We arrived at the hospital at 6:30 a.m. for our induction. As long as the boys were head down, we were going to attempt a vaginal delivery. The doctor did an ultrasound right away to determine that the boys were head down. Then, Dr. Brennan broke one of their bags of waters and I started Pitocin. I was already to 3 cm, which seemed really far when compared to Monroe's labor.
My progress was slow and steady after that. Every time they checked me, I had dilated another centimeter, but the checks were being done only every few hours. Around 5 or 6 cm I decided I was ready for the epidural. I had to have one for later anyway, so putting it off seemed pointless.
I wasn't getting much of any relief from the epidural, so after an hour or so, they decided to come in and redo it. My second one worked wonderfully, until it stopped working. We called the anesthesiologist again, but by then I was to 10 cm, so he couldn't do it a third time. He gave me a pep talk about women having unmedicated births for thousands of years, and then he told me he'd see me at delivery.
In hindsight, this would have been a perfect time to throw in the towel and ask for a C-section, but I didn't understand how bad the pain was about to get.
Because I was delivering twins vaginally, I had to deliver in the C-section room under a double set up. If at any point they didn't feel that the boys were safe, they would take one or both of them. The room was packed with people. We had two OBs, a pediatrician, two nurses for me, one for each of the boys, a resident, two ER doctors, and an anesthesiologist.
When we got set up in the new room, I started pushing. I felt every contraction and push which was slow going. Everyone in the room was extremely encouraging and praised my every push. I could tell, however, that we weren't making much progress. The baby was face up, which makes getting through the birth canal tougher. After about a half hour, Dr. Brennan offered forceps because we had two babies to get out. He didn't want me to use all of my strength on the first one. I gladly accepted. If I wasn't in enough pain, pushing with forceps took the pain to a whole new level. I kept telling Zach I couldn't do it. Thankfully, a few pushes with forceps and a few final ones delivered Baby C. He was whisked away crying to the awaiting bed for observation.
Baby B quickly slid into position and his water broke, which was perfect for delivery number two. Then, his umbilical cord prolapsed (came out first) and things got serious. Baby B's heart rate dropped from 140 to 55. Normally this would be cause for an emergency C-section. Instead, Brennan grabbed the forceps again and we delivered Baby B. It took him a moment to cry, and then he was also whisked away.
After a few minutes of observation, they brought me both boys. I had lost a lot of blood and was pretty out of it. The boys looked great and wouldn't be needing to go to the NICU.
As I was delivering the 3 placentas, Baby A was delivered as well. Our doctor treated it like a sacred moment, and it provided us with closure that was needed.
The boys had arrived. They were big and healthy. The pain would soon be forgotten, and I will be forever grateful for their birth story.
