the Long Version of the Delivery Story.

feel free to skip down to January 27th, our delivery day, for the shorter version :D

Sunday January 18th we go to baby Will's baby blessing out at Joel and Weedle's. That morning I can barely get a pair of Uggs on, my feet and legs are sooooo swollen. I can't even believe it. The baby blessing was beautiful and Weedle, who had a baby only a short month before has made dinner for probably 30 people and still putting women to shame all across america ;D. (She's got it goin' on.) That night we get home and I am frantically writing what I can on our baby announcements so I won't have too much to do after the babies are born. My feet and legs continue to swell and I start to get worried. So worried in fact that I call the doctor. Heather Johnson was on call and I say the key words, "34 weeks" and "swollen" and "twins". That got me a visit to the hospital. Here I am thinking we're gonna deliver some babies. Turns out they send me home with instructions to put my feet up! I am in pain but go home and put my feet up (which really means put your feet above your heart) and by morning I have literally lost an inch around my ankles. By the second morning another inch and you can actually see my ankles again. At my weekly appt with Dr. Judd he's kinda laughing at me and explains that I've got so much weight that my circulation isn't what it used to be and that this is perfectly normal, and although painful, his exact words were, "welcome to twins!" I also find out Dr. Judd is going to be gone the first week of February and start stressing out that he won't be here when I go into labor. Joel gives me a blessing because I'm that worried about it. Our weekly NST's went fine as well. Scarlett was still "baby A" and still breech.

Sunday January 25th I start having contractions. By Friday night I'd taken the last of my niphedipine and now Sunday night my contractions get to be about 2 minutes apart but not really painful. Joel gets worried, we call the doctor on call and say the key words, "35 weeks" and "contractions" and "twins". That got me a visit to the hospital. I think maybe this is the night and even start to think my water has broken. We get to the hospital and Ana tests for my water being broken and monitors the contractions. Nothing. Contractions are normal, my water hadn't broken and we go home. I am however dilated to a 4.

On Monday the 26th at my weekly appt with Dr. Judd we skip the Group B Stress test because Scarlett is still breech and Dr. Judd says if we deliver vaginally, they'll pump me full of antibiotics anyway so no big deal. I tell him about Sunday night and that I'm at a 4. Most of you know this already...while doing his own check he pushes Scarlett's foot back in my uterus cause she'd found a little more leg room. Well that night I'm definitely having contractions but they're not consistent at all and I sleep on 3 towels and one of the kids vinyl sheets cause I'm paranoid my water will break in our bed.

JANUARY 27TH: By morning I'm in major pain from the contractions I've been having all night. Joel had taken the day off of work so we go to the hospital around 9a. We get checked in and this time I'm fully expecting to go home again. Andra's our nurse and she asks if I'm the one with the "hourglass membranes and the foot hanging out." I say yes and "thank goodness cause if I wasn't you would have freaked me out just now!" My contractions are pretty strong. I'm at a 5 and Dr. Judd (who was "still" at the hospital for who knows since when) says, "let's get you ready for a c-section." We text our families and let them in on the good news. I get my IV and paper work going and they call the anesthesiologist to give me my epidural (hooray!) and we wait around. Dr. Lymann is head of the anesthesiology dept (or so I've been told) and gave me a wonderful epidural. I was pain free and loving life. I couldn't believe how much better this epidural was than the one I'd gotten for Miles. I really felt like I could have gone to sleep. It was the first time I wasn't being kept up by back pain or kicks or contractions. I was in heaven! Dr. Judd was doing a delivery and since I was feeling good I told them to take their time. I was in NO RUSH to have the c-section. Dodie our nurse for the day came in and took care of us with instructions etc. She was awesome and we totally hit it off. It was quite a pleasant day. Dr. Judd would come in and check on me and then leave to do another delivery, then come check on me and then leave again. At one point he thinks he feels a head and thinks if we can break the sac with the head down we can do a vaginal delivery. I am soooo excited! They call the ultrasound techs to come take a look and they confirm there's a head. At 1:30p they break that sac and wait for the head to drop and push the other baby out of the way. Later it turns out it was a little booty after all. While we're having our quiet moments Joel gives me a blessing and later we realize he mentions nothing of the surgery I was due to have. My dad came and hung out. We think we're gonna have a c-section around 3p. By this time everyone has called us wanting to know how it went and we explain that it hasn't happened yet. Dr. Judd comes in and I'm dilated to a 10 and ready to go. He asks, "How easy was your first delivery?" I tell him it was really easy...a half hour from first push to birth." "Well," he asks, "what do you want to do?" I'm totally confused. He says I can either go deliver these babies breech or have a c-section. I'm shocked cause I thought if the first one was breech there was no other option. He assures me he can deliver them but it's up to me. I look at Joel, my dad, the nurse and no one is giving me any help. I ask Dr. Judd what I should do and he says, "If you were my daughter I'd say let's go deliver these babies." I ask if I'm gonna seem crazy if I go that route. He says no and I say let's do it! I DID NOT WANT A C-SECTION. Joel gets changed; they wheel me into the OR. I start shaking from nerves. There are 12 people in the delivery room including me and Joel. As soon as we get in there I get the urge to push. I tell Dodie I'm ready and she says great. Everyone else gets settled and on my next contraction I push once, twice...next contraction I push once and out comes Scarlett, frank breech (butt first) and perfect. 4:12p weighing 4 lbs 12 oz. Joel and I are looking at each other and the tears start to flow! Joel cuts the cord and we move on to Isaac. Dr. Judd reaches in (literally) and grabs him by the feet. One push, or a big cough later Isaac is born footling breech (feet first) at 4:15p weighing 5 lbs 3 oz. What a miracle! As I'm getting wheeled out Dr. Judd says, "You made the right choice back there. That was much better than a c-section." The love that I have for this man who delivered my children is indescribable. He is a genius in his field, and I consider myself very fortunate these babies weren't born two days later when Dr. Judd was gone. He left shortly after to do some more deliveries, and I didn't even get a picture of him with our babies. BUT he is a wonderful man who really gives all he's got to his patients.