PARENTHOOD.IE

By Thursday, I had been getting niggling pains on-off for a couple of days and I assumed these were just the Braxton Hicks again. Since I was not due for another eight weeks, I decided to travel to the Sunny South East for the weekend.
I remember feeling somewhat restless all weekend and I didn’t get much sleep. I had some pains during the weekend, but nothing to be concerned about.

On Sunday afternoon, I went for an easy swim before travelling back home. On route home, I remember my husband hit a pothole which annoyed me as I had been warned by my sister, who is a midwife, to take care on the road.
We arrived home about ten and at about two in the morning I began to get pains again. I got out of bed and onto the bouncing ball to gain some relief. The pains felt much worse than before but I was not alarmed enough to wake my husband, who was sleeping downstairs. I kept thinking “what would labour pain be like if these pains are only the Braxton Hicks?”
The pains passed after about 40 minutes. I got back into bed and slept soundly until I was woken at  5am, by the sensation of water everywhere. My waters had broken!
My husband heard my screams and acted very quickly.  He remembered to collect a sample of the water as I was in shock still. The fear and utmost disbelieve – how could this be happening at 32 weeks gestation? Thankfully my bags were packed so all we had to do was get into the car and go.
We arrived at the hospital in half an hour and during that time, I remember thinking “this couldn’t be happening” but if so then “I’d better get my head together and focus”.
On arrival, we had to register which really annoyed me since my waters had broken, I assumed it was an emergency situation and I needed to see a doctor...how naive of me. At 32 weeks, I hadn’t yet read the chapter about going into labour in my pregnancy book, so I was completely ignorant of the whole process.
The first nurse checked the sample but wasn’t happy and ordered a retake, to make sure my waters had broken. I wanted to scream at her as I kept thinking “isn’t it obvious that I am leaking?” The second sample confirmed that my waters had broken and I was moved into the pre-labour unit.
The nurse did an internal examination and confirmed no dilation, she monitored heartbeats of both fetus and checked sac fluid. All was okay but I was ordered to rest in the hope things would settle in a few hours, but the pains continued to come and go and I felt uncomfortable. At some stage the nurse called the registrar and she gave me the precautionary injection to help develop the babies' lungs.
I still hoped that the pain would blow over in a couple of hours and that I’d only have to stay in hospital for a few days everything settled down. It wasn’t until my gynecologist arrived in the early hours of the morning and informed me that it looked as if I was going to give birth to the babies prematurely, as there was no slowing down of the pains. I was so mad at him for saying it, that I re-energized and concentrated on getting the babies out safely.
Up to this point, I was confined to the bed and hooked up to the monitors that continuously checked the babies heart beats. My only pain relieve was my breathing technique. I knew I needed more pain relief so I started to use the bouncing ball and later the shower which I found immensely helpful.  I was a high risk and needed to be checked regularly so my time in the shower was unfortunately limited.
At around 2pm, the pains peaked and I got some pethidine pain relief, which didn’t really help so I just concentrated on my breathing from then on. At 6:30pm, I was two centimeters dilated and was taken to the labor ward.  I was confined to lying down on the bed which wasn’t the most exciting position to be in but probably the safest since I was carrying twins who needed to be checked constantly.
The pains were much more intense and longer now, but the controlled breathing was still getting me through it. I felt very in control with the breathing techniques. I remember the room was very warm and asked for the window to be opened. Cool air, calmness, forehead kept cool, two angels beside me (my husband and a German student midwife) and a steady midwife working with me. I felt I was in safe hands and wanted these babies out safely so I had to be in control.
At 8pm the midwife had to leave as her shift was finishing and I remember feeling annoyed by this sudden change. I didn’t want to bond with the new midwife too much, so I kept my eyes closed and instead focused on my breathing. It was at eight centimeters that I hit the wall and asked for some pain relief, only to be told that I didn’t need them and that these babies were coming within fifteen minutes. This was the best news I had heard all day – at last an arrival time. I knew the end was near and I got more energy to keep going.
At 10:30 pm, my first baby arrived but I didn’t get to see it and there was some fuss over in the corner of the room. It wasn’t until after a few minutes that I realised there was something wrong.  I kept asking what was wrong but no-one replied. They were all silent and my husbands face was white as a sheet.  I knew something was wrong but I focused my thoughts on getting the second baby out. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my breathing to get things going. I honestly think I initiated the contractions for the second delivery as I just wanted it out quickly, since I was fearful that things weren’t going well.  At 10:45, my second baby, a tiny boy was held up to me and I could hear his voice before he was taken away to be checked.
At this point I realised that the room was full of medics, junior doctors and midwifes, all watching a twin delivery. Once it all calmed down again I had to concentrate on delivering the afterbirth, which involved another push as I was exhausted and in no mood for any more work .I was delighted, exhausted, relieved and thankful it was all over...but where were my babies? I had to focus again on what was happening around me. Within a couple of minutes, the pediatrician doctor informed me that both boys were being taken to ICU and that my husband could visit them in an hour.  I had briefly seen ICU before so I knew I could handle it. Then we had our cuddle, made the necessary phone calls, had the best tea ever in my life and made our way to ICU to see our precious little baby boys. On arrival to ICU, I was informed that we had just experienced a twin-twin transfusion delivery hence all the complications.
The journey was just beginning and another long stressful intense journey lay awaiting for us, but that’s another story. Thankfully it was to be a journey with a happy ending!
Noreen, Co. Dublin.