Twins Birth Story + Your C-section tips!
I always love reading birth stories and especially found them helpful during each of my pregnancies - just to see what other women experienced and help calm my nerves a little bit. I think seeing all the different scenarios babies are delivered helped me stay grounded and somewhat “prepared for what could or might happen” (Even though I know that no two births are alike, it did help to at least think I felt prepared!)
My story for the twins is pretty uneventful and straightforward, but since it WAS my first c-section experience - it still brought some anxiety for me in the days and hours leading up to it. (spoiler alert - looking back I had a fantastic experience and it wasn’t at all as scary as I thought it was going to be!) If you are expecting your first c-section, or maybe just want to read about my experience delivering twins, then keep reading, and I hope it helps calm your nerves a little bit and helps you feel prepared!
SCHEDULED C-SECTION FOR THE TWINS!
For those not familiar with twin deliveries - there are several scenarios that determine whether you can try for a vaginal birth vs. recommended c-section. From what I have read and researched - about 50% of twin births are vaginal (which was surprising to me - I would have thought most would be delivered via caesarean! If Baby A is head down - and the larger of the two babies (Baby A is the baby closest to your cervix - aka the “lower” baby that will be delivered first) then most doctors will let you go for a vaginal birth - even if Baby B is breech. Either both babies are delivered head down - A before B - or if B is breech, doctors can do a breech extraction - as long as twin A is larger, or around the same size as B so A can “pave the way” for B - if that makes sense!
Well for me - Baby A - was never - not once ever head down. He was breech for the entire 37 weeks in my belly. Once I got to around 28/29 weeks I kind of just made peace with the fact that he was breech and made my decision to schedule a c-section much easier - It was nice that I didn’t have to make that decision myself and that he made it for me! (the other concern that I had if I did go for a vaginal birth was that if A was delivered just fine - but B had complications resulting in one vaginal birth + one emergency c -setction that would mean not only having to recover from a vaginal birth but double whammy having to recover from both vaginal + caesarean!)
We scheduled my c-section back at around 30 weeks with the idea that either I would go forward with surgery that day - OR, if baby A somehow miraculously flipped last minute, I would just go in for an induction. The planner in me loved having it scheduled and on the calendar - an end date in mind (even if I was to go early on my own - I didn’t expect it because both my older babies came on their own! Not once have I experienced a non-induced contraction, or water breaking!)
DAY OF SURGERY
August 11th! Our twins birthdate had arrived - and like I had expected, I did not go into labor on my own AND baby A stayed put breech - so it was time for our scheduled surgery. If you follow my stories on Instagram, you may have caught the question box I threw out asking for advice for a c section - since it was my first and I was a little nervous about it - I had some great responses that helped ease my mind and feel like I knew a little more on what to expect and also some tips for the process along the way. Here I thought I would share some of those helpful answers that came in handy for me - and can hopefully help some of you out as well!
YOUR TIPS FOR C SECTIONS - my two cents added:)
Get up and move as soon as you can post surgery when the spinal wears off. Even just getting out of bed to walk to your bathroom and back - the sooner you get moving the better! The more you stay in bed, not moving - the harder and more painful recovery will be!
Stay on top of your pain meds! For me, my nurses alternated Ibuprofen and Extra Strength Tylenol after surgery. Twice I took oxycodone 5 mg in the hospital when I felt I needed something a little more - but after that I felt great with alternating the Ibuprofen and Tylenol. The day we came home from the hospital I got distracted with the big boys and managing them with the babies that I missed one of my meds and it was BAD. I couldn’t move for an hour before I realized and got the meds taken and waited for it to kick in. Don’t make that mistake - stay on top of those meds!! Other than that one time. pain has been very manageable and about 10 days after surgery I am pain med free and feeling great!
Get an abdominal binder - my nurse brought me one on day 3 I believe and it REALLY does help give you some support with your core that will be pretty dang weak from surgery and carrying a baby/babies for months. I didn’t have to wear mine for very long, I am currently 2 weeks postpartum and don’t feel like I need it anymore, but for about a week it was nice to have that option to throw it on and feel supported.
Tell your anesthesiologist your concerns and ask any questions before they take you back for placing the spinal. I have been pretty nauseous this pregnancy and have heard that the medication in the spinal can cause nausea - so I told them before hand and they ran some zofran (anti nausea medicine) through my IV. I didn’t get sick at all! Which was a big concern for me!
Anyways back to my surgery day!
My surgery was scheduled for 12:30 in the afternoon - we had to arrive 2 hours early for surgery prep - which honestly I liked it being a little later of a start time. With both my other boys we were up very early to get to the hospital to check in and I felt like I already started my day tired with long days ahead of me. - This day we had time to slowly get moving in the morning, which I really liked! I had to stop eating the night prior before surgery - again a little nervous to skip breakfast and not eat for so long the next day, but it was no big deal at all. I think my nerves overruled my hunger cues. During the two hour prep time we met our nurse, I got hooked up to an IV, and the babies heart rates were both monitored. I had one last sono to see babies positions (again wasn’t counting on baby A flipping ,but doctors also needed to see what position babies were in before starting surgery.) We talked with anesthesiologist about the process and asked several questions as well. Before I knew it, it was time to go to the OR for surgery!
I was pretty nervous at this point. With my other deliveries, Brandon was able to stay and be with me during the placement of my epidural. In the OR - Brandon had to wait to come in until my spinal was placed and everything was prepped for the surgery to begin. I had a very nice nurse hold my hand for the process - its never fun getting a catheter placed in your spine, and even though it was my third time, I still felt super uneasy about it. (But as always, it’s never as bad as I think, and before I knew it, it was in and the medicine started working.) All went well, and my legs were becoming numb as they laid me on my back. This is the only point during the whole process that suddenly became uncomfortable to me and it was because I got into my head about it. I don’t know if it was a release of all my nerves that caused it, or me subconsciously thinking about what was about to happen and picturing the worst - but I started to have a little panic attack. I kept telling the anesthesiologist that I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Which he responded that all my vitals were fine and my oxygen level was at 100% - this feeling continued for maybe 5 minutes and then I was totally fine! Looking back it was a very small hiccup and extremely short period of time during the whole process that I felt uncomfortable. ( I am also prone to anxiety and panic attacks so I know that if I was to repeat the process I would do a better job taking deep breaths -and managing the buildup of fear in my mind to the best of my ability leading up to the surgery! Maybe some meditations or calming music with headphones - something along those lines)
Once I was numb, Brandon came in and it was time to go! I was very calm at this point- I honestly just kept my eyes closed and focused on the end prize - meeting the babies and FINDING OUT THEIR GENDERS! It was such a quick process from the time Brandon came in- until the time they first pulled out baby A maybe 15-20 minutes max! I didn’t feel a thing, and like everyone has always told me - just some pressure and pulling, but nothing uncomfortable. I didn’t feel nauseous, I didn’t get lightheaded or pass out (definitely fears of mine) everything went smoothly and without any problems! (I may have mentioned this before, but I told my nurses and anesthesiologists that I was prone to nausea, and so they ran some Zofran through my IV - I highly recommend, even for some peace of mind if you are nervous about getting sick or feeling nauseous!)
When they pulled out Baby A - Brandon said ITS A BOY! I think at this point, I thought to myself - okay well thats it - B is going to be a boy too and I will have FOUR SONS. I laughed and smiled big as they brought baby boy around so I could see him before they took him to clean him up and make sure he was okay. One minute later, they pulled Baby B out and Brandon excitedly and surprisingly said ITS A GIRL!! What an amazing surprise - I literally couldn’t believe I had a daughter!!!
At this point, they were working on the babies, while my doctor finished the removing of my tubes and sewing me back up. (we decided to have them removed since we were in there for surgery anyways - we knew our family would be complete with 4 kids and it would just be easier to go ahead with that surgery too) I was paying zero attention to what was going on to my body - just watching from afar the nurses and doctors tend to our babies. Brandon was checking on them and coming back to me with updates - both babies were healthy, just needed some extra care with being so small and early term. Maybe 30 minutes later, all was well and I was taken back to the OR prep area, with my two little babies in their bassinets being wheeled over behind me. It all seemed so surreal that they were HERE. We had a boy and a girl, and surgery was done - We had all survived and were doing well!!
We stayed in the prep area for about two hours as they continued to monitor the babies and I. Baby girl got a tiny hospital baby hat with her first bow on it and we took lots of photos and updated our families who were not -so patiently - waiting for the news and the gender surprise! I loved our gender surprise and SO glad we waited all those months to find out. Highly, highly recommend - even with twins!!
From there we went straight into the newborn bubble and got comfy in our mother-baby room. I got to eat lots of CARBS (gestational diabetes had me making a big list of carb loaded foods I wanted to eat after the delivery:) and cuddle those sweet babies as we got to know sweet Dane Teddy and Quinn James over the next few days in the hospital. I can’t believe its been over 2 weeks since their birth - I guess today they are 2 weeks - tomorrow they are off to college!
