What Happened?
Roughly three and a half years ago, something happened that completely changed my life. No, deeper than that, it changed everything I ate and how I slept. It changed every thought of every day, every fibre of my being, it change my heart. It changed me.
In short, I became a mother. A mother to not only one baby, but twins.
A beautiful boy and a gorgeous girl.
When Did It Start?
I remember it started two weeks earlier when we went to a routine ultrasound. I was 32 weeks along, to the day, and the ultrasound lady told me that my cervix was 2cm dilated, I was in labour and I had to to go to the hospital ASAP!
Way to freak a girl out!
So in I go….it turns out, I was not ‘in labour’, however a dilated cervix is very serious, and they put me on complete bed rest, first in hospital for a few nights, and then at home.
While I was in hospital, they wheeled me in a wheelchair around the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), where all the premature or sick babies go. I was crying by the end of it. Like heavily sobbing! These babies were so small and fragile, it really, really scared me! I made a decision that my babies would not have to go to a place like this. It was scary, it had loud beeps, and the babies had tubes going in and out of them. Nope, my babies would be good and stay in my womb until it was the perfect time to come out. They would then grow up completely obedient, they would be good sleepers, eat everything I put in front of them, the boy would learn the bagpipes, the girl the harp….I had their lives planned! Oh man, I no idea!
(So, before I go on, my opinion of the NICU has completely changed!!! *Spoiler Alert* They were born early, so we had a lot to do with the NICU. I seriously feel like it is a place that is so close to heaven, and the nurses that work there are angels. I’m actually tearing up as I type this! So don’t give up hope if you are reading this and at risk of preterm labor! However that will all be in another post!)
Back to the story…days went by, and I stayed in my favourite place in the world – bed! I really wish I had appreciated it more fully! I remember going absolutely stir crazy, and wanting to do anything except staying in bed! I wanted to decorate, cook, clean, and go hiking, but I was allowed to go to the toilet and that was it. Aaaaaaargh! I tried to write some letters, I watched a bit of TV – ‘White Collar’ was the flavour of the month, and I think maybe ‘Candy Crush’ was still pretty new…
So, two weeks later at 33 weeks and 6 days, Pete and I were still watching White Collar…
I’m sure you have all heard of Braxton Hicks – those mini contractions that pregnant women get toward the end of their pregnancy…well I had them from VERY early on. I can’t remember when they started, but it was far earlier than normal (twins remember…)! So when I was having contractions late on this Friday afternoon, we timed them, but as they were very irregular, we thought they must still be Braxton Hicks (once they are regular, intense and five minutes apart – the general rule is to head to hospital!). But ours were seven minutes apart, five minutes apart, three minutes apart and then seven minutes apart. You can see why we were confused!
We would be watching ‘White Collar’ under the doona, then I would feel the contractions. As soon as I felt them begin, I would say ‘Pete!’ and he knew what to do!
He would pause ‘White collar’, rip off the blanket, turn on the fan and start the stopwatch on his phone. What a gem!
Then the intensity of the contraction would increase and we would both just will it to go away, as I was still at 34 weeks and we were hoping we still had ages to go! Remember I was determined they wouldn’t go to the NICU!
The intensity would then decrease, and as it finished, he would pause the timer, turn the fan off, cover me with the doona and start our show.
This went on for hours!
It was a long night….
The Day of…
The next morning there was a tiny, as in minuscule dot of blood in my undies, so we thought we should head in to hospital around 10am, just in case.
And boy were we right to do so! Once there and checked out, the registrar let us know that I was 8cm dilated!!! What?!?!?
I then asked if we should go home and wait until a few days pass. (I wanted to keep them in!)
‘No, you gotta have the baby today!’ she said. ?
They told us that because I had twins in my tummy, the contractions would never be even, as the uterus has a non uniform shape with two babies in it. (Crucial information that would have been great to know earlier!) Also because of the twins, I would have to have an epidural, just incase they have trouble getting the second baby out naturally. If this is the case, they can just up the epidural dosage and rush you in for a cesarian for the second bub. (Can you imagine recovering from a natural labour AND a cesarian at the same time!??!?! That is still one of my top 20 worst nightmares!) Their only other option, mid way through labor to do a cesarian, is to completely knock you out, and then you would be asleep for the baby’s birth!
So an epidural it was…
The Epidural…
I HATE needles! Hate, hate, hate them! And I had heard some epidural horror stories. Honestly, the epidural scared me more than labor!
But the epidural went in anyway, at about 3pm I think? The saddest thing about this was that our health cover didn’t kick in until four days after the twins were born. (Would you believe it?! I missed a couple of payments when I married and moved, so they reset the waiting period!!!! Also, if we went full term, it wouldn’t have been a problem!)
So that meant that I had the student give me the epidural. Bless him, he was a sweetheart and came to visit me the following week regularly. And it was probably my own fault anyway…
He gave me some anaesthetic, and said that I wouldn’t feel the next mega huge needle about to plunge it’s way into my spine. I did though. And I jumped! ? Pretty much the only thing you shouldn’t do when getting an epidural, or any needle for that matter…
I ended up having the spinal headaches which only 0.2% of people get from epidurals. They are pretty much like death… anyway, I’ll cover them in the post birth post…
So they eventually got the epidural in and I was on the bed, ready for the best few hours of my life! I told them I didn’t want the epidural so strong that I couldn’t feel when to push etc, so it took a few hours and a bit of fiddling with my drugs to get to a good place. I remember everything going black once, due to the drugs and lying on my back…so I had to give birth on my side!
Then they broke my waters…
Who was there?
So it was a party! I joke that the only thing missing was a disco ball! There was music, people, people dressed as nurses, laughter and I’m sure someone was snacking somewhere!
So…there was:
- Myself (Rockstar)
- Peter (Sidekick)
- My Sister in Law Trini (Best leg holder in the universe!)
- The Registrar, the most lovely Indian woman, who’s accent has made me remember some of the things she said EXACTLY! (Remember our healthcare hadn’t kicked in yet and our obstetricion was out of town)
- Nurse 1(Lovely lady)
- Nurse 2 (Can’t remember her)
- Student nurse (Very cool lady, now FB friend)
- Pedeatrition 1 for baby 1
- Pedeatrition 2 for baby 1
- Student Pedeatrition for baby 1
- Pedeatrition 1 for baby 2
- Pedeatrition 2 for baby 2
- Student Pedeatrition for baby 2
- Oh and then Walter (Baby 1)
- ….and Victoria (Baby 2)
There was 15 by the end of it! Needless to say, a simple internal ultrasound is a no-biggy for me now!
How funny is this meme below?! This is what I feared it would be like!
Labour… (Slightly Intense Reading)
Well actually Tori’s hand came out first. She just wanted to wave to the world and say hello! But anyone that has had a baby knows that you really want the head to come out first, to widen the birth canal for everything else. So after saying hi and letting me shake my little girls hand, they shoved it right back in there and pulled her head around. (I’m positive the registrar did it with her hands as no forceps were used and I can’t think how else it was done!)
And thus began the pushing – around 6pm I think…(it has been 3 years! I wish I had written it down when it was fresher…but good luck with that)
It was so funny, I felt like a superstar! Every time I pushed, everyone in the room would cheer and clap and say how awesome I was at pushing. Trini, my SIL held my leg up to give me something to push against. Pete was down videoing all the action, of which we have watched about one minute, you will understand why later.
Tori was the bigger twin, and I was so lucky that she was the one facing downward and closer to being engaged with the cervix, as obviously it’s best if the bigger baby comes out first, and makes way for the smaller one. Once one baby is out, the pressure in your tummy is a lot lower, so you really need the canal to be bigger than the second baby. You can still have a natural delivery (as opposed to cesarian) if Baby 1 is only a certain percentage lighter than baby 2…
Now…for my big secret…
Someone (probably Trini) gave me the most amazing advice for pushing. Hence why I was a superstar!
I thought, and I think a lot of women think that you need to push from your pelvic floor, or as if you are trying to push your ovaries out…however, it’s way better if you push as if you are doing a really big number 2! No joke! Even though it doesn’t make sense, I swear by it! I did it from my first push, to my last, and everyone said that every push made such a huge difference! So if you are going into labour soon, of if you are ever going to have a baby…remember that!!!
Pushing was hard work, even with the epidural. I was doing great, but I remember it was very tiring! I remember stopping, or not pushing as hard, and our lovely registrar, who had been really accomodating up to that point, said somewhat sternly that the baby really needed to come out quickly… Eeeeek!
The Birth…Ooops, I mean Births
So I got a second wind, and pushed and pushed and pushed, and then all of a sudden – there she was! My little, perfect, gorgeous baby girl! She was the bigger of the two, so I think they did bring her up to me and let me have a very brief cuddle before she was wisked onto a table next to me. In my memory she was looking at me from the table…but I’m really doubting that now as her eyes were very closed for a long time after birth. Anyway I was gazing at Tori – oops, the girl baby or Baby 1, as she was then known, and I just couldn’t believe she was mine! I had finally done it! I had given birth, and she was alive!
I was a mother!
‘Hey! You gotta concentrate! You’ve still got another baby in here, you’ve gotta push out!!!’ said our lovely registrar in her wonderful Indian accent! It jolted me to the the present, and to the reality that I had to do it all over again!
The register had to put her hand up inside, to swing Wally around, as he was still facing upwards. Often the second baby will swing around naturally once the first baby comes out, however he needed a little help. Once his head was engaged, it only took two pushes, and then I couldn’t keep him in!
I said ‘He’s coming he’s coming! I can’t stop him!’
He was a slippery little sucker! He pretty much gushed out. The doctors and everyone in the room were really amazed, surprised, and they were getting really excited. I wondered what all the commotion was, and it turns out Wally came out ‘in his waters’, or in his umbilical sack of fluid!
They thought it was the coolest thing ever, most of them had never seen it, only heard about it. They said that he would be a Sailor or a really good swimmer or something…
By this time, Tori was wrapped in about five blankets and given the ok…
So concentrate here…I don’t know how he did it. Somehow, Pete was holding Tori, videoing everything and cutting Wally’s umbilical chord! Whaaat?!?!?! And we have video evidence to prove it! But that is Pete through and through right?
I was worried, because from my glimpses, Wally looked so much smaller than Tori. Before I was allowed to hold him, they whisked him onto the table to analyze him.
The placenta then came out with the umbilical cords. The two were like chalk and cheese! Tori’s umbilical chord was beautiful, smooth, fatty and thick. Wally’s was ugly, knobbled, veiny and thin. This only added to my worries about poor baby 2.
I remember asking Trini if he was OK. I was so scared that he wouldn’t make it!
Trini then replied ‘Sweetie, he just peed on the doctor, he’s fine!’
Finally they were both brought over for our first proper cuddles. There were my two, gorgeous little bubbas, fresh from heaven! Nameless and small but so completely perfect, they had our hearts and always will.
Introducing Walter Stewart and Victoria Stewart…
At 34 weeks to the day, 6 weeks early, Victoria Stewart and Walter Stewart were born. Tori at 6:45pm, weighing roughly 2.3kg and Wally, 11 minutes later at 6:56pm, weighing 2.3kg. Lol Pete weighed more than them combined at birth!
There were a few bumps in the road ahead, before we could take them home, but is another story. All was well in that brief gorgeous moment. Ahhhh!
And they all lived happily ever after…
Well actually….
To be continued….
Thanks so much for reading and I hope this can help some of you, even if it is to get the anaesthetist to check if the area is numb before putting in the epidural!
I would love to hear your birth stories too! Comment below or on socials!
