The Birth of Eliza Love Wells

The Birth of Eliza Love Wells

December 20, 2017; I was 39 weeks pregnant. I had been to my midwife appointment with Sarah at Lovers Lane Birthing Center that afternoon. I was at Target that night about 9pm, getting last minute supplies for the postpartum period and Christmas. My water felt like it burst, but there was only a trickle of water, so I want to the bathroom to check it out. There was bloody show, so I knew it had indeed been my water breaking.  Since there wasn’t a lot of water flowing, I ran around to get the most important items. Suddenly, the water started to gush and I knew I had to get out of there before it became too terribly embarrassing. I checked out (thank goodness only 1 person in line before me,) and made it to the car as I felt more gushing (sorry Jake about the seat of the car being forever ruined.) I called Amy on the way home and made it home without having any contractions.  At home, I talked to Jake and we decided to have the girls spend the night at Aunt Amy’s house. Jake took them as I changed clothes and started watching TV.  About 10:30pm, I called the midwife (Sarah was on call- I think I woke her up,) and informed her that my water had broken, but I had only had about 2 contraction so far. I agreed to call again when they started picking up.  About 11pm, there was another large gush of water, and I leaked to the bathroom to change clothes and take a shower.  In the shower, the contractions started picking up and becoming more regular. I got out of the shower, and called Jake over to start timing contractions to see where we were.  He started timing contractions at 11:30pm at about 4-6minutes apart. We then called Sarah to come on over.  While waiting for Sarah to call back, the contractions started coming every 2 minutes, very hard and prolonged (about 12am). Jake then texted Sarah’s direct line (gotten from the previous call back) to let her know they are 2 mins apart. She called back (about 12:20pm) and let us know she was on her way (from Dallas) and her assistant, Margie, would be here soon from Frisco. While waiting for their arrival, Jake got the pool up in our room and filled it while I labored in the pool. I started coaching Jake on catching the baby as we realized the midwives may not make it in time. I started pushing and as the head emerged, Margie comes in! She jumped to action and quickly had me positioned and pushing harder as the Baby’s shoulders had become lodged slightly and baby turns from pink to purple. Margie pulls baby out quickly and soon (with some rough rubbing and talking from Jake,) baby is crying and turning pink again. Well, what is it? Asked Jake. It’s a girl! Born December 21, 2017 at 12:57 am.

Eliza and I was moved from pool to bed, and Eliza latched on well and started nursing well. My placenta was taking a while to come, so with some coaxing it emerged (however, leaving some trailing behind.) Sarah arrived about 1:10am to assist. Sarah was able to get most of the trailing out, but after some large output, both Sarah and Margie stayed a while to monitor. I had some apples, oranges and water. Eliza continued to nurse well. Midwives left about 5am. We got some sleep and Jake brought the girls home to meet Eliza about 6pm. 

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!

Our Miracle

Yes, I'm pregnant again!  Yes, it's with TWINS!!!!  I'm due Nov.11. They are identical twins. No, twins do not run in my family- so this is VERY shocking! Fyi, only fraternal twins are hereditary; not identical. Yes, we will be finding out the gender and will let you know soon after.


So I thought I'd share with you all our drama with the twins, and why I asked for lots of prayers this week.



We had our sonogram last Thursday and discovered we were having twins! As it was starting to set in, the OB came in and started giving us the grim news. The twins were mono/mono twins. Which means they shared the same placenta and same egg sac. In this case, the umbilical cords get very tangled and there is a 50% chance of losing one or both twins.  If they make it to 24wks (age of viability,) I would be hospitalized and put on 24/7 monitoring.  If they make it to 33wks (longer would be too risky) then they would be delivered with a probable month long NICU stay. Whew.  I was terrified.  That was why I reached out for prayers.


Goodness, did God deliver! With a slim possibility of a membrane being late to form, or a higher tech machine being more equipped to find a separating membrane, we were sent to a specialist. On Tuesday we saw the specialist, and a membrane was found!!!!!! Yay! Yay! Yay!  So they are now mono/di twins. One placenta, two egg sacs. Which also makes them identical twins.  The specialist says she considers me a low risk case. The umbilical cords are even so far apart on the placenta that twin/twin transfusion syndrome will be a low risk.



Thank you all for your prayers! I'm so excited about this journey we are on- it's going to be a roller coaster- but oh so fun! I'm closing out with a song my Mother reminded me of, and it's just perfect:


 Before My Birthday

Underneath my Mother's heart
waiting for nativity,
I never was so tiny, but what God's eyes could see.
And long before my ears could hear,
He called me by my name
there, in the darkness He watched me grow
watched His creation, for long before my birthday
God was celebrating me -
He knows the very moment when my life came to be.
And from the time He gave me life
He watched me tenderly
For, long before my birthday 
God was loving me!

House Project

One of our house projects included the patio.  It's finally complete......for now.  Here is a before and after.

Before:

After:

It is so much more enjoyable now!  Come grill with us soon!

Vacation Bible School

Madelynn and Annie went to Vacation Bible School this week. They had so much fun with the crafts and games there. Of course, they have been singing the songs and teaching me the movements the rest of the week.  They also made some great friends. Madelynn met and hit it off with a little girl named Natalie, and Annie found a little boy named Andrew to help her with everything. We are looking forward to participating again next year!

Reading

I finally got a good video of Madelynn reading!  She is so shy about reading, she didn't want to show it off.....I on the other hand, am a proud momma who is claiming full bragging rights!!! :)

 Then, Annie and Joy decide to join in! Too cute!

Happy 8th Anniversary!

I just can't stop thinking how completely blessed I am to have Jake to share such a wonderful life with. Jake and I have had such fantastic adventures together.  When God said with marriage 2 shall become 1, he was so right! There is no longer 'him' and 'her', there is just 'we' and 'us'.  It's so hard to explain, but it is the most wonderful feeling in the world!