The VBAC arrival of my twins! 6.3.11

[mrscricket]

Firstly, just let me say I've always felt a little guilty belonging to BB because people are so passionate about birth and I'm just not one of those people. When I fell pregnant with my son, all I wanted was the end result - without the rest of it! DS was breech and although I tried to have him turned, did acupuncture, swimming etc, secretly I was a bit half-hearted and relieved when he stayed firmly planted bottom down, head up. The doctor suggested a caesarean and I accepted straight away. His birth was great - the whole experience was fine, all the staff was lovely, recovery wasn't too hideous and I got my beautiful boy..

I had always assumed that my next delivery would be a caesarean as well, so when my son put his hand on my stomach when I was about 5weeks pregnant and said "You have two babies in your tummy" - which was then confirmed at 7weeks - I immediately thought I would have another caesarean. My ob had different ideas.. 10 weeks into my pregnancy we had our first 'disagreement'. I said from everything I read I would be having another c-section, and he told me this was a 'old fashioned American view'.. I instantly hated his guts and started looking around for another doctor. But everyone I talked to told me he was the best, and seeing as it was a 'higher risk pregnancy' I was mad to change doctors.

My pregnancy progressed pretty well. Almost every person I talked to - whether it was at the supermarket, a midwives, doctors - told me how awful a twin pregnancy would be. I had bad morning sickness with DS that lasted until about 24 weeks and then returned at 32 weeks so I was also expecting the worst. And yes, I did get morning sickness but it disappeared at about 15 weeks and after that I felt great! The pregnancy was draining - I wont lie - I was tired and had a sore back etc but overall I loved this pregnancy.

The last weeks I spent telling DH every night "I think I'll go into labour tonight" because my braxton hicks were so intense, and I spent heaps of time googling "Early labour symptoms". Every time I cleaned the house I imagined I was 'nesting' and rechecked my hospital bag.

35 weeks into my pregnancy, I felt pretty good. So far the whole thing had gone in stages - making it to 12 weeks, then 20 week ultrasound, getting to 24 weeks, and finally making it to 34 weeks - the earliest stage our hospital would accept babies. I relaxed and thought 'No matter what happens, I can have them here and all will be fine". 35 weeks exactly I received a call off my ob. There was concern about the growth of Twin B - she had slowed down and had shown signs of improvement. I had been having regular ultrasounds, CTG monitoring (very drawn out, frustrating process for twins!) but my doctor thought it was time to step up all the monitoring and perhaps then thinking about the girls arriving in the next few weeks. We still were at odds over the delivery - he was very insistent that I could have a VBAC. The closest I got to agreeing was saying that if my waters broke then I would go with the flow (literally) but secretly I was pretty sure that wouldn't happen, and I get my caesarean.

On the Saturday I had felt pretty tired and just spent the day at home with DS sitting in the sunshine. That night I had a bath and thought about shaving my legs and re-doing my fake tan, but thought I'd do it the next day. I was even too tired to cook a proper dinner as DH was at cricket, so DS and I had dim sims for tea. Then I stayed up late reading my new book. Silly girl... 5.30am Sunday morning I rolled over and 'pop' my waters broke. (35 weeks and 2 days!) Waking up DH was funny - a bit like a movie - I told him what had happened and he went into a slight panic mode. Normally he is Mr Calm and I am the Freak out Queen, but it was all so surreal that I was fine. We called my PIL to come and stay with DS - who was still fast asleep - until they arrived and we were heading out the door. My gorgeous boy popped his head out of his bedroom and said "Are you going on holidays Mummy?", then happily went and lay on the couch, obviously not worried that Nan And Pop were standing in our kitchen at 6am!

We arrived at the hospital and were put in a lovely birthing suite, and introduced to Tamsin our midwife. Her first question was "How are you going to do this?" and I said I wasnt sure, as the doctor and I hadn't really discussed anything other than he wanted me to have a VBAC. I think she was a little shocked but also made it clear than any decision would ultimately be up to me, unless it all went haywire. My contractions started about 9am, gradually building. It was a very weird sensation and I did my best to breathe through them. DH was amazed that apart from squeezing his hand tightly, I didn't make any noise. I think his idea of birth only comes from the movies - screaming from the start. After about 2 hours of pretty intense contractions where I couldn't speak or open my eyes, all I could do was concentrate on getting through the pain. It was almost like a out of body experience! The doctor came in and suggested that I have an epidural put in, which is apparently quite standard for twins/previous caesareans. The anaesthetist came in and I thought I was starting to hallucinate - it was my GP doctor, but apparently he moonlights at the hospital as well. I could of nearly kissed him after the epidural - I could finally open my eyes and talk - and tell DH that if he ate one more fruit jube out of my hospital bag, I would kill him because they STANK!

The next few hours were spent just chatting to Tamsin and our other midwife Paula, and watching my contractions on the monitor. Eventually I asked them to lower it, because I couldn't feel anything at all and it was a bit weird, so they lowered it so that I was feeling the contractions but at a comfortable level. Then the paedetrition came in.. The babies would most likely need to be transferred to another hospital in the city when they arrived as they were going to be very small and their nursery was possibly not equiped to deal with them. SO it was decision time - either I have a caesarean - which would be done at the other hospital. I would go in the ambulance with Tamsin and DH would have to follow in the car, or I could try for a VBAC. Tasmin spent a while explaining my options and I decided VBAC was the only way to go.. If my babies went to another hospital and there was no bed for me, then it would be a few days before I could join them.

The doctor had been in and out checking on me, DH and I had been having a chat making a final decision on names, all very relaxing - when suddenly the ob said "Your babies are ready to come now". All of a sudden our room filled with people - extra midwives, paedetritions for each babies, student midwives (who I had agreed to let watch because they had never seen a twin birth). With Tamsin and Paula's guidance, I started to push and all of a sudden our first beautiful girl arrived! Then no time to rest because her sister followed very quickly - 4 minutes in fact! It was amazing! I couldn't stop saying "I can't believe I gave birth! I can't believe it!" and thanking my ob who suddenly seemed like the most lovely person in the world lol.

Our first girl was 4pound 2oz, and her sister was 3 pound 13oz. Both had appgar scores of 9 and were alert and gorgeous, although they were tiny! We got to spend a few hours with them, and my PIL brought DS up to meet his sisters - which was such a beautiful moment!

At about 8pm that night the NETS ambulance came to pick them up to transfer them to another hospital where they spent the next 10 days before being transferred back to our hospital for 7 days before finally coming home! Having them in the SC nursery was hard, the travelling was awful and I had to stay in the city so I didn't have DH or DS with me which is not how I imagined my girls first weeks of life - but having said that, the care they received was amazing and I will forever be grateful to the nurses.

SO, that is the story of our girls arrival! The real work has started now - having twins is hard work - I have never changed so many nappies! Tandem breastfeeding is also a challenge but we are getting there! But I love it and the girls are doing well. They are both gaining weight and getting into a routine. Sleep is a foreign language to DH and I at the moment but they will only be little for a while! Thanks for reading!