingerale then sat him down. He said you're pregnant aren't you. I said...yeah but that's not it. It's TWINS.

I still don't think he's over the shocks LOL!

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Birth Story

And so I was right that late Friday night. My water had broken. I actually waited about an hour and a half before making everyone wake up. They kept saying we should go now and I was paranoid of being sent home. So I was nice enough to let them get an hour of sleep. Daddy having just gotten home from a show and grandma to be just having settled in. Heh.

We get to the hospital and up to L&D. Get the usual questions and the minute I say my water broke get tossed into a gown and on the monitors. On a side note...I hate those things, I will not miss them as they itch like heck. They check me and I'm still 2cm and yes there's amnio fluid. I get a student who does all the routine check-up and putting in the IV. Very funny guy, terrible of me I flirted with him! LOL What can I say...there I was trussed up like a turkey and he was cute...bad mommy..

After getting me IVd and all the bloods taken they take me to one of the labor rooms. Nice rooms, very large and pretty with a TV and a shower. So back onto the monitors, mom and bf settle into the chairs to wait. This was at around 4am finally when we settled to wait.

Got frustrating after awhile. Still only was getting weak contractions and very irregular, docs came in a few times to check and still 2cm.

At around 7am bf's mom walks in. He had forgotten to call her back after calling her at 330 in the morning to tell her that there was no babies yet! So now all four of us settle in. More checks, more non progress. Pleh.

At around 11:30 they finally decided that we needed something to be done. So at 12 in the afternoon they put me on pitocin. Started me at 2 ml/hr. Contractions started to come on fairly well after that, nothing painful. I was back laboring after awhile but still didn't hurt like I thought it would. A lot of stomach tightening and backaches. Nurses kept reminding me I could get an epidural if I wanted one. I didn't want to get one until the pain was enough to make me beg for one.

This went on a couple of hours and they kept raising the amount of pitocin. Finally at one check I was 3cm. Woo! 1 whole cm all this time. They finally brought it up to 10 ml/hr. Now the contractions were getting a little painful. No longer just backaches but some painful cramps all around. Yay epidural time! Didn't hurt and I was so sure it would. But wow did it feel nice. I got all loopy and relaxed after all that time being tense. Yucky side effect is that I started to itch like a beast. Oh boy I'm surprised I didn't tear skin off.

So another couple of hours. Now I started to feel a lot of pressure but no pains. I tried to ask for a top off but the anesthesiologist kept saying she can't block the pressure but she could block pain..was it pain? I lied and tried to look pitiful and said yes LOL. She topped the epidural off...but heck it didn't stop the pressure pain. It really started to get unbearable.

Around 5pm I get check again, STILL 3cm. I'm still getting the pressure pain and it's getting bad and I'm wishing for my epidural to come back and make me feel all nice. The attending doctor for the evening comes in and checks the progress and charts and ups the pitocin to 12 ml/hr. Ooooh then the pressure and cramping really started. I was ready to tell everyone to leave the room because all I kept hearing was breathe and focus and la la la la. I couldn't concentrate with two grandmothers to be babbling at me!

Quarter to 7 and I couldn't take the pain anymore and it no longer was just pressure I was feeling sharp cramping pains! I tell the nurse "Get the anesthesiologist now!" So she runs off, the attending comes in and tells me she needs to check me before they let them give me another shot on the epidural. Nice shock for everyone, I'm 9cm! Like hey...wasn't I just 3cm only 2 hours ago?! That was too fast, I'm not ready! Then she tells me, sorry can't give you anymore for the epidural...you're giving birth now and it won't help. Wait wait wait....you mean...no pain killer while I do this?!

Ok ok...pant pant, just breathe don't think about it. All I feel is pressure and pain and they tell me not to push yet to hold on. I can't even think of pushing, I just want it to stop! Poor bf had been sleepy until now, now it's like someone jolted him with electricity. Run me into the OR and him into scrubs.

They break apart my bed, don't even bother with the operating table. Should say they had me give birth in there as a precaution because of the twins. All the while they're telling me how good I'm doing and that soon I'll have my babies. I'm just looking around thinking what the heck am I supposed to do, I've never done this! Finally bf comes in and stands by my head and he becomes like super dad-to-be. We never made it to lamaze but here he is doing his job as a coach as if we had been practicing all month!

Now it comes...time to push. Push they say when you feel contractions, rest in between. Do it when it feels right to do it. So I start. Oh my god! It's not something that just comes naturally I realize. How am I supposed to push, were do I feel which way it goes?! Push down into your behind they say, no no not with your behind into it! Finally I catch the rythm and I know how to do it. I can't feel him moving down and the pressure is still there. I don't feel like I can do this, I want to stop! They keep encouraging me and finally there's his head! It's descended and staying down..push push push. Push through the burn...oooh did that hurt. Then the most amazing feeling...his head is out and I feel his little body slip from my body...it's...indescribable. I can't put in words how it feels. I am so exhausted I just lay back, didn't have time to look at him as they cut his cord and ran him off to clean. Poor bf said no thanks to cutting the cord..too much for him to take LOL. 10-12 pushes and I have a baby boy!

They run in to check on Emma, still head down and heartbeat good. Ok time to push mommy. What? I can't do that again, I'm too tired...I don't think I can. They tell me to take my time. When it feels right, push. I'm lying there thinking they'll have to take her out, there's just no way...then it hits. A nice strong contraction...I start pushing again. I can feel her as I couldn't with Lucas. It's terryfying and elating all at the same time. Push again, she's coming down. One last time and Emma screams her way into the world. This time I wasn't as scared as I was with Lucas, I look down and grab Emma's hand before they take her away.

Daddy runs over to take pictures while I'm being cleaned and the placentas birthed. I can see my babies but they haven't brought them to me yet. Will I get to see them? They think Lucas might have to go to NICU and I'm scared for him. Emma already in the incubator... A nurse is standing by my side telling me what a wonderful job I did and how wonderful the babies look. Then she says look mommy, look at your belly. Hey! Where'd it go?! LOL It was so weird, all deflated and squishy...no babies in there.




They roll me out and I feel torn, I didn't get to see my babies! Will they let me hold them at all? Back in the labor room both new grandmas are crying and hugging me. Finally we hear them coming down the hall, the babies!! The nurse wheels them in, both in one incubator. They're so tiny! I can barely move my hand because of the IV numbing it but I hold each of my babies in turn, touching and meeting them for the first time. Tears, lots of tears.



For some cruel reason they take pictures of me looking like this! LOL They finally take them off to the nursery to leave me to recover before putting me in post-partum. I'm tired but not in the pain I'd thought I'd be. Grandmas leave but bf stays with me another hour. He says he's shell shocked. I'm so proud of him, he was there with me the entire time. He even watched his children being born after saying there was no way he could do that.

So everyone eventually goes home and I get my first night with the twins. They were wonderful and still are. Possibly sleep deprivation talking as they eat so often! Now we just wait as we move into a new chapter of life...being a mommy.

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I'm posting the birth story of our second set of twins first:
Our second set of twins, Heidi&Rosi, were born naturally (vaginally, no drugs) at 40 weeks on 10/19/04:
Our dream births came true!
October 18:
3 PM: After having had “gas pains” and off and on cramping all day (with increasing intensity), I call one of my three OBs to get her opinion on my pain. She gives me the option to head for the hospital straight away or to come to her office to get checked for dilation. I call dh and we both head for the Dr.'s office. The good news is that I am over 5 cm dilated.
As we are leaving the doc’s office, dh and I decide to go grocery shopping, to get all the kids fed and ready for the night and to prepare our room for the baby sitter.
9 PM: All the kids are fed, bathed and happily watching new movies we bought for the occasion in their individual rooms. Dh makes the phone call to our Dr. who is going to meet us at the L&D in 45 minutes.
9:45 PM: After packing up our final few things such as dh’s guitar, songbook, talisman, etc., we arrive at the L&D floor. When evaluated by our Dr., I turn out to be at 7+ cm. I change into my lucky, green gown and lay down in the labor bed for a short fetal heart monitoring session. Dh and I then walk around for quite a while, contractions are still relatively mild.
11:30 PM: Dh and I sing a few favorite songs to pass the time and relax a little. We go for another walk. When checked again, I have not dilated any more and contractions start ebbing off. Fetal monitoring is done again and no signs of distress in the babies. Walking, playing music, walking again, etc…
2:30 AM: I’m getting a little frustrated at the slow progress. Only mild contractions, 10 min apart and still lingering at 7 cm dilation. I tell dh to take a nap in the recliner while I lay down in the labor bed to rest on my side. One minute into the relaxing position, hard contractions start to hit me like a brick, every 2 minutes for over 60 seconds. I tell dh that I’m starting to become very uncomfortable, he rubs my back and feet, holds my hand and breathes with me. Intermittent monitoring which doesn’t show all the strong contractions. Dr. checks cervix and it’s 9 cm. Dr. and nurse leave us again to labor privately but pain becomes so excruciating that I yell for her again to check me just 10 minutes after the last exam. I’m complete and everybody starts rushing. My labor bed is pushed into the OR, dh has to change into the scrubs, I’m yelling for him because I can’t help the urge to push. The doc, dh and the nurse help me switch to the OR table and elevate the back for me. Doc and nurses are still getting changed and utensils ready when the head emerges. I recall them turning around saying “oh, oh, here’s the head, quick”, the body comes out and I see a “small bundle” laying in front of me. It is 3:43 AM on the 19th of October, 2004 when healthy Adelheid Maria Healy (HEIDI) enters the world. Our Dr.immediately puts her to my bare chest and lets the umbilical cord pulsate a while. Dh gets to cut the cord and I get to breastfeed Heidi who is looking around alert. She looks so tiny and pink and has a nice ring to her strong cry. The nurse picks her up to weigh her and she turns out to be a good 7 lbs. 14 ½ ounces. She’s returned to me. Dh and I play with her until the contractions for the second baby’s arrival become too strong to keep Heidi on my chest. In fact, the contractions become as strong as they did with the first baby. The Dr.says the baby is still high up and tells me to push hard with the next contraction. As the pain becomes more intense again, I push as hard as I can to get the baby to descend. I’m wondering why it is so intense…The contractions become so painful that I can hear myself scream “oh my God, oh God”. I’m grabbing on to the back of the OR table, moving it up at the same time I’m kicking in the footrests. Dh and a male nurse bend my knees back to keep me positioned. Finally the head of baby B is about to crown. In my eyes it takes an endless time to get the head OUT. I hear the doc say “keep pushing, you’re doing a great job, the head is halfway out”, I’m saying to myself “WHAT, only halfway out, how long can the head be?”, finally the head is out and I’m still going “oh my God!”, the body follows quickly but not as easily as baby A’s. Then, the entire baby is born at 4:38 AM. I’m still screaming my lungs out. Boy, that was hard. Doc tells us that Rosi was face up, ouch! Baby B is Rosamund Gertrude Healy (ROSI) and she is placed onto my bare chest with her umbilical cord still pulsating before dh gets to cut it. Unlike Heidi, she’s covered in vernix. She’s all greasy but beautiful like her sister. After breastfeeding her, she’s weighed and produces a whopping 9 lbs. ¼ oz.! No wonder the birth was so excruciating. She weighed over one pound more than baby A! The placenta comes out and lookes as one placenta. We chose to take the placenta home with us. So no pathological report.
This was the dream birth(s) of our lives. Everything went according to our birth plan. It started out as a long, latent and active phase which wasn’t too painful and it developed into the shortest but most painful transition phase for each of the babies (since the cervix partly closed after the first baby I had to go through a second transition to fully open it again, plus the way for B wasn‘t really “paved“ since she was so much bigger than A).
Our Hospital is the most modern, yet most natural place to give birth in. Doctors as well as nurses believe in the strength of the female body and encourage women in every possible way to give birth the way they want to. Thank you God, thank you dh and thank you ... Hospital with your professional staff!

NOTE: Dh got to take the placenta home. As he went back to L&D to pick up our refrigerated placenta, he passes the all the nurses with the plastic bucket containing the placenta, saying: ”That’ll be great with a couple of fried onions!” They all backed off, laughing nervously, hahaha! He's always joking!

Another note: The maternity ward staff was just as nice and efficient as the labor staff. In fact, a lot of nurses (even from other departments) came to see the big twins and to double-check if I really gave birth to them naturally. I guess the word got around.

BTW: Our first set of (identical) twins was born naturally, without drugs at 40 weeks as well and they weighed 7-11 lbs and 7-13 lbs.

Me right before the birth:

Me, Heidi and Rosi right after the birth:

Heidi and Rosi right after birth:

Our two sets together at the hospital:

Written on Friday, October 21, 2005 & updated later

I woke up Monday morning, October 17th, 2005, ate my breakfast and watched The View like I normally do. It was drizzling outside and for some reason the day felt different somehow. I felt the Lord wanted me to spend some time with Him so I read a chapter out of The Purpose Driven Life and prayed for many things but mostly for the babies since I knew I was going to be having an NST and an ultrasound that day. I always get a little nervous before these tests. I really felt that the Lord really wanted me to trust in Him no matter what happened that day.
All morning long I kept seeing things I should do just in case I didn't come home that day but thought I was just tripping out.
It was time to leave for my NST at the hospital at 1:30 and I went downstairs and saw that the cat’s food and water bowl were getting low. Again, I thought maybe I should fill those up now because what if I didn’t come home today. I really thought I was scaring myself and I needed to stop thinking these thoughts because God was in control and He would work it all out. Little did I know He was in control and was trying to get through to me but I wasn’t hearing it – duh!
I was wearing a tank top, shorts and sneakers even though it was raining because being pregnant I was always hot. I got to the hospital and it was just sprinkling although it did pour for a little bit on my way there. The nurse that did my NST was really impressed with how quickly the girls passed the test and was very encouraging that the girls were really healthy. I left there at 2:20 to go straight to Dr. Jadali’s for my ultrasound. When I left the hospital it was pouring down rain and of course I hadn’t brought a jacket or an umbrella and being pregnant I really couldn’t run so I tried to walk as fast as I could to get to my car. By the time I got there I was literally dripping wet and had nothing to dry myself off with.
I got to Dr. J’s and used their bathroom and had to use paper towels to dry myself off and wring out my hair. I got right into a room, which never happens and a tech did all my measurements. I noticed she kept doing the same blood flow measurements over and over but I just figured she was unable to get an accurate read. She said everything was good and went to get the doctor so he could look over things. I prayed and thanked God for letting everything go so well that day and then heard the tech and doctor whispering outside the door before coming in. As soon as they came in they started talking in code and the doctor started measuring the same blood flow as the tech had already done a bunch of times. He checked it a few more times and asked me if the girls’ room was ready. I said it was for the most part and he asked me when I wanted to have these babies. I said – November 1st, my c-section date. He said how about the 17th or 18th. I went, but that’s today and he said that the babies needed to come today. I thought he was kidding me but he showed me how the blood flow to Haley’s umbilical cord was higher than it should be and that the flow to her brain was lower than it should be so somehow, somewhere the blood flow was being cut off and she wasn’t getting enough oxygen to the brain. He said they could wait a couple of days at the most but he didn’t want to chance it. I wanted to pass out, cry and break down all at the same time but I couldn’t do any of those.
I went into the hall and called Ken at work and told him that he needed to come to the hospital now because they wanted to take the babies today. He kept repeating – I have to go now, they’re coming now. It’s funny now that I think about it. After that I called my mom at work and told her that she needed to come to the hospital now so I wouldn’t have to be there all by myself freaking out and asked her to stop by the store and get a disposable camera since I had absolutely nothing and since it was raining the traffic was bad and I knew Ken wouldn’t have time to go home and get the camera. I started shaking and kept praying over and over for myself and for peace and most importantly for the babies.
I went back over to the hospital and went to the admissions desk and they asked what I was there for. I was still in total shock and went – I guess I’m having my babies today by c-section at 5:30. She got my name and called up and then sent me up. When I got off the elevator I saw the nurse that had done my NST that day and she couldn’t believe that I was back again. She wanted to know all about what happened and meanwhile took me into a L&D room to prepare me. I changed out of my clothes and they started taking blood and putting in my IV. My mom got there lightening quick and came in the room sobbing. I told her not to be upset because I was going to get upset and I was trying really hard to keep it together. The nurses were SO nice and made me feel so comfortable.
Finally Ken got there and finally around 7ish they took me into the surgery room and did my epidural. Dr. P and Jenny poked their heads in and asked what I wanted to listen to. He said he’d put on a new Rolling Stones cd and I would love it. The first song that came on was No Justice for Ya or something like that. Jenny left and Dr. J came in and then came Ken and my mom and everything happened so fast. Dr. P said that when I felt him tap my stomach it would mean that a baby was out.
Ken was talking to me about my day and telling me about work that day and I starting shaking uncontrollably which they said was normal. I couldn’t even talk because my jaw was chattering so badly. Soon after, I felt the tap and told Ken that a baby was out. He asked how I knew and doubted it because they had just started. Less than a minute later Dr. P poked one baby (Haley) over the top of the sheet and said here’s one baby. She was totally dark blue but started screaming right away. 1 minute later felt the tap again and he poked the other baby (Harley) over the side of the curtain and she too was screaming. Some of the blood and stuff from her sprayed on me but I was in awe and couldn’t care less. I laid there while Ken cut the cords and took pictures and my mom talked with me but I don’t remember about what.
Really soon after that they wheeled me into recovery and I kept shaking and started itching so one of the nurses gave me something for that. My nurse wheeled me in to the NICU so I could see the girls.
Both girls had an Apgar score of 8 and 9 and Harley’s heart rate was high either due to fluid in the lungs or respiratory distress which is common in preemies. (Later we found out that Harley’s sack was really thick and Dr. P wasn’t able to cut through it very quickly so she inhaled some fluid and he ended up scraping her slightly on the bridge of the nose.) Haley’s blood sugar level was low and she was smaller but over all they were doing really well. They told me to expect the girls to have to stay an extra week or so but were very positive.
I then went to my room where Ken hung out and talked with me until about midnight and I tried to sleep but there was so much noise outside my room (I was right across from the nurses station) and my nurse (Susan) kept coming in to check my stats and give me meds and switch out my IV so I really never slept. Sometime in the night it started to rain and the rain on all the sheet metal outside my window (they were building a wing RIGHT outside my window) was so loud it really unnerved me.
The next day I felt great although I was really tired. My first time up I walked fine but I almost passed out so that sucked. My next time was a lot better although I was really tired after having no sleep and almost passing out earlier. I slept for a little bit and then Ken and my mom showed up. They had dinner with me and they went and held the babies for over an hour while I talked on the phone. Ken stayed pretty late and I was finally able to hold Haley but couldn’t hold Harley because she was sleeping. I totaled bawled because she was such a little miracle and I couldn’t believe they were finally there and I could touch them - but tried to keep some composure.
The next day I asked to go home and Dr. P said it was ok. The construction noise was SO loud. I said good-bye to the girls at 10:30 and left the hospital at 11. It was so good to come home!! That was an emotional day though to leave my girls and feel like I was abandoning them. I went back that night with Ken and we got to bathe, weigh and feed Haley and got to feed Harley. I was SO happy! We got to hold them and just stare at them – they were/are so beautiful.

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The day we found out we were having twins - August 26th 2005:

After talking about it for months, Michael and I decided to start trying for a baby when we'd been married for a year, so in April of 2002 we took the plunge. I thought it would happen fast, but was soon disappointed at how difficult of a journey it became for us. Being the sort of person who likes to have all the information possible, I charted my temperature daily and used ovulation predictor tests every month. After a year of doing everything "right" and no positive results, we decided to go to an infertility consultant.

The year of 2003 was a year of testing and tears, DH and I were ready to give up the hope to ever have biological children of our own. I was diagnosed with blocked tubes (both of them) and thankfully, DH's tests all came back fine. I underwent two surgeries to remove scar tissue in mid and late 2003. After my second surgery, my Dr. said our best option would be IVF - he cleared up as much as he could in there, but there was still plenty left.

In early 2004, a day after my 29th birthday, DH and I decided to give IVF a try - we had the money, and our heats were still yierning for a child. IVF #1 failed. I was tired of fighting, tired of feeling like a failure and tired of seeing no positive results out of all the efforts we had done to conceive a child - I thought to myself often "How coudl something so simple and natural be so hard for us to accomplish" then I asked myself if maybe it just wasn't meant to happen. My heart was breaking, and I know DH's was too, we decided to take a mental break from it all and focused on work and family.

After a lot of thinking and soul-searching, DH and I decided to give IVF one more try - a last try. We had 4 Frozen eggs from the first IVF, so we decided to use them. On Friday, July 29, 2005, we had our FET. I had already told myself I wasn't going to bring my hopes up and was really thinking we weren't going to get pregnant once again. 12 days later, on Wednesday, August 10th, I got my very first BFP ever! I was thrilled, my heart was so filled with love and excitment that I didn't even know if I wanted to laugh, cry or scream, or do everything all at the same time! The following Friday, on August 12th, I got a positive BETA of 626!

Two weeks after the positive BETA, I was to come into my RE office to have an ultrasound and make sure everything was on track (rule out ectopic and such). As we are looking at the screen, the technician says "There Baby A" and "There is Baby B" and...that's it, "You are expecting twins!" DH and I almost fainted - we could not believe how blessed we were! One baby is truly a miracle, but two - that is just beyong a blessing!

My Birth Story - March 31st 2006

At my 35 week appointment, my Dr. said that the babies were both transverse and that it was time to schedule a c-section. We went ahead and scheduled it for March 31st - I was going to be 37 weeks and 3 days pregnant then.

We arrived at the hospital at 11:00AM as expected. They ran tests on me and put into a L&D room, attached to all the fetal monitors and the wait to meet our bebies began...

At around 2:00PM, I was wheeled into the OR and had the babies 44 & 45 minutes later. It was love at first site, it really was, I could not believe I was finally a MOM - and I could not believe I was finally holding these two little miracles in my arms!

We went home on April 4th, and my recovery was much better than what I had expected. I wasn't in too much pain as long as I took my medication and tending the babies wasn't as bad most of the time. I was feeling great two weeks later and was already taking walks around the city and Central Park!

Sorry for the novel! :o

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I was 11 weeks pregnant and waiting to go into the U/S room for my first scan. My MIL was coming in with me as dh couldnt get the day off work. My FIL was on a walk a bout with my 17 month old ds.
I get called in and lay on the bed and the sono commented on my huge bump. " are you sure about your dates?" she asked. I told her i was very sure....... my EDD should be June 8th, My BIL's birthday.
Well as she put the wand on my tummy she turned to the other sono who was with her and said something in code......... i didnt understand. They both looked closely at the screen and then turned the screen to me. I saw them both as clear as anything.
" How do you feel about there being 2 in there?" she said........... OMG....... i looked at my MIL who was sat at the foot of the bed. I was nearly crying and she was Bawling her eyes out.
I sat up on the bed in TOTAL shock. My MIL opened the door to go tell my FIL but he wasnt there so she told 3 strangers who was sat waiting for their turn...lol
They carried on with the U/S and i was correct. My EDD was June 8th 01.
They gave me a piccy and I went right round to my mums house to tell my family the good news.
I couldnt get hold of dh so by the time he got home and looked at the piccy the whole world already knew


My pregnancy went completely text book and at 37 weeks i went for a routine exam and the doc made me go to the hospital to stay there until my C.sec which was booked for May 25th at 10am, i would be 38 weeks exactly. Both babies where transverse and there was a risk of the cord coming first if my waters where to break. So i had a full week in the hospital.......... and OMG did i miss my little boy. He came twice a day to visit me but i missed him so bad.
Anyway, at 10 am on the morning of my c.sec i was prepped and taken to theatre. Dh was with me and we knew that twin 1 was a girl, Twin 2 was a suprise. My spinal went in and i never even felt a scratch.
At 10.22 am Emily Jayne was born, full of vernix, crying her eyes out and she weighed 6lbs 14 oz and was 25 inch long. 2 minutes later at 10.24 am Sophie Elizabeth was born, also full of vernix and screaming her head off and she weighed 7 lbs even and was also 25 inch long. Both had apgars of 8 and 9 but about an hour after birth they had to be incubated because their temps had dropped. They only stayed in there for a few hours and they where great. we came home after 3 days.

Your having Twins AGAIN !!!

5 months after loosing our second son Paul-Joe half way through my pregnany we got our . We where over the moon.
Straight away i got morning sickness but it lasted all day just like before.
I think i knew it was twins again then if im honest.
Everyone i knew kept joking with me saying 'what if it was twins again' !!!
Dh wasnt having it at all........... people dont have 2 sets of twins....hahahaha , what a joke !!!
At 12 weeks i got my appt. for my dating scan............ i had worked it out to be May 7th 06. I had done an Ovulation test so i knew exactly when i was due. I got to my appt. and this time my Mum was with me. Dh didnt want to come incase there was something wrong........... he was being a wimp
I lay on the bed and was very anxious......... the last time i was on that bed was when they told me that my baby had no heartbeat.
They put the wand on my tummy and i had my eyes fixed firmly on the screen. I saw them both right away............. I couldnt believe it. I said to my mum..........."i knew it............. there's 2 in there" The sono looked at me and was astonished that i knew what i was looking at.
I was crying and so was my mum and i told the sono that i already had twins. She was amazed. She had worked at that hospital for years and nobody had got 2 sets before.
Everything was great... i got my piccy's, phoned dh right away and he thought i was joking.....HELL NO !!! I stopped off at my dad's works on the way home and shown him his 2 newest grandchildren. He just laughed, kissed me, hugged me and then we all laughed some more.

The Birth

After having a nightmare pregnancy, very sick, Aneamic, Hypothyroidism, Low Vit B 12, Shots in the a$$ every second day for 2 weeks, ankles that should have been on an elephant and a week long stay due to an infection at 36 weeks i was told that i was having another c.sec, booked for April 24th, 38 weeks and 1 day because baby 1 was breech. Again i was having twin girls............ my poor ds
So I came home from hospital on easter Sunday after having spent a week in there for an infection and i felt ok. I got up Monday morning and was having strong BH but nothing to talk about. These lasted all day but i couldnt really time them. I went to bed and had a decent nights sleep. Tuesday morning i got up and went to pee and it lasted for ages......... and then when i stood up to leave the bathroom a little more came out. I thought i had pee'd myself so i changed and carried on with my day.
Wednesday morning, The 19th, My dh's birthday i woke up feeling wierd....... no pains but i just felt strange. I carried on with the day but at 12 noon i was havingvery strong BH....still very irregular though. I rang the hospital to let the MW know and she said had i lost any fluid. I told her about me peeing myself the day before and she wanted me to go right in.
We got there around 2.00pm and was put into an exam room on a monitor. I also had a scan.Both babies where very active so i told dh we would be going home. The Doc came in at 2.50pm and said i had 2 little gymnast's in there and that everything seemed fine but she was going to do an internal to check my waters where still intact.
She did the swab and it came out black..... a sign they had gone. I told her again about me peeing myself after my long pee and she said that was my waters breaking...... and it was about 30 hours ago.
My OB then came to see me, it was 3.15pm and told me i was going to theatre at 4.00pm.
I couldnt believe it. Dh was running all round the room in a panic...... he kept phoning people to tell them that the babies where coming...NOW.
It was so funny watching him in a state......... i was completely calm.
I was taken to a room and prepped for theatre but in those 45 minutes whilst waiting i started having ctx's every 3 minutes. The MW kept checking me and i was dialating fast. It was 3.50pm and i was 8cm. They didnt want me to deliver vaginally because baby #1 was sat on her cord and she was bottom first.
At 4.00pm i got into theatre and the spinal was put in but as they swung my legs onto the bed my waters gushed.....they must have only been leaking before. Amanda, My OB was delivering them and at 16:21 she held Charlotte Grace up to my face. She was beautiful....... all squishy and blood stained and adorable. I cried and kissed her and then she pee'd all over my OB.
Then she went back in for #2............ and at 16:22 out came Olivia Grace. The first thing i noticed where her massive feet. Then i kissed her and cried even more......... another beautiful daughter.
They went and got weighed and Charlotte was 6lbs 10 oz and 21.5 inches long and Olivia weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and was the same length. Both had apgars of 9 and 10.

Charlotte 's first photo

Olivia's first photo
Everyone was fine and 2 days later we all went home.

I cant believe how lucky i am to have all these wonderful, healthy and happy children and i thank the Lord every day for what i have. A Beautiful Son whom i simply cherish and 4 amazingly beautiful daughters. HOW LUCKY AM I ?

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I'm not good at stories but here goes...

I got up one morning to take a pregnancy test. We had only been trying for a couple months and we were not even trying hard. Aunt Flo was late and I had one test. Paul was still in bed. I tested and before I could get the little top back on I saw the pink line. It wasn't faint either. Nice and bright. I told my husband then called my parents. We went to the store to buy another test before telling his parents.

So at 6 1/2 weeks I started feeling icky. Then I started spotting a little. They wanted to do an ultrasound to make sure everything was ok. They had to do an internal because I wasn't far enough along. Paul wasn't concerned so he didn't even go with me. My mom was with me. So the tech was looking and didn't say much. She turned the monitor toward me and showed me one little sac and said... when we look over here there is another one. Then she had both of them on the screen. My first reaction was "holy ****". No wonder I was feeling so sick there were two.

That lead to me having the worse morning (all day) sickness. I wound up spending five days in the hospital and was on TPN for a couple months.

Ultrasound at about 18 weeks showed they were boys... then bad news. The Tech though something was wrong with baby A's heart. They sent me to a peadatric cardiologist. Baby A had a hole in his heart and a small aorta. I was then sent to the University of Michigan.

Baby A which we named David was diagnosed with Hypo-plastic left heart syndrome. Baby B which we named Matthew was just fine.

I had to deliver in Ann Arbor via c-section as my boys were breech thru my whole pregnacy. I delivered David at 10:52am weight 6lb 2oz. Matthew followed at 10:54am 5lb 2oz. David was rushed off to the NICU and Matt stayed with me.

They were born on a Wednesday morning and David had heart surgery the following Monday morning. His surgeon was Dr. Bove the best ped. cardio surgeon in the united states. He was in the PICU for a week, skipped moderate care and went right to general care and came home 10 days after surgery. He was expected to spend three weeks after surgery in the hospital and he was doing so good he was released after 10 days.

We are all home now. Doing great.

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Perfectly planned

Yep that's what life was back in 2001 - perfectly planned. I had graduated from highschool on May 19th 2001 and started College at UCF that fall. I was going to be a vet. I was told at 15 years old that I would never have kids so I didn't worry about it. I was having normal periods and gaining a bit of weight. But I had always spent the summers prior doing marching band so none of it phased me. I wasn't having morning sickness - nothing. So no worries.
Flash forwards to December 2001. I had been dating my boyfriend for over a year at that point and I went for a normal check up at my Dr's office.... pregnant. he guessed about 5 months along. I was crushed - a child wasn't part of the plan.
Went for an ultra sound just three days later. The very first picture I see was two perfect circles. A and B - twins.. Of course I thought my boyfriend would dump me, my parents hate me... I was terrified.
Two weeks later I was on 22hrs a day of bedrest. My boyfriend was amazing during the entire thing. The boys were born April 18, 2002. We were married Sept 22, 2002 and 4 years later we're still together. I've never gotten pregnant since and I still count my boys as a miracle granted to me. Okay maybe life hasn't gone as planned - but it's certainly more fun this way

It’s Twins!

So I went in for a regular check up at 12 weeks, did all the regular stuff-weigh, blood pressure. Then he felt my tummy, he didn’t actually measure me but said that I was feeling a little big for 12 weeks which could be becuz of a few different things-dates could be wrong, big baby, or twins. I told him I was sure of my dates and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was twins (twins run in family-far back, but there). He seamed to not really think it would twins, but he scheduled an u/s to see what was going on. I was so glad to be having u/s becuz I had 2 m/c before I got pg with my son, and at the beginning of my pgcy I had a lot of bleeding, but it stopped and my numbers were good so I hadn’t had a u/s earlier. I’d always wanted twins so I didn’t want to get my hopes up to high, even tho financially I knew it would be tough, I still wanted twins so bad. So I told dh that there was possibility so it wouldn’t be a total shock on the day if it was, we chose not to tell our family’s tho becuz they already thought it was too soon to be pg again (my son just turned 1). So my mom came to my u/s with me to watch my son during the actual u/s. It seemed to take forever for the tech to do all she needed (I don’t know if it’s done the same where y’all are, but here they do all the measurements and everything first with the screen usually turned away so you can’t see-I guess in case something is wrong), so when she finally asked me if I was ready to see I was going crazy. She turned the screen and said “can you see?” Now I could see 2 babies but still didn’t want to get my hopes up incase I was wrong-you know how u/s are, kinda confusing sometimes. I said “I think so”, and she said “this is baby a” (pointing), and this is baby b. I teared up but was so excited and nervous for my mom to see. The tech went and got my mom, and when my mom looked at the screen she couldn’t really tell what anything was, so I told her there were 2 babies and the tech pointed them out-I think she almost fell out of her chair!! (she’s in a wheelchair). I was so excited, I couldn’t wait so show those first pictures of my babies to everyone!

The Day My Twins Were Born

It was Good Friday, I was 37 weeks, I wanted to have those babies!! I had been in and out of the hospital all week, mild contractions, hopes of being induced, but disappointed twice that week. My dr gave me the ok to be induced Friday if L&D wasn’t busy (could have been Wednesday but there were soooooo many women having babies that day that they didn’t have the time to devote to me that my dr wanted). I called the hospital at about 6:30am and they said I was good to go (they knew who I was by now! haha) We got my son over to my parents and were at the hospital around 8am I think. I met the on call ob (unfortunately my dr was off that day) and he was really good. He told me becuz I was being induced I could have the epidural first if I wanted to, so I totally opted for that!! Getting the epidural totally sucked, it took 3 tries cuz it would not go in right. He said it was becuz I was short, my spinal cord is a little compressed making it harder to get the line in. I had the best nurse thru the whole thing tho-she was actually with me thru my whole labor and delivery and she was so great. So after the line was in place they started the on the meds, it was great to not feel anything. They were keeping an eye on me tho becuz my epi was a little high it froze me higher thru the chest, luckily it never affected my breathing. There were times I was having 6 minute contractions-thank goodness I didn’t have to feel those!! I believe all the meds were started by 10am, they checked me around 11:45am and I was only at 3cm (I was 2cm when I went in) so it seemed to be going pretty slow. My MIL and SIL were there with my husband and I, I was trying to get as much rest as I could before I had to start pushing those babies out so at about 12:45pm dh and MIL decided to take a walk and get a drink. As I dozed in and out, I started to feel some pressure so I told my nurse and she checked me and I was 7cm and going fast-that was about 1pm and by 1:10pm I was 10 cm and ready to push. They wheeled me into the OR (they do regular births there in case there is a problem and an emergency c-sec has to be done), got me all ready to go and told me to start pushing if I felt like I needed to. Well dh still wasn’t back so I didn’t want to start pushing at all!! Luckily my SIL was with the whole time and she was great. Finally dh and mil got there at about 1:25pm just as the put a call out for them. DH held my hand and talked to me softly and Ryder Jack Allen was at 1:54pm, they put him right up on my tummy while they cut the cord (something that I didn’t get with my first son) then they took him to be weighed and checked by the ped-he was doing good but his breathing was a little shallow so they took him to the nursery to keep an eye on him. Time for #2. I was pushing her down as best I could, found out the next day that I started bleeding a lot, they figured my placenta was pulling off the uterus, the babies heart rate dropped right down to 38bpm (again didn’t know until the next day-I’m so glad they hide that!) Luckily I had managed to push her down far enough that the dr could get her with the forceps and he got he out right away, fast as possible-Jorja Katherine Marie was brought into the world at 2:09pm, exactly 15 minutes after her brother. She was taken to the table right away but was doing ok, her breathing wasn’t great they took her to the nursery as well. Ryder came back to me almost right away, and Jorja wasn’t too far behind.

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forgot to say that Ryder and Jorja were both 5lbs14oz, he was 20 inches and she 19.5

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Your having twins:

In January 2005 my birth control ran out. I had an appt early February for my 6 month postpartum checkup with my OB, so i figured I would refill then, and just "see what happens" that month. We always had a hard time deciding if we wanted just two children, or to try for the boy.......ANYWAYS, in February i went to my appt., and