Birth Story

On Friday March 16th, I started having contractions much more so than usual. We were in the middle of the worst snow storm we had seen here all winter. Our driveway was literally snowed in with about a foot of snow. Around 9pm the contractions were 7 minutes apart so I called the doctor and she said we should come in. I got up and packed some stuff and Chris went out and shoveled a path to the car. Luckily we have 4wd so we just plowed through the rest. The hospital is only 20 minutes away in Boston but with the horrible roads it took us over an hour. We registered at the hospital at 12:30 on March 17th. They determined I was indeed in labor and far enough along in the pregnancy that they could go ahead with the c-section. At 2:45 I was in the operating room where they gave me a spinal to numb my lower body. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Once I was laying down Chris came in and they started cutting. At 3:02 Jackson arrived weighing 5lbs and 18 inches long. When I heard his cry I started bawling. It was the most wonderful sound I had ever heard. Madison soon followed at 3:03am weighing 4lbs 15oz and was also 18 inches long. She took a little longer to cry so I was a little worried but soon I heard two fabulous cries. Chris left my side to go see the babies and he cut the cords which he said he didn't want to do so I was proud of him. They cleaned off the babies and wrapped them up and Chris brought them over to see me. At that point I started feeling not so hot and I threw up. They finished sewing me up and took me to recovery on the stretcher while I held the babies for the first time. Once back in recovery I continued to throw up. I had to stay there for 3 hours while I got better. At 7am we were finally ready to go to our room. The babies went to the nursery and Chris and I were able to get some sleep for a few hours. Then Family started visiting. The babies needed no medical attention at all which I was very happy with.
We all spent 5 days in the hospital and we all came home on the 22nd (Wednesday) when I suffered from severe post partum depression. There was no denying it to myself or Chris...that's how bad it was. Hysterical crying, wanting nothing to do with the babies, completely freaked out, wanting to leave and not come back. It was the most horrible feeling I have ever felt in my life. To go through all I went through to get these two beautiful babies it felt so wrong to feel the way I was feeling. By Wednesday night I called the doctor and she talked Chris and me through it and even suggested I go to the emergency room. She called in a rx for an anti-anxiety medication. I called my mother to see if she could come over and help Chris for the night and she did. I tried to get some sleep while we were waiting for the rx. I took the med around 3am and was able to sleep the rest of the night until 9:30am. I found my mother in the nursery holding both babies and I had an urge to hold them so I knew the medicine had helped. I felt much better all day Thursday and was able to help out with the twins. They had their first doctor's appointment where they weighed 4lbs 10oz which is up from where they were in the hospital (babies all lose weight after birth and usually get back up to birth weight within two weeks). The doctor said they looked perfect.
Chris's mom (Nana) came over Thursday night to take a feeding/changing shift for us to get a few hours of sleep. She ended up staying the entire night and Chris and I were able to sleep for 12 hours!!! And she had to get up and teach in the morning! That was a lifesaver. I hadn't taken my medicine the night before and I ended up feeling great. Friday we took the kids to our office for everyone to meet. They were a big hit and people were tearing up...it was very sweet.
Friday night I started to feel a little depression again so I took another pill. My mom (Grandma) is here to help out tonight. We're having a little trouble with Jackson spitting up a lot so that's been a little hard. Madison is doing just fine though. It will be interesting to see what they weigh at their next appointment.
OK enough for now. Next post will be some links to pictures.