At around 1:30 am, I woke up suddenly. I vaguely remember feeling something in my abdomen and started paying attention. I got up to walk to the kitchen and get some water. It crossed my mind that I may be having some Braxton hicks contractions so I wanted to see if walking or drinking water would stop them. After about ten minutes of feeling contractions and not getting any relief, I decided to wake Mike up and see what he thought. We timed my contractions for about ten minutes and I was averaging one minute contractions every 3-4 minutes. Seemed like active labor to me. We tried calling our backup emergency person a few times but they had their phone on silent and didn't hear it ringing. We finally decided to pack up Zachary and head to the hospital with him in tow.
On the ride to the hospital, Mike contacted the on call OB from my office and she was pleased that I was already on my way in. I don't remember much from the ride to the hospital except that it HURT very badly. Mike told me that I was using some choice language and he was worried that Zachary would pick something up that we didn't really want him to. Apparently Zachary continuously told me to breathe the whole ride.
When we arrived at the hospital, Mike asked if I could walk across the walkway from the garage to labor and delivery. I told him no so he pulled up to the circular driveway in front of the doors closest to L&D. We pulled in behind an ambulance and as I got out of my car, the paramedics were returning to their vehicle. One asked if I was okay and I told him no, pretty sure I'm having some babies tonight. He told Mike to go park the car in the garage and that he would walk me up to L&D. I grabbed his hand and we headed off. He told me as we entered the elevator that the only rule he had was for me not to deliver in the elevator please.
When we got to L&D, I approached the triage nurse and was in so much pain. I laid across the counter as they asked questions and remember snapping at the nurse when she told me to breathe through the contractions. They brought me back and hooked me up to the monitors. The nurse was pleased to see that the twins were doing just fine - they were in no distress whatsoever. Mike and Zachary appeared at some point (this is all a little hazy), and the nurse decided to check and see if I was dilated. Both Mike and I were shocked when she announced that I was dilated to 9.5 cm. I yelled that I couldn't have the twins vaginally, my son had hydrocephalus and his head was too big. Mike informs me that it was at this point that the previously calm and collected nurse leapt across the room and hit the emergency button calling for a stat c-section. I don't remember much except that there were suddenly a TON of people in the room, they were all doing stuff to me and I wanted to push so bad. They told me over and over "don't push don't push". Then I was being wheeled away and Mike and Zachary were left behind. I heard Mike shout "I love you!" as I was wheeled out of the room.
Then I was in the operating room. The anesthesiologist told me he would give me one chance for a spinal but if it didn't work, they needed the babies out so he would have to put me under. I begged him to make the spinal work and that miracle maker did. I became very frightened as I realized I was about to have surgery and the same anesthesiologist stood at my head and distracted me until I was calm again.
I heard a cry and the anesthesiologist said "you hear that? One of the babies is out!" I heard the on call OB say "it's a girl!" And our daughter was born. The anesthesiologist told me to look to my left, and there in the window of the operating room stood Mike and Zachary. While they couldn't be in the room with me, they were there watching and that was almost as good. The OB suddenly said "close the blinds close the blinds close them!" I became scared and asked if everything was okay. They all reassured me it was fine, and I later learned that our son's head was stuck and the OB was having difficulty removing him. Then he was born. I saw him for a brief blurry (I had left my glasses with Mike!) moment and then he was whisked away to the NICU.
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