Leah and Noah

A Birth Story

In my opinion the story of their birth actually starts about a week before they were born...  I had been sick with a yucky cold and on Wednesday, January 29th I asked Trevor to give me a blessing cause I had got so bad.  At the end of the blessing I had this feeling that things were not going to go as planned, but that everything happens for a reason.  The following day I was actually sicker than I had been and around 4:00 pm I wondered if I was in preterm labor so I called the on-call doctor from my doctor's office and he said he thought it sounded like I had the flu and to go see my doctor the next morning.  On Friday morning I went in to the doctor around 8:30 and he didn't check me or anything, but told me to take lots of vit c, drink lots of water and rest lots.  He wrote me a prescription and then we were headed back home.  On Saturday night I realized that I had 1 swollen foot.  Not 2, but only 1.  I kind thought I'd put more weight on that foot and didn't worry about it.  Then on Monday I decided to call the doctor again and the on call doctor wanted me to go into labor and delivery to get checked for a blood clot.  They hooked me up to be monitored and we saw that I was having contractions that were not causing any pain or discomfort.  The nurse said "they are small enough they probably aren't doing anything," so she didn't check me.  After being monitored for just over an hour at the hospital and deciding that my right leg was swollen due to the weight of the babies they sent us away with instructions to follow up with my doctor the next morning.  So, we stayed at my mom's house in St. George.  We got up and went to my doctor appointment.  I had an NST (non stress test) and it was good.  Then, the doctor checked me and said that I was dilated to a 3 and about 50% effaced.  He decided since I was still only 34 weeks and 2 days to have me get the betamethasone (steroid) shots.  Their office was out of the shots so he sent me to Labor and Delivery to get the first shot and I would have to come back on Wednesday for the 2nd shot.  We went to Labor and Delivery where they hooked me up to monitors again.  They monitored me for about an hour and I was having contractions... some were big but most were kinda small.  The difference between being hooked up Tuesday morning and Monday evening was that I could feel these contractions.  I got the first shot and was sent home.  Finally we headed home around 2:00.  When we got home, Trev headed to work and my mother in law took the boys to her house so I could get some rest.  Around 4:00 I started realizing that my contractions were consistent. I decided to time them for the next hour... I was having about 5 or 6 in an hour (every 10-12 minutes)  So when my mother in law came back I had her help me pack a bag and I called Trevor and told him I thought we better go in, because they stayed consistent.  Just before 6 I was having contractions every 6-10 minutes.  Christy took the boys and we headed to St. George at 630ish.  When we got there they had me do a urine sample and found that I was dehydrated so they gave me fluid and called my doctor. I was dilated to a 4 and about 60% effaced.  My doctor was on the phone and he wanted to talk to me to tell me his plan instead.  They were pumping fluid as quickly as was safe to help hydrate my body, then they gave me one dose of nifedipine (stops or slows labor- if not in active labor).  My doctor told me to pay attention to my body and not the monitors.  He said he didn't think the medicine would give us more than 12-24 hours of time.  He wanted me to let the nurse know if I had more pressure or if the contractions felt stronger even if they weren't showing stronger on the monitor.  The plan was as soon as I'm dilated to a 5+ they were going to call my doctor and prep me for the c-section.  He didn't want me to go to fast.  With Caleb I dilated 4cm in 1 hour.  I'm glad he didn't want to take a risk.  The nifedipine slowed my labor, but I was still horribly uncomfortable and I knew what was coming.  I lost all track of time, but somewhere shortly after 10 I was dilated to a 5+ and they called my doctor and started prepping me for surgery.  I was nervous for a c-section since I had never had one.  The surgery was not as horrible as I expected.  Leah was born at 10:45pm and came out crying very loud which made me so happy that meant her lungs were doing pretty good...  She weighed 4 pounds and 1 ounce and was 17 inches long.  I only got to see her for a minute before the nicu team took her away.  Then at 10:48pm Noah was born also crying... yay!  He weighed 4 pounds 8 ounces and was 17.5 inches long.  I didn't get to see him as long as I did Leah and then they were gone.  I was so glad that Trev stayed with me while they finished up the surgery cause it is kinda scary being cut open like that.  As soon as I was wheeled into recovery, Trevor headed to the nicu to be with our sweet new babies.

*These pictures were taken when they were around 6 days old.