The Birth of the Twins

Last Thursday marks the birth of our twins. It's been a week now and it's been amazing. I've never been so happy. I've had barely any sleep and could hardly notice. Although Joy says I get a little negative in the middle of the night.

So, it all started last Thursday very early in the morning. I thought Joy was sleeping next to me when I heard someone walking in the house. As I heard them in the hallway, I panicked. I screamed and grabbed the flashlight aimed it at a screaming Joy walking in from the bathroom. I swear I saw her jump back 2 steps. I felt really bad about scaring her but fell back asleep.

Joy woke me up a couple hours later and said "I think you scared the boys out if me." Her contractions had started. By the time she woke me up, they were 8 minutes apart. Right before I would have left for work, they were at 7 minutes. I finally decided by the look of Joy's face that I should stay home that day. I called off sick explaining that my wife has contractions.

About a half hour later. I called our doctor to see what we should do. She told us to head to the hospital.

I forgot to match that we had a doctor's appointment the day before. Our doctor said she was surprised we hadn't had them yet. They had Joy put on a fetal baby monitor, I think it was a stress test. I was kind of hoping the doctor would send us to the hospital and then was slightly bummed when she did not.

Back to last Thursday; I had had raced to get everything in order for he hospital. In the process I broke Joy's key chain. Filled the trunk with our bag, laptop, and camera bag then put our a dog in his cage. As we walked out the door I said to Joy "we might be coming home with two babies."

We parked in the parking lot and walked into the hospital. There was no dramatic entrance, like in the movies. It was almost funny how causal it was.

They hooked up Joy to the same equipment as the day before and we waited. Joy turned me to said "is it bad to say I'm bored?" Finally, we heard from our doctor that it's time to deliver. We got the c-section scheduled for 12:30pm. I ran outside to call our parents while they tried to put an IV in Joy.

They had a really hard time putting a an IV in Joy. Two nurses couldn't do it. They had to call in an Anesthesiologist. Even he had
trouble. I had to look the other way. One of the nurses told me to leave if I felt like fainting. I told her I was fine an the Anesthesiologist said "that's what they all say."

Joy's mom and brother came in to visit. They talked about her brother going back to school. That was good because it took Joy's mind off the nerves.

Then around 12:25, Joy walked off to get prepared for surgery and I waited in the recovery room till I could be with Joy for the birth if our children. They said it would be 10 or 15 minute. It went to about a half an hour. A nurse gave me graham crackers and apple juice so I wouldn't pass out during the delivery. I walked back and forth in the room.

The nurse finally came and got me and I gotta say it was the scariest and most amazing moment of my life.

I saw Joy laying down on the hospital bed with a curtain cutting off her head from the rest of her body. She had not taken to the drugs they gave her well. She was throwing up. I put the camera down and held a puke cup next to her mouth. I rubbed her hair but felt helpless to comfort her. She turned to the nurse behind her said "it's getting hard to breathe." The nurse said it was just because she couldn't feel her chest.

1:02pm came and Jasper was born. They quickly rushed him into the other room. I wasn't sure if this was standard procedure or if something was wrong. I didn't have time to think. Joy was throwing up and had hard breathing.

1:03 came and the curtain came down and they asked me if I wanted to see baby B (Jacob.) I watched him be born. I wasn't given the option to cut his cord. He looked good but I quickly went back to try to comfort Joy.

Eventually, they called me over to Jacob. It was just amazing to see my son. I watched as they weighed and tested him.

I worried about Jasper. He was in another room. I heard crying so that was a good sign.

They finally called me in to Jasper. Looked like they were wrapping up doing tests on him. The nurse told me that it's standard procedure to do extra tests because they are premature. He looked good to me. It wasn't until much later that I learned that he has trouble taking his first breathes.

My mind was in a million places. It was with Jasper, Jacob, and with Joy. It wad hard to concentrate. A nurse handed me my camera and told me I should take pictures. I had been so overwhelmed I had forgot. I quickly took pictures of the boys.

I went back to Joy to show her our boys since she wasn't given the opportunity to see them. I tried to show her pictures while they were putting her back together but could tell she was out of it.

I was then told by a nurse to go to recovery room and then tell the family how everything went. I showed the fam the pictures I had taken.

Joy was then wheeled to the recovery room. She still hasn't seen the boys. I had no idea what was going on. It was scary. Joy was still throwing up and no one could figure out why. The nurse ordered a prescription IV that helped her stop.

About an hour and half later, the boys were finally brought in. That was the first time I was able to hold them. What a fantastic feeling! And finally, Joy was able to see and hold them.

First Birthing Class

Last week, we attended the first of five birthing classes. The class was pretty good. Most of the lecture, we had already learned from various sources but we did learn a few things we didn't know.

During the yoga-like part of class, I hurt my back trying to relax. I'm not exactly sure how I did it but I think it happened when we had our eyes closed and stretching our necks.

Then I got angry when we were going through the visual meditation. Our instructor was guiding us through a visual (or I should say mental) meditation at the beach. She had the sound of waves playing off her laptop as she was trying to guide us. But I noticed she was out-of-sync with the waves. She'd say the waves are getting bigger but as she'd say that the waves would be going down on the sound. After I noticed this, I couldn't concentrate any longer.

I guess this just says yoga is not for me or I am just way too tense and nervous for it. In that case maybe I need intense yoga therapy.

I do feel a bit rotten that before we did the massage part of class, the instructor said to the women that "I want you to massage your partner how you want to be massaged." I secretly thought "yes!" and tried to guide her to the part I hurt.

Aside from that, I think her massaging me helped me understand better how she likes to be massaged. For some reason though, the part where I messaged her didn't seem as long as when she massaged me.

I did enjoy class! It was neat to see there is another couple expecting twins. At the end of the class, we'll get to take a tour of
the hospital. People watching in class is always fun too. I do think we're right in the middle in terms of ages. There's one 18 y/o and everyone else looks to be in their 30's. Oh and if you want to get in the in-crowd in terms of dads, you should like the Buckeyes and have a good story about them. I do not.

I think the class will get much better as the classes go on. Later on, we should learn more about taking care of the baby and taking care of partner during and after the labor. I hope they go into c-sections quite a bit since it seems likely that she will have one.