The Birth of Claire and Tabitha

The Birth Story of Claire and Tabitha

Born Wednesday; October 15, 2014 at 36 weeks +1 day gestation

Before I begin, I want to educate those who are curious on the hospital protocols for birthing twins naturally at my facility.  Both twins have to be head down at time of labor. You are allowed to labor in a regular L&D room; however you have to push in the OR (in case of emergencies.)  Then you are taken to postnatal room with babies (as long as babies are healthy.) The babies are required to stay 48hrs until they can go home.

On Tuesday the 14^th, I had my 36wk appointment. Jeanean, my CNM, checked me and stated I was not dilated at all, and was at 4plus. Still going good!  I posted my pregnancy picture on facebook that night thinking I was well on my way to my goal of 37wks.

It was a little after midnight on Wednesday; October 15, 2014, when I was in bed trying to get comfortable so I could go to sleep; I felt a pop on my right side- like a twin shot me with a rubber band.  I thought, how weird and felt like I had to pee; so I went to the bathroom for the millionth time that night and noticed a bloody discharge. Thought my water probably broke; however there were no contractions, so I went back to bed to try to get some sleep before the busy day ahead.  A couple of hours later, a contraction with some more bloody discharge woke me up (I was only dozing anyways,) so I stayed up to see if I needed to start timing them.  The contractions started very irregularly, only about every 30-40mins. At about 4am, the contractions were more regular at about 20mins apart. I then got up, showered, started getting ready for the day.  At about 6:30am, the contractions suddenly got very intense at about 5mins apart.  I woke up Jake and told him I was in labor and we better get the kids up and tell my sister.  About 8am, Jake took the girls to my sister's house then called the midwife when he returned.  I started grabbing my bag to go as the contractions got longer and harder.  As I got to the driveway, I started vomiting.  It became very difficult for me to walk and get into the car.  That was the moment Jake and I realized this was going to be cutting it very close.  We arrived at the hospital (thankfully about 2mins from the house) at about 8:30am. The midwife was already there with 2 other patients in labor.  She checked me, and said "8cm, and fully effaced. We're going to OR now!"  The main OR was already in use, so I was put on a stretcher and wheeled to the secondary OR.  Once there, they quickly tried starting an IV, get some admitting info on me, general chaos to quickly get ready before pushing time. The anesthesia doctor finally got the IV after about several minutes of attempting. I came close to popping him one as he would tell me "you have to relax and keep pumping your hand" as I was having contractions. He finally got it though, just in time before time to push.  Claire was born first at 9:11am. The umbilical cord was short, so Jeanean (the midwife) held her for 1 full minute (to get the last blood from umbilical cord) before Jake got to cut the cord.  I held Claire on my chest for a couple minutes before passing her on to Jake to hold.  While I was cuddling Claire, Tabitha started trying to come in a dive position (hand above head.)  Jeanean moved the hand down, so the head could present first. My contractions slowed to 7 minutes apart (normal for me) and after 2 pushes (about 15minutes) Tabitha was born (at 9:26am.)  I reached down to pull her out and up to me, however her umbilical cord was very short also.  So Jeanean got to hold her as well for the full 1 minute before Jake cut the umbilical cord again, and I got to cuddle Tabitha. 

Yes, I’ve become one of those weird people who check out the placenta afterwards.  Claire had attached to the placenta perfectly in the middle. Tabitha’s cord however was attached on the side with less tissue holding it in place.  It has been a complete miracle how well she did with her cord like that.

Claire got an "A" on her hat for being born first, and Tabitha got a "B" on her hat.  Claire, who was always the quiet and still one in utero, weighed 6.0lbs.  Tabitha, who was always the bigger twin, and moved constantly (often crowding Claire), and was nicknamed 'the trouble maker' in utero, weighed 6.10lbs. 

I had a hard time after they were out trying to figure out which one got which name.  I had always thought Tabitha would be the first one out, and being more active the name seemed to fit.  However, when Claire decided to beat her sister out, I started to change my mind.  In the end, I went with the names I had originally picked out while the girls were still in utero.

The girls had a little trouble keeping their blood sugars up and regulated at first (normal for 36 weekers), but by the second day were doing much better.  We went home on Friday; October 17^th, per the 48hrs rule.  Big sisters have been such a huge help! They love holding each girl, and always make sure they hold each one equally.  They don’t like for me to dress them alike, because they have a little harder time telling them apart when I do.

It has been such an adventure, and it has only begun.  Thank you for all the prayers- keep them coming!