A Canadian Gestational Surrogate shares her twin birth story!

 

"I had the babies Halloween (Oct.31/2009) morning after 27 hours of labour (starting and stopping) at 9:44am & 9:45am by C-section, Ezra (boy) 4lbs 14oz & Ava (girl) 4lbs 4oz they were born at 34wks 2days, they are still in the NICU, I am pumping for them..... "

 

My Birth Story of Ava & Ezra
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Early Friday morning I awoke at my usual time 6:30am for my morning pee...LOL. This time was a little bit different for me though, I first noticed that my pants were a bit warm when I coughed. I got up and used our bedroom across the other side of the apartment (as I just shut our master bedroom water of days before so I could fix the sink and leaking toilet). I didn't really notice anything different at the time. I decided change my pj pants and go back to bed and that was that until 7:45am when we get up to get the kids ready for school. Nothing really clicked with me at all.

I never ate breakfast and later on I was kicking my self for not doing so. My husband and I got on the town bus at the usual time (8:30am). I was to stay on the bus until it went back up town and I was to get off at the mother care group I go to every Friday. I love the program and I have met some new friends though it, as well as seen old ones from two years ago when I went while I was pregnant with Baby "J". Brent gets off the bus with our babies and I carry on, while heading home on the bus I decided that maybe I should just go home.

I get off the bus and run into my OB (roughly 9:15am), I tell him that everytime I cough I leak a bit. He says it could just be the babies pushing on my bladder and if it doesn't stop to call his office or go to the hospital and get checked out. I walked slowly home (2 blocks from my OBs office) and realized that I forget to grab my keys, so I just sat on our doorway ledge and waited for my hubby to show up.(9:35am) He shows and up and says "wow, group was short" I just told him I wanted to take a bath and clean up before I got my OB to check me out. My mom shows up as usual that morning to start packing again for our move. I tell her that I am going to go get checked by my OB, and I call his office to let him know I am on my way. ( He was in his office that day by fluke, he was training a new doctor and was finishing up stuff around his office as he was to be vacation already.)

I get there and his assistant send me right to his room. I strip down and try to get on the bed, but have a hard time, He helps me up and as I am laying down he says yeah you are leaking amino fluid for sure. He checks me and I am about 3cm dilated..He jokes around and says "try not to leak on the floor...." as he grabs a sheet and tells me to put it between my legs to help soak it up. He hands me a pad and I put it into my underwear and he arranges a prescription for antibiotics since we were sure when my water actually broke and says "DO NOT PASS GO, go straight to labour and delivery." I asked if I could go home and let my hubby and mom know it's time, but he insists that I go straight there so I can start the meds right away. This was about 11am now .I call my hubby from my OB's office as I left and didn't bring anything with me... (duh) and NO answer.

I just get put of his office and his assistant comes out behind me, we hug and she wishes me good luck, she also tells me that is her last day.I love her she has been a great person throughout both my journey's and I am going to miss her for sure. :( I get to the L&D (literally across the street) and they put me into an assessment room, while we wait for a bed to open up. I am given an IV and the antibiotics (12pm). I am still leaking slowly, and I waited for my contractions to start up at a regular pace..... for about two weeks prior to my water breaking I would get what believe to be braxton hicks they would range from 5-60 mins apart and I never had more then 5 in an hour. But I should have guess that it had started the night before, after my bath I would get one every 10-30mins. My hubby shows up around 1pm

I finally text D & A at 1:30pm as they were now 20 mins apart and hadn't stopped. I let them know that my water has broken and that the contractions are fairly even out now, so they should leave when they feel like it. By 2pm the contractions get to 10-15mins apart,I am moved to my new room by 2:30 they shorten again to 8-10 mins. At 3:30pm I need to get up and use the washroom. As I get off the bed my water actually goes, I try to stop it and feel really silly for doing so, I start laughing at my self. My husband get the cleaning lady and she mops up. LOL. Now my contractions start to pick up 5mins apart and just as hard as the 20mins apart ones are. 4:45 my Dr shows again and rechecks me this time, I am 4cm dilated and Baby A's head is descending but not completely engaged yet.

D & A finally show up at 5pm, but becouse of the H1N1 I could only have one visitor or support person in the room with me. Brent leaves to pack my laptop up from home and some other stuff for me, books, pens, cell phone charger so I can try to update my status, etc.... I let the nurse know that A will be my support person from now until the delivery, but if it comes down to a C-section that my husband will the 1 person allowed into the room. A is sooo excited that I choose her to be the one that stays. I keep falling asleep on an off between contractions, mini cats naps...LOL... 5:45 Andy is given a tour of the hospital, where everything will take place depending on how it pans out. Where the babies will be brought once they are born etc....

6:30pm and my contractions start to get week, they are still 5mins apart but feel like cramps now, at 8:30 my Dr comes back in rechecks me and I am still 4cm dilates, he decides to strip my membranes to hopefully restart the labour. Dr W tells me he and the Anesthesiologist will stay the night and try to get some sleep for when it's time. We had the Anesthesiologist on hand so that once we got to that point I would get an epidural so that if a c-section is needed for baby B it would be okay. Remember my OB is supposed to be home and on his vacation, so I was over joyed that he was willing to stay, because he knew just how much I wanted HIM to be the one to deliver the babies.

9pm contractions start to get hard again and now I am finally getting some bloody show. My hubby returns with D and they are NOT even allowed to come to the room, so A swiches bags with hubby and they go and get some dinner.... I am so hungry but still only allowed ice chips and juice.
11pm contractions are still hard but have spaced out every few ones about 5-8mins. DR comes in and tells me he will let me labour as long as I am still getting the antibiotics every 4hours. He says some women can go up to 48 hours after their water has broken before they opt for a c-section.

The room I was put in I had to share with another women that night and A had to sleep on a pull out chair. The baby woke me up around 1am and the lady had a hard time getting the baby back to sleep. Also her husband kept using the washroom, that was supposed to be just for us ladies in our room, so he kept waking me up cause he would slam the door everytime...ughhh..
I did fall back alseep and around 2am A left becouse she couldn't sleep with the baby. My contractions were still strong but were spaced apart again to 20mins apart.

6am My husband calls me and we both were not happy, I didn't know if he had gone home or if he was waiting with D all night. Because if I had known that he was at home I would have called there and told him to come back and spend the night.I Tell him what my Dr said and told him to get some more sleep, I will call him at the house if and when things changed.

8:30am Halloween day Dr W comes in and see me, he know that my labour had stopped just 2hours ago and checks to see if any of what I went though had changed my cervix. He checks and I stayed at 4cm all night even though the hard ones for a few hours there. But baby A's head was completely engaged. He decides the because my c-section scar is thin and that because I had gone though 26hrs of on off labour that my body is just not ready for it and a C-section would be the best option. He says call Brent and be there in 30-45mins as thats when the OR will be ready.

I call hubby right away and tell him to show and get his but up here asap. Brent shows up by 9am and he is right by my side from there on out. The nurses come to get me about 9:20, we wait as hubby gets dressed into his scrubs and they take us down to the OR. Hubby has to wait outside the doors for a few mins so that I can be given my spinal. I tell the Anesthesiologist that I have a tattoo on my lower back, and hopefully it doesn't impair where he is supposed to put the needle. My Dr looks over my should on my back and says, " I thought it was a bunny tattoo, (laughs) now it see its a fairy." He seen it two years ago, cause I showed him and his X assistant when I first got it, but it had been so long since they saw it that he forgot I had one...

The Anesthesiologist finally gets the meds in and I say "my bum feels warm" that's a good thing it means its working, By 9:35am I am laying on my back they have me all set up with arm strapped down, blanket blocking my view, and belly all painted up with the Orange brown crap.... Hubby is brought in and he sits by my head. Dr W tests and area and asks if I can feel anything, nope...were all good to go. He cuts and delivers Baby A, at 9:44am a boy Ezra, he weighs 4lbs 12oz. He squeals like a girl and I swore it was the girl, Dr W gives the nurses to min to hurry and get ready for the second one, He delivers Baby B at 9:45am a girl Ava, she weighs 4lbs 4oz. She is a little quite but does cry. Both are wheeled away after they do the cord blood stuff.

I do remember some stuff said in the OR, but some I had to ask hubby about becouse once I got the spinal I was tired and a bit dizzy, so it was kind of fuzzy for me. Dr W actually took my uterus out of the opening to look at it and find the reason for my labour stopping. I do remember him saying that I will be happy with my c-section when it's healed. And I also heard him and the other OB on hand who was helping with the c-section talking about my tubes and the clamps I already had on them.... Dr A asked Dr W if they should put another clamp on each tube, Dr W says nope they look good.... I was almost tempted to say if anything you can take them off now..LOL...

Later after I was wheeled into the recovery room and they nurses there are talking to me, My OB sits behind the desk and was telling me he was proud of what I did and was glad he had stayed and did my c-section. He says he will see me in 6wks... I thank him and tell him I am grateful that I met him and have had the best OB ever. I tell him to have a great vacation with his family in the Bahama's when they leave. The nurses clean up all the crap on my belly and around 11am I start to wiggle my toes again. But now I am itching like crazy all over and getting red blotches and my checks and forehead are beat red as well. I am now dealing with an allergic reaction to the spinal and I can either be itchy or in pain, as the meds will counteract each other :(... lasted for two days.

I am wheeled back to my room and I see my hubby and and he tells me I did great, filled me in on the birth weights and times the babies were born. He also write on the white board Congrats, to me and D & A. Later that day A shows up to my room and thanks me for giving them the best gift ever.

Brent says the night this time and the next day we are moved to a private room because the lady we were sharing a room with complained about my hubby snoring... My hubby left early that morning to go home to help my mom with the kids but would come back by lunch and stay until late at night, he took the kids to school for her Monday morning, and Tuesday also.

Tuesday our nurse told us that when Dr W was examining my uterus he was saying that it was paper thin and they old c-section scar was too thin, If I had gone though the last stage of labour, he could have lost all 3 of us. That's why they were debating the extra clips to make sure I didn't/ don't get pregnant again.

She explains that this will more then likely be my last pregnancy, surrogacy is out and us having another is unlikely. I cried and she said "Just talk with Dr W when you see him in 6wks", but she was very proud and grateful that she ever met someone like us. She pointed out that we have 4 healthy children and we should be proud of our selves.

I am was let out on Tuesday and I came home early, We went our for lunch with D & A. I have started pumping and will continue for 6 mos if possible. The babies were transferred to St Micheal's in Toronto on Thursday night. I cried when I was cutting coffee cake the other night, and I have been a bit weepy the last few days. So I am not all back to normal yet.