Friday, July 3, 2009

6 Weeks of hospital bedrest...then the babies were born!!!!!!!!

It has been quite a while since I last updated this blog. Two days after my last entry, Dallas and I had to go to the hospital because I started to bleed. My doctor told me to really be careful starting week 28 because of the Placenta Previa, and sure enough... one day after week 28 started the bleeding began. Dallas drove me to the hospital here in Camrose at about 2:45am. I was there about 20 minutes when they called my doctor. He came in right away and told us that we were being transferred to the Royal Alexandra hospital in Edmonton. This hospital has a level 3 NICU...it is the best there is.

While we were waiting for the ambulance, they hooked me up to the monitor to check for the babies heartbeats. They also gave me steroids to help mature the boys lungs. The babies showed no signs of distress at all. They were doing great. What a relief! So, the ambulance came and off I went. Dallas followed the ambulance all the way to Edmonton. For me, the ambulance ride was long. I was in a lot of pain from cramping and all I wanted to do was close my eyes and try to rest. But, the paramedic wouldn't have that...he kept me talking the whole way there.

Things were a bit of a blur that morning. I remember talking to a million different people about a variety of different things....doctors...residents...social workers...dieticians....everyone was asking a million questions and giving us tons of information. The one thing I do remember was when I asked the doctor how long I will be in the hospital for. She asked how far along I was and I told her 28 weeks. She looked at me and said that I would be in the hospital for 10 weeks...or until the babies were born. I know I heard what she said, but I didn't believe it. In the next few days, I asked the same question to every doctor, resident and nurse that came to see me. They all gave me the same information. I was in for the long haul.

The first day went by quickly. Dallas stayed with me until the late afternoon. After a lot of convincing, he went home to get some sleep. My first night was awful. I was an emotional wreck. I cried most of the night, but eventually fell asleep. At this point, the bleeding had stopped. I was still in pain but nothing compared to the pain I went through in the weeks to come.

My time in the hospital was filled with a lot of laying down and sleeping. There was no Internet access, but Dallas brought our laptop so I could watch movies. The days dragged on forever but the weeks went by quickly. Dallas came to visit me every Tuesday, Thursday Saturday and Sunday and also every time I started to bleed out, which turned out to be 8 times. It took him 1 1/2 hours to drive to the hospital....He was crazy for coming to visit so much. I couldn't have done it without him. He was my rock through all the craziness that happened in the 6 weeks I was there. His number one priority was to make sure I was OK and to make sure I had enough things to do to keep me busy. He would show up to visit me with a smile on his face...even though he was exhausted from working 10 hours each day and driving a total of 3 hours to come visit me for 2. He was the highlight of my day and I counted down the hours until he would be at the hospital with me again.

As I said before, throughout my stay at the Royal Alex I started to bleed out 8 times. Every time I would be rushed up to labour and delivery. They would hook me up to the monitor to keep a close eye on the boys. Being hooked up to the monitor was painful. You had to lay on your back while they tracked the boys heart rates. There was thick bands to hold the monitors in place that wrapped around my body....the shortest amount of time I was up there was 7 hours...the longest was 32 hours. During this time, I was not allowed to have anything to eat or drink. I was hooked up to an IV and also a catheter for the two longest trips upstairs. The other times, I had to use a bedpan...ewww. The nurse would check all my vitals every hour and also monitor the bleeding. Once the bleeding stopped, I was allowed to go back down to my own room. After a few trips up, they all got used to Dallas and I. Most of the time, I was more calm than the nurses taking care of me. The worst trip upstairs was definitly the one that lasted 32 hours. We thought for sure that we were going to have to deliver the babies. It even went as for as me signing the consent form for the csection. I was only 30 weeks at that time. During this trip upstairs, Kennedy's water also broke. They started me on antibiotics to ensure there was not an infection. They also gave me an ultrasound to check on his fluid levels. The amniotic fluid replaces itself every 3 hours. His levels were good. Actually, both babies were troopers throughout the whole ordeal. They showed no signs of stress or trauma at all from all the drama I was going though. Thank goodness. I was OK with me going through everything but if my itty bitty babies were affected, I would have lost it.

So the next 4 weeks were filled with trips upstairs, trips downstairs, ultrasounds, doctors visits, resident visits, social worker visits.....lots of waiting. Finally at week 32 my doctor told me that she was planning on doing the csection at about 34 weeks. At first, I didn`t believe it. The next day I asked her about it again. She said that the risks outweigh the benefits for keeping them in until 36 weeks. With Kennedy`s water broken and the chances of me bleeding so bad that it could really hurt the babies or myself, she decided it was best to take them out sooner than later. This was confirmed once again the last time I went upstairs which was at 33 weeks. She told Dallas and I that she will be booking the csection for Monday June 22nd. I was so excited! I only had 1 more week to go! Thankfully the boys behaved for the last week.

We had the boys on Monday June 22nd. Kennedy was born at 3:16pm with a weight of 4lbs 14oz and Dylan was born one minute later at 3:17pm weighing 5lbs. Kennedy came out screaming but it took Dylan a bit longer because his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. Both babies were brought to the NICU and Dallas followed. I went to recovery and waited to hear back from Dallas to see how the boys were. Uncle Klayton was also with us through the delivery. He came out to Alberta a couple of weeks before. It was so nice to have him there with us. We will never forget everything he did to help us on our special day!

The boys were doing ok but they both had some breathing problems. Kennedy stayed in the hospital for 3 weeks and Dylan for 4. We decided to take Kennedy home when he was ready, leaving Dylan in the hospital for 9 more days. It was a hard decision to make....we didn`t want to separate them but Kennedy didn`t need to be in there so we decided it is best to bring him home.

We visited Dylan in the hospital pretty much every day...we were so happy when he was able to come home. On July 18th, Dylan finally came home and out family was all together again!



One of our many trips up to L&D
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Daddy D and I hanging out in the hospital. The bears are in the same position the boys are in!
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Another Labour and Delivery Trip
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The day before the C-Section! 34 weeks pregnant!
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Talking to my mom before we go in.
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On our way to the OR! This is the first time I walked in 6 weeks!
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Daddy D waiting for me to get prepped for surgery!
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Kennedy Alexander Born June 22 2009 at 3:16pm. 4lbs 14oz
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Dylan Bruno Born June 22 2009 at 3:17pm. 5lbs even
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Daddy D with the boys!
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Me with my boys!
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First family pic
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3 comments:

  1. :) I really loved reading your story! You are one strong mama! I love the picture of you holding both boys. Too cute!

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  2. I found your blog a long time ago when I was pregnant with my identicals - and ironically I used to live just outside Edmonton but my boys were born in Manitoba. Its been awhile since I checked out blogs and I am glad to see this update - and that you've posted more! I will likely be commenting even more! :) I'm glad your pregnancy ended the way it did! Your boys are beautiful! :)

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