Latest / Arrivals: A Birth Story Podcast / Replay: An ideal vaginal birth with a singleton, followed by a C-section birth with twins

Transcript

Replay: An ideal vaginal birth with a singleton, followed by a C-section birth with twins · Arrivals: A Birth Story Podcast

• Merelise Wilson: Hello and welcome to the Arrivals podcast. I'm your host, Merelise Wilson, and I've got my friend Karen Robbins with me today. Hi, Karen. Hi. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm so excited to have you. for having me. I'm so excited. Yeah. So I guess we've known each other now for almost 10 years. Yeah. Yeah, which is wild. And we met in a book club, which I feel like it's got to be the longest running book club of all time. I mean, we have hats. HCG We have hats, we have merch, all the things. But it was cool because it was a kind of like random group of women and it was all pre-marriage, pre-babies. And we all came together and just vibed and meshed so well. Yeah, it's still going. It's still going. Going strong. I know, through I don't even know how many babies at this point. I know. A lot of weddings, a lot of babies. Yeah. You were the first wedding. I think I was the first wedding. Yeah. And then it was just like four years of... of constant weddings within the book club. And then all of sudden it was babies. This just makes a lot of sense for you to be doing this podcast and with the way that our lives have progressed, like all of our friends being able to do it too. So it's great. Well, it's actually, was at a book club recently where I got the idea for it because yeah, whenever one of us has a baby and then we have book club and we always talk about it. It's the first thing. when someone comes back to book club for the first time after they've had the baby, they feel like they can step away for a few hours. The first thing everyone asks is, let's the birth story. And it's just something that people love to hear. And so it's actually thanks to birth club, book club. Birth club. can't. Birth club, book club, wine and cheese club. So anyway, so. and everyone's stories are always so different. Exactly. They're always fun to hear. Yeah, you were someone I thought of immediately when I started this podcast, someone I wanted to speak to about their first story, because you had two really different experiences. Very different. Very different. And so I'm excited to dive in today. Yeah. So I have three little girls. oldest, Rebecca, is now four years old. And I have twin girls who are almost two. And ⁓ Very different birth stories. guess I can start with Rebecca's. Yeah, let's start with Rebecca. Okay. Rebecca was, from a pregnancy standpoint, just like the easiest pregnancy. I gained a lot of weight, but besides that, was pretty smooth sailing. She was like one of those babies that was always so active where you could like see her kicking and punching inside of me. That's so cool. ⁓ just constantly looks like a little alien all the time in there. It's so sci-fi. It's so weird. And I think she was just happy to be in utero because she stuck around past 40 weeks and she did not want to come out now. And so I remember at my 40 week appointment, said, can we go ahead and schedule an induction? And if she doesn't come, of course I wanted her to come naturally because I just thought that would be easier. they said we had to do, so we were living in Baltimore at the time they told us that we had to come in or that I had to come in every two days that 40 week period because at the hospital where I was giving birth, they didn't induce before 41 weeks. Oh, wow. That's so different from almost every practice in Atlanta. Yes, so different. And when we moved here and I switched back to my old practice here, it was like so funny to hear the difference in opinions. So I went in for the fetal non-stress test every two days with Rebecca. to do that too. Yeah. And I remember not knowing really what that was or how the scoring worked or anything, but the first day that I went in, they were like, you passed. And secretly I was like, really? Ugh, I really wish that I hadn't. I was just so miserable that last week. I know. When was she born? month? She was born July. So she was due July 10th. Okay. The second time I went in for the fetal non-stress test, they said, she didn't score what she needed to score, so we're going to go ahead and induce you. That was on the 16th. So she was born on the 16th. I guess I was on the 15th because, wait, is that right? No, the 16th. And so I remember they were like, OK, go ahead and go down to labor and delivery. Did you have your packed or anything? No, I didn't have my bag packed. My husband was. He was in his fellowship gastroenterology in Baltimore. so he was at a different hospital. Had you guys talked about a plan? Because I'm sure his schedule was really crazy and demanding. I said to him, was like, I don't think that they're going to induce me today, but just in case, have your phone on. Yeah. And have your phone with you. And so I remember calling him. My mom was actually in town. She came in town the week before because she wanted to be there just in case Rebecca was born early, which clearly she was not. I know. We've hanging around for a week. They tell you not to get attached to due dates. It's just so hard not to. And it's so hard. I remember with Kit, we were convinced he was going to come early. I don't know why. There was no reason at all. But I just had it in my head. And then it's even harder if you have a baby who comes late when you think they're going to come early. Right. No, was every day I was like, is it today? Is it today? Yeah. And I barely had any contractions. But what was interesting was even when they were doing the test, they were like, ⁓ you're having contractions right now. And I had no idea. I could barely feel it, if at all. And I was always under the assumption that if you're having contractions, it's going to be pretty Really obvious? Were you dilated or effaced at that point? I was 70 % effaced and one or two centimeters dilated. OK, so not nothing. Yeah, not nothing. it didn't feel like she was going to come that quickly, even though she was six days late. yeah, I called Gordon. And I said, come to the hospital. Pack my bag. Grab it. And bring it to the hospital. And so I was like, I actually have, it's so funny. I told Gordon when he got to the hospital, like start making notes in his phone so that I had them of like what happened, because I knew I was never going to remember. No, it's such a blur. Too much happening. Yeah. And it was in 2021. So it was like right, you know, after COVID, but I still had to do like the COVID test and we had to wear masks until the tests were clear and- Couldn't have anyone else there. Yeah. No one else was there. I think my mom and dad- maybe went back to my house and then sat in the waiting room for a little bit, think, too. But yeah, I remember I checked in. I have this on my phone literally in my notes that Courtney took. I checked in around 2.30. So I went straight there. I was shaking and crying because I just wasn't ready. It was overwhelming. As ready as you are to no longer be pregnant, you're also like, wait, but I'm not ready to give birth. I'm not ready to go home with a baby. And I'm such a type A person that like... I needed to know exactly what was going to happen and when. And clearly when you're giving birth, you can make only so much of a plan and then life just happened. they talk to you when they said that they were going to induce you head over to L and D? Did they talk to you about the induction options or just said they'll talk to you about it at the hospital? Yeah. I knew that I had course Googled induction, what could happen and had talked to a couple of But also I really did trust my doctor. And so I asked her kind of what her idea was. If I were to be induced, what would it look like? And she kind of told me, like walked me through that process. And ⁓ had already said, like, I definitely know I'm going to have an epidural. I am just like, ⁓ have no pain tolerance my whole life. I like, you know, dropped a can on my foot one time and went to the ER. That's all That really hurts. Yeah, it did hurt, but I just feel like I'm very much a pain baby. I was not the kind of person who was wanting to do a natural birth. Yeah, that was not for you. Yeah. But I checked in at 2.30 and then they did a Foley bulb and then Pitocin. Yeah. Do you want to describe? I don't think a lot of people know what a Foley bulb is. I I don't know if it's an Atlanta thing or what, but I don't feel like people get induced with it as much in Atlanta. But do you want to kind of explain what it is? So it's something that they insert vaginally. It is small when it's inserted. It's literally like a balloon. And as you progress on the pitocin and you're dilating, the balloon expands. And as it expands, it's incredibly painful. ⁓ is it? Yeah, it was pretty painful. ⁓ But they basically expand this balloon and then once you're dilated far enough, it basically falls out of you. And so the idea is that it kind of puts, well it's supposed to be gentle pressure, but it sounds like it doesn't feel gentle. It puts gentle pressure on your cervix to dilate and thin out. Right, exactly. And it did work really well, I'll say that. How long did you have to keep it in for? Let's see my notes. I had it in for about an hour and a half with Pitocin. Okay. they were, I remember the nurses saying, wow, that was fast. Everyone seemed very happy with the progress I had made, which to be in so much pain, I was like, okay, at least it worked. I was getting some positive reinforcement that things were moving along. ⁓ it sounds like your body also was receptive. It was ready to go. yeah. And it's funny because even before, my mom was like, this won't take long because she's six days late. You'll be fine. And my mom had also had some pretty easy births me and my brother. So she thought that like... I would kind of follow along that. Yeah, that's kind of an old wives tale that you'll have the same birth as your mom. Mine was very different personally from my mom. Yeah, I mean, of course I believed her because I was like, that sounds great. I want an easy one. Manifest it for yourself. Yeah, exactly. But I do remember also when they were giving me the Pitocin and then I had the Foley Bolvin, I kept saying to Gorda and I was like, I need drugs. I need something because it hurts so bad. was crying. was throwing up. Oh gosh. Yeah. They did give me something and I don't remember what it was, but like some sort of pain medicine, which was weird because it didn't really like make me have less pain. was like, I just cared about it less. Was it fentanyl? I don't remember. That's kind of what fentanyl does. It doesn't take away the pain, but it just makes you go out of it. it's a opiate But that was at least like some relief. Were having contractions? Was some of the pain from the contractions? Okay. I think most of it was from the contractions. Okay. And pitocin contractions are... more painful because it's an artificial contraction. It's stronger. It's more intense. Which everyone had told me, if you're getting induced and you have pitocin, it's going to hurt really bad. I just thought to myself, I can handle it for a little bit until hopefully I can get an epidural. Every time a nurse would come in, I would say, can I get the epidural now? Gordon was like, they're going to think you're drug seeking. You keep asking. They're used to it, I'm sure. know. Yeah. They laughed at me and they're like, they're not. your contractions aren't close enough yet or they're not, you know. And then finally, once the Foley bulb was out, I think I had the epidural around like 7.20 PM. So, or so says my notes. I guess I had the Pitocin for like an hour and a half, or the Foley bulb was for an hour and a half. And then the Pitocin a little bit longer than that. And how dilated were you once it came out? Four centimeters. Okay. So made some progress. Yes. And then in my notes I have... Gordon got 10 wings from the cafeteria at 8 50 p.m. and fed Karen sugar-free strawberry jello. So clearly I was feeling better after the epidural. And I remember like from then on out, like feeling like I was just like flying. Like it was great. I was, I knew the baby was coming soon. Like they gave me the peanut. like ball And I had that between my legs from like 720 until Rebecca was born basically. How was your epidural? you, were you totally, could you feel nothing? Could you feel a little bit? Like what was the epidural experience like for you? Sounds like it was great. Yeah, I was going to say, I think I had like a pretty ideal epidural experience because I didn't feel anything, but I could feel enough pressure that I knew when my contractions were happening. And so I was kind of like watching the monitor, feeling the pressure and then like Mentally making a note like ⁓ that was a contraction good. I can feel it ⁓ and so when I remember when the nurse came in she's like how are you doing and I said ⁓ Like I'm feeling pressure down there because she had said to me like if you start to feel pressure That's probably like crowning right and I was just hanging out in the room like yeah, you know living living my best life in the bed. Yeah, I've had already forgotten about how miserable the like right or before it. Yep and She said that there was like blood in the catheter, which usually means that, what did she say? Like that it's, that you're fully dilated. ⁓ I don't know like how that works, but the doctor came in ⁓ she had been in a C-section before. So it took like 20 or 25 minutes for her to come in. I'd like been ready just sitting there waiting to push. they moved. That's wild. Yeah. They like moved the bed around and lifted me up a little bit. I was like in position just waiting for her. What time was this at? This was at midnight. Okay, so you've been there for about eight hours, little less than eight hours. It's pretty short for first day. know. know. Everyone said it was pretty quick. And I only pushed for 20 minutes. So the doctor came in and was like, all right, ready? She's like, you're ready. I see your head. Were you like, okay, it's go time? Yeah. And then it was fun. I said it was actually like... energizing giving birth with Rebecca because it was easy to a point obviously. I did ask for a friend of mine had told me like you have to get the mirror. Oh yeah. Yeah. And so I was like, I'll do that. Did you find it helpful? I loved it. Yeah. And I tell everyone to get in. Of course some people are like, no, I don't want to anything. But I loved having it because I felt like when I was pushing, I could see the progress that was being made. I could see her. I think it's so cool. Like if I could have had a professional film crew filming my births, like I would totally have. So yes, I think even being able to see like a little bit of what is happening while it's happening is so cool. Yeah. And it's just like fascinating. And I do think that helps you like connect with what's happening. Yes, for sure. Especially if you have an epidural What was Gordon? I'm curious, like having a husband in the medical field, like what was, did he do an L and D rotation? Like, okay. Yeah. He delivered a couple of babies in med school. Yeah. What was he like, supportive wise? Oh yeah, he was great. What was funny was before we went into the delivery room, said, as soon as I knew I was getting induced, I was like, need to let them know you're a doctor. Because I'm like, you need to play that card. I know that you understand what's happening. He's always so weird about it because he doesn't want them to feel pressure if he's there and they know he's a doctor. And so I remember when the anesthesiologist came in. And he was like, I'm going to do your epidural. I was like, you better say something because he needs to know. And so they started kind of like schmoozing and they knew some of the same people. so I was glad that they knew that he was a doctor too. But he was really good advocating for me and explaining things to me if I didn't know. I've grown up around medicine, so I knew a lot of it. But he was just a great partner and then nice that he had the medical knowledge, of course. And not squeamish, I'm sure. So where was he while you were pushing? Was he over by your head? No, he was watching. He watched part of it and then was by my head, kind of both. Yeah. But I would ask him, everything look okay? He would tell me what was happening if I couldn't tell in the mirror or something. Yeah. then he knew my OB pretty well too because he'd been to most of the appointments with me. So we all were just chatting the whole time. That's awesome. It was a good experience. And one of the funny things was the doctor said. that Rebecca was shaking her head back and forth, trying to get out. Oh my God. And she's she's helping us here. I always tell her that story that she was ready to get that point. She I truly feel like so many babies enter this world, but their personalities fully formed. And that's just Rebecca's personality. Oh, totally. It's crazy. Yeah. Even what you were saying with the way she was so active in your tummy. When I picture her, I picture her just constantly dancing and wiggling and moving and doing all these things. Totally. So you didn't push for long. So push for like 20 minutes and then she was born and everything was great. did like after an hour when they were moving me from that delivery room to the post or the whatever, the post delivery area, they were moving me from the bed to a wheelchair and I like totally fainted. ⁓ gosh. Yeah. So that was a little scary. I like sat, they were moving, like I took two steps into the wheelchair and then Gordon said I turned like wider than he's ever seen me and I just like. fainted in the chair. Oh man. So like not on the floor, but in the chair. And then they like put me back in the bed and were like, we can't move you yet. We need to do some tests and make sure that like you haven't lost a lot of blood or you know, they took a couple of like, I think I got a CBC and something else, but I was fine. So we don't really know what it a little blood pressure drop or something. Yeah. Probably some weird like vasovagal thing. Yeah. Well, yeah, you'd been sitting for a while. Maybe it was just like a... Yeah. I don't know. Besides that, everything was It was very underrated, besides that one little bit. I forget that even happened. And so after she was born, did you like a golden hour or anything? Or did Gordon cut the cord? Yeah, Gordon cut the cord. OK. And then I just like laid with her on me for probably two hours or whatever it Oh, it's the best. So delicious. Yeah, it was so sweet. And then parents came in, Gordon's parents came in. Oh, they let them come in? did. Oh, that's amazing. It's so interesting to hear how the different cities and hospitals are different. Because I gave birth with Kit just a month before you. And so we were right there experiencing at the same time, but it was so different in Atlanta. No one was coming in. Chris couldn't come to my appointments with me. Yeah. Leading up to it at all. Couldn't come to a single one. So that's really interesting how these different policies perv. I'm glad they got to come in. Yeah, me too. No, it's really sweet. So sweet. The first grand kid. Yeah, that's a big On my side, on my parents' Yeah, that's awesome. I think that was everything for Rebecca. Overall, it was just super great. Yeah. And I remember just afterwards telling everyone, it was amazing. I could have 15 children. Yeah. And I just had this perception of birth being so amazing, which it is. It is. It's amazing. It's hard, but it's amazing. what's so cool, though, is that every experience is different. Yeah. ⁓ Like how was your recovery physically postpartum? Did you have any tears or? I think they told me like second degree tear. Okay. So it wasn't, it honestly wasn't so bad. Yeah. After having the C-section with the twins, I'm like the recovery with Rebecca and Singleton is like so much easier vaginally and everything. But it probably took like, you know, two weeks to feel back to normal completely. Oh, that sounds pretty ideal. Yeah. For first birth especially. It was a good one. Yeah. Well, I guess we can pivot over to number two and three. On to the twinsies. Let's see. How do I? So it was a very long pregnancy. felt like. It was just like totally different, of course, than Rebecca. out at my eight week appointment that it was twins. And I remember like I was so sick. And I kept saying to Gordon, it's either a boy or it's twins. Because it felt so different from first. Even though I was sick with Rebecca, it was a whole nother level of sickness. Well, when you're carrying multiples, do you have double the amount of, what's the hormone that makes you HCl? So you have double the amount of everything. So that's probably... Oh, yeah. I mean, heightened, all of the things were, I was just so sick. I had always like weirdly thought that I was going to have twins. Yeah. And my mom had said it to me growing up, like, I'm wondering if you're going to have twins. And I have very wide hips. So I'm like, if someone's going to have twins, I could carry them. you've no history of twins in your family. Only my great, is my great great grandmother, my great, no, my great grandmother had twins that didn't make it in like 1912. So it was, you know, obviously I'm very, very high risk back then. I had always been told like she had twins, but they were stillborn and one else since then though and the generation since then had twins. So I don't know if mine is totally sporadic, but they do say that like fraternal twins runs on the mother side. Okay, I have heard that too. Do you want to share your theory about how you got pregnant with twins? Sure. You don't have to. Sure. How do you remember this? have such a great story. I love this stuff. So I got off birth control and I had always been very regular. And for some reason, ⁓ I started checking like ovulation strips. Yeah. ⁓ for some reason I didn't ovulate one month, but I still got my period. Okay. And then that following month is when I got, when I conceived. ⁓ so my theory and things that I've read say that if you hyper ovulate, which is what can happen in the female side of the family with ⁓ history of fraternal twins, if you hyper ovulate and drop two eggs, it can often happen where you don't ovulate one month and then the next month you drop two eggs. You think that's what happened? That is my theory. or not that is true, I will never know. Was it pretty soon after you got off birth control? Yeah, right after. I've also heard that too. Sometimes when your cycle is a little bit screwy after you've gotten off hormonal birth control, you can be more likely to... not ovulate one month, then ovulate the next two. Right, which obviously makes sense. But yeah, I think that's what happened. And when we went into the eight week appointment, they were doing the ultrasound and she's looking at this, like, you know, the one sack and the baby and telling us about it, getting the heart rate. And I said, is that another sack? And like, I saw it first. ⁓ my gosh. And Gordon was like, what? And the sonographer like went over and said, yeah. Sure is. I was like, is there a baby in there? Because I was like, couldn't tell. I just saw the outside of the sack. And she's like, sure is. And then so she checks the heart rate of that one, moved over to the other baby. And I was like, all right, two strong heartbeats. And Gordon, I have never seen him. He was as ghostly pale as I was probably when I fainted in that chair. But he ⁓ was so pale. When he gets nervous, he shakes his leg. His leg was going like. 90 miles an minute. But yeah, I was like, I knew it. knew it. Gosh, you really did. And we left there and I couldn't keep it in. I had to call my mom immediately. Yeah. And she's like, well, how's the baby? And I said, they're good. And she was like, what? Come again? It's twins. And she knew immediately too because we've been talking about the theory that we had that maybe it was twins. I remember it's funny you say that because you were living in Baltimore still at that time and you were looking for houses in Atlanta. so every once in a while I'd text you a house that I saw or we were talking about something related to real estate and you were like, well, it's going to need to be bigger than that because don't tell anyone that I'm having twins. I like, what? I don't think you were like, I think you were so early. And I was like, oh my God. It threw a huge wrench in things because yeah, like in… addition to obviously like, my gosh, it's twins. It was like we were moving to Atlanta and I was trying to figure out, you know, what kind of house we were going to be living at. And yeah, it was wild. The other funny thing that I've now figured out because now that I have twins, people do this to me, but like, as soon as you find out you're having twins, you reach out to every twin mom you know, even if they're like acquaintances that you haven't spoken to in two years. you don't tell your best friends, you call these random people and say, please talk me off the ledge. What's this going to look like? How is this going to work? And it's so funny because I had three or four twin moms that I reached out to at the time, and all of them were like, it's amazing. It's very, very hard. It gets easier as they get older, but just you're in for it. And no one wants to sugarcoat it. I feel like that's helpful. But it's also nice to know, to see people on the other side. I felt that way just. about a singleton with newborn life. Like was just nice to know that there is like, you know, light at the end of the tunnel. Cause when you're in it feels so hard and so heavy. I truly cannot imagine having a twin newborn like, I can't. It was wild, but even just like the, the getting over the shock. It was like, I honestly wasn't as shocked as Gordon was. It like you really just knew. You like something. Yeah. But he was Gordon was super shocked. He like called his brother immediately. listen to this, I have to tell you. Of course. At what point do you feel like and maybe the answer is never, but at what point do you feel like it kind of settled in and you started to get like excited? ⁓ I excited, honestly, early Right off the bat. I think it was just like the logistics piece, like realizing like, okay, we're moving. I'm going to be like 24 weeks pregnant when we move. like, obviously with twins, ⁓ it's high risk with multiples. And so I didn't really want to tell people for a long time. ⁓ Like Rebecca, I know we told people around 12 weeks. ⁓ And with the twins, I waited a lot longer. I didn't even tell work or I didn't post anything publicly until like three weeks before they were born. ⁓ wow. Really? ⁓ man. So I was just nervous the whole time. Understandable. You're always nervous every appointment you go to with any baby. But with twins, was every appointment I went to. was like, thank God everything's good. And what was pregnancy like with twins? Crazy. ⁓ I was so sick and I think I stopped being nauseous around 26, 27 weeks. Oh, that's long time. Yeah, and I was on Bengesta the whole time. So I had nausea medicine, also I just was so big and I gained so much weight with them and was hobbling everywhere. But I had Rebecca, so was like I couldn't stop moving and doing. We forgot to mention also, Rebecca's not even two. ⁓ yeah. Right. That's the other thing. You hear about two under two, but you had three under two. Yeah. So she was a handful the whole time. But honestly, that kept me occupied during the pregnancy so that I wasn't all in my head about how I was feeling. I do remember, Karen is a very slender person, and she just had this ⁓ belly. I mean, it looked fake. ⁓ It looked fake. It was crazy. it stuck straight out. Looking back at pictures, it's kind of crazy because it didn't look that much different than my stomach with Rebecca. It's like having two in there. I don't know how, but it was kind of similar. I think that the only difference was it went further out. It was the same shape. I mean, you were really cute pregnant Thanks. I'm sure you didn't feel like that. have to do that again with two and a huge belly, but it was fun. I moved when we moved here, like the other thing was like I had to change back to my doctor who I had been seeing in Atlanta who I love. Shout out to Dr. Combs. What practice does she with? She's at Piedmont OBGYN. Okay. She's incredible. I've heard great things about that practice. ⁓ Yeah. They're all amazing. And she was my doctor before we moved. And so I knew I wanted to get back in with her. And so I called her when we were still in Baltimore, right when we found out it was twins and I knew we were moving back to Atlanta. I called her and was like, can I, be your patient again, like can you get me on the schedule? I'm having twins. And she was of course like, absolutely. And so when we moved here, I had an appointment with her like the first week we moved back ⁓ she was so reassuring. then ⁓ she did have me like going to the, ⁓ is it? The high risk ⁓ And so I would go every other week or something like that. ⁓ to them and so they were measuring the baby's growth the whole time and we had a induction, a C-section, well I guess it was just induction date, I don't remember, at 38 weeks ⁓ it was set. And Annie, so my twins are Annie and Caroline, and Annie was like always breeched the whole pregnancy and I knew if we were getting past 30 weeks, like there was no way that she was going to turn at that point. There was no room for her to turn. not a lot of room. When you first found out you're pregnant, were you open to the idea of giving birth vaginally to twins? Yeah, I was. ⁓ the beginning, I was just like, whatever the safest way is to get them out is what I'll do. ⁓ And I had such a good vaginal birth with Rebecca, was like, hopefully if I do have a vaginal birth with the twins, it will be okay. But I was also very okay with having a C-section ⁓ I needed to. And so when Annie never flipped, I was like, okay, clearly this is going to be a C-section. And I was going in. ⁓ for the scans every two weeks just to make sure everything was good. And I think at 36 weeks, they measured and said that Annie, who was always twin A, so there was A and B, she was A. ⁓ She had not grown a lot since the past scan, which was a week before. And so they were like, we're gonna go ahead and schedule the induction or schedule the C-section. And this was on October 30th, so it was like the day before Halloween. And they said, We can schedule it for November 1st. Halloween with Rebecca and everything. Yeah. So that I could do Halloween with Rebecca. And then I was like, no, my dad's birthday is November 1st. I don't want the twins to have the same birthday as my dad. Oh, really? Yeah, I felt bad. I bet he would have loved it. Yeah. Obviously, thinking back, he probably would have been fine with it. But I wanted him to have a special day. so November 2nd was when I had the C-section scheduled for. So obviously, all their other vitals were good. It was just that growth. Yes. So they felt comfortable letting you go a couple Right. They said if anything else was going on, they would have gone ahead and scheduled it. since I was fine, they scheduled it for the second. I hobbled around that Halloween in a cow costume That's right. I remember that. I was like, is just... You couldn't miss the opportunity. Yeah, I had to do it. that was fun. And then I couldn't walk the next day. I remember we live on a street with a big hill, and I walked almost the whole way trick or treating with Rebecca. Oh my gosh. And the next day I could not get up. No kidding. And I had to call my mother-in-law and ask her to take Rebecca to school the next day. Oh my gosh. So I couldn't move. Wow. So that's when was like, okay, yeah, it's time. We to these babies out. Yeah. And so on the second… it to 38 weeks. Okay. Yeah. 36 That's awesome. 36. Okay. They were born 36 weeks and four days. That's great. 36 is like the goal of twins, right? Well, yeah, anything past 36. They really want you to get to 38, but I think it's 34 is when… It's like the safe, it's either 34 or 36. It's safe. The viable. Yeah. And so ⁓ C-section was scheduled for like ⁓ 30 AM or it was something like whatever the first slot was in the morning. And ⁓ and I packed everything up and ⁓ to the hospital. And it was funny because like we went in some weird back way to Piedmont that we definitely were not supposed to go in. But like I never sat in waiting room and I just like went in some sketchy Interesting. ⁓ We signed in, they put us in a room, got everything prepared. What I was not prepared for was TMI, but they shave you and stuff. Oh, really? Interesting. didn't know that that was going to happen. Yeah, I didn't know they still did that. Yeah. Well, that's interesting. I again, not to get too graphic, but nothing's coming out of there. guess it was just to be able to see where the extension was going to go. don't know. But then they put me in the OR. And another thing I wasn't prepared for is that Gordon couldn't be in there. for the epidural. Oh, really? Because it's a sterile room and they only want them to come in during the birth. so I will say getting the epidural without a significant other there was a little scary. That's tough. Especially when you also know it's not just an epidural and then you're going to go back to hanging out. It's an epidural leading into surgery. Yeah, exactly. But they did the epidural and it really was no big deal. And then they laid me down. I assume an epidural with C-section is a lot stronger. Yes. You couldn't feel anything at all. Yeah. And it's different because obviously when it's an epidural and you're giving bachelor birth, think wherever they put it in your spine, it's like higher up or something. Okay. Got it. So that it numbs more of your body. so then they just kind of like start poking at you a little bit and they try and find out, try and make sure that you can't anything. And then I was like, don't feel anything. And they started the surgery. Did you have like... What was the setup? you a carton? Could you see anything? Couldn't see anything. They have the tarp up so you can't see what's happening. And Gordon's up by your head. Gordon was by my head. The anesthesiologist was by my head. Did you have music playing or anything? I don't even remember. I feel like there was music in the OR. There definitely was, but nothing that You didn't choose it? Yeah. They might've asked me what... Actually, you know what? I'll have to ask Gordon this, but maybe it was like Taylor Swift. They might've asked me and then I... I'm sure that's what I would've asked. Clearly I wasn't thinking about the music so much. And then Dr. Combs came in and she had like a second doctor with her who was also amazing, Dr. Garrett. And the only thing like during the actual C-section that was alarming was at some point they said, ⁓ there's blood on the floor. And I was like, what? And I looked at Gordon, I was like, what? And he goes, ⁓ no, the tarp just like, I guess whatever happened, like the sterile tarp kind of like spilled. But just hearing them say like, blood was on the floor. That was a little bit of a weird panic moment. But yeah, they did the incision first. I remember Dr. Cohn said the baby that comes out first is just going to be the first baby that we grab. it might be baby A, it might be baby B. We'll just see who it is. And it ended up being A, it was Annie. They grabbed her feet first because she was breech. She came out. She weighed five pounds, three ounces. That's big. Yeah. Yeah. She had a great APBAR score. no NICU for either of the babies, which was Did they show her to you above the... ⁓ yeah. Yeah. So they like hold her her up. Yeah. And then Gordie got to the cord. And then they wrapped her... They showed her to me and then they wrapped her up and brought her up to me. Do you have your arms pinned down? ⁓ my arms were... Well, they were out. They put them by your side and then you have your IVs in. Okay. So you really can't... I don't know why I couldn't move my arms. feel like I just put her next to my face and I didn't really get to like hold her. And then they quickly went on to Caroline and so they took her out. She weighed six pounds, eight ounces. Wow. Oh my gosh. I know. I got a lot of baby in there. Wow. You really did. Yeah. And then they brought her to the same thing, like showed her to me. I cut the cord. They brought her to me. And then the part, like the sewing backup, feel like took a lot. Definitely took longer than the actual decision of getting them out. And you could feel pressure. You don't feel anything but the pressure. I've heard tugging. You kind of feel some tugging. Yes, you definitely felt the tugging. then, it's a weird sensation. And not being able to see what's happening, of course, I didn't want to see what was happening, so that was fine. Did she talk you through what she was doing, or was it just chit chat? The only thing she talked through was when she was making the first decision, I think. But I had made the mistake of... watching a video on YouTube beforehand. And I would tell everyone who's like possibly having C-section, don't do do it. Yeah. Because it is like, it's like primal. Like I was not expecting it to be the way that it is. But I felt fine. Like the whole surgery, even like right post-op, I felt great because I still had like my epidural in me and I some pain meds in me. ⁓ wheeled me back to ⁓ like the post-op room ⁓ I When they wheeled me back, Gordon was holding both girls. Oh my goodness. Sitting down and holding both girls. was like the best feeling and the best sight. I was like crying. I was going to say, your heart just explode? Like it's making me teary just picturing it. Oh I have a picture of it too. Like the nurse took a picture. It was so cute. Was it surreal? were like, those are both And then I'm like, he's holding them up and I go, who's who? I didn't know who was who at the time. And they put their A and B on their hats. was going to say, because I mean, I'm sure part of it is instinctual, but like. I feel like it'd be hard with twins at first to remember exactly who's who. Yeah. Luckily, obviously, Annie was five-three and Caroline was six-eight. That's From a weight perspective, it was easy to know who it who. Then once I saw their little faces, I was like, okay. It's pretty clear that you can tell who's who. Then I got to hold them when I was laying down in the post-op room. I think I nursed then too, but then I threw up. ⁓ gosh. Was it like a symptom of the drugs? Yeah. And I was not expecting that. didn't tell me that was possibly going to happen. But then again, afterwards when I talked to other C-section moms, were like, yeah, a lot of people throw up right there. So the first picture of me holding both of them, I have a throw-up bag next to me. That's just motherhood, isn't it? Beautiful and gross all at the same time. All at the same time. I love that picture still because it reminds me of how funny that moment was. That was like, I was feeling great for that whole first day probably. And I remember telling like Gordon and even friends that I was talking to like, know, C-sections are great. It's so easy. I feel wonderful. And then the next day, was like biting my tongue. This is awful. The recovery was so rough for me. I was in so much pain. I could not stand up. I couldn't get to the bathroom. It was like awful, awful. Just night and day. Yes. Wow. Did you get up that first day? I don't know. I don't even think I tried that. ⁓ because the epidural and everything, the drugs didn't wear off enough that I could even try. ⁓ But then the next day is when I tried and it was so, so bad and I was in so much pain. And I was doing the whatever, the ibuprofen around the clock and they gave me like oxycodone or whatever and it still was like not helping. ⁓ gosh. But I up to get a blood transfusion. ⁓ my gosh. I was there because I had lost a lot of blood, which now makes sense with the blood falling on the floor. was like, okay, clearly there was a lot of blood. And so I did, so first they gave me iron because I really did not want a transfusion. Yeah. Why did you not want a transfusion? Mostly because I didn't know enough about it, honestly. then every time when I was talking to Gordon about it, he's like, they're really, really safe. Like it's very clean. don't... You don't need to have any fears about it. There's extensive testing of the blood. And he made me feel good about it. Yeah. But at first I was on the cusp of needing the transfusion. so was like, if I can get over it with just iron. I remember ate a steak or a hamburger or something that night trying to not have to get the transfusion the next day. And there's pictures of me from those days. And I am as white as an alabaster wall. So, so pale. And they were like, you're going to have to have this transfusion because I also didn't even have the energy to. sit up, would get really dizzy. Let alone, I'm sure, nurse or like... ⁓ yeah. Yeah. And I was still nursing at like trying to nurse at the time just because I probably didn't have any... It was colostrum or whatever. Colostrum, Yeah. ⁓ ⁓ up having the transfusion. I was in the hospital for think an extra day. So maybe it's like three or four days with a C-section and then I was there one more day. Okay. But after that, they discharged me and I remember thinking like, I am not going to be able to do anything. Yeah. So I was still like pretty much in bed for like several days. Wow. Where they would just like everyone bring me the baby and like, or the babies. Babies, yeah. And remember into the house, coming back from the hospital and I didn't want Rebecca to like see me looking or feeling bad. And I was ⁓ walking hunched over. Yeah. And so I asked my mom if she could like take Rebecca outside to the backyard while I came inside and sat down. Right. And so then Rebecca came in and like did a. Yeah. was hard. mean... C-sections are no joke. A C-section by itself is no joke. Twins by themselves are no joke. I can't imagine the combination too. You put them together and now you've got three kids under two. You're recovering from a C-section. At what point did you start to somewhat good again? Maybe two or three weeks after. Wow. Yeah. had a lot of help. I had... my amazing nanny, Linda, who I could never have done it without her. She was incredible. My parents were there. We had a night nurse. So it was like when Linda left my house, the night nurse came to my house. So it was like around the clock help. Again, it's like if I, I ⁓ have done it ⁓ the surgery and everything. There was no way ⁓ help. So I'm so grateful to all of our family and all of our help that we've had. And I'm sure Gordon didn't get much of a paternity leave. Five days. Yeah, exactly. And I mean, of course he was so helpful when he was there. Right, but he had to go back to work. Wow. Man. It's just wild. And I remember I had my little cart with all my medicines on it and my timer set for ⁓ trying to keep up with everything. But it's funny because even going after having both births, I can understand wanting one versus the other, but everyone's are so different because I've talked to people who've had C-sections that... had an amazing experience, like no issues, would do it over and over again. And then there's me where I'm like, vaginal all the way. That was so much easier for you. Do you it had anything to do just also the recovery that your body was going through having carried twins? For sure. Because afterwards I had talked to my OB and she's like, everyone who has multiples of the C-sections are always a laptop. Really? Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. I mean, your body went through a lot. ⁓ Yes. No, like. It is just no joke. mean, that surgery is like, I mean, especially for someone who's never had a surgery, it's like, you go into this, I mean, it's wild. It's really something. I mean, I assume it's helpful that like you said right off the bat, like most important thing to you was obviously getting the babies here safely. So I'm sure it's helpful to be able to focus on that in those times, but man. ⁓ I'm like reliving it. I'm like, the shop is closed. You're like, nope, I'm good. I'm good. Now you have three beautiful girls. The twins just turned two? Yes. Or they're turning two November 2nd. Oh my goodness. That's wild. It is blown by. know. It feels like the last two years were just a blip in time. I don't know how it going so fast. I'm sure. You're just kind of you're in go mode. Twins or not, when your babies are that little, you just kind of go, go, go. Yes. Yeah. And then you look up and they're turning too. I know. It's just wild. Now, Annie is trying to put herself in the car, wants to climb in. I'm like, this is making my life a lot easier. Just the simple things that now they can do. Yeah. But also, they're also climbing on all the furniture and trying to jump on the chairs right now. So just wild. Have you gotten the chance to... kind of repay the favor with any twin moms? ⁓ yeah. Yeah? ⁓ yeah. Is there a network that like twin moms should know about? Well, it's funny because when I moved here, my sister-in-law's mother's friend's daughter was also having twins at same time and also had a child the same age as Rebecca. Okay. And so she put me in touch with her and then ⁓ her name is Amanda and then Amanda started... ⁓ like a group chat of all these twin moms, these moms that were having twins in the next four months. And we still are on a chat together. We talk all the time. We have a dinner. We just started having dinners like once every couple of months. And I'm actually hosting them at my house next. So we have, ⁓ it's nice to have the moms whose children are all around the same age too, because they can commiserate on things that are happening. the twin moms really understand, they can understand everything, especially if it's like, twin moms who have an older kid. And then also ⁓ I mentioned, there are several moms who had twins after me that reached out and I do whatever I can to give them any sort of advice, whether it's like strollers or how to get all the kids in the car. ⁓ If you're looking for a new car like I had to do. ⁓ from one to three, you need a bigger car. You're need a bigger boat. man. ⁓ If you're a twin mom and you need anything, shout out. Oh, well, thank you so, so much for being here and for telling your girls stories. Of course. I always like to close with asking you to describe birth in three words. Oh, gosh. A blessing. difficult and rewarding. ⁓ I love that. Thank you. All right. Thanks for having me. So happy to have you. Thank you. Well, you've been listening to the Arrivals podcast. Until next time.