As you can tell from the picture, they enjoyed letting everyone know that they had arrived!
(Eveline is on the left and Abigail is on the right.)
Here is their birthday story:
We checked in to the hospital at 7:30am and went directly to Labor & Delivery where they were expecting us. I guess it was probably a little obvious that we were the ones expecting twins!
Our nurse Katie got us all settled and then the fun began! I got hooked up to the monitors so they could track both babies heartbeats as well as my contractions and vitals. It isn't painful, but the velcro belts they use to keep the monitors in place itch like crazy. Not fun on a really stretched out belly! Everyone looked good and I was already contracting mildly on my own - Good News!
A word to the wise would be to eat a HUGE breakfast and drink a lot of water prior to being induced. I am not a big breakfast eater to begin with and for some reason I didn't put it together that I might not be eating anything but clear liquids until the babies arrived - which could be hours. Also, because I was slightly dehydrated it took two tries to get the IV in - Big Ouch! Katie started out describing what she was doing and for those of you who know me and my hatred of needles and blood this was the worst possible scenario. Needless to say, we put a stop to the play by play immediately!
Dr. Lennon came in around 8:30am to see how things were going and to break my water. My contractions remained at regular intervals (3-4 cm dilated), but weren't painful at all. It was so nice to be able to get up every hour or so and be able to walk the halls to pass the time - Nine laps in total. I never had to be given Pitocin since I was already contracting so nicely on my own. I was able to have some vegetable broth (from a can of ABC vegetable soup) for lunch. By this time, I was starving, but I found some vegetables in the bottom of the cup that Katie hadn't strained out and happily ate three kernels of corn and a piece of carrot. My contractions were starting to get pretty strong and I found that blowing on the broth to cool it down seemed to take my mind off the pain.
At 2:30pm, I was starting to get very uncomfortable (5-6 cm dialted) and decided that it was time to get an epidural. I don't like the zinger when they insert the epidural, but it is definitely worth the momentary discomfort. My right side wasn't numbing very well so I was told to roll slightly on my right side in order to let some of the medication get to that side. However, this caused me to get really light headed and my blood pressure to go really low. It was to the point I was almost fainting and couldn't breathe very well. A little bit scary since I hadn't had any problems when I had Kate. The anesthesiologist came in right away and gave me some medication to help my blood pressure stay stable. During this time, the monitors were picking up the same heartbeat so the nurses were having problems locating Baby B (Eveline). My blood pressure dropped again and so the nurses decided it was best to monitor Baby A (Abigail) on an internal monitor and Baby B (Eveline) externally so we could be sure we were getting both heartbeats accurately.
At 5:00pm, I was fully dilated and thoroughly numb. I still didn't feel a lot of pressure or an urge to push, but it was definitely time! They wheeled me down to the OR. Every twin delivery happens in the OR just in case an emergency C-section needs to be performed. It was quite nerve wracking being in the OR just because it was so different than what I had experienced with Kate. I had to move myself from the hospital bed onto the operating table. It must have been an interesting sight since I am hooked up to an IV, have monitors on, my legs are completely numb, and I weigh a ton. Somehow I managed to do so without hurting myself!
Since Eveline was still breech there were four nurses, two doctors, and the anesthesiologist in the OR for the delivery. After they had me all set up and ready to push, one of the first comments the nurses made were "This baby is ready to come out!" Abigail was already crowning - Ah, the beauty of an epidural - I couldn't really feel much but some pressure! It only took 4 pushes to get Abigail out and Eveline's feet were not far behind. The other doctor was monitoring Eveline with an ultrasound and pushing on my stomach while Dr. Lennon was pulling Eveline out. I only had to push twice and out she came. Talk about crazy! I cannot say enough good about how Dr. Lennon handled the delivery. Even the nurses kept telling me that this was one of the quickest and best breech deliveries they had ever seen! Praise the Lord - I was very nervous about all the complications that could possibly arise with a breech delivery.
Abigail Faith was born at 5:24pm weighing 6lb. 5oz.
Eveline Grace was born at 5:27pm weighing 6lb. 6oz.
Kate celebrated her 2nd birthday today with our new little family. It is hard to believe that another year has passed.
Steve picked out the largest Happy Birthday balloon he could find and we got a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake to enjoy. Kate definitely appreciated the sweet frosting more this year than last. She loved picking all the dot decorations off of it and eating them - Nothing like pure sugar right before bedtime!
She got some books, playdough, a tricycle, and a soccer ball as presents. Her response to ripping the paper off the soccer ball was "Yeah Kate!". She yelled this out spontaneously - Very funny! She plays with the ball daily and we still read a lot. She now enjoys just sitting by herself and looking through her books. She and Daddy play with the playdough at night after dinner and make fun sculptures together. Kate's specialty is pancakes in every color.
The tricycle is a bit big for her but should be just right by the time spring gets here. We look forward to having lots of fun tooling around the neighborhood.
