Birth Story

I've been meaning to put something like this up for a while, but of course I haven't yet.  This is a letter that I sent to our Bradley Class childbirth educator, Ann Marie.  The class was great, and by her recommendation, I started eating tons of protein.  I have to say, the babies stayed in a long time, and were very healthy when born.  I'm sure some of it is genetic, another part is luck, but a great amount of our fortune has been due to the amount that we learned in the class, and our acting upon what we learned. Hopefully I'll find time to update the blog with some other baby things that have been floating around in my head...breastfeeding, sleep, daytime with twins, getting in shape, etc.  For now, though, here's my birth story.

 

Hi, 

We have had a great experience with Mount Auburn! On Friday we had a line-up of appointments set to help us figure out what to do. With twins, the ideal time to give birth is between 38-39 weeks, and while they weren't too concerned about getting to 40 weeks, they were concerned about 41. 

The ultrasound ob suggested a home birth or scheduled c-section, the head of ob's met with us and suggested we wait at least until 41 weeks, and the assistant director of midwives suggested we induce and work out a plan for intermittent monitoring. All of the plans had their own merits, but we were most inclined to wait it out another week. Unfortunately it started to look like I was possibly developing pre-eclampsia, so we really needed to induce. So on Friday, after 3 hours of appointments and meetings, we decided to be admitted and tried to see if a Foley bulb would be enough to start natural labor.

While the foley bulb did help, it was obvious in the morning that we would need to use pitocin to really begin active labor. We ate a good breakfast had a consult with the anesthesiologist, and then started an iv for pitocin around 10:00am. It was a gradual induction, so we didn't really get into active labor until about 4:00pm. Before 4:00 I was continuously monitored, but let off my leash for a few walks around the l&d area and every time I wanted to use the bathroom. I often switched between sitting on a birthing ball, a rocking chair or sitting on the edge of the bed. The midwives and nurses were great, because every time I moved, and often even when I was trying to stay put, they would have to re-locate the babies heartbeats. 

As active labor began I spent more time in bed on my side, but would get up and switch to the birthing ball or rocking chair. I was also still let off my leashes to go to the bathroom and used the toilet as another laboring position. I was only able to eat 2 bites of dinner before I realized that food was no longer an option. As labor progressed I began to get shaky and nauseated. I didn't start saying I couldn't handle any more until around 12:30 am. I asked for an exam and said that if I wasn't progressing I'd take the epidural (the anesthesiologist had made up a special batch of bupivicaine free dosage if I needed it).  I was 6cm dilated and at 0 station. Around 2:30 I was about ready to quit again, and asked for another exam. I was at 8cm, 0 station. 

Around that time the monitors became more and more of a problem, but the midwives and nurses went above and beyond, sitting with me holding the monitors on me whenever I changed positions, letting me off again and again as I went to the bathroom. At one point I asked how other twin mothers would do this and the response was that they would just limit other mothers movement to the bed. I don't think I would have made it through without further intervention if they had restricted me. 

I would say that my "transition period" was not very clear, but probably lasted from at least 2:30 to 4:00. My doula was key in helping me get through it. Around 4:00 I was examined again and told that I was at 8 cm and fully effaced, so I should start pushing whenever I felt like it. I don't think I got the hang of that until around 4:30/5:00. I labored for the first on a birth stool, which I liked a lot, but I had such extreme back pain that I ended up switching to my side on the bed. 

At 6:06 Ryan Oliver Schreiter was born (in the caul)! He had a 9/9 apgar and started screaming immediately after they took him from the sack. They let the cord pulse for about 2 minutes and immediately put him on me but, the fetal monitor on the second twin was showing a dipping heart rate. Gerd was able to cut the cord, then they tried to determine now far back baby B was. Pretty far back it turned out, and the low pulse was very concerning. They gave me one option besides an immediate Caesarian, and that was to push hard and fast to bring him closer to the outside and they would step I'm with a manual vacuum pump. Gerd took Ryan and held him from that point on. 

Timothy Alexander Schreiter was born at 6:42! His umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, and his breathing sounded a little off, so they cut the cord immediately, suctioned him, and had him on oxygen. His apgar was still pretty good 7/9, but they wanted to take him to the nursery, so Gerd handed me Ryan and went with Tim to the nursery. Ryan and I had skin to skin time and and he tried to latch on, although we're still working on that. Tim perked right up in the nursery and didn't even need to be further suctioned. The rest of the morning is kind of a blur to me because my blood pressure dipped pretty low. They gave me saline, I ate breakfast, and had some orange juice and it went back to being too high. 

Originally we had planned on leaving the hospital the same day, but that hinged on my mother being here to help us as we transitioned to home. Unfortunately my grandmother passed away on Friday so she was back home making preparations with her sisters, so we decided to stay at least overnight. Being here has been a mixed bag. We've had different nurses and lactation consultants pointing us in many different directions. I'm thinking we're going to need some outside help on this when we go home. 

While here they've been monitoring me for pre-eclampsia and they're not quite sure I'm out of the woods yet. We may be here an extra day if I need a magnesium sulfate drip. That piece of the story is still to be determined. 

I feel extremely fortunate to have had everything turn out as well as it has so far. Both twins are healthy and strong and we made it through without a ton of interventions!  Ryan weighed 6 lbs 9 oz at birth, and Tim weighed 7 lbs 12 oz. They're adorable, but I don't have downloaded pictures yet, so we will send photos later. 

Thanks for a wonderful class and all of the advice along the way! Please share with the class!

Bethany, Gerd, Ryan & Tim

As an update to this, I did end up with problems with possible per-eclampsia and had to be monitored for two weeks.  My kidney and liver functions would alternate from okay to abnormal, and my blood pressure was very high.  In the hospital they decided it would be a good idea for me to get a blood transfusion, partly in order to ensure I would develop milk. After a few weeks I was back to normal, but I wasn't 100% alright for a while. I'm so glad my mom was able to come back to Boston and camp out with us the first two weeks.  We literally ran in shifts each night to ensure everyone got at least 4 hours of sleep a night.  Doesn't sound like much now, but with twins, it was pretty miraculous to get that much the first few weeks :)