Friday, March 20, 2009

Birth Story

Sorry this has come so late, but I had a really horrible day yesterday until we finally found a pain medication that works. :-) And now I'm a new woman! So, here's what went down Wednesday morning. This is not for the faint of heart.

I was having contractions late Tuesday night. They were somewhat painful and coming somewhat regularly, but nothing I couldn't handle. I finally went to bed around 2am and woke to more contractions at 5am. I was doing fine until 6am when I experienced the most horrifying pain I've ever had to experience. I thought that maybe I was going through transition (already??) but I had no relief in between contractions. The pain was worse (if that's possible) during contractions, but it was still a "30" on the 0-10 pain scale. I was also very dizzy & lightheaded. I woke my hubby and we were out of the house by 6:15am. I was taken right up to labor & delivery where they hooked me up and tried to find the babies heartbeats. They had a very tough time getting the heartbeats, so they brought in an ultrasound to help. My blood pressure was also quite low (70/40). Meanwhile I was begging for pain relief...it was just too intese. (And this from the same person who was planning for a natural, vaginal birth.) When they got the babies' heart rates, Baby A was at 110 and Baby B at 95--normal is in the 140 range. The OB basically said that they needed to do a C-Section immediately and I was like "where do I sign"? (This once again coming from the same person who was planning for a natural, vaginal birth.) My husband had gone home where he had forgotten the cord blood kits (which were never used), so he didn't realize I had gone in for the C-Section until he got back.

In the C-Section room they tried to give me a spinal, but they were having a hard time and the OB had a feeling that Baby B's placenta had separated from the uterine wall (aka abruptio placenta), which means mandatory general anesthesea. (That being the one thing I wanted to avoid most of all, but I had no choice in the matter.) So while I was sleeping, the doctors were in hell. I was bleeding a lot, but the first thing they had to do was deliver the twins. They were born within a minute of each other (7:28 & 7:29am), but Baby B wasn't really breathing for almost 5 minutes. Baby A's APGAR scores were 3 and 8, Baby B's were 1 and 7. Not so good. And I was bleeding...a lot. Dr. Testa (aka the man who saved at least 3 lives on Wednesday) thought maybe my uterus had ruptured. Thank G-d that was not the case, but there was an artery on the outside wall of the uterus that was bleeding into my abdomen. My OB (Dr. Rabin) said that this ruptured artery was a complication of surgery and not of the pregnancy/birth, but I lost a ton of blood in either case.

Anyway, they worked on me for about two hours after the twins were born trying to get the bleeding stopped. When they finally closed me up, I was sent to general anesthesea recovery. Later on they transferred me to the ICU, then to labor & delivery and finally to a postpartum room. The doctors were surprised that I was doing so well seeing that I had lost about a pint & a half of blood and receieved 4-5 units of blood. Thank G-d I'm fine now and the babies are doing great! I'll have more updates with pictures later, but it's time for Shabbos soon and I must be off.

Check out my brother-in-law's blog if you'd like to see pictures now.

24 comments:

  1. They are beautiful! So glad everyone is doing so well after such a scare...

    Are you planning on sharing their names with us?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, glad you are doing ok now. The pictures are darling. Can't wait to see more.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am so happy that you are all doing well. What a scary time that must have been for you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a day for you- I'm so glad they reacted (acted) so quickly & everything seems to be fine now. The babies are beautiful & I hope you are all a-okay soon!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh...that sounds really hectic! And I am glad that everything worked out so well finally.

    I hope you are not in pain anymore and the babies are doing great!

    Be good and take care!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Elana,

    Wow. So very glad you all made it! Sounds like a close call. Rest up and heal and CONGRATULATIONS!

    Mo

    ReplyDelete
  7. Goodness! What a scary and chaotic experience! But you and the babies came out good and that is all that matters.

    They are precious! I am so happy to have met them!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Of course I had to click through. They are precious. . .and so worth the wait.

    Congratulations!

    Jo

    ReplyDelete
  9. Congratulations! I went to see the pictures and they are so beautiful!

    ICLW

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow - so scary. I'm glad all is well. Funny how you were able to get so much blood - they were only able to give me 2 units of blood because I lost so much, putting more than 2 units would increase the new blood to be more than my own blood, causing too much risk. But regardless, thank goodness you and the babies made it through safe and soundly.

    (and can I tell you now about how you totally will not ned a doula with a twin birth? ~wink~)

    Love ya girl. And woohoo and those gorgeous babies of yours!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. OMG, I can't believe I'm just reading this now! It must have been terrible but I'm glad the outcome is good. I'm off to view the pictures now! Congrats!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. That is beyond scary! I hope you and the babies are recovering quickly.

    They are adorable.

    ICOM

    ReplyDelete
  13. I'm glad that you are all doing well after such a scary situation. Your babies are beautiful!

    ICLW

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wow, what a birth story. They are beautiful. ~ICLW

    ReplyDelete
  15. Here from ICLW

    COngratulations on the birth of your twins! They are beautiful. :-)

    I am so glad everyone is doing well after such a scary birth.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Mazel Tov to my courageous sister-in-law and her two beautiful miracles. Refuah Shlemah! (When is the bris????)
    I hope to be the favorite auntie on the father's side :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm so glad you are doing well, particularly after the twins' scary entry into the world! Congratulations on your two new gorgeous children.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Awww, they are so precious.
    Congrats.
    Tho things didn't go as planned, I'm glad they went as good as they did and youre all okay.

    ReplyDelete
  19. How scary but the only thing that really matters is that you are all alive and well. NO wonder you were in so much pain. I think if you had an uncomplicated labor you would have been able to endure the pain...but something was wrong and the pain is your body's way of telling you that.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Popping in from the crème de la crème list.

    This birth story makes my blood run cold. Thank goodness for modern medicine.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Wow, also just popping in from creme de la creme. Glad to hear you are all alright!

    ReplyDelete
  22. also just popping across from creme de la creme. Wow, glad to hear you guys are all OK!

    ReplyDelete