Conceiving and Birthing Twins

So, I said I would blog about my twins. (This is Dr. Kristi blogging by the way!)

When my husband and I decided we were ready to start trying to have a baby. we figured it would be pretty easy. After all, I was getting regular chiropractic care, eating somewhat better, and taking nutritional supplements. Only problem was my cycles were psycho (it runs in the family). I'd have a period that lasted 2 weeks, then nothing for 2 weeks. This would then repeat. So, after a good 8 or 9 months of trying to conceive, I had to figure out things that would help with my hormones and regulate my cycles.

First, I started on a medical food from Metagenics. It was horrible tasting in water, so I put in in orange juice instead and it ended up being quite tasty. I started taking it according to the package directions and it seemed to work too well and I would have a 3 day period and then nothing for 4-5 weeks. That's still not normal, so I backed off a little on the medical food and got it to more of a normal cycle. But still, no getting pregnant.

The only other thing that I did at this point was change my meat. I started shopping for my meat at Sprouts or Whole Foods and got meats that were free from hormones and antibiotics. Within a month or so, I was pregnant.

The pregnancy was uneventful for the most part. You would think with twins that I would've been quite sick, but that was not the case. At 12 weeks we had our first prenatal appointment with Jean Sala, CNM at Inanna Birth & Women's Care. Everything seemed to be right on track up until my 20 week appointment when I started measuring about 4 weeks ahead....still with no idea we were having twins. Jean reprimanded me for eating so many mashed potatoes (that was my craving with that pregnancy). But early that next week, we had our sonogram and found out we were having twins. No wonder I was measuring big!

And so, the uneventful pregnancy then turned into an eventful pregnancy. A week after my sonogram, I went into the hospital for a kidney stone. My stone measured 3 cm. Now, that doesn't sound like much until you understand that kidney stones are typically measured in millimeters. YIKES!!! So, I was hospitalized and put under while they put in a stent. From this point forward, it is important to note, my urinalysis at each visit with my midwife showed up with protein in my urine (also a sign of pre-eclampsia). So, now I start to become more uncomfortable with the pregnancy, not because of the pregnancy itself, but because of the stent and how it's irritating my bladder all the time.

At about 32 weeks, my blood pressure went up, I was swelling, and I still had the protein in my urine so my midwife suggested I see an OB as my provider from here on out. She was going to refer me to her back-up doctor (who is the greatest OB in the DFW Metroplex), but his dad passed away the week she was trying to transfer me and he was out of the office. So, I was transferred to another OB, who I grew to like and who I have a professional relationship with now. Each week, my blood pressure continued to show up high at my visits. But as long as I stayed on bedrest as instructed by my doctor, my blood pressure would remain normal. She was fine with me letting these babies grow as long as we could keep them in there, and I am ever so thankful for that.

At 37 weeks, my OB informed me that she would be on vacation the following week. If I had the babies while she was gone, she was fine with that, but if I didn't, she was happy that she'd get to deliver them. Most OBs would've c-sectioned or induced by this time with my situation. At my Monday appointment the following week, her partner decided that she was going to hospitalize me until I had the babies. She kept trying to convince me to induce or have a c-section. I wanted no part of either choice and I let her know that. I even went so far as to ask for a second opinion with the OB that I was originally going to be referred to (at that point he was back from leave after his dad passed away). His opinion was that there was no reason that I needed to be induced or scheduled for a c-section. So, I sat in the hospital bed from that Monday until Sunday morning at 4am when my water finally broke on its own. During this time, I had my chiropractor coming in every other day to adjust me and do acupuncture on me. I looked forward to those visits!

So, all day Sunday I did everything I could do to be up and squatting during contractions. I was being monitored every 15 minutes for my blood pressure. So knowing that my blood pressure was high when I was up and moving around and that it was down when I was laying down, I had my husband watch the monitor to let me know 2 minutes before the machine was going to take my blood pressure so that I could hop into the bed and relax before it checked it. Then after it checked it, I would get back up and begin more squatting. Labor was quite bearable while squatting. When I would have contractions while resting in the bed, they were quite a bit more painful. I was dilated to 8 cm by about 5pm, and then I stalled. I labored for another 5 hours and made no progress.

At this point, we chose some medical intervention. I decided to have an epidural, because it was explained to me that my perineal muscles were extremely tight from all the squatting I had been doing. She said that the epidural would cause those to relax and I would probably have that baby out in no longer than an hour. Sure enough, about 30 minutes after having the epidural (11:07pm to be exact) A1 was born vaginally weighing 5lbs 11oz.

Next comes the part where medical intervention turns into more medical intervention. After A1 came out, the OB broke my water with A2. A2 was sitting very high in my belly, so once the water was broke, she had no fluid in which to move further down into my pelvic bowl. My body actually thought I was done delivering a baby. My cervix started closing up. We pushed and pushed and pushed for a good 30 minutes to try to get her down, but she wouldn't come far enough down and my cervix reverse dilated back to 8cm. So, I labored for another 5 hours to see if she would budge and nothing happened. I was stalled at 8cm again. At this point, the first baby has come out, the OBs hands have been inside me, and the stick to break the water had been inside me. My risk of infection was now greatly increased. I was thankful that she was willing to let me labor for those 5 hours, but she wasn't going to let me go any longer. Thus, A2 ended up being born by c-section at 5:07am weighing 8lbs 5oz.

So, lets take a look at this:
- twins
- born 6 hours apart
- born on two different days
- one vaginal, one c-section
- one small, one large

Yep, what a story! And I'll tell ya, they are just as different today as their birth story. I'll come back later and add a picture of the cuties!