“Of Bears, Bull and Beagles!”

The stork came early... very early!!

Hi Everyone.

I am pleased to announce the impromptu and dramatic arrival of our twins, Benjamin Oliver & Elliott Liam born January 25th 11:54 & 11:55am.

I woke up at 7.40am on Monday 21st (30weeks 6 days) to my waters breaking. At first I thought I must have pee'd myself (nice!) but when I stood up there was a big gush all over the floor as I got out of bed and I knew instantly what it was. I called Mark who was out walking the dog and told him to come home immediately, then called the OB and told her I was heading to the hospital.

By the time I arrived at the hospital I was having contractions, but they were irregular and we were not timing them. The first thing they did was an internal to confirm that it was my waters, and quickly saw that it was a major rupture in the lower sac of baby A. They gave me a shot of Betamethasone to mature the babies lungs, and sent me to u/s for a scan to ascertain the size and positions of the twins (A breech, B vertex). By the time I was done in u/s my contractions were 2 and a half minutes apart lasting 40 seconds and had been that way for about an hour or so, so I was really beginning to panic.

Back in L&D they finally agreed that I was in real labour and gave me some pills (can't remember the name) to stop the contractions, and they worked within 5 minutes (relief!). They then started pumping me full of fluids and antibiotics, hooked me up to a foetal monitor and started monitoring me. Once your water breaks the babies are at risk of infection, hence the antibiotics, you also do not get to go home again until the birth, so whether it be 2 days or 2 more months, I was there for the duration.

I was in L&D for about 30 long and completely sleepless hours, before they decided I was stable enough to move to the Ante-partum ward. Where they continued to monitor me but not constantly, but I was finally in a proper bed and not an exam table so I was able to sleep some.

The plan was to try and hold out for a minimum of 48 hours so we could get 2 shots of the Beta in (each shot needs 24 hours to take effect), but we were hoping to hold out for 3 weeks. Unless I spiked a temperature of started bleeding in which case they would deliver me immediately.

Well we only lasted 3 days. On Thursday morning at 7.30am I started having contractions again and also started bleeding, and was immediately whisked off to L&D before I even had chance to realise what was happening.

The bleeding was just normal bloody show, and not placental abruption, so the emergency was quickly downgraded and they let me labour for a while, while they decided on a plan of action. I had another u/s and the resident believed the twins were both vertex, so they said I could try and deliver vaginally. I have to admit, as much as I have been fighting for that chance (my OB wanted to do a c-section but I wanted to try a natural birth), when it was presented to me, I was already emotionally exhausted from the roller-coaster of the last 4 days that I wasn't as thrilled as you'd think! I had totally prepared myself for the c-sec. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the on call Attending from my own OB's practice arrived and redid the u/s and said the resident had mistakenly identified A's butt as his head, and vaginal was out of the question. To which Mark replied "Hey, Don't call my son a butt-face!"

They decided the best thing was to let me labour for a couple of hours, to see if the labour progressed. They were trying to balance, doing the c-section soon enough that it wasn't an emergency but letting me labour enough to be sure the contractions would not just stop by themselves. By 11am they agreed that I was in active labour and it was time. I was immediately wheeled into the OR and the C-section was under way in no time at all.

More fun and games...... The c-section was not uneventful. After the boys were delivered and taken to the NICU, under the watchful eye of their Nana. I started bleeding out and they were struggling to stop it. It was action stations in there, with more residents being called to help, blood being ordered, and copious amounts of clotting drugs being pumped into my IV, a 2nd line being started, then injections straight into my uterus, and suppositories in my rear. Nothing was working, and I could feel myself slipping further and further away. Mark could see it too and says he was very scared because he could see the urgency/controlled panic in the doctors eyes. Eventually they got it under control by stitching up my my uterus into a tight log, basically the OB said that my uterus was trussed up like a pork roast, to force it to contract. She also said that her only other option and the next step would have been an emergency hysterectomy or I would have died. Thankfully the pork roast worked... I'll never be able to tie a roast again without remembering the birth of my twins! The stitches will dissolve and my uterus should return to it's normal shape in about a week or two.

I spent many hours in recovery because of the blood loss, and didn't get to see the boys until late that evening, and even then it was only for a minute or so each, on my way to the ward. But Mark and Mum were able to be with them.

They kept me in hospital for 5 days and discharged me Yesterday. My wound has not fully healed though, when they removed the staples on day 4, half of the incision was still open, so they had to pack it (OUCH) and I now am having home nurse visits daily to unpack and repack it (DOUBLE OUCH). I lost a lot of blood and now have severe anaemia, but am doing fine aside from the pain in the incision which is pretty bad.

More importantly, the boys are doing great. Benjamin (Baby B through pregnancy but Baby A for the birth), needed some help breathing and had to be intubated. He has a couple of congenital heart defects... A PDA (Patent Ductus Arteriosus) which was treated with medication (Indocin) and seems to have closed over already, but he does still have an Aterial Septal Defect (ASD). He also had some jaundice, but that has cleared up now too. He was taken off the ventilator yesterday and put on CPAP, and today they tried him without that for a few hours, but he got tired and had to go back on it. I did get to hold him for the first time though, which was wonderful! Tomorrow they will try him off the CPAP again, and see how he does. Basically they said his muscles aren't strong enough yet and he gets tired. I guess we have to just build them up a day at a time.

Elliott (Baby A during pg, but B for birth) was breathing OK, but needed a little help so was only put on CPAP. He was moved to the transitional ward and taken off the CPAP after only 2 days. He also had some jaundice which has cleared that up. All he needs to do now is learn to nipple, then get big and strong. I have been able to hold him now for 3 days.

It's been a roller-coaster 11 days and I am physically and emotionally exhausted, but I am so happy. My precious boys are here and they are doing better every day. There is nothing like holding your precious baby in your arms.