The First 24

Once we rolled up to the postpartum unit we spent some time with the girls, and Ryan changed his first set of diapers!  Our families came to visit and they were so excited to meet the girls!

My parents, brother, and future sister in law arrived first since they were camping out at my brother's apartment downtown.  They were so excited to meet Annette & Payton.

 After visiting for a while my family left and Ryan's parents and brother came to visit.

I ended up falling asleep while they were there (what can I say it was a long and tiring day!) after everyone left Ryan and I started our first night as parents.  We asked the nurse some basic questions - these babies looked so fragile, how exactly do I properly burp one without hurting her?!  and she was very sassy with her responses (I thought there were no stupid questions..).  Our plan had always been to have the girls in our room the entire time we were at the hospital, but since I couldn't get up from the bed due to the medication for pre-eclampsia Ryan was left to do everything for all three of us.  The nurse suggested we let the girls stay in the nursery for the night and we settled on letting them sleep in the nursery for 6 hours but waking us up for the feeding.  That first day was such a blur with so many different emotions.  We were so excited and I was completely out of it great timing we all went to bed so in love with our new family!

Push it...Push it Real Good!

On March 6, 2015 Ryan and I headed out early for a typical Friday full of Doctor's appointments.  First we had an ultrasound at the hospital, we were very anxious to see how the babies had been growing, since the previous ultrasound Baby A was growing faster than Baby B and throughout our mono/di pregnancy that had been something the doctors had been watching closely.  The ultrasound went well, both babies were growing great and there was not a large discordance between the two in size.  The ultrasound tech pointed out that you could see their hair, they had a ton of it!
After the ultrasound we then went downstairs to have the Non Stress Test.  The babies did great, they had strong heartbeats and everything looked great!  On to the next appointment, our 35 week Dr. appointment.  As I was getting ready for the appointment I realized that my legs were SUPER swollen.  It was my first time walking and not wheel-chairing it to the Doctor's office from the hospital since I was officially off bed-rest.  I figured that the walk had caused the swelling but mentioned it to the Dr. just to be sure.  At first she dismissed me, my legs didn't look that swollen at all - I had to explain that I have chicken legs so my really swollen is a normal just a little swollen.  She then took my blood pressure just to check and she got three high readings - back to hospital for monitoring, since the pregnancy is high-risk she just wants to be sure.  Back in the hospital we get admitted and settle in while they monitor the babies and run some blood work.  Ryan and I watched some House of Cards to pass the time.

The results from the blood work came back and I had pre-eclampsia.  So the question was if I was going to have the babies that day or if I would be on bedrest in the hospital until  they came.  After some discussion the Doctors and I agreed to go ahead and induce that night (eek!).  My Doctor was awesome and realized I must have been hungry after a long day of appointments so she said they would start the induction after I finished dinner - Ryan quickly ran out and got a Pizza from Blaze - yumo!

Since this was our second run at the whole, getting admitted and staying in Labor & Delivery Ryan and I were old pros, that was until the labor actually started...

I was induced shortly after eating my delish pizza, I was on a steady drip of pitocin & magnesium, I was warned that the magnesium (to prevent seizures during the labor due to the pre-eclampsia/high blood pressure) would make me feel like I was severely hung over and/or I had the flu - sounded like fun.  When I got the first dose I felt the hot flush the medicine gives you and asked for the heat to be turned down.  Poor Ryan was freezing with the air on and I was sweating.  Ryan took a little nap while I watched Law & Order - thank God that show is on all the time, I don't know how I would have made it through the pregnancy without it.

I was nervous about getting that epidural...eek!  So I kept asking the nurse when I should get it.  I finally started to feel the contractions so I ordered it up!  I figured it would take like and hour for it to actually happen, I was nervous about my platelet levels dropping and just anxious to get it over with when the anesthesiologist arrived not more than 10 minutes later...ahh!  Ryan had to leave due to hospital policy so he went to go get the postpartum bag from the car.  I held on to the nurses hand super tight and she guided me in some deep breathing.  They lifted the bed up high and the needle proximity to my spine got uncomfortably close.  I felt the numbing shot then I felt something on my back and I freaked out - wasn't I not supposed to feel anything?  I told the nurse & the anesthesiologist and she asked which side I felt it on...ummm cant you see which side you are poking me on!!  So after a minor freak out everything went well.  They taped it to me so it would not move even if I tried!!

Ryan returned shortly after that and we decided to take a nap.  Throughout the night the Doctor came in to check on the progress and I was dilated 4 inches.  I took some more cat naps when I started to feel some contractions again, I mentioned it to the nurse when she came back and she asked if I had been pushing the epidural button for medicine, um no I thought it was just automatically given to me!  Apparently I was supposed to hit it every 10 minutes or so to continue to get a steady dose, oops!  It would take more medicine to bring me up from a low level then just to maintain so I started to hit that button every 10 minutes on the dot!

After some more sleeping and checking of mine & the babies vitals the Doctor came in to check on my progress in the early morning and I was at 10 cm!  It was an odd feeling knowing I was about to have these babies but I didn't even realize I was fully dilated!  We then did some practice pushing - who knew there was such a thing - and waited for the operating room (hospital policy for twins) to open up.  Ryan was told to suit up in the blue suit and he accidentally put in on backwards at first -very fashionable with the zipper up the back!

Finally it was time to head out (literally)! They rolled me and the ginormous bed to the OR, on the ride through the hallways it felt odd to just be calmly rolling down the hallway when I was minutes away from delivering two babies!

Once we got to the OR everyone was getting ready, there are about 13 people at a twin delivery so it was quite the crew.  I checked with the anthologist that I no longer had to push for the epidural and she would take it from there.  The Doctors (I had two of mine there and the resident Maternal Fetal Medicine Doctor) & nurses counted out the contractions for me and I pushed!

After some pushing Baby A made their entrance.  The Dr. held the baby and turned to Ryan and announced it was a girl!  

Annette Jordan was born at 9:10 am at 4lbs 11 oz

The Pediatric and NICU doctors and nurses took Annette to check her out.  Ryan and I couldn't believe it! Girls! It was a weird realization because I wasn't surprised, like "no duh it's a girl" even though we didn't know! 

Then the Doctor came around to do a quick ultrasound, Baby B was still head down, luckily she was.  Everyone in the room  took a quick breather and I felt another contraction, I asked if I should push on this one and the Doctor said if I wanted to let's go for it!  Then out POPped Baby B!

Payton Olivia was born at 9:18 at 4lbs 4oz

We couldn't believe it, TWO, TWO baby girls!!!!  Ryan and I were elated!

They brought the girls out to us, they were healthy and could come with us! No NICU (for now).  Ryan held his girls for the first time and the nurses got pictures for us.

Then it was my turn to hold the babies!

 my We then all rolled to the recovery room and I got to have some skin to skin time  and attempt to nurse girls!  All of a sudden I felt like I was going to pass out, the nurse and Ryan came to get the babies and I crashed.  I think the combination of the medicine & the adrenaline caused my system to freak out (all medical terminology)!

I was so thankful that the nurse wheeled in the breast pump, that was the single best thing that made breast feeding a success for us!  She helped me establish my supply while the girls were too little to nurse yet.

Ryan bonded with the girls while I started to feel better (I downed some cranberry juice and popcorn) and we got the official Baby Announcement Picture while the girls were resting on the giraffe.  We then opened the take home outfits that we had made!  I hadn't seen them yet since we had the ultrasound tech write the gender on a piece of paper and seal it in a envelope, then we mailed that envelope to the lady to make them, they were perfect!

 

Finally after a few hours the room opened up on the postpartum floor and the real family adventure began!

Babies on Board

Finding Out

When Ryan and I finally saw the positive on the pregnancy tests we couldn't believe it, we had to take about 5 more tests to make sure we weren't getting our hopes up!  The tests were positive earlier than expected, which we later realized was from all the extra hormones since we were having twins!!  We were so excited to be starting a family, but very cautious as well, too many things could go wrong.  We finally told my family by giving them beer mugs with their new titles, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle, and Auntie.  It took a second for everyone to realize it.  Nora was the first one to understand, while she was excitedly saying "no way", Billy was shaking his head in disbelief (I guess we should have cleared our plans with him first).  My Mom thought it was just for my Grandma and when they finally realized everyone was in disbelief and excited!  We told Ryan's family at the Bears game, we had put watermelon on a plate that said "Grandma & Grandpa, Re-Est. 2015", it took a while to get the watermelon out of the way for everyone to read the plate and when it was visible Nancy thought it was a gift for Grandparents day from Liam, once we clarified that it was from Ryan & me she was so excited and showed Keith right away, slowly everyone started to get the idea of the plate!!  When we told my Grandma she was confused at first about her "The best Grandmas make the best Great Grandmas" plate.  When she realized that she was going to be a Great Grandma she was so excited! My friends got small wine bottles asking them to "Drink this for me, because I am a Mommy to be!"  It was fun to plan out the announcements and how we would break the news to everyone!  We even planned how to tell my cousins and Aunt & Uncle over pizza!

The Peas
Ryan and I both knew we didn't want to find out the gender.  It was unspoken between us then when reading one of the baby books I asked Ryan if he wanted to find out the gender, just to verify.  He said no, we both always had imagined not finding out until our babies were born and we both agreed it would be the best surprise ever!  I will say that when you get pregnant you never think people will have such strong opinions on EVERYTHING having to do with your pregnancy and the baby(ies).  Majority of people find out the gender so we got a lot of backlash for not finding out.  We were surprised (does it really matter - the babies will be human...) that people felt so strongly about our decision.  I wanted to give the baby(ies) a nickname so we weren't saying "it", and we came up with the Parrent Pea, so cute like a little sweet pea.  The name proved to be even more perfect when we found out we were having twins - our two little peas in a pod!

TWO?!

We were excited to go to the Midwife to hear the heartbeat of our baby, it made it seem so real.  After answering all our questions, the Midwife started listening for the heartbeat.  Everything sounded alien-like so Ryan and I didn't know what we were listening for.  The Midwife wasn't hearing what she wanted so she left to get the ultrasound, Ryan started to get concerned but for some reason (and completely out of character for me) I was very calm.  The ultrasound wasn't showing anything so everyone started getting very worried (again except usually freaked out me) and the Midwife brought in an OB.  The OB tried again to look for the baby with the ultrasound then moved on to an internal ultrasound.  As I lay watching all of them looking at the screen in concern & worry, the Dr. finally said, there is the baby, and there is the other one!!  I sat straight up to get a look at the screen - did I hear right?  The other one!?!  Ryan and the Midwife were hugging and she was jumping in excitement, I was in shock, two babies?  Are they sure?  That means we were having twins - that isn't possible right?! They left to get some forms to transfer us to a Dr. that delivers twins and Ryan and I just stared at each other, I was so overwhelmed, I was happy the babies were fine, but twins?  That isn't possible unless you are over 30 or you have fertility treatments right?  TWINS!?!  We were over the moon with excitement (and nerves..twins...double the fun and the cost!).  We still couldn't believe it, I kept asking Ryan to verify that both little heartbeats were going strong since I didn't get a good look.  We had an ultrasound picture of our two little babies that looked like gummy bears.

This time we didn't think of any cute ways to tell everyone we were just so shocked it seemed like we had to say it out-loud for it to be true.  We planned for one baby, we started reading the books for one baby, we never even thought twins were possible!  We did get to tell my parents in a fun way - they were currently stuck in Cabo in the hurricane (I know I was going through all this emotional and life changing events and they are off in Cabo on vacation - unreachable for the most part due to the hurricane). When they came to pick up Kandy after arriving back in Chicago after a crazy two weeks enduring the worst hurricane to hit the western coast of Mexico since the sixties and the airport being shut down due to an active shooter event, exhausted, stressed, and relived to be home and alive, we hit them with the big news at the door - a framed picture of their grandchildren, both of them.  Their reactions were priceless!

First Trimester

After the initial shock wore off I felt as though I always knew there were two babies.  From early on I called the babies "they" originally since the English language does not have a uds, or a gender neutral pronoun.  My Mom also cracked an egg right after we told her and it was a twin egg, she joked that we were having twins but I thought it was impossible!  Being the analyst I am I started figuring out the odds of us having identical twins, the data isn't there for my age but basically it is very rare.

We had to find a new Doctor since our Midwife didn't handle twin pregnancies.  We decided on the Women's Group of Northwestern, the hospital had good references, the best NICU nurse around worked there, and Billy's doctor.  We went in for our first official ultrasound and they verified that yes, we were expecting twins, and they are identical (they are mono/di which means they share a placenta leaving no option but identical twins).  When we met with our doctor I started to realize that I no longer had the control I thought I would over my pregnancy and delivery. While we were trying to conceive I realized I didn't have complete control over that process, and now again I was learning that I had little control (which was hard to accept).  We no longer would have the un-medicated, natural, labor I had planned and researched.

I was not expecting to be so sick in the first trimester, especially since most people don't know you are pregnant so you have no excuse or sympathy.  Basically I was hungover for two months and I didn't even get to have the fun drinking part.  Ryan was great, making grilled cheese (the only thing I would eat) and serving me at the couch, little did we know that this was foreshadowing of what was to come.

Second Trimester
A switch was flipped and I felt much much better in my second trimester, my energy was back and I was feeling good! We were getting pretty far through all the books (which we had to readjust to twin specific books).  I felt like I was showing a lot but everyone commented on how small I looked, it didn't help that I wasn't really gaining weight.  I started to get worried, but my doctors kept telling me not to worry that I was doing great!  After our 20 week ultrasound we started going for ultrasounds every two weeks.  We were becoming good friends with the people at Prentice.  During the smooth second trimester we sold the condo and bought a house (not without some added stress and craziness).  I finally felt like I was getting the hang of this whole pregnancy thing, I was feeling great, I was on track with everything and prepared!

Third Trimester
Entering in the third trimester was exciting, this was it the final stretch!  Ryan & I knew that I wouldn't go all 40 weeks so we had less time left than most pregnancies but we were going to be ready.  We attended Great Expectations: Multiples, a class at the hospital specifically for twins (or more) and Breastfeeding Multiples to prepare.  We got our maternity pictures done in the city after the class.  We started to pack the labor bag (just in case). The renovation started, the baby showers were both complete (and tons of fun, the peas are spoiled already) and things were going well.  My only new symptom was feeling more tired, but I figured it came with the territory.
Then one innocent Tuesday morning right before 30 weeks I felt weird. My stomach was tight - we had learned in our Great Expectations class to test for contractions by comparing the feeling of your stomach to your lips, tip of your nose, or your forehead.  My stomach was definitely getting to forehead status but it wasn't regular and I wasn't sure if it was just the babies moving like crazy or what.  So I called the Dr. and they suggested I should come in just in case.  Within two hours I was at the Dr. and they were sending me to the hospital downtown since I was already dilated.  I called Ryan and told him he should come to the hospital and grab the labor bag.  He was a little shocked, but quickly stopped the construction work and came to the hospital, making amazing time, he arrived only 30 minutes after me.  We were admitted to labor & delivery triage for pre-term labor where they were monitoring my contractions (yes, I was having them) and they administered a steroid shot to develop the babies' lungs quickly and medicine to slow down/stop the contractions.  I also got my first IV, I wasn't expecting it to go on the top of my hand, this was my maiden trip to the hospital.  I have never been hospitalized before, it was quite the experience.  For some reason I was still very calm, I guess freaking out wouldn't have helped, but being out of control I figured I would be just a little anxious.  Just like in the beginning of the pregnancy when they couldn't hear the heartbeats I had a feeling we would all be fine, God was looking out for us.
We then were moved up to labor & delivery where they would continue to monitor the contractions and both babies heartbeats and check to see if I continued to dilate.  At the Dr.'s office I was at 1.5 cm and then when I was in triage I was 2.0 cm.  Up in labor and delivery I was holding steady at 2 cm, they told me I couldn't eat anything but clear foods and room service was closed and the cafeteria did not have anything in the form of gluten free clear food fare.  The nurse was able to smuggle two popsicles to tie me over.  The anesthesiologist came to visit us - hospital policy once someone arrives on the floor, I hounded him with questions (the epidural is the scariest part for me..eek!) but he was very reassuring and told me he had confidence I could handle it (phew).  Ryan and I settled in for the night, he had a fancy cot that he could sleep on and I had the amazingly uncomfortable delivery bed (people actually deliver single babies in this room), Law & Order was in the middle of a marathon though so all in all it was a pretty good night.
Throughout the night I didn't dilate any more (YAY!) so at 3 am we were allowed to go up to antepartum floor!!  The beds were much comfier up there so I finally got some sleep.  A Dr. or nurse was coming in every couple of hours to check my vitals, or the babies' hearts - I no longer needed constant monitoring which was also helping my comfort, since every time I would move to get comfy one of the babies monitors would loose their heartbeat and the nurse would have to come in to re-adjust.  I set my alarm to order breakfast right when they started taking orders and took another nap until my ginormous meal came.  A Dr. from my practice came to check on me and told me I would be monitored for the next 2 days and during that time they would complete the steroid shots, stop giving me the contraction stopping medicine and monitor me.  I was at 1.5 cm dilated again - apparently each Dr. measures slightly different, which was reassuring since that meant I didn't dilate at all since I was checked at the Dr. Office Tuesday afternoon.  Ryan and I hung out - I was able to still work from the hospital which kept me busy during the day.  On Thursday I was given the all clear to go home!! But with new orders of bed rest, my Doctors told me that if labor comes it comes we can't completely stop it but bed rest makes everyone feel better that I wasn't over-doing it and that I did all I could to keep these babies cooking.  Our first goal was to make it 2 weeks to 32 weeks, then to 34 weeks.  We got home and I slept amazingly!!

Bed Rest
I wasn't sure how to feel about bed rest, I wanted to get everything done and ready for the babies but I also wanted them to keep cooking.  It was a hard struggle.  My controlling, particular, type A personality didn't make it any easier.  I started by making lots of to-do lists.  I am sure Ryan and my Mom were soo happy with all these to-do lists, but being the amazing people they are they went through the lists.  So day by day I would wake up shower and work from bed.  I kept things professional by changing out of PJ's and making the bed.  I got a cool little bedside table (which was kinda crappy so I complained and ended up getting it for free!) and tried to be classy when eating and living in bed.  I did get out weekly for Dr. appointments which were the highlights of the week.  I took a wheelchair from the hospital to the Dr. office which was always embarrassing!  Finally, we hit 34 weeks - which marked the end of the strict bed rest.  We were cautiously excited, if the labor starts again they wouldn't stop it, but it was still pretty early for the babies to be born.  After talking with the Dr. I would still take it easy but I could venture to the outside world, go out to eat and walk downstairs!  I was pretty excited, but also nervous, I didn't want to be the reason they were born too early!  So I plan on taking it easy until 36 weeks - then I will be most likely running marathons to start labor!