Harper & Tenley's Birth Story

Tuesday, November 23, 2010, Justin and I had the day to ourselves at home.  My mother-in-law, April, had Makenna during the day so that we could do some rearranging and house cleaning.  I really wanted to get the nursery furniture in place, so we spent the morning rearranging in the twins' room.  I think I had Justin move the furniture in every option possible till we finally found one that fit.  After the nursery was arranged, I also wanted to get our room in order.  I wanted to clean the carpet and set up the bassinet and changing table.  I think I new that the girls were coming very soon!!  We spent the afternoon cleaning our bedroom to make room for the girls.  By the end of the day, we were both tired, but I felt much more prepared.

That evening, my parents came to get Makenna to spend the night with them so that Justin and I could go out to dinner to have "one last date" or at least the last one for a while.   We went to Red Lobster for dinner to get our favorite: Parmesan-crusted Tilapia.  During dinner, I was feeling contractions, but I wasn't too worried since I had been feeling them for weeks now.  They were about 10-12 minutes apart but were pretty strong.  We decided that maybe we should go up to the hospital to get my weekly NST (non-stress test).  We figured this would be the last test before the girls were born since I was scheduled to deliver on December 1st.  I also was really curious to see the intensity of my contractions on the machine. 

We got up to Labor & Delivery at about 8:30 pm.  They were pretty busy that night.  One girl that came in had her baby so fast that she didn't even make it to her room.  She was screaming as they wheeled her out of triage and ended up delivering in the hallway!!  Yikes!!  I got hooked up and was monitored for about an hour.  The results actually showed my blood pressure was high.  When the nurse checked with Dr. Wood with my results, Dr. Wood ordered some blood tests to be run.   It came back that there were enzymes in my blood that showed I had signs of preclampsia.  Dr. Wood said she was on her way in to talk to us.  We knew then that we probably wouldn't be leaving.  She arrived and said that we would be delivering!  Ahhh!  I immediately freaked out inside wondering if I was ready!

We had a decision to make.  Dr. Wood said that we could schedule a C-section for first thing the next morning or if both babies were head-down, I could be induced that night, probably delivering the next morning.  She did checked my cervix and I was 3 cm dilated.  Then, she did an ultrasound, and to our surprise, both girls were head-down!  Harper (Baby A) had always been head-down. But Tenley (Baby B) had been head-up.  Tenley was head-down and farther down then she had ever been.  I took that as a sign!  We had always said that if both babies were head-down, that I would try to deliver them vaginally.  I was nervous about it, since I had heard that a lot of times, after delivering one baby vaginally, the other baby would flip, resulting in an emergency c-section.  But we decided to go for it!!

I was taken to my room to get ready to be induced.  Dr. Wood checked my cervix again and I was 4 cm dilated.  I was already beginning to be in labor!  She broke my water at around 2:00 am.  Then we started pitocin.  The next few hours were pretty rough!  The pitocin was causing my contractions to be very strong and close together.  The epidural could not come fast enough!  I finally got the epidural at around 4:00 am.  I was able to relax a little, but not sleep.

At 6:00 am, I about 8 or 9 cm dilated.  By 6:45 am, I was fully dilated and ready to go, feeling a LOT of pressure!  I had to deliver in the operating room just in case I needed an emergency c-section.  I was really nervous to be in that room surrounded by all that equipment.  There were about 14 people all ready to take care of me and my babies!  Dr. Wood was delivering the babies, but Dr. Hjort was also there.  It was comforting that both doctor's were there.  Once I was in the operating room, I didn't have to push long.  I had an epidural, but I still felt a lot and it really burned when Baby A came out.  Harper was born at 7:10 am.  She cried right away! 

Once Harper was born, it was a rush to see if Tenley was going to stay head-down.  Dr. Wood pushed on my stomach as Dr. Hjort did an ultrasound to check her position.  Tenley actually put her arm up after Harper was delivered, so Dr. Wood had to put her arm back down, so that she could come out head first.  While all of that was going on, they were also getting ready for a c-section just in case.  They upped my epidural so that I would feel nothing.  They were able to keep Tenley from flipping and her heart rate was good, so a c-section wasn't needed!!  But after Harper was delivered, I went back down to 8 cm. dilated.  So then we waited.  We were actually chit-chatting about Thanksgiving while we waited!  After probably 30-45 minutes, I was 10 cm again.  But because my epidural had been upped, I couldn't feel to push.  It took a lot longer to push because of that.  Dr. Wood and Dr. Hjort were so encouraging!  Finally, I delivered Tenley at 8:08 am.  She didn't want to cry right away, so they immediatly took her to the side to give her oxygen.  And then she cried! 

Holding my girls for the first time! 

We were tremendously blessed with a good delivery and two healthy baby girls!