The next morning my contractions had subsided. As the morning went on, though, my intestinal pain worsened. By afternoon, I started having very rhythmical back pain and less intestinal pain. The back pain became very intense. The nurses and doctors didn't quite know what was causing the pain since my contractions weren't being picked up well by the monitors.
Dr. Doyle decided to look at my cervix at around 4:30 pm because she could tell I was in pretty significant pain. At 4:30 my cervix was not dilated. My pain, though, just kept getting worse and worse. It was mostly back pain. I wasn't able to have any food/drink (including water) all day just in case I had to go in for surgery. I also couldn't get out of bed, which made my back pain even worse as I had to lie on my back or side and try not to let the 3 monitors on my tummy shift around (one for each baby and one for my uterine contractions). I found myself doing the breathing techniques Scott and I had learned in our labor classes. Scott was an excellent coach :) I just cannot say enough how supportive and amazing he was through this whole experience. My babies have an excellent man for a father!
By 6:00 pm Dr. Doyle decided to manually measure my cervix since my contractions weren't really picking up but I was obviously having labor pains. She had hesitated to do this earlier because of the risk for infection. My cervix was 5 cm dilated. She called Dr. Winkler, who is my perinatologist and he came in to perform an emergency c-section (both babies were in the breech position).
Shaylie Faith was born first and followed shortly by Tycen John, both at 6:49 pm. Shaylie was 2 lbs, 6 oz and 15.25 inches long and Tycen was 2 lbs, 14 oz and 16.5 inches long. The O.R. was full of people, I had a team of medical providers, and so did each baby. We weren't able to get any pictures because we didn't have a camera there. I will never forget the first time I saw them, though, and the flood of joy that filled my heart. They are the most beautiful gifts from God I have ever seen!
Dr. Winkler was surprised to find out after opening my uterus that I have what is called a bicornuate uterus (heart-shaped). This means that it is divided into two chambers (which every girl in-utero has and mine never fused completely), with both babies being in only one chamber. This is why my membranes ruptured so early, because there just wasn't enough room for two big babies at 28 weeks. He told me I was extremely lucky because usually moms with one baby deliver early and most commonly twins in a bicornuate result in a late miscarriage. Again, we cannot say enough how merciful the Lord has been to us. It is nice to have a reason why this happened too, since all of my regular check-ups have been completely normal and I had no overt signs of early labor.
17 years ago
