The day we met Ruby & Charlotte

It's been over 5 weeks since we first laid eyes on our sweet Ruby and Charlotte and I'm just now getting the time to sit down and document that day.  Here it is...

Last family photo as a trio!  The day we went to the hospital.

Once we knew I was getting induced, my mom made arrangements to be here the day before we went to the hospital so that she could take care of Hank for us.  This was the first time both Brett and I were away from Hank overnight at the same time.   Maybe we need a vacation!?!

On Thursday night, I think I slept maybe one or two hours.  I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that I was about to go into labor the next day and all of the unknowns that labor could bring.  It was just so crazy to me to know the exact day our children were coming and that I wouldn't have to wait around and be surprised by contractions starting.  And honestly, I was nervous about the physical pain of labor too.  With Hank I didn't have an epidural and it wasn't so bad (it was bad, just not super super bad) and I was so happy I did it without medication.  This time my doctor suggested that I get an epidural since it was a twin delivery and there could be complications.  The possibility of complications had me scared.  I really didn't want a c-section.  I tried to pray as much as I could that night so I could be at ease.  It definitely helped.  

On Friday morning, I called the hospital at 6:00am (as requested) to confirm that they had space for me and still could take me at our appointment at 7:30am.  Of course, they didn't have space and said they'd be in touch later in the morning.  And so our day of waiting began - this was the theme for the day.  We finally got the call around 9:45 telling us to come on in.  I was so excited but instantly nervous and a little panicky because I couldn't believe we were actually going to meet the girls very soon.  As we grabbed our bags and said good bye to Hank that morning, it was so emotional.  I held Hank as long as he would let me because I didn't want to forget what it was like to have him as our only child and I wanted to give him one last special hug before he had to share me.  (OK that's enough about that.  I am going to start crying as I type this!)

We rolled in to the hospital around 11 am and we were ready to get things going!  Unfortunately, we did a lot more waiting that day.

Hanging out, waiting for the show to get on the road!

I can't really remember why it took so long but I didn't get my epidural until around 2:45pm.  I had decided to get one based on more information the on-call doctor provided me.  I don't know why I was so against it with Henry.  But this time I was pretty scared of being able to feel it all so I went for it.

Around 4pm they started the pitocin.  Long story short...the epidural didn't work and despite having complete feeling the contractions caused by the pitocin didn't hurt!  They were no more painful than all of the contractions I had been having forever before this.  They kept gradually increasing the pitocin but I wasn't dilating any further despite all of the contractions.  When I checked in to the hospital I was dilated to 6cm and I was still the same.  Around 7:45pm finally somebody made a decision and got me another epidural so they could crank up the pitocin.  Once that epidural went in I couldn't feel a thing and shortly after that the doctor came in and broke my water.  Breaking my water got the ball rolling.  I dilated to 10cm within an hour and a half.  At 9:30pm the doctor checked me and said it was time to go deliver the twins...I was ready to push!

Dad ready for the OR

I had to deliver the twins in an operating room instead of in our labor and delivery room because it was standard procedure for twin deliveries.  As a result, Brett got to dress up in a fancy outfit for the birth.  I got a little hat like his too.  They rolled me in to the OR and got me all set up in there.  Within a few minutes, the nurses asked me to push once.  They all started freaking out because they could already see Baby A's head.  They got the doctors in there right away.  A few pushes later, Ruby Genevieve (Baby A) was born at 10:01pm.

Ruby Genevieve  (Baby A)

Once Ruby was born, they did a quick feel on the outside of my stomach and they could tell that Baby B was still in the head down position.  They didn't have time to do an ultrasound to verify because Baby B's heart rate started to drop and they asked me to push even though I wasn't having a contraction.  After a couple of pushes, Baby B moved around and her heart rate was back to normal.  A few pushes later Charlotte Piper was born at 10:07pm.

Charlotte Piper (Baby B)

Dad keeping an eye on Ruby after delivery.

Leaving the OR to go back to our room.  It was really sweet to get to hold both of my babies together for the first time.

Ruby and Charlotte together back in our room.

The birth of our daughters was so amazing.  Two babies!  It is still crazy to us, even now 5 weeks later, that we got two babies that day.  They are both so perfect and we couldn't be happier with them.  We are thankful that God blessed us with happy, healthy babies and that the delivery went so well.

-a