At 33 weeks we went for a growth check, and both the boys were measuring about 5 pounds. Rob and I were so grateful. We knew that if they were born right then, they'd survive. We'd gotten farther along than many twin moms, and the end was in sight!
The next few weeks dragged on, as we waited for labor to start. We would have no such luck, however. The growth check at 37 weeks revealed that Baby A had been steadily growing, but Baby B had not. His head had grown, but he hadn't put on any weight. Rob and I knew that this type of failure to thrive was a common problem for twins. As the ultrasound tech struggled to tell us the news, Rob and I smiled knowingly at each other and said, "We get to meet our babies today!" We weren't worried at all. Having made it so far, we expected Baby B's lungs and other vital organs to be developed enough that he wouldn't need to be in the NICU.
An induction was out of the question for us because Baby A was breech, so we walked over to Labor and Delivery where I got prepped for surgery. At the beginning of this pregnancy, the idea of a c-section terrified me. I've never had surgery. I've never even had my wisdom teeth out or broken a bone. When I gave birth to my daughter two years prior, I had a beautiful natural delivery without an epidural. But with half of all twins being born by c-section, it was a possibility with which I had to make peace. I'm so grateful that I had already accomplished that and was able to enter the operating room without any fear.
The epidural was difficult for me. They tried to numb the area where the epidural would go, but it wasn't fully numb when they started to place it. OUCH! They apologized and numbed the area some more, but it was too late. I had felt the needle, and after that I couldn't help but tense up and quiver. It made the whole process long and excruciating. But when it was finally over, I wiped away the tears and found my positive attitude again. I was about to meet my babies!
A nurse helped my husband set up the ipod. When the nurses and surgeons found out that we had chosen a playlist of simple piano music, they were so grateful. Apparently they've heard some strange stuff in the past. Rob and I definitely have our strange music we love, but we wanted our boys to be born to something simple and elegant. And we didn't want our surgeons to be distracted!
The surgery itself was a whirlwind! They didn't waste any time getting those babies out! Big Guy was born at 2:51 pm, weighing in at 6 lbs 14 oz. Little Guy was born a minute later weighing 4 lbs 8 oz. Rob and I cried as soon as we heard our boys cry, and we cried again when they brought Little Guy around to do skin to skin with Rob. Big Guy looked like he was having some trouble breathing, so they took him to the NICU to observe him while the surgeons stitched me up. By the time I was wheeled to the recovery room, they were done observing Big Guy, and they brought him in right after me. There was nothing wrong with him. He was just a little slow to get the hang of breathing.
We were able to do skin to skin and practice nursing while the nurses measured and charted head circumferences and such. Then they wheeled us up to postpartum, and the rest is a story for another blog post!
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