The Birth of Our Girls!

(only 7 weeks and 6 days late!)

First I need to apologize that I have been THE WORST BLOGGER during this whole pregnancy.  Summer is busy season with weddings galore that I just haven't had any spare time to update this personal blog.  sorry.

Anywho I want to document our girlies so hopefully I am back :)

**Warning** if you do not want to read about my birth experience with twins please stop here and tune in next time for a more appropriate post :)

Alright I have had MANY requests to post my birth story of the girlies so here it is.

I want to start off saying WHOA.  Pregnancy is hard on your body in general, but a twin pregnancy...one of the hardest things I have ever done.  I shot my last wedding of 2013 at 30 weeks pregnant and from there on out it was all down hill (I was warned it would be rough those last weeks).  At 34 weeks I developed this issue where I was itching ALL OVER.  After I couldn't stand it any longer, I finally called the doctor and he suggested I try some medication and if it didn't work that I needed to come in and they would run some tests because it could be a liver issue.  I took the meds and it seem to dull the itching (or at least I thought so).  I decided I didn't need to go in to have the tests run.  Then the itching came back and I just dealt with it for a while.

At 36 weeks and 2 days we were at my in laws house watching a football game and I just lost it.  I could not stop scratching, I hadn't slept in days and I was so uncomfortable I wanted to scream.  Not to mention I was going potty every 15 to 20 minutes.  I literally was SO OVER THIS PREGNANCY (and I am one that actually enjoys being pregnant).  I felt like I was loosing it as I sat there watching the game...almost like I was going to have a panic attack---never had one of those before but I just couldn't seem to calm myself down.  I went upstairs to try and breath and told Daniel I was going to call the doctor.  I started crying even before the doctor called me back and all through our conversation with her I was crying.  She knew I was miserable so she suggested I come in to L&D and have some test run while they monitored the babies...mind you I wasn't having ANY contractions that I knew of at the moment.  So through tears I told her we would come.  Thankfully we were at my in laws so we left the boys,  headed back to our house to get our bags just in case (even though we didn't actually think we would be having babies that day or the next) and headed to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital and they began monitoring the babies, my contractions and started blood work.  What seemed like FOREVER waiting on the results from the blood test, they came back and said that one of my liver enzymes was elevated so they wanted to give me a shot, monitor it for an hour to see if it helped with the itching and then send us home.  After one PAINFUL shot (and I can do pain) I thought the itching sensation would go away.  Instead the medication just knocked me out.  Daniel said I was literally in mid sentence and went straight to sleep.  That part all seems like a blur.

About 30 minutes into the shot I remember waking up and trying my best to tell Daniel that I just had a REAL contraction.  I was so loopy and the words would barely come out.  A few minutes later I had another, and then another.  By about the third or fourth one I told Daniel to get the nurse.  After adjusting my contraction monitor (because it wasn't on there very well) she realized they were real contractions.  She decided to check me, and then proceed to get another nurse to check.  I kind of started to panic because we didn't go to the hospital that night to have babies...it was just to stop the itching :).  The other nurse confirmed I was 5 cm.  Then I heard YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE BABIES TONIGHT OR TOMORROW! (after I delivered we were chatting with my doctor and she said she thinks that shot relaxed me so much that it put me into labor...who knew!)

The next about 5 hours were somewhat a blur.  The medicine in the shot they gave me made me completely out of it.  I made the decision around about 30 weeks that I would indeed get an epidural this go round. I am a total advocate for an unmedicated birth and successfully did it with both of our boys.  In retrospect, I could have totally had the girls unmedicated, but with all the "what ifs" with twins, I was highly advised to get one.  I must say I AM NOT A FAN.  I couldn't stand being numb.

So once the epidural was in, we sat and waited.  I was still completely out of it.  By this time my parents and grandmother showed up.  Unlike my other two labor and deliveries, they were able to stay in the room with us right up until it was time to push.

Long story short after a few hours I wasn't really progressing (side note: I labor really quickly so we were shocked I wasn't progressing).  At 5am we had a new nurse because of the shift change.  My previous nurse was new to labor and delivery and inexperienced.  After a few minutes the nurse who came in at 5am asked me how long I had been in the position I was in.  I told her the whole time...I hadn't moved.  With BIG EYES she said "hmmm well lets move you".  Apparently that is all I needed.  It was only about 45 minutes when I began to frantically tell my mom to go get the nurse.  Daniel had stepped out of the room and so did the nurse.  I felt lots of pressure.  Once she got in the room she immediately checked me and I was indeed 10cm.  When you have twins you have to deliver in the OR just in case there needs to be an emergency C-section (one of the reasons for getting an epidural).  She kept telling me over and over "don't push".  HA!  Telling a woman who is 10cm not to push is pretty much worthless.  My nurse called the doctor on call to tell her I was ready and the doctor told her to NOT let me push because she knows how fast my babies come.  Somehow we managed to get to the OR without me delivering (they were coming fast).  The doctor walked in and quickly got settled.  I told her I needed to push.  She looked at me and said "go ahead"...then I think she realized I was serious because just one push later we welcomed our first daughter into the world.  Selah Elizabeth was born at 6:45am weighing 6lbs 5oz.  As they laid her on my chest I was in awe but thinking about sister and her safe delivery.  They swiftly took Selah away because we needed to focus on EG.  EG didn't want to be alone and made that clear.  I was pretty much immediately ready to push but was told to hang on a minute while they found the tool to break my water.  After one big push, our second daughter was born and a HUGE sigh of relief was had.  Evelyn Grace (Evie Grace) was born just 4 minutes after her sister at 6:49am weighing 5lbs 10oz.  After briefly laying her on my chest, they swept her away to check everything out.  I am pretty sure at this point Daniel and I looked at each other with the same look and feeling...THANKSGIVING.  We had just welcomed into the world two perfectly healthy baby girls.

We are now a family of six :)

Mae