So, I have posted the last two belly pix I took below. I don't have a 35 week picture because I didn't make it the whole week. I decided to post a condensed version of our birth/delivery story for those of you who haven't heard it...it's quite interesting. So here goes...
Wednesday, January 12th we had our weekly OB appointment in the Falls. Our doctor, Dr. Vergeldt, wanted to do an internal check for the baby's head. She stated she was "suspicious" that the baby's head was not down due to the large lump on the side of my belly. She checked and stated that the baby was actually head down and left it at that. Brandon asked Dr. V. if it was possible that there were two babies in there because I was measuring so big and because of the large lump that was protruding out of my belly (probably too large to be baby's feet!). Dr. V stated "Brandon, you are only having one baby. I have only had surprise twins once in my career." Dr. V mentioned that I had 2 of the 3 signs of Preeclampsia (swelling and protein in my urine) but did not have the 3rd, high blood pressure, so she was not concerned. Dr. V reassured us everything was progressing well and we were on our way.
Friday, January 14th Brandon and I headed to Grand Forks for the weekend to go to the Sioux/Gopher hockey series and to finish up some final shopping before our baby arrived. That day I posted as my Facebook status "I hope I don't get too excited at the Sioux/Gopher series that I go into early labor...lol." (A little foreshadowing?) Brandon and I met up with his mom, Mark, and the Pavlishs at Applebee's before heading to the game. I felt like a ginormous waddling whale while at the game but that was nothing new. We even ended up on the big screen towards the end of the game...picture this: big-bellied prego lady waving at the camera next to a drunken messy-haired fool dancing! Yikes! I drove us home while Brandon was talking to his friends on the phone trying to get someone to go out to the bar with him....luckily, nobody would. So we went back to Brandon's parents house to go to bed. I woke up around 2 a.m. because I had this horrible rash (PUPPS) that was driving me crazy and I wanted to put some anti-itch cream on so I could try to sleep. As I got out of the bed, I noticed my pajamas were wet. I thought...did I wet my pants? Embarrassing! I went to the bathroom to investigate. I noticed my night gown was really wet, did not smell like pee, and I was leaking clear fluid constantly. I started to think back to what we just learned in our first child birth class the night before...and this certainly appeared like my water had broke. But in our class we learned that only 10% of women's water actually breaks...not a high percentage. The fluid kept leaking and that freaked me out so I went to wake Brandon up. He was probably still half drunk and didn't seem to understand what I was telling him. He thought because I wasn't having contractions that we should just go back to bed. I was not about to just go to bed when I was leaking fluid constantly, so I called the hospital and the nurse stated I should definitely come in and have a test done to see if it was my water that broke. So we trekked over to Altru.
We got to Altru around 3:15 a.m. and were immediately taken up to Labor and Delivery and given a room. They tested the fluid and confirmed it was my water that broke and we were having this baby today. We were pretty shocked at this point because I was only 35 1/2 weeks pregnant...that's over 4 weeks early. Because I had not doctored there during my pregnancy, the resident doctor ordered an ultrasound to confirm where the baby's head was. I was starting to get contractions at this point and they were quickly turning painful. The ultrasound technician came in around 5 a.m. She started moving the wand around (which I was less than thrilled about because I was contracting...ouch) and just casually states "You're having twins, huh?" Brandon and I looked at each other shocked and told her "Um, no." She looks bewildered and said "What? Don't do this to me, it's too early in the morning." We said in unison, "Don't do this to us." She stated she would look again and then pointed out 2 heads. We just looked at each other and didn't say much. TWINS??? The ultrasound tech could not believe we did not know we were having twins. She then told us that she could only see the sex of the baby that was transverse (sideways) and that was a girl. The other baby was too far down to be able to see the sex. Too many surprises in one night...1) we are having a baby today, 2) we are having twins?!, 3) we only know the sex of one baby!!!!!!!!
Getting ready to have twins!!
So labor went pretty quickly for me, I got an epidural...thank god for those!! We had to deliver in an operating room because if there were any complications a c-section would need to be done. Around 11 am I was fully dilated and ready to deliver. We were wheeled off to the OR to have these BABIES! There were literally about a dozen people in the OR to help with the multiple birth. Everyone was shocked that we were having "surprise twins" and kept telling us that this NEVER happens anymore. We were kinda famous at the hospital....the Surprise Twin people. So, I started pushing and on January 15th at 12:09 Ava Crystal Hastings was born. (5lbs 8 oz and 19 inches long) I cryed when I saw her and heard her little cry! What a great moment. But I wasn't done, the Dr. was looking at the ultrasound screen to see where Baby B's head was at and she was still breech. He turned the baby by grabbing her on top of my belly and turned her so she was head down....crazy! Everyone began clapping and he tried to pull her out. He then stated the baby "jack-knifed" (put her feet up to her head) and he could not pull her out that way and a c-section was needed immediately. All the nurses scattered like ants getting ready for surgery. I was scared out of my mind and started crying...I did NOT want a c-section. The anesthesiologist began giving me more epidural but I could feel the practice cut so they had to knock me out. They apparently kicked Brandon out of the OR as husbands usually get freaked out seeing their wives guts!! At 12:39 Reese Dawn Hastings was born (5lbs 5oz and 21 inches long). The babies were taken to the NICU and I was taken to recovery.
Ava Crystal and Reese Dawn
From there on the girls spent 18 days in the NICU having issues with breathing, eating, etc. I ended up with Preeclampsia after birth and had to be put on Magnesium which was awful. I had issues breathing and all kinds of complications. Oh yeah, and during all of this, my parents were on a cruise in the Panama Canal. They had just left the day before and this was a 10 day cruise!
But to shorten up the story, we all left the hospital on January 31st and never looked back! We now have TWO healthy, beautiful baby girls!
Love, Brandi
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