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6pm Tuesday 28th June 34wks exactly Just about to climb into swimming pool for a lovely afternoon wallow and noticed a trickle of water just as I was about to put my swimming costume on, cue mass panic and a hurried trip to the delivery suite. On arrival was met by a lovely midwife who was so calm and relaxed that there was nothing you could do but be chilled and relaxed. They felt my tummy and although I was having braxton hicks, they thought that’s all they were and that I wasn’t in labour. Waters then went with vengeance, I had always wondered what waters breaking would feel like having not had any labour at all with Ben and it did indeed feel exactly as I had imagined, like a big involuntary wee! Midwife ran me a lovely bath and seemed to think that I would go into labour during the night. They then felt my tummy and seemed to think that twin 1 was head down and so I could labour naturally, big shock as all through the pregnancy they told me that a caesarean would be the only way to go. I was Group B Strep positive so they hooked me up the antibiotics and we settled in and waited for things to happen. Night passed uneventfully with nothing major happening at all, apart from major leakage whenever I stood up. Quite disappointing really.
Wednesday 29th June 34+1 At about 8:30 the big chief came in with her possy of at least 10 other doctors and minions, she then scared the shit out of us by telling us we had 2 options, deliver the babies that day by caesarean and run the risks of problems with the babies due to prematureity ‘Most 34weekers do well but some don’t at all’ or try to wait until 36 wks and run the risk of infection due to the waters having been broken and the Group B Strep. In the end we decided to wait as long as possible. So, I had steroids to help the babies lungs if they were born early and more antibiotics. I gave the poor people in the antenatal clinic a scare as they walked me through to the scanning suite looking huge and quite frankly scary. Scan showed that both babies were breech, so back to section. They decided to transfer me to an ante-natal ward to wait for as long as possible so I sent hubby home to look after Ben and I settled in for the duration. Was still getting braxton hicks, but they weren’t too bad, after examining me the doctors said I was not in labour as the contractions were only 20-30 secs long and if it was real labour, they would last for at least 45-60 secs. Settled down to go to sleep and found that I couldn’t get comfy at all, the pains were getting stronger and felt as though they were stretching right into my bottom, very strange and uncomfortable.
Thursday 30th June 34+2 After a while they became so strong that I was having to breathe through them and even pant, still thought they couldn’t possibly be labour as they weren’t that far apart. Eventually called the midwife who basically said I was a divvy and yes, I was in labour and they would get a doctor to examine me. I rang hubby and said he had better get over to hosp ASAP and doc came to examine me, I was 6cm and she could feel a head !!!!!! However, they decided that an emergency section was in order as both babies were still breech, they wheeled me over to theatre and gave me the gas and air, OMG that stuff is fabulous, was as high as a kite within seconds and telling all the staff that they were ‘verrry wonderful peeeeolple’. They made me sign consent forms whilst on the gas and air, so my signature was not exactly professional. They then went to shave me down below and I told them that I was very sorry, but they would need a black and decker hedge trimmer as I hadn’t been able to reach down there for weeks. They laughed and told me that it probably wouldn’t matter. Still no sign of husband, it’s a 45 min journey and he had to drop Ben off with grandparents first, but the doctors couldn’t really wait. They tried to go as slowly as possible in the anesthetic room, but I was so high on the gas and air that I didn’t really notice ‘Are you actually having a contraction at the moment ?’ No ‘Do you want to put the gas and air down now ?’ NO’ Can we just move the gas and air to put the epidural in’ NOOO. Epidural was eventually in and pain was gone completely. Still no sign of husband. Again, they went so slowly to allow him time to turn up, but at 2.10am, Edie May Kelly was born, quickly followed at 2.12am by Jake William Kelly. Both had APGARS of 9 and 9 and were shown to me for a while before being whisked off to SCBU. Just as they had gone and they were about to stitch me up, a very flustered hubby walks in, fog had made his 45min journey more than 1 and a ½ hours, poor thing was devastated he missed it, but pleased that as he walked in, he saw me grin and say hello, looking totally unfazed by everything. They wheeled us into recovery and we had a lovely chat with the nurses about babies and children and gardening? They then wheeled me over to the post-delivery ward and I despatched hubby to look at our babies. They were fine, both had feeding tubes in as neither had got the sucking reflex, Jake was also a bit ‘grunty’ but that turned out to be fluid left over from the birth and so was fine. They also had little teeny tiny canulas in for antibiotics (due to my group B Strep). Went to sleep for approx 30seconds and then it was morning. DH went to see babies 3 or 4 more times and kept bringing me pictures and video of them in their little cots. He hadn’t dared pick them up or cuddle them as he thought they might break! They looked huge in the pics and video so it was quite a shock to see them for real after lunch, they looked tiny, but it was amazing how quickly we adjusted to their tiny size. They were soon moved to a different room (which they should have been in the first place but it was full) and there were two other sets of twins, both born at 34wks, so it seems quite a common gestation!
The next couple of days were spent expressing as much milk as I could and wandering over from my room to their room 24hrs a day to give it to them via the tube. They were being fed every hour, so it was very hard to get enough to cover it.
Monday 4th July Babies were moved to be with me in my room, made life much easier as no more traipsing over to see them. Bit scared to begin with, but soon got used to them. Didn’t get used to the 3hrly ritual! Every 3hrs I had to change two nappies, put two reluctant suckers to the breast, give two top-up tube feeds and then express using daisy the cow for 20 minutes. Whole ritual took 1 and a half hours, leaving one and a half hours in-between for sleep! Became a bit of a manic military operation!
Thursday 7th July They tell me I might go home on the Friday, Whoooppppppeeeee !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO pleased, told that they would assign me an outreach worker so that we could go home with the feeding tubes still in. Both babies were doing fine, Jake was breast feeding well and Edie was certainly trying. Both were still having top-ups via the tube, but they told me to stop Jakes that day.
Friday 8th July With Jake exclusively on the boob, with the tube still in just in case and Edie taking a bottle of my milk and no tube feeds at all, we came home. Hubby very pleased to see me, probably not as pleased as I was to be home. My hour and half ritual was reduced to 40 mins with hubbys help and we all slept SOO well.
Welcome to the world Edie May and Jake William!