TRIAL RUN
So just so we have the timeline straight, I found out on Friday, March 14th, that if I didn’t have the
babies by Wednesday, March 19th, my OB was going to be gone for four
days, and wouldn’t be back until very late on Sunday, March 23rd. On
Tuesday, March 18th, I started contracting in the late afternoon.
These were different, and consistent. We called our midwife who came over and
took a listen to babies and checked me. I was 3cm and 80% effaced, so we got to
thinking we might be having babies. We called the hospital and were told we
would have to be routed through the on-call OB before our OB could be called.
We had a shortcut in our midwife, so she called him directly. He was very antsy
about us staying home, and really wanted me to come in. His concern was that
with twins, things can progress fast, and he didn’t want us caught at home. I
felt like the contractions were close enough and strong enough that it would be
okay if we went in, so we did.
We got to the hospital around 11pm, and they took me to “my
room.” Things had slowed down a bit on the van ride, but we were hoping that
once we got there and focused, they would pick up again. Dr. W was already at
the hospital with another patient, and planned to spend the night, so we
weren’t concerned about having to deal with a different OB. I agreed to get a
“strip” of monitoring the babies to see how they were, and he poked his head in
to say hello but didn’t stay long.
I walked the halls with Joe, Dede, and Tracy (our birth
photographer) on and off for a couple of hours without much progress in my
contractions. This caused me to get really frustrated. Going in to the hospital
and having everything stop was one of the biggest concerns I had, and it was
happening. I wound up pacing the length of the room while everyone else dozed
because my labor had basically stopped at that point. I slept for a while and
at around 4am Dr. W came back in and said he’d like me to go on the monitors
just so they could make sure the babies were fine. I was just resting and they
weren’t going to interfere with anything I wanted to do, so I agreed. I dozed
on and off and then was awake and had a very emotional talk with Dede where I
vented about how angry I was at the position I was no in. In less than 12
hours, the only OB I trusted was going to leave and if the babies came while he
was gone I was going to be attended by a virtual stranger. To put it bluntly, I
was pissed. I had spent months getting to a point where I could accept him
catching these babies, and it felt like he was abandoning me.
He came back in at 7am, and asked what the plan was. I told
him I didn’t know, and I was not happy. I reiterated that I was angry that
there had never been a whisper of his leaving again during my pregnancy, and
that coming in and having my labor stop was exactly what I was afraid of. He
said he felt “really badly” about his vacation plans, and we discussed what my
options were to stay that day to try and have him there to catch these babies.
We would be looking at induction with pitocin, or rupturing my membranes,
neither of which I (nor my birth team) was okay with. We discussed who would
attend me if he was gone, and he said he would talk to Dr. L and confirm that
he was okay with our plansMy birth team and I decided to head home, and we were
out the door within an hour.
I wound up going to the closing of our new house an hour
after we left the hospital, (did I mention we were closing on a house and
moving within the two weeks prior to my due date?) and went home to rest and
try to finish up packing. He called before he left town, and left me a message
that he had things set up with Dr. L. He spoke to my midwife later that day,
who said the further away we got from Dr. W, the less supportive the OBs were
about my plan to stay out of the OR. We figured we would be fine, in that if I
went before Dr. W got back, Dr. L would be backup.
I had another ultrasound with the perinatologist (Dr. P) two days
later, and that was amusing. First off, I was a tad late (and I had never been
late), so he called up to L&D to see if I was there, or had given birth
already. He was surprised to see me still pregnant, and said at least twice,
“At 38 and a half weeks and 3cm, there really isn’t any benefit to keeping them
in there.” I didn’t respond, but thought, “Except for the fact they obviously
aren’t ready, or they’d be out!” The ultrasound took twice as long as normal,
and I knew he was checking and things he’d never checked before. After he was
all done, he said, “Well young lady, I was looking for the *smallest thing* to
say you had to go today. I checked breathing movements, fluid levels, (and a
couple other things I can’t remember) and I couldn’t find anything. They’re
doing fine, you’re incredibly healthy, and I see nothing to indicate we need to
intervene.” I said, “So basically my kids just gave you the finger?” His
response was, “Pretty much! I bet they’re like their mother that way.” I just
grinned and continued to wipe off the large quantity of ultrasound gel he
favors using. (Seriously, I wish I had stock in the company with as much as he
goes through.) He said that if something bad happened “they” would be asking
why the babies hadn’t been taken out sooner, but he thought I would have them
before Monday, and if I didn’t he’d see me then for another non-stress test. I absolutely appreciated Dr. P's integrity for not "finding" a reason to mess with my pregnancy.
To give you an idea about how pervasive the idea is that
“twins always go early” I have to tell you about the computer programs the
perinatologist uses. There are two machines in the ultrasound room. One is
where they data from the u/s is fed into immediately and it gives percentiles
on baby’s growth, and the other gets the info to check the math of the first
program. At my last scan (38w 4d) the second computer wasn’t working…it
wouldn’t give Dr. P a percentile for the babies’ sizes. He putzed with it for
several minutes before saying, “Oh! That’s why…it doesn’t go that high.” The
computer program was not written to give percentiles for twins that were as far
gestated as mine were.
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