My birth story!

December 31, 2011 7:05 am and we are out the door. We get there right about 7:25. They get us back to the labor and delivery room. It was very nice- huge. My mom and brother were there, my husband, and my IPs. We were all very comfy. They started my Pitocin at about 8:30(it took forever, they said I had tiny rolling veins). She started at level one- she said there were 30 levels and since I was dilated to 2cm and 70%, she thought I would only need to go to 15. She upped the does by one step every 15 minutes. Before you knew it, we were at level 14, I was in no pain, and I was progressing super slowly! So up to 15 we went and just as she predicted, that was the magic number(for pain anyway). So I chose to go ahead and get the epidural and enjoy the rest of the dilating process. I was told I had to get it anyway since there was a risk of c-section if twin B decided to flip. I can’t exactly recall when this was, but I was only a 4 or so and I figured that I had about 6 cm/hours left. At about 7pm, I am in pain. My epidural is no longer working. I tell the nurse and she looks at me like I am lying(why would I lie?) and she says okay and to wait 30 minutes and she will give me a bolas(sp?). Well 30 minutes pass and the pain is worse so she calls in the anesthesiologist. He checked the line and upped the meds and also gave me an extra dose. He says to give it a few minutes. So I suck it up and the next time she comes in, the pain is unbearable. I feel like I am going to throw up and I know something is not right. So I ask her to check me and sure enough I was 9.5cm. So this is when the craziness began. I ended up choosing my IPs to be in the OR if it was a vaginal delivery and for my DH to be in there if it was a c-section. So everyone had to be in scrubs. They were wheeling me down to the OR and getting me ready to push and I was waiting for my IPs. I knew that baby A was a girl and my IM had previously lost twin girls and I wanted her to be front and center for this little girl’s arrival. So when my OB told me to push I said no way that I needed the parents in there. So they came in and on the next contraction, Baby Brehn made her entrance into the world. You know that look that you imagine your entire journey- your IM/IF in tears, love, joy, indescribable happiness? Well the look was just that. I stared crying right then and there. I couldn’t see my IF, but he assured me that the look was exactly the same. After she was born, my cervix decided to make its way back to an 8 and baby B was a little high so my OB turned off the (non-working)epidural and upped the Pitocin to 30. And then he left and delivered 2 other babies. Since the delivery team was pretty sure that all was going to go as planned, they allowed my DH to be back there to deliver baby B. Then the OB came back and within 2 contractions, Baby Brooks made his way into the world. He was a little slow to cry and was whisked away. As they were checking for tears/rips(there were none) and getting the placenta out(huge and blue with 2 nice cords) baby Brooks was brought back into the room with a clean bill of health. Baby Brehn was born at 9:28pm weighing 5lb7oz and Baby Brooks was born at 11:16pm weighing 6lb3oz. 

I went home with my IPs after about 36 hours in the hospital and was able to breastfeed and spend a week with them. Both babies are growing and doing wonderfully. Leaving them today was a bittersweet experience. I love them all(IPs included) and will miss them terribly. Fortunately we already have plans for the future and I am pumping for them for as long as I can. I have decided to think of this as a beginning- not an ending. This journey was everything plus more. I don’t know if I will do it again, but I wouldn’t change a single thing.