The Boys are Here

The Madsen twins were born on Tuesday, August 4th.  Our due date was August 28th, but not wanting to push it too far, we were originally scheduled for August 13th, then pushed up to the 6th, then when I was having contractions every 8 minutes, rescheduled for the 4th.  The Dr. was concerned about the possibility of my uterus rupturing, so she decided that better safe than sorry we needed to deliver the boys.  This would put us just short of 37 weeks and there were some real concerns about the boys lungs, but more concern about the lives at stake if I were to rupture.

Here we are right before heading to the hospital:

When we got to the hospital it was a very different experience than with Seth's birth.  With Seth, I had been induced on a Saturday night and finally whisked into emergency C-section at 4:00 AM on Monday morning. The whole thing (all 33 hours of it) is a blur in my head.  With this one, I slept well (as well as one can sleep when 36 weeks pregnant with twins) the night before. I ate a good breakfast and reported to the hospital by 2:00 in the afternoon.  They hooked up my IV, drew blood, etc. then they walked me to the operating room where I hopped up on the table and the anesthesiologist gave me the spinal block shot.  Dr. Weisert came in, they let Scott in, and within minutes started the procedure.
Introducing Parker Martin Madsen (6 lbs. 13 oz.) and Benjamin Powell Madsen (7 lbs. 4 oz.)

Parker was born at 4:24 and Ben at 4:25. 

 The surgery itself went great.  It was pretty quick and painless.  I was surprised when I heard Dr. Weisert and the nurses mumbling and then Dr. Weisert called the anesthesiologist over to "see this."  I asked her what they were looking at and she informed me that my scar tissue on my uterus from my previous c-section had been "paper thin."  So, basically, if we had waited, it would have been merely a question of time before I ruptured.  We had really dodged a bullet.

Scary.

The boys themselves were absolutely perfect, big and beautiful at around 7 lbs. apiece.  They had Apgar scores of 9, completely developed lungs and absolutely no need for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.  We were thrilled to find out they were perfectly healthy.  

Seth sees his baby brothers for the first time!  

Parker Martin Madsen born 8/4/09 at 4:24 p.m.

Benjamin Powell Madsen born 8/04/09 at 4:25 p.m. 

This next part of the story is a little graphic, so if you don't want to hear about the unpleasantries of the birthing process, please don't read it.

After any birth, the mother continues to expel blood while the uterus contracts to its original shape for up to 6 weeks, with the heaviest bleeding in the first 24 - 48 hours.  While I was in recovery after the surgery, my nurse noticed that I was bleeding heavily.  When she felt it was under control after an hour or so, I was transferred to couplet care on the third floor where I could be in a room with the babies and see everyone.  My Dad, Bambi, brother Tom, nephew Mat and Seth had all come to the hospital for the birth.

Grandpa Ron and Benjamin

Grandma Bambi and Parker

Uncle Tom, baby Parker and Seth

Mat holds his new cousin.

Mommy holds the boys for the first time outside her body!  That's 14 lbs. of baby right there, thank you very much.

The nurses kept coming in to check all my vitals and my bleeding.  They seemed concerned by the amount of blood I was losing, but I didn't think much of it until they started removing my pads and weighing them.  

Eventually, they called the Dr. and she ordered a round of Pitocin and some injections that would make my uterus contract stronger to stop the bleeding.  Again, no worries on my part, I was pretty miserable from the after-birth cramping and shivering (a side-effect from the anesthesia), but didn't think much of the bleeding.  

Then, around 8:30 that evening, a new nurse comes into the room with the sonogram machine and informs me that Dr. Weisert is on her way back to the hospital to look at my uterus and that they may have to take me back to surgery if the Dr. has left part of the placenta inside.  

The next thing I know, in blows Dr. Weisert in what looks like half pajamas half scrubs with her hair down and flowing and she is not a happy camper.  She scans my uterus and tells me that no, there's no placenta left, but I have huge clots inside that are causing me to lose way too much blood.  We have two options, she can do a pelvic procedure, or take me downstairs to the operating room for a DNC (scraping the lining of the uterus).  

The last thing I wanted at this point is to go BACK to the operating room!!  So, she starts the pelvic procedure with one hand inside me and one hand on my stomach pushing as hard as she can (just above my incision) and pulling out clot after clot.  It was AWFUL! I have never had so much pain in my life and I was on heavy morphine!  

All in all, the procedure probably took no more than 20 minutes (if that), but it seemed to last forever.  She kept apologizing and I kept crying.  

Turns out that I apparently had a postpartum hemorrhage which is pretty rare, but the leading cause of maternal mortality.  It is more common in multiple births because of the size of the uterus which takes more effort to contract.  I had lost a lot of blood.  Because of that, they wouldn't let me get out of bed that night at all and the babies went to the nursery.

When I talked with Dr. W later, I found out that the problem had been that the nursing staff hadn't called her soon enough. If they had, she would've ordered the Pitocin right away, the nurses would've massaged my uterus more and hopefully avoided  the whole thing.  She informed me with a very serious expression that "it will NOT happen AGAIN."  I'd hate to be part of that nursing crew... Dr. Weisert is awesome and one of the nicest people I've ever met, but I think she can be very tough when she needs to be!

So, turns out I could've died a few times that day.  Either from a rupture or the hemorrhage.  Very scary, but in the end, it was all worth it and I would do it all again in a heartbeat to have these two beautiful, healthy babies.  We are so blessed.  Thanks to everyone for their continued thoughts, prayers and support.