By around 2 p.m. I was exhausted
and starving. I was finally moved to a labor and delivery
room and Scott and Marc came to see me. The nurse didn’t
want me eating anything until the doctor okayed it, but Scott
snuck me in some food. Scott took Marc back to the house so
his Uncle Lenny could watch him and I finally got some dinner
sent to me. I hated being hooked up to the monitors because
I wanted to walk around and I was not very comfortable. Every
time I moved the sensors would slip and the nurse would come
in to find the baby’s heartbeat again.
By the time Scott returned, my contractions
were getting to be pretty regular. Dr. Levitt came in to see
how I was doing and we asked him to check me and he said I
was 40% effaced and 1-2 centimeters dilated. He said that
he could feel Baby A’s sack bulging out of my cervix.
(Note: Baby A always refers to the baby closest to the birth
canal, the one that will be born first vaginally.)
The doctor and nurse left me alone to labor.
Cheri, my mother-in-law, Melissa, my sister-in-law, and Jennifer,
our Bradley instructor, arrived to see the birth. Around 11
pm the doctor checked me again and at this time I was 8 centimeters
dilated. Up until this point the labor had been pretty easy,
a lot easier than Marc’s because with that labor my
water had been broken. The last 2 centimeters took a while
and were as painful as my labor with Marc. I became very tired,
and for a while I was falling asleep between contractions.
I wasn’t making much progress but I think this was my
body’s way of letting me get a bit of rest so I’d
have the strength to continue and to push the babies out.
I think Scott was a bit nervous while this was going on because
I was not progressing. He and Jennifer kept encouraging me
to change positions or walk around a bit to speed things up.
Finally I had gotten some rest so I agreed to move around
a bit more. I tried standing up a bit leaning on Scott and
rocking back and forth. I also labored squatting for a while
and on the toilet a bit. One of my bags of water broke, I
was amazed at the volume of water that came out. With Marc’s
labor I didn’t even know my water had broken, but this
time there was no mistaking it. At one point I heard (on the
monitor) Logan’s heart-tones drop. It made me very nervous,
I was afraid someone might say I needed a C-section. The nurse
came in and turned the volume down and I couldn’t hear
her heart-tones anymore. I didn’t look at the monitor
because I thought if I saw her heart-tone drop again it would
make me nervous, but later I was told it dropped a few more
times. I continued to labor and Scott was with me the whole
time and knowing he was there helped me through it. Around
1 a.m. Jennifer had to go home. Shortly after that, I finally
felt like I wanted to push. Doctor Levitt checked me again
and said that I was fully dilated and effaced. Scott had someone
call Jennifer, and she turned around. She made it back just
in time after talking her way out of a speeding ticket.
Scott and I remember this next part differently.
I remember Dr. Levitt saying that baby B's (Logan's) sack
had broken and that Baby A's (Lily's) own sack was holding
her head up against my pubic bone. Scott remember's him saying
that Baby A's (Lily's) sack had broken and that Baby B's (Logan's)
sack was holding Baby A's (Lily's) head up against my pubic
bone. At any rate, Lily's head was stuck up against my pubic
bone and Dr. Levitt suggested that he
insert a needle into the bag of water and drain it. He said
that as the water drained, her head would descend into the
birth canal. We agreed and that’s exactly what happened.
I pushed twice and Lily popped out at
1:48 a.m. The doctor cut her cord and placed her on my chest
and I told her what a good girl she was and that I loved her.
She was then taken to the corner of the room to be examined
by the neonatologist. I pushed again and at 1:51 Logan came
out. Dr. Levitt waited until her cord stopped pulsating before
he cut it and then she was also placed on my chest for me
to see and tell her I loved her. Logan was then taken to be
examined by the neonatologist. I pushed out the placenta and
after that I was able to hold both girls for a few minutes
before they were taken up to the NICU. After a little bit
I was transferred to another room and Melissa and Cheri went
to visit the girls in the NICU. After I was settled in, I
visited the girls in the NICU. Scott and I were exhausted
and we slept in the hospital room until I was woken up to
get my blood pressure taken. I was released that afternoon.
The girls were in the NICU one day short of 4 weeks and had
no major problem other than just being early.
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