We are so happy to introduce the two newest members of our family…Ashley Marion and Austin Richard. Ashley and Austin were born Friday, January 18th. It wasn’t an easy journey, but the end reward was definitely worth it. I tried to keep it short, but once I got writing I got a little carried away. For those of you who wanted to know how things went this weekend and to answer some questions I’ve been getting here is an overview of the past few days.
While Tyler and Josh flew to California to finalize Josh’s adoption I was getting ready to be induced. Friday I was 38 weeks into my pregnancy and my doctor felt it was time to get these babies delivered. My parents spent the day with me and brought me into the hospital that night. Around 10 PM they induced me (Tyler got there around 11). About 17 very long hours later I was finally 10 centimeters and ready to push.
I have to deviate from the story for a minute. For the past few months I felt like it would be best to get a c-section. A couple weeks prior to their births my blood pressure was raising and the doctors thought I had pre-eclampsia and proteinuria, Austin had also been in the breach position for a few months and we thought a c-section would be the best way to go. At my last appointment the doctor did an ultrasound and Austin had flipped and he thought it would be better to try the traditional way. So, against my better judgment I agreed, on condition that I could have an epidural ASAP (I am a wimp and wanted to avoid as much pain as possible). Well, come Friday at 12:30 AM I decided it was time to get my epidural. My understanding is that the procedure is pretty fast and aside from the initial numbing shot, pretty painless. Forty-five minutes later my back felt like it had been through a torture chamber and I was literally sweating from the pain I had endured. For some reason, either my back is weird or the anesthesiologist wasn’t very good, for whatever reason he couldn’t find a proper spot and ended up numbing me in multiple places and poking me over 20 times. By the end my blood pressure had dropped so low I got pretty sick and was throwing up. Which is really weird when your numb halfway down. Long story short….it was awful. BUT, once the numbing took over and I was able to sleep I was grateful to have it.
Back to the story. I was now ready to push, but because my nurse was insistent, I could still feel everything despite having received the epidural. She insisted that they want you to feel when to push and only numb you enough to take the edge off (She said NO ONE gets totally numb now days). Trust me, I went back and forth with the nurse asking for more numbing only to be denied. My doctor even told her to give me more and she dragged her feet and really only gave me enough to last until pushing time came and then it wore off. Anyway, I ended up pushing for almost two painful hours. Ashley wasn’t facing the proper way, Austin’s blood pressure was all over the place, I was getting VERY swollen in multiple areas and its then they decide that I may be too small to deliver vaginally and maybe we should do a c-section (I should mention that Ty was awesome during this whole thing and so supportive).
After they finally agreed to do what I asked for in the first place, we then had to wait for a room to open up. I remember little of the procedure; they got me pretty drugged up. When they took out the epidural for some reason it caused me to tremble uncontrollably for over two hours, my mouth was insanely dry (and of course I wasn’t allowed to even wet it), and I felt completely exhausted, I could open my eyes for a second and had to shut them right away. I was pretty miserable throughout the whole procedure. I do remember Ty holding my hand the whole time and keeping me updated and giving me encouragement. I also remember hearing Ashley cry for the first time and then Austin, what a beautiful sound!! It felt like forever for them to sew me all up and get me back to the recovery room. My parents were there waiting and were soooo excited to see the babies. Ty’s parents came up as well and brought Josh with them. It was such a relief to finally have us all together. Josh loved seeing the twins and would try and reach out to them. He is going to be an awesome big brother. It did my heart good to see Josh and the twins all together.
You’d think that’d be the end of my ordeal, but of course there was more. Around 12:30 Saturday morning I began hemorrhaging, which took the nurses about two hours to stop (I’m starting to notice a 2 hour trend throughout this story….) My doctor thinks it might have been from having the pitocin for 17 hours and all the pushing I had done which caused severe swelling which led to the hemorrhaging. The next day I was completely out of it and ended up having to have a couple blood transfusions. Saturday is a blur and Sunday a little as well. So, long story short I have been recovering from my c-section with a handful of other ailments to keep each other company.
We were all released from the hospital tonight. It was so nice to get home and settled with our own comforts. After Tyler had gotten then twins and me settled he surprised me with some beautiful diamond earrings. He really is such a sweet heart. He is the best dad and takes such good care of all of us. He doesn’t hesitate to change a diaper (even the messy ones), feed the babies or just cuddle and play. The kids are sure lucky to have such an amazing example and Dad.
In the end I would do it all again to get Ashley and Austin here. What a blessing they are to our family. It is so great having Tyler here and finally having our three children together as well. The past year has been crazy, but probably the best of our lives. We’re so grateful for our three miracles and for all the joy they bring into our lives and of course we’re so grateful to our Heavenly Father for not only giving us these blessings but also for trusting us with three of His precious children.
While Tyler and Josh flew to California to finalize Josh’s adoption I was getting ready to be induced. Friday I was 38 weeks into my pregnancy and my doctor felt it was time to get these babies delivered. My parents spent the day with me and brought me into the hospital that night. Around 10 PM they induced me (Tyler got there around 11). About 17 very long hours later I was finally 10 centimeters and ready to push.
I have to deviate from the story for a minute. For the past few months I felt like it would be best to get a c-section. A couple weeks prior to their births my blood pressure was raising and the doctors thought I had pre-eclampsia and proteinuria, Austin had also been in the breach position for a few months and we thought a c-section would be the best way to go. At my last appointment the doctor did an ultrasound and Austin had flipped and he thought it would be better to try the traditional way. So, against my better judgment I agreed, on condition that I could have an epidural ASAP (I am a wimp and wanted to avoid as much pain as possible). Well, come Friday at 12:30 AM I decided it was time to get my epidural. My understanding is that the procedure is pretty fast and aside from the initial numbing shot, pretty painless. Forty-five minutes later my back felt like it had been through a torture chamber and I was literally sweating from the pain I had endured. For some reason, either my back is weird or the anesthesiologist wasn’t very good, for whatever reason he couldn’t find a proper spot and ended up numbing me in multiple places and poking me over 20 times. By the end my blood pressure had dropped so low I got pretty sick and was throwing up. Which is really weird when your numb halfway down. Long story short….it was awful. BUT, once the numbing took over and I was able to sleep I was grateful to have it.
Back to the story. I was now ready to push, but because my nurse was insistent, I could still feel everything despite having received the epidural. She insisted that they want you to feel when to push and only numb you enough to take the edge off (She said NO ONE gets totally numb now days). Trust me, I went back and forth with the nurse asking for more numbing only to be denied. My doctor even told her to give me more and she dragged her feet and really only gave me enough to last until pushing time came and then it wore off. Anyway, I ended up pushing for almost two painful hours. Ashley wasn’t facing the proper way, Austin’s blood pressure was all over the place, I was getting VERY swollen in multiple areas and its then they decide that I may be too small to deliver vaginally and maybe we should do a c-section (I should mention that Ty was awesome during this whole thing and so supportive).
After they finally agreed to do what I asked for in the first place, we then had to wait for a room to open up. I remember little of the procedure; they got me pretty drugged up. When they took out the epidural for some reason it caused me to tremble uncontrollably for over two hours, my mouth was insanely dry (and of course I wasn’t allowed to even wet it), and I felt completely exhausted, I could open my eyes for a second and had to shut them right away. I was pretty miserable throughout the whole procedure. I do remember Ty holding my hand the whole time and keeping me updated and giving me encouragement. I also remember hearing Ashley cry for the first time and then Austin, what a beautiful sound!! It felt like forever for them to sew me all up and get me back to the recovery room. My parents were there waiting and were soooo excited to see the babies. Ty’s parents came up as well and brought Josh with them. It was such a relief to finally have us all together. Josh loved seeing the twins and would try and reach out to them. He is going to be an awesome big brother. It did my heart good to see Josh and the twins all together.
You’d think that’d be the end of my ordeal, but of course there was more. Around 12:30 Saturday morning I began hemorrhaging, which took the nurses about two hours to stop (I’m starting to notice a 2 hour trend throughout this story….) My doctor thinks it might have been from having the pitocin for 17 hours and all the pushing I had done which caused severe swelling which led to the hemorrhaging. The next day I was completely out of it and ended up having to have a couple blood transfusions. Saturday is a blur and Sunday a little as well. So, long story short I have been recovering from my c-section with a handful of other ailments to keep each other company.
We were all released from the hospital tonight. It was so nice to get home and settled with our own comforts. After Tyler had gotten then twins and me settled he surprised me with some beautiful diamond earrings. He really is such a sweet heart. He is the best dad and takes such good care of all of us. He doesn’t hesitate to change a diaper (even the messy ones), feed the babies or just cuddle and play. The kids are sure lucky to have such an amazing example and Dad.
In the end I would do it all again to get Ashley and Austin here. What a blessing they are to our family. It is so great having Tyler here and finally having our three children together as well. The past year has been crazy, but probably the best of our lives. We’re so grateful for our three miracles and for all the joy they bring into our lives and of course we’re so grateful to our Heavenly Father for not only giving us these blessings but also for trusting us with three of His precious children.
4 comments:
Kathy, I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that. It sounds a lot like my first birth story. Recovering from C-sections is not fun. I hope you don't have any further complications so you can enjoy your kiddos. You must be so glad to have everyone all here and together finally.
Kathy,
I'm sorry you had such a crappy experience with the whole labor thing. I'm glad you are okay, and they are here safe and sound. I hope you start feeling better soon! We would love to come visit you guys when things start to settle down.... I'll probably give you a text sometime next week. Hang in there! :)
Wow, Kath! You are one tough chick! Way to hang in there and have two of the cutest babies in the world!
Kathy, Sorry your delivery had so many complications. Besides all the other problems you had to deal with, I can't believe you pushed for 2 hours, that hardly seems possible to me. You are amazing, I thought I was going to pass out after 30 minutes of it. But I am glad that now that it's over you have 2 healthy beautiful babies to add to your family. Take it as easy as possible (thank goodness for family, right?) until you are all healed and rested up!
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