The boys have been here for almost three weeks and I'm afraid that I am going to quickly forget all of the details of their birth given the lack of sleep that I've had. Hopefully I can remember all of the details of that night.
On December 20th I went in for my last appointment with the doctor. That day I actually saw his PA. I had hoped that I wouldn't actually have to have this appointment because the babies would already be here. My mom had been in town since the 15th and was leaving the next day. I really didn't want her to leave without meeting them first. I knew she would be back in two weeks, but there is just something really special about seeing newborns that are so fresh from heaven.
I started my appointment doing a non-stress test. The babies passed just fine, but my blood pressure was slightly elevated on the top each time they tested it. I thought this might be a way to get me admitted that day. Next I went to the basement of the hospital to radiology and had an ultrasound. During this test the babies had to pass off a few things like movements and breathing. Baby B did great and passed easily, but Baby A only did 10 seconds of practice breathing instead of 30 seconds and was still breech. I thought this would also be a way to get me admitted that day since a C section was inevitable anyway.
When I went back up to see the PA and she checked my cervix I was only dilated to a 2. After consulting with Dr. Hennesy she said that we were still going to "wait it out"and let my body go into labor naturally and then do a C section. I left feeling really bummed. It was dinner time by the time I left and we had dinner and got the kids ready for bed. They each opened up a present from Grandma as this was the last night that she would be there and we glued together a nativity set that I had growing up.
Gracie said a prayer that the babies would come that night so that Grandma could see them before she left...
Well...her prayer worked! I was feeling a little crampy all evening after my appointment but I figured that was probably just due to being big and uncomfortable. I mean I did have 12 lbs of baby in there after all. I was starting to get really uncomfortable and not able to do much.
I finally settled into bed about 11:00pm and fell asleep timing contractions that were about 10 minutes apart. At 12:20am I awoke to my water breaking in bed. I'm not sure why it always happens this way, but this has been the case with 4 out of my 6 pregnancies. Laying down at night always seems to trigger my water to break.
I jumped in the shower to rinse off and put on some new clothes. At this point, the contractions were about every 5 minutes and were getting a bit more intense. My other babies were born 6-24 hours after my water broke so I figured we had tons of time. We woke up my mom and told her we were leaving for the hospital. On the 20 minute drive to the hospital the contractions were about 3 minutes apart and by the time they checked me at the hospital I was dilated to 6 cm and the doctor could feel a hand and bum coming down. When the doctor (who ended up being an on-call doctor named Dr Opoku, since it was the middle of the night) saw what was going on with an ultrasound, everything started moving a little faster.
The nurses were prepping me quickly for the operating room. That was quite a different experience from my other children as they were all born vaginally I was used to waiting around for things to happen. Shad was given scrubs and they assured him into another room while I went into the OR. They told him "you may think that we have forgotten about you after a while, but we haven't." He later told me that he was in there for 45 minutes although it didn't feel that long to me. He took a bunch of pictures to keep him distracted.
In the OR the anesthesiologist came and gave me a spinal block. During that time the nurses were commenting on how calm I was. I asked them if I was supposed to be freaking out. I commented that they probably get all kinds of people in the operating room. I am just not an anxious person so I felt calm and collected the whole time even though it was all totally new to me. They also checked my blood sugar since I was a gestational diabetic. They were surprised to find that my blood sugar was actually LOW at only 56 and had to give me some glucose to bring it up so they could operate.
It's a good thing I don't get anxious because when the spinal block wasn't working and I felt everything when they started pinching me I really should have panicked. When the anesthesiologist said "let's do a test cut" I said "um, nope. I can still feel that." Right after that, I don't remember much. Since the spinal wasn't taking well he gave me a general anesthetic to knock me out a little. I felt like I was having an out of body experience. All I remember is having a blue sheet in front of my face, my head was spinning, and I could hear Shad's voice with babies crying in the background.
I repeated in my mind over and over "you are having babies, you are here because you are having babies right now." I wanted to talk but I didn't feel like I could make cohesive sentences. I felt totally sedated. This was a completely different experience as I was used to pushing out the babies and having them laid on my chest and being aware of everything.
By the time I saw the babies and they brought them up to my head I was finally able to talk, although I still felt like I wasn't making much sense. Later Shad told me that when he came into the room he came to say hi to me and I stared blankly and him like I didn't even know he was there. He squeezed my hand and I didn't squeeze back. It's a good thing that the babies came out right after that because I think his anxiety would have gone crazy if not. Right when they came out he was snapping pictures so there wasn't any time to pass out.
Chapman Durfee Anderson (left) was born first at 2:01am weighing 5lbs 14oz.
Tennyson Ray Anderson (right) was born at 2:02 am weighing 6lbs 4oz.
The NICU nurses were there but left shortly after as neither of the boys required any help from them. they both didn't have any issues and I was able to nurse them right after leaving the operating room. It was quite a different experience trying to juggle two tiny babies and getting them to nurse but I was eventually able to get them both to latch at the same time.
They look so different from each other. With them being in two separate sacks with two different placentas I knew that they would most likely be fraternal twins but I also knew that there was a 30% chance that they could still be identical. However, after seeing them for the first time I knew that they were FOR SURE not identical. They are actually almost complete opposites of each other. In our family, we seem to have two different molds and Chapman was from one mold and Tennyson from the other. The interesting thing too is that Chapman reminds me more of Shad's family and was named after ancestors in his family line and Tennyson looks more like my family and was named after my ancestors. We had their names picked out long before we saw them, so I thought that was interesting.
After a few minutes in the recovery room, they wheeled me up into my room on the 11th floor. I was able to sleep a little, but not much. I was pretty exhausted when the kids showed up to see the babies that morning. They missed school and my mom brought them to the hospital. When my mom walked into the room she got a little teary-eyed. I was really glad that they were born before she left that night. Luckily the hospital didn't have any restrictions on visitors yet, even with it being flu season. They started the restrictions on January 2nd so we were lucky.
The kids absolutely adored the babies, except for Ruby who didn't seem to care at all and just wanted to see me. Haken and Jack especially loved holding them. I thought about how cool it must be for them because they are old enough that they will actually remember them being born and having baby brothers. When my sister was born I was only 2.5 and I don't remember anything.
My mom stayed with me all that day at the hospital and Shad took the kids to school. I figured it was probably better for her to spend the entire day with these new babies before she left that evening. I nursed them both separately all day which was fine because I didn't have anything else to do while I was there anyway.
I actually enjoy my hospital stays after I have babies because I have time to relax, order room service and not worry about the daily things I need to do. The only downside is the nurses coming in constantly and the fact that they don't have a nursery for me to send the babies off to so I can get a good night's sleep. I always liked doing that with my other kids. Not having a nursery is a fairly new thing I think.
My mom's flight left at 6:00pm that night, so the first night there I had Monica come stay with me so Shad could get a good night's sleep at home. The first night was a little rough as Chap was really struggling to sleep. Monica was holding him for hours trying to get him to quiet down. She was worried he was waking me up. I was so grateful to have her there as there was no way that I was going to be getting up and down by myself to get the babies for feedings.
The incision was another thing I was not used to with having a C-section. It felt like every move or twist that I made was tearing it apart. It would burn every time I tried to shift positions. I had medicine to keep the pain under control. It was actually fine until they had me get out of bed the next afternoon and walk around. I hunched over and didn't feel like I could stand up straight without tearing it open.
Shad came the next day and stayed with me while the kids went to the Bednars. They had so much fun playing with them all day long.
That evening YSA friend Steph took over and put them to bed at our house and stayed the night. That day was a great day for Shad and I getting to know the babies and having a "celebration dinner" together in the hospital.
Right before lunch that day I got up and took a shower. I was feeling really good but still sore. I was anxious to get all of the bandages off of my incision and the water helped with that. As I was taking the bandages off I started to feel light headed. I sat down and called for Shad telling him my blood sugar was dropping. He called a nurse from the hallway and all of the sudden it was code red out in the hallway. A nurse came and snapped something in front of my nose to keep me from passing out and then gave me a juice box and lots of snacks. It was kind of embarrassing but I was glad that I didn't actually pass out and make it worse. I was surprised that my blood sugar was low as I was dealing with highs during my pregnancy. I think my body was trying to adjust to not having babies in there. During the rest of my hospital stay I had to eat more frequently to keep my blood sugar up.
The babies were also monitored for low blood sugars as that frequently happens with babies of gestational diabetics. Tenny had a slightly low blood sugar reading but after having some supplemental formula he came up just fine on the next feeding. The boys checked out just great on all of their screenings and finally got to have a bath.
On Sunday morning Steph took the kids to church. We were discharged from the hospital about 1:00 and headed home. I had a pretty bad headache, but I figured this was probably due to the blood sugars I was dealing with. The drugs kept it at bay well enough, however, right before we left it was pretty bad but I was determined to check out. I did not want to be there on Christmas Eve which was the next day.
In the car on the way home, I had to close my eyes and keep my head down. The sun was so bright and my head was pounding. I have never had a migraine before but that must have been what they are like. When we got home I decided I was going to say hello to everyone, including Sister Carter who was there taking care of the kids and dropping off dinner, and then head straight to bed. My head was pounding as I climbed in bed. I left all seven kids with Shad downstairs and I took a 2-hour nap. When I woke up I sat up but my head was still pounding. I realized after looking online that I was probably experiencing a spinal headache from the spinal block I had at surgery. They usually appear about 24 hours afterward so that made sense.
That night James came and gave me a priesthood blessing as well as Gracie who was not feeling well either. She had a terrible cough, red eyes, and runny nose. I was really worried about how that night would go as I had to still get up and feed the babies even with my headache. I woke up two hours later to feed the babies and my headache was completely gone. I was so grateful for that priesthood blessing. I had read online that spinal headaches could last up to a week and I knew I wouldn't be able to function with that headache.
I am so grateful that everything went so well with the delivery and now at three weeks I really feel almost normal. Recovery from a C section has been very different and taken a lot longer but we have had so much help that it hasn't been as big of a burden for us. Nicole came the day after Christmas and stayed for 10 days and that was super helpful. I don't know how I would have survived that first week without help. She helped to keep everything under control so that I could rest and take care of the babies. We also had meal after meal come in from friends, bags of groceries, and boxes of diapers dropped off. We are feeling very loved and blessed after having these boys. We really do have the best friends surrounding us right now. I can't even keep track of all of the thank you notes that I need to write.
We are completely in love with these boys and are loving getting to know them each individually.
