As you know I like to write down the kids birth stories. With the twins though it is going to take a couple/few installments. 😉 Simply because… well because there’s more to tell, I guess. And since there are 2 of them, they can occupy the platform for a little while, I think.
So I went to my regular exam last Thursday at 33 weeks. Took Starbucks drinks for my doctor and the nurse who always helps me while there. They appreciated that! I’m glad I decided to do it too because I won’t be seeing them again for awhile. It’s nice to show appreciation for people who do for you even if it’s their “job.” That’s something I’m going to try to do more often. Good old fashioned “thank you’s” and small gifts of appreciation are clearly not the norm any more.
Anyway, everything seemed hunky dory at the appointment. The girls cooperated and stayed on the monitors for their 20 minutes. Doc said everything looked good, and we were all doing great and how great I looked (like it when they throw that one in, ha ha!) and out the door I went. 🙂
Fast forward to Friday when I had my little “nesting spree.” Perhaps that should have tipped me off, but I didn’t really think about it too much. I needed to clean out the “studio” so there was space for the guest air mattress for “whenever” my mom came out to help with the kids. But in order to do that I needed to get the boys closet cleaned out because there’s no designated “baby gear” room right now. So the boys helped me with that, and I got rid of some junk when they weren’t looking. I didn’t get everything sorted in the studio, but I figured I could do it the next day because I was wearing out and at least now I had a place to put it. 😉
The best laid plans….
That night around 2 somthing-ish I woke up thinking, “hmmmm… I was sleeping really well, but I don’t usually wet the bed!” (TMI, I know) It really wasn’t enough moisture to make me that suspicious, BUT when it happened a second, third and fourth time, I started to think that maaaaaaaybe something weird was going on here. By this time it was nearing 4am and I figured I’d just “get up” for a bit and see what was going on. Apparently I’m not very intuitive when I’d rather be sleeping. 😉 Not long after that I realized what I should have figured out about 2 hours ago, my water had broke!!
This freaked me out a little for a couple of reasons. One, my labors are usually very fast, and two, the “local” hospital was NOT equipped to handle the peaches at this stage. I managed to remain calm, went back upstairs and casually mentioned to Stuart that my water broke and we needed to go to the hospital. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen him jump out of bed that fast before! 😀 We, of course, had nothing prepared for a midnight dash to the hospital. We each managed to toss a few things into bags, and I even remembered my toothpaste! Fortunately, Stu’s parents were staying at the White House and his mom was able to come right up to the house.
Pulling away in the dark of the 4am morning hit me like a brick though. All I could think of was that I was leaving my littles and I didn’t get to kiss them bye or anything. Top that with the anxiety for my two littles littles and I was a wreck for a few minutes.
Stu drove us safely to the hospital, though he did tell me he didn’t feel like he could go fast enough. 🙂 I was having regular contractions, but they were not very strong. We got to the hospital and right away all of the ‘good feelings’ I had had for the little Gallup hospital before began to vanish. Maybe I expected too much for people in a boring little country hospital. However the receptionist in the ER was talking/joking around with people around and even the nurse she called in L&D. That nurse, who we soon met, was not my favorite person ever either. I know that not everyone has good people skills, but her bedside manner did NOT inspire confidence at all. The doctor, however who came in and arranged everything was really good! She called UNM in Albuquerque, got me accepted there, called the transfer medics and got it all taken care of really quickly. They did put me on Magnesium Sulfate to slow down labor. That stuff doesn’t make you feel too good at all. More like you’re boiling alive in your own skin, not fun.
The Flight team got to the hospital in record time, I appreciated the professionalism from the nurse on the team, the EMT however was in the same category as the L&D nurse… only with a healthy dose of weirdness too. Ugh! Even though they got there really quickly, we had to wait at the hospital for nearly 2 hours waiting for one of the 2 ambulances that service the county to get back to the hospital. Eventually they did get there, ha, and I got bundled up like a burrito and transferred to a gurney. My first ambulance ride, weeeeeeee! Not really. I don’t like to ride backwards, and the bumpiness felt like riding in a jeep!
At this point I was just singing songs in my head, praying and keeping my eyes closed as much as possible. I’m claustrophobic and being all bundled up like that with IV’s and various other wires and contraptions was close to making me turn into a ball of panic! My friend Rachael gave me an album called “Scripture Lullabies” that I listen to frequently. I unfortunately forgot my iPod, but I know the songs so I kept mulling those over. It helped a LOT!
Eventually we got to the airport, stowed aboard a little prop plane, Stu got to ride in the cabin with the pilot, and we didn’t even have to go through TSA! 😉 Ha! The flight took about 45-50 min and we pulled into ABQ sunport and aboard the waiting ambulance. Fortunately they have more than 2 in the area. 😉 It took about 10-ish minutes to get to UNM hospital, and I was SO relieved to be there.
It was a relief for several reasons. One, the staff at the hospital were AMAZING!! They really did inspire confidence because they were very confident in what they were doing. Right away they changed out the 2 IV’s that they had put in at Gallup and gave me one better flowing and more comfortable one. I was relieved because I knew that this hospital had the best NICU in the state and that if the girls were going to show up, they would have the best help. That was the biggest relief!
The doctors were quick to asses what was going on. They confirmed that a rupture had occurred but didn’t think that I was actually in labor. They stopped the Magnesium, thankfully! Keep the girls on monitors all day, but decided that the plan was going to be to keep me pregnant for the next 5 days and try to deliver the girls the following Thursday when they would be 34 weeks.
to be continued…