I had a check up Monday and I was 36 weeks and 5 days along. I was dilated 4 cm. After I saw the doctor I had a non stress test. During the non stress test I started contracting every 5 minutes and they were big and uncomfortable contractions. The doctor sent me to the hospital to get evaluated at Labor and Delivery. Once there, the contractions continued and I dilated to 5 cm an hour later. So at that point I was definitely in labor. That was around 4:00 in the afternoon. My kids were with my parents in Heber so it was definitely a convenient time to go into labor.
During the next few hours I got an IV and the doctor broke my water. Then at 8:30 the nurse wheeled me into the operating room for delivery. Even though I was planning on delivering them vaginally, with twins the delivery has to be done in the OR in case they have to do an emergency c-section. Taggart was born after only 3 pushes. He had great color and was grunting but his oxygen level was at 100% without any extra oxygen. He sat under the warmer waiting for his sister to be born. His grunting was so loud and it was like he was talking to her and telling her to come out.
Sienna was breech. There were two doctor's in the OR. My doctor was the one delivering and then his partner was turning Sienna and making sure her heart rate was stable. There was some good multi tasking going on. He was holding her, through my stomach, using the ultrasound machine to check her position, and keeping the monitor on to make sure she didn't go into distress.
She took her sweet time. Her sac hadn't broken yet so my doctor put a small hole into it to leak it out. This way there would be less chance of a gush and the umbilical cord being prolapsed or pinched off by her body coming into the birth canal. It was perfect and she slowly descended. When she got down then there was a big gush of fluid and after a few pushes she was born.
Taggart weighed 5 lbs 8 oz and she weighed 6 lbs 9 oz. They are both 18" long. He was born at 9:12 and she was born at 10:08. It was a great delivery and I am so happy they both made it safely and as gently as possible on my body. I was really hoping not to have a c-section.
About two hours after birth Taggart was still grunting a lot. Sienna's blood sugar was low. The NICU doctor decided to admit them to the NICU. She said they have a better chance of doing well in the long run if they get extra help in the NICU right out of the gates instead of trying to do it all on their own at first.
I've been emailing updates to family but I've also been wanting to do updates on the blog. We've been so busy but hopefully I can get an update out each day on the blog.
