The Birthing Story

I told people I would write about the actual birth experience so here it goes.

The entire pregnancy was going smooth. No morning sickness even! I had triple the energy the entire time. On Thursday the 11th I went to the high risk specialist to get the steroid shot at 28 weeks and she said that she would prefer not to do it- she rather wait closer to the birth and that I was like Fort Knox and going to make it to 37 weeks.That in a nutshell was my only regret- I wish I wouldn't have listened and insisted on the shot- that's what we went in for that day in the first place. I shouldn't dwell though I guess.

So here is how it went down. It was Sunday the 14th. We went to go get take out with Rob & Lisa. The 3 of us ordered Taco Bell and Charles ordered KFC next door. He warned me of Taco Bell. So we got our food, came over to the house, ate and watched TV. They left just before 8pm. Charles & I went into the garage so that I could supervise the organization process. I even did a little happy dance as Rob & Lisa drove away since I was so excited we were getting stuff more organized. Five minutes later, I told Charles I wasn't feeling good and that we should do this later (me turning down organization time is unheard of!). So I went in and blamed the ill feeling on Taco Bell.

So starting at 8pm, I was feeling blah. I tried to nap it off. I hung out in the bathroom. I drank lots of water. Each hour I felt more blah. Darn that Taco Bell, right?.... So I figured maybe a bath would help. So Charles hooked me up with a bubble bath and I got in it for about an hour. He even gave me a massage. Still feeling bad. Now it is bed time. We go to sleep. Still not feeling good. At about midnight I am still wide awake. I try to walk it off and pace around the house that is lit up by moonlight through the skylights. I even grab the Multiples book and look up contractions. These can't be contractions. They hurt like hell but they they said your whole belly hardens and you feel it across the entire belly- mine was confined to extreme pains in a triangular spot just located around my front pelvis area. Plus I was JUST at the high risk specialist this week and she basically sent me home. Has to be Taco Bell, right?

Between midnight and 2am thogh it got even worse. So I wake up Charles (I hate to wake people up) at 2am. You know something is up when I wake someone up. He starts timing the pains. Oh crap. It went from 8am for a minute every hour, then to about every 15 minutes, then to every 10 minutes....we were at about every 4 minutes or less. Are you kidding me? I am still cursing Taco Bell at this point. So at 3am Charles packs me into the F150 and we bring nothing with us really. We assume we will go to Winnie Palmer and they will say it is gas and dismiss us, or they will give me something to stop contractions. In fact, it was on my calendar for that Monday to pack my hospital bag.

We made the 31 minute drive in 18 minutes. When you are in pain, husbands drive real fast :) The triage part took the longest. We get in and I see a nurse who hooks me up to a machine and you could see the bear of contractions. Then she does the exam and gets quiet and tells us she will be right back. Uh oh. In comes the big guns- Dr. B (thank heavens he was on call that night- I only wanted him or Dr. A who was coming on in a few hours- sweeet). So Dr. B does an exam (both times the exam hurt horribly). He tells us that I will be here for the remainder of my pregnancy. I was thinking 'Holy smokes- I am going to be here for 2 months" so I asked him how long he thinks that would be, in which he responded with half an hour max. :o Whaaaat?! Apparently it hurt like mad b/c I was dilated to 8 cm and Baby A was already crowning. They gave me the steroid shot and sent me off to the ER/OR.

At this point I am in total denial. Maybe they drugged me. I don't recall. The entire time I thought it was an elaborate plot between Charles and Dr. Wang to convince me to stop working. I was expecting Dr. Wang to walk out at any minute (I really thought man- do they really go above and beyond to try to get a point across to me). I thought that up until I was pretty much naked on the Operating Table! In fact- I still made another look for Dr. Wang to come out. Ahhh denial- it is a fun and beautiful thing! It kept me calm.

So here is where it gets crazy. Since it was an emergency C-section, the only way a husband can be in the room is if I am awake during surgery. I heard the doctors (there were 25 people in the room) say they didn't think there was enough time for the epideral to work. Oh heck no. They wanted to knock me out. I was not having that. I didn't want to miss this plus this might be Charles only chance to be in the delivery room and I was not going to take that away from him. They were gonna try the epideral. So Chaz is outside while they prep me. Very weird experience. They even do a catheter- there are no secrets or modesty at moments like that. At least I shaved my legs during that bubble bath. So here is where I admit I am a freak. They do the epideral and ask if I can feel anything. So I lied. Yup, I bold faced lied and said I couldn't feel a thing- crazy but whatever. I have a super high pain tolerance. I would say the epideral was 80% in effect. So Charles got to stay and I got to watch. I couldn't feel the outer cut, but I could feel the inner one- now that is freaky. I'll spare you those details. It didn't matter b/c I was distracting myself by taking in all the sights and what was going on.

I heard all 3 babies cry when they came out- which a lot of preemies don't do. That rocked. They let me kiss each baby on the head too. Very surreal experience. Charles was so cute the entire time. Oh- my coworkers wife Jeannete was in the operating room and recovery room with us! All the right people were workin the night we needed them! We also knew 2 other nurses from the other docs office that were in the room. 25 people were working in the room- wow- they all had masks on but most came by and introduced themselves. Oh- and I had some uncontrollable shakes going on before the surgery started and before the epideral- not sure if it was a case of freak out or I was freezing or both. Usually you get the mommy shakes after the epideral, not before.

Charles only had like a 3 minute window to make the calls. He called his parents. Then he called my sis to make the phone train on my side of the family. Then he called Rob & Lisa (God parents) and then was called back in to the room with me. We didn't even get to use our phone tree to call everyone! No time. I didn't have a bag with me, heck I don't even know if I wore shoes!Charles did all that research on cameras and we didn't have our camera with us! Luckily his cell phone took great pics!

When in recovery, I asked for my cell phone. I think I sent out a mass text message. No idea to who or what it said. I think I wrote that we were having three babies and people assumed I was telling them I was pregnant with 3 babies and they already knew that. Drugs really started kickin in by this point! I even had a button to push to self medicate. Sweet. Oh- and Winnie Palmer has the best square ice chips in the world. For the first 3 days, the nurses would come in and check the wound. They do so by pushing down on it- oh holy hell that part was retchid! I told myself I wanted to heal fast (mind over matter). The more you walk around at first (as much as it sucks), the faster it helps you recover (I was told). So by the 3rd day, I was peeing by myself. Granted, it hurt to walk but it had to be done. I was able to stay at Winnie Palmer for a week. That place rocks. I didn't want to leave! The food was fabulous. Charles also ordered the romantic dinner for 2 in our room.

Once word got out, the visitors started pouring in. I think we had as many people visit as we had at our wedding. Holy smokes.

They gave Charles the gown that has all 3 babies footprints on it and also their weights. Too cute. Charles Edward was born at 5:27am, Kaitlyn Elizabeth was born at 5:28am, and William James was born at 5:29am on Monday.

They said the kids will be there about 8 weeks or so. They will probably be released one at a time. So until then, we go to Winnie Palmer everyday. We post all the pics on Flickr. It is a rollercoaster ride in the NICU. Charlie looks like a clone of his Dad. Will looks more like the Painter side. Kaitlyn has the darkest hair. Oh yeah- the names- Charlie is a family name and has the same name as his grandpa. William is a family name on my side (but James is a grandfather name on Charles side). Kaitlyn Elizabeth is a funny story- we wanted her initials to spell KEN b/b that is how I met Charles. Plus her first two initials (K & E) also stand for Kathy & Eric which is how I met Ken, who introduced me to Charles.

So that is the abbreviated story!