The Birth Story of Declan John Peter and Rylee Noelle Amelia
Sorry this may be a little long
After 18 months of trying to conceive and 2 cycles of IVF, the day had finally come to welcome into the world our miracle twins, 4 weeks early.
1am 2nd January 2006
We had been at my mum’s only hours earlier to have dinner and had not yet gone to bed. I had been getting strange back pain at mum’s but thought nothing of it. After arriving home, I felt a strange erg to go to the toilet. Kinda a little like bowel cramps. I went to the toilet and a strange trickle came out. I knew that I was not having a wee, but this was strange. I had not had a show of any kind, so I just assumed that this was not associated with labour. Mick immediately thought that it was to do with labour and wanted to contact the hospital immediately. I told him not to be so silly. So he rang my mum (who was also still up as she had a feeling that I would go into labour tonight).
Mum thought it was my waters however with all her pregnancies she had had a gush, no trickle. I told Mick that I would just go to bed and see what happens.
1:10am 2nd January 2006
Mick rang the hospital, against my suggestion. They told him that I was to monitor the flow with a pad. This I did whilst getting back into bed.
1:40am 2nd January 2006
I had my first contraction. I was kinda weird. A bit like a strong period pain. No back pain at all. Mick had gone back to sleep, so I woke him and told him that it must have been my waters trickling and that I had a contraction. WOW this is it, it is happening. Again Mick wanted to call the hospital and OB and take me in. I told him that there was no point until the contractions were closer together. So he thought he would time them. That was before he fell asleep again. I kept an eye on the time and they were only about 25-30mminutes apart, so I decided to sleep when I could until they were either too painful or closer together.
3:25am 2nd January 2006
WOW a really bad contraction. I felt nauseous too. Like I was going to throw up. I went to the toilet again, still trickling however this time there was some pink mucous. I guess this was part of my show. Decided to take some Panadol and have a shower to see if it helped with the pain. At this point Mick was getting a little stressed and felt that we should be at the hospital. I still did not think that the contractions were close enough so I told him that I was not ready yet.
3:45am 2nd January 2006
The next contraction. So now they are about 20minutes apart. Mick could not hold out any longer, he rang my mum again then rang the OB. He was getting very stressed. Me on the other hand, I was still happy to go back to bed. The OB wanted me to go into the hospital, at least for monitoring, as being twins he wanted extra care. So I agreed that we would go in. Mick rang the hospital, they were now expecting us. I had just enough time to check that the bags were correctly packed, before the next contraction.
4am 2nd January 2006
The next contraction. This time I also vomited. I am not the best with pain, and find that I vomit when I am in pain. Jumped in the car with my trusty bucket and headed to the hospital. Mick rang both the mothers, as they were both invited to the birth with us. Of course they were both very excited that it had all begun.
4:20am 2nd January 2006
At the hospital now and another contraction. Plus vomited again. The OB did not want any internal done until he gets there and was happy for me to labour at this stage in the hospital bed. I was hooked up to foetal monitors and a uterine monitor. The babies were doing well. The contractions on the other hand were actually a lot closer than I gave my self credit for. They were already about 5-7 minutes apart. We were really getting into it now. Both my mum and dad and Micks mum had now arrived at the hospital.
For the next few hours I breathed my way through the labour. The midwife was great and helped me with every contraction. Slowly the contractions were getting closer together.
7am 2nd January 2006
The midwife rang the OB to keep him updated and now he was happy to have an internal as the contractions were now about 3 mins apart. He was now leaving to come into the hospital. The midwife informed me that I was now 5 cm dilated. WOW, already. It was time to move into the birthing suite. At this point, I also ordered the Epidural.
7:30am 2nd January 2006
Epidural was put in place. It did not hurt at all. My OB was now in and he overlooked the Epi going in. Then the catheter and drips were also all hooked up. The OB also put a foetal monitor directly into Declan’s scalp. This was far better than trying to have all these external monitors. Rylee was still being monitored externally and too were the contractions.
8am 2nd January 2006
The Epi has now worked and the pain is somewhat non existent. The only way I knew that a contraction was taking place was by watching the monitor. I was actually GREAT, no pain and could finally get a little sleep. OB did another internal and I was now 7 cm dilated. YAY!!!
The next few hours I was sleeping ion and off while also taking a peek eveynow and then to see my contractions. They were getting a lot stronger. At this stage the OB thought that the babies may arrive before lunch. I can’t believe it.
11:30am 2nd January 2006
Rylee’s heart rate had started to climb. The OB was getting a little concerned. He did another internal and now I was about 8-9cm. He decided to put up a drip of Syntocin to strengthen the contractions. Declan was well and truly in the birth canal and I only needed another 1 cm before I could start pushing. The Syntocin was left up for half an hour and then taken done. Having it was actually increasing Rylee’s heart rate even more.
12noon 2nd January 2006
The OB has decided that an emergency caesarean is the only answer. Rylee’s heart rate was hovering around 200 and she had to come out NOW!!! The only problem that was seen was that today was a public holiday and there was no theatre staff. So the hospital started calling in staff.
12:30pm 2nd January 2006
I was now getting prepped for surgery. This was not fair. I was not meant to deliver like this. The Paediatrician and Anaesthetist came in and introduced themselves. They both explained what part they would take in the delivery. My OB also went through everything with me. Since the Epi was in place, all that was needed was a top up to ensure that I was numb from the breast down. At this point I really got upset. I wanted a natural delivery and it was now not going to happen. I had to keep telling myself that this was what was best for the babies.
Unbeknown to me, my BP was also now starting to climb very high. This was another reason why the c/s was considered an emergency.
1:07pm 2nd January 2006
Declan John Peter Burton was welcomed into the world. He was delivered by my OB and then taken straight away over to the Paediatrician. Mick cut the extra bit of cord from Declan.
1:08pm 2nd January 2006
Rylee Noelle Amelia Burton was welcomed into the world. Again she was delivered by my OB and then taken straight away over to the Paediatrician. Mick again cut the extra bit of cord from Rylee.
Once they were both checked over (they both got 9/9 for their Apgar), I got a quick cuddle then they were taken up to the nursery. Here they were weighed – Declan 5lb 11oz and 47cm long. Rylee – 5lb 5oz and 44 cm long. They were both given to both sets of grandparents for cuddles, then put into special care for observation.
I was then stapled up and taken to recovery. I was in recovery for an hour then wheeled out to my waiting family.
Once in my room, the real danger of my BP started to set in. I was now experiencing severe pre eclampsia. My BP had sky rocketed and there were three parts of protein in my urine. I did not get to see the babies, as the OB was very concerned about me. All guests in my room were asked to leave (expect for Mick) as the OB tried to stabilise me. I was administered, over a 5hour period, blood pressure medication, diuretics as my urine output had decreased and my entire body had blown up with fluid retention, clot thinning medication, heart rate medication as when the blood pressure started to drop my heart rate increased. It took the OB 5 hours to finally stabilise me, but he never left my side during the entire 5 hours.
The afternoon of the 2nd January 2006 is a little blurred due to all the medication. I know that I did not get to see my babies until the next day, which I was really upset about. But at the end of the day, they were delivered safely and I was ell on my way to recovery by lunch of the 3rd January 2006.
During the six days in hospital, we did have trouble with both Declan and Rylee. They were having problems maintaining their temperatures. This is common with premmies. As the tem drops so too does the blood glucose which was of great concern to the Paediatrician. So for 2 nights in a row they both had to go back into the nursery to be put under the heaters to maintain their temps. Rylee struggled with this the most. Declan by the fourth day was very strong and acting like a full term baby. Rylee was put on top up feeds with formula to try and get her strength up. They both underwent blood tests to check for jaundice, but they both came back clear, which was GREAT!!
Also by the 4thy day, my milk came in, and boy was there plenty of it. There was now no need for formula as I could express my breast milk to do the top up feeds for Rylee. She was tiring very quickly on the breast with the sucking, so the expressed breast milk was put into a bottle to feed her.
On the 8th January 2006, (after last minute tests on Rylee to make sure she was ok to go home); we were all discharged from hospital to begin our new life as a family. My milk was in, the babies were feeding ok and their temps were now being maintained.
To date, both are doing really really well. Breastfeeding is going GREAT and already Delcan is 7lb 2oz and Rylee 6lb 3oz.
