Sweat Pea(t)s

Our little Sweet Peats are here!! This post was supposed to happen weeks ago but as many people know life kind of got in the way of that happening!!

On May 31 I hit 36 weeks which was my goal all along. I joked with Petey the night before about going in for my NST and getting to stay. Little did I know that was going to actually be the case!! I picked Petey up at work around 12:30 just like every other Tuesday and he dropped me off at the hospital. I contemplated skipping the registration desk & just going upstairs since I was sick of having to explain to them what an NST was. But, I'm glad I stayed since I got to see Carol again. Carol is one of the registration ladies that I had really enjoyed talking to the last several weeks.

Upstairs, Lori got me hooked up and got the girls tracing well. Just like the last several times my uterus was showing irritability. This time they seemed to be a lot more consistent but there wasn't anything too painful going on. The NST actually went really, really quickly but when she took my blood pressure things got interesting. It was way higher than it usually was. Since I had an appointment at the clinic in just a little bit she advised me to just lay down and relax until I had to head over. So, I lounged and played on my phone until it was time to see the doctor.

I told the nurse when I got there that my blood pressure had been up quite a bit when I was in labor and delivery. Sure enough it was up a LOT in the office. I'd also put on another 5lb. in the past week which wasn't a good sign. They had me lay down on the exam table which, for the record, is NOT a comfortable place to lay down especially when 36 weeks pregnant with twins! When the nurse came back my blood pressure had only gone up - 196/100. Dr. Witthoeft came in to talk to me and told me what I had already figured: they were sending me back to labor and delivery. I had an inkling that this was baby day so I told my mom that she better head this way & I told Petey to come up to L&D with the kids.

They got me situated in room 311 and started monitoring the girls again. This time the contractions were definitely coming regularly and eventually they did get painful. Most of the pain was in my back and it was intense. Dr. Labeau came in and talked to us about delivery. Petey and I were both on board with delivery and getting the girls out before my blood pressure went really crazy. If only we knew...... So, we decided 6:30 would be the time. Petey ended up taking the kids to a friends house in case my mom didn't make it in time.

Around 6 o'clock a LOT of activity started happening. They prepped me for surgery. Gave Petey his new duds to wear in the O.R. I signed a bunch of papers and they talked to me about what to expect and what would happen. Just before 6:30 they wheeled me back to the operating room. Surprisingly I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. I'll admit I was excited the pregnancy was about to be over and that I was going to get to see the girls finally. I was proud of myself for having made it to 36 weeks and felt pretty confident the girls wouldn't have too many issues to deal with.

The anesthiologist that I had was fantastic! She talked me through everything and was very, very upbeat. One of the warmer beds kept alarming before we got things started which delayed things a bit. There was a whirlwind of activity going on and a bunch of people introducing themselves to me. To be honest I don't really remember anyone I hadn't already met before that. Oh well.

Being awake while you know you're being sliced open but not being able to feel it is a strange thing. I'm very glad the nurse and doctors were telling me what was going on and what they were doing or I would have had no idea they had even started!!!

Adelyn Grace Peat was born at 7:09pm. She weighed 6lb. 3oz. and was 18.5 inches long. Kailyn Elyse Peat was born at 7:11pm weighing 5lb. 8oz. and was also 18.5 inches long. They both gave good cries when they were born which was reassuring to Mommy! The biggest surprise for me came when they were taking the girls to the nursery. They brought each of them to me and showed me they had HAIR. LOTS of it and it was dark. I was shocked and in awe and in love.

Petey was able to go with them to the nursery while the doctors put me back together. The c-section was something I stressed about quite a bit while I was pregnant but it went really smoothly. There were a few moments that I felt kind of yucky while they were working on me but all in all I can't complain. I think I would still choose to have them naturally if that choice was available but the c-section turned out to be just fine too and the spinal - WOW - way stronger than either epidural!!

Petey took a TON of pictures (I'll share some here soon hopefully) of the girls. I was able to look at several of them after I got back to my room and was recovering. They were absolutely precious! Both of them were doing well although Adelyn ended up needing a little bit of oxygen support so she had the hood over her. I remember Petey telling me he thought they were very identical. He was very correct!!

We were both so glad and excited that the girls were here and they were doing relatively well. It wasn't necessarily how we planned or expected them to come but we are glad they decided to come when they did. We definitely felt very, very blessed that night to have four healthy beautiful children :)