9 Years Ago - Expecting the Twins

December 25, 1999

Nine years ago I was expecting our twins Megan and Ryan. I had already been on complete bed-rest at home for 3 weeks with symptoms of pre-term labor. I was taking procardia to help manage the symptoms of an irritable uterus. I was allowed up for potty privileges - but nothing else. I had worked full time up to 28 weeks and the advent of being home full time with no computer, no email, no real connection to the outside world was not much fun.

Mike worked in N. Dallas then and left home very early every morning for work. Jason was in a private kindergarten. I was so fortunate that my Mom lived local and was able to pick Jason up for school each morning on her way to work, and then she also picked him up and brought him back home in the afternoons. And, when she couldn't manage it - my step-Dad picked up the slack. It was a huge blessing to my family. Also, our church brought meals on Monday, Wednesday and Friday's. That really helped immensely. Talk about being blessed.

I spent my days watching cable TV. I watched so many of his cooking shows that I began to feel like I knew Emeril personally. LOL. Being in the bed was a challenge. Those of you who know me know that Mike and I still have a waterbed. Begin hugely pregnant with twins in a waterbed is NOT the most fun. I told Mike that I was laying on something hard, but he didn't really believe me. At least, it wasn't evident that he believed me. But, more on that in another blog.

On December 13th at 31 weeks pregnant, I was beginning to have contractions more frequently, and having exceeded the maximum of 6 in an hour, we headed to the hospital L & D department. For some reason, we did not enter through emergency and I ended up walking the entire way to L & D. I can tell you that they didn't waste much time getting me to a room though once we got there. The contractions were pretty strong and they gave terbutaline to stop the contractions. It worked - but I was fully effaced and dilated to almost a 3. Since the twins were always in a breech position, there was no way the Dr. was going to let me go home until the babies were born.

And so began my stay in the antepartum unit. I was on a fetal monitor twice a day. I had Procardia at 9 and 3 around the clock, and at 6 and 12 I had another drug to take. If my cranky uterus acted up - then I got the terbutaline shots too. The hospital was great in some ways - because the nurses in antepartum ROCK. Meals could be ordered from the cafeteria, rather than eating the standard food, there were snacks as needed, etc. I was also given the steroid shots to mature the twins lungs. Just in case. They really did not want the babies to come at 28 weeks.

The feeling of being cut-off from the world persisted in the hospital in the sense that still I had no computer, and also - where I had cable TV at home - the channels in the hospital were much more limited. And yet, my mom came by most every day after work, and Mike - bless his heart - would drive home from N. Dallas and pick up Jason and something to eat - and they would drive to the hospital everynight for at least a short visit. It couldn't have been easy on him.

In looking back on that time - it seems so short and it is hard to remember now why it felt so hard then. At the time, it seemed interminable. Those ladies whom I am acquainted with now through my mothers of twins clubs - so many of them did bedrest too. Those whose pregnancies were more recent and those who have had laptops with them at the hospital and access to email - that sounds ideal to me. One funny note was that I was always very warm while pregnant with the twins, so I kept the thermostate in my room cranked down to 60. My poor family members froze to death and always wore their coats during their visits.

Days of bedrest turned into weeks, and pretty quickly it was Christmas Day 1999. My mom and step-Dad cooked a full Christmas meal of turkey, potatoes, gravy, veggies, cranberry ice, etc. And that entire meal, plus presents were brought to the hospital. Mike, Jason and Mike's Mom came to the hospital also, and we all ate dinner. As I recall - the dinner was wheeled into my room in a wheelchair. Too funny. Thanks for a super dinner Mom!

The picture above was taken that day. As I mentioned, both Megan & Ryan were in the breech position and my tummy was very large indeed. I believe it was measured at 55 inches circumference. YIKES!!!!!

As you will recall, 1999 was the year of Y2K preparations. Do any of you remember how many couples were scheming to conceive babies that would be born on the New Millenium? I wasn't one of them. In fact, my due date was not until February 8th.

Mike is an engineer, and he was scheduled to work New Years Eve to make sure nothing at work went crazy at midnight. He took Jason to the folks house for an overnight stay, and he decided to run down to see me at the hospital and have an early dinner together before he left for work. We had decided to get take-out from Mexican Inn so that I didn't have to eat the hospital food that night. While Mike was getting the food, the nurses hooked me up to the monitor and I was contracting like crazy. When Mike got back with the food - he was surprised to find out that not only was I contracting - but the terbutaline shots were NOT stopping the contractions. Because they still desired me to not deliver yet - the Dr. prescribed Mag Sulfate. Not only did the Mag Sulfate NOT work - it cost me to miss my meal of enchiladas, rice and beans because the nursing staff would not let me eat it. I did get to smell it though as there really wasn't any reason for Mike to not eat perfectly good food.

In the end, they could not stop my contractions and an emergency c-section was scheduled. Dr. Watson was not on call - so his partner came in to deliver the twins. Sometime around 10:30 -11:00 that evening we were taken to the operating room. Our close friends Chuck and Tracy - who had their daughter only about 3 weeks before - we called and asked to bring us a video camera. Chuck made the run to the hospital and posed as my brother so they would admit him at that time of night to bring the camera in. Thanks a million Chuck! Additionally - because of the imminent birth of the twins - Mike did not have to go to work this night.

Finally, I was prepped and a team assembled in the OR suite. One funny note was that the entire time I was on that delivery table - I was absolutely convinced I was going to fall off. I remember that the table was tilted so my head was down and also tilted a bit to the right [I think] so that I wasn't flat on my back. I was very agitated over that. I think my Mom was there too along with Mike.

The moment of truth arrived and Ryan was delivered first at 18 minutes after midnight, Megan followed at 19 minutes after midnight. Even at 34 weeks and 5 days - the twins were quite good sized. Ryan weighed 6 pounds 8 ounces and was 18 1/2 inches. Megan weighed 6 pounds 4 ounces and was 18 1/4 inches long. They spent only 1 hour in the NICU unit. Megan kept forgetting to breathe.

Other than some jaundice resulting from their immature livers, they did so well that they not only roomed in with me, but they were released to go home with me on January 4th. We did have home health visit for about 2 weeks and the babies were hooked up to bili-blankets to help break down the biliruben in their systems. They did lose a full pound of weight in the hospital, so I had some work to do in the breastfeeding department to regain that weight.

As a follow-up to the mention of the waterbed above I will go on record to say that when my Dad and step-Mom visited to meet the twins and see Jason, Mike and I - that my Dad who is also and engineer and Mike did do an investigation of the waterbed. It did, in fact, have a broken piece of plywood which the mattress was supported by. I really was laying on the hard plywood. Mike and my Dad repaired it that day.

What were you doing 9 years ago? Do you have any Y2K stories to tell? Please leave me a comment and tell me of your adventures from the Y2k !!!