It’s taken me exactly the amount of time to write this that the boys were in my belly. 33+3 : Oliver + Abram’s birth story has been hard for me to write. Harder than I expected actually. Probably because a part of me still maybe hasn’t accepted and fully processed the way things played out. Lets just say my birth plan, or any semblance of how I’d hoped + initially prayed for their birth to look, went out the window. Fast. At the end of the day, we’re just beyond blessed to now have two beautiful, healthy, happy BOYS. My mind is still blown that there were TWO sweet boys in there. We were totally convinced that there was one of each gender. But now we can absolutely not picture our lives without Ollie + Abe. With that being said, lets take a *fairly quick* look at their entry into this world…
31+2
On Friday, February 25 around 6pm I was admitted to Labor & Delivery at Methodist Women’s Hospital for monitoring. My blood pressure had creeped up dangerously high that day according to our at-home monitor. After stopping at a local Walgreen’s to have it checked, it was confirmed that I was WAY over ‘safe’ top or bottom numbers. I called my OB clinic and they said to head to the hospital. When Kyle and I got there we didn’t know what to expect. I was hoping for just some testing & to be sent home that night. I think Kyle was more prepared to be there longer. After a blood draw + another BP check, we were seen my a Maternal Fetal Medicine Doctor (MFM) for a very intricate ultrasound on the babies. It was then that we discovered Baby A was IUGR (intrauterine grow restriction) and that there was a fairly significant discrepancy in the sizes of the babies. With twins they want to see less than 20% discordance in their height/weight. Baby A was once almost identical to Baby B, but now there was an obvious difference and it appeared to be getting worse.
Because of the IUGR diagnosis, on top of the severe preeclampsia, they chose to send me to the 5th floor. That’s where high-risk mamas are sent to be very closely monitored. There we spent 3 nights and I was poked, prodded, had tons of blood draw, did 2x/day weight checks, 2x/day doppler scans on the babies to monitor their movement, etc. We met with a NICU doctor & a few others to find out ‘what’ things may be like if we delivered that weekend. Thankfully the babies wanted to stay put a while longer. Everything wasn’t great but I was stable. So on Monday, February 28 they let me go home.
32+5
Exactly 1 week after I was discharged, I had my first MFM appointment. 10am on March 7. This was the first time I was being seen in the MFM clinic. When they brought me back to a room, they immediately checked my BP. It was sky high. The nurse proceeded to try once more, high. She then did the ultrasound and had some concern. Once the MFM doctor came in, he said he was admitting me. Luckily the hospital is connected. Unluckily, he said there was no chance I was going home before babies came. I was devastated. We were scared. Out the window went my hope to get to 37-38 weeks with a vaginal delivery + bringing both babies home within 48ish hours. I didn’t even have my hospital bag fully packed, let alone have it with me.
Once I was settled into our new ‘home’ on the 5th floor again, Kyle went home to get everything we’d need for the next who knows how long. Every day I was closely monitored. Every morning my weight skyrocketed. When I say I gained 20lbs (thanks, preeclampsia) in about a week’s time, there is no exaggeration. I gained 4lbs in one 24 hour period alone. Along with the rapidly increasing weight, my BP continued to be high even with meds and my liver functions started tanking. Protein was in my urine. It was an utter mess. We recognized the fact the babies were coming soon, but I still don’t think we fully had accepted it. It was a waiting game at that point…
Delivery Day – March 12
I woke up around 3:30am (LOL because it’s not like I was really sleeping much) on Saturday, March 12 and in excruciating pain, I waddled myself out of the hospital bed and into the bathroom. I could hardly sit to pee, I was that bad off. I flushed and as I washed my hands I saw my face in the mirror. And I hardly recognized it. I was SO swollen. My eyelids were so puffy it looked like I barely had my eyes open. But as I looked in the mirror, I just knew. Today was it. My body was shutting down and today would be the day we’d find out who Baby A and Baby B were.
Sure enough, my OB came in around 5:30am – which was a sign as she’d usually been coming in to see me after 7am – and said ‘we’re having birthdays today. Get ready, it’s time.’ My saint of a nurse on that shift let me take a ‘quick’ shower and without even really realizing what was happening, I was being wheeled down to the OR. There were SO MANY PEOPLE in the delivery room. Nearly 15 actually. Nurses + NICU doctors for each baby, my OB, multiple nurses, the anesthesiologist and of course my rock: Kyle. The shifted me from my wheelchair to the delivery bed and sat me up for my spinal tap. It was painful but at that point, even breathing was getting painful. Once I laid down, Dr. Seeman got to work. I felt pressure and lots of tugging, but no real pain. Oh and LOTS of nausea. Thankfully they were watching for it and medicating me.
At 6:53am Baby A was pulled out. He was a tiny guy but they gasped with how much hair he had. As they lifted him up, Kyle squeezed my hand and said ‘it’s a boy!’ I was shocked but so in love already. Dr. Seeman knew our name choices so she said ‘here’s little Oliver’ as they wrapped him up and brought him around to see me. Thankfully Oliver was breathing well enough on his own that I could see him and kiss his forehead right away. At 6:56am, after a lot more tugging, Baby B came out. As they held him up, Kyle hesitated and squinted. I’m like what??? He said ‘it’s another boy!’ Pure shock. But more so, pure joy. My sweet Abram. Unfortunately he had swallowed a lot of my fluid and was not stable so the NICU team immediately took him & got to work. I didn’t get to see him until they stabilized him and wheeled him past my head to get him, and Oliver, to the NICU.
Kyle went down to be with the boys right away as I was taken across the hall to recover. Thank God for super dad. He watched the boys get hooked up to all sorts of monitors, have all sorts of testing ran, etc. He never left their sides. All while my BP tanked and I truly wasn’t sure if I was going to make it. They were ready to use an epi-pen like shot on my calf but thankfully I responded to an emergency IV line they hurriedly jabbed into my open arm. It was scary. But all I could think about is how I needed to see the boys. It took about an hour to get me somewhat stable and then I was put on a magnesium drip. 10/10 DO NOT RECOMMEND. God Bless the nurses who took a ‘detour’ to the NICU to wheel me by the boys in their NICU room once before I had to spend 24 hours in bed on the drip. So yes, that makes over 36 hours of me delivery and not holding my baby boys. That pain was more excruciating than anything prior. Again, thank God for Kyle.
Happy Ending
From there, y’all basically know the rest. Born at 33+3, Oliver spent 23 days in the NICU and then busted out after crushing all the milestones that he needed to in order to come home. Unfortunately Abram needed a bit longer, double the amount of time to be exact. After 46 days and some scary bouts of bradycardia, he came home. THANK YOU, JESUS. Our birth story looks nothing like I imagined back when we found out we were pregnant with twins. But then again, neither has our journey to become Ollie man & Abe babe’s parents. And that’s ok. All that matters is now is we are forever grateful for our miracle babies.
Today the boys are 33+3 weeks old. They’ve officially been outside of my belly longer than they were in it. How crazy is that? To honor that, I wanted to share their birth story. Our greatest blessings. Forever our Baby A & Baby B. Now our precious Oliver Donald and Abram John.
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