My twin girls were delivered 6 ½ weeks early, on June 4th (Monday), via c-section and here is my story.
On May 29th (Wednesday), at 33 weeks, I noticed that I could no longer complete a 1 ½ hour grocery trip without complaining that it was getting hard. (Read
about it on my blog here )
On May 30th (Thursday), I am really beginning to notice that things were different. I felt no pain, had no painful contractions, no backaches, nothing. I just noticed my Braxton hicks contractions a bit more. Since I’ve noticed the change within the past couple of days, I was beginning to think that perhaps I was starting to dilate. I blogged about it here ).
On May 31st (Friday), while getting dressed to go to see my OB, my contractions were really getting tight. Again, it was not painful (but this could be that I had a high threshold for pain). It was just very tight and I had to stop and breathe deeply and let it pass. Before I headed out the door, I decided to get a luggage and put several things in it, but then changed my mind. Surely, it was too early to be in labor (me being positive).
I counted how many contractions I was having on the drive to the doctor and counted 7 in one hour. When my doctor checked me, he said I was already 2 cm dilated. He said I needed to go to the Labor and Delivery floor and get admitted. Since there was no urgency in his voice, I asked if I could go home and get some things. He said there was no going home for me. I called my husband to let him know, and by this time I was in tears. I was panicked because I was concerned for my husband and son and how they would cope without me at home.
When I was in a room, I was hooked up to an IV, monitors were put on me (1 for the contraction and the other 2 for the babies), and I was given a steroid shot to mature my babies’ lungs. Then I was given one shot to slow/stop the contraction. I was having contractions every 10 minutes, and then it slowed down. But after 4 hours, it started back up again. At this point, I was given pills (Procardia) to relax the muscles of my uterus, which worked for 5 hours and then the contractions were back. It was clear then that I wasn’t going home.
For the rest of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I was given the pills. But the pills started to wear off sooner and sooner – from 5 hours, to 4, to 3. Because I was hooked up to the IV, I couldn’t go to the bathroom without calling the nurse. But eventually, I was taught how to unhook/and hook back wires from the computer so that I could go the bathroom without calling a nurse.
My doctor never ordered more aggressive medications to stop my contractions because I was able to have 2 steroid shots for my babies’ lungs already and he was true to his prior plan. He said if he could get me to 34 weeks or close to it, he will not be using aggressive methods to stop me from delivering.
On June 1st (Monday), we’ve decided to wait no longer and went ahead with a c-section. At this time I was only 4 cm dilated. My doctor was going to let me labor on (to a complete 10 cm dilation), since I insisted that I wanted to try a vaginal birth. But he advised me that a vaginal birth after a previous c-section had its risk for both me and the babies. After talking with my husband, we’ve decided that due to all the ups and downs we’ve already had through my pregnancy and had no control over, we’ve decided that this was it – we would not take the risk.
Our girls were born a minute apart, Baby A (Katie) weighed 5 lbs 6 oz, and Baby B (Jojo) weighed 4 lbs 8 oz. They could breathe on their own, so they didn’t need breathing tubes, and they could eat on their own as well. They spent 12 days in the NICU. They didn’t even have jaundice, which is common to preemies.
The most unpleasant part of my days of bed rest in the hospital was the baby monitors. Because I was big, it was uncomfortable to be lying on my back. But every time I found a comfortable position on my side, not 10 minutes later, a nurse would come in my room saying she had just lost 1 or both babies in the monitor. As you can imagine, I barely got any sleep.
Compared to others who had preterm labor, mine was pretty uneventful, even the signs of my preterm labor were not that noticeable. The only thing that alerted me to the fact, was that compared to how my body has been days prior, that something has changed. So for those mothers who are worried they may miss the signs of early labor, the best advise is to be in tune with your bodies.
Things to have with you while in the hospital on bed rest:
- Toiletries
- Pillow
- radio/mp3 player
- books/magazines
- games/puzzles
- pictures of your family (I didn't realize how important this was until a few days of being in the hospital when I started to feel depressed about not seeing my son everyday)
- cell phone (hospitals don't usually allow long distance calls)
- address books/list of phone numbers
I hope that my story brings some comfort and reassurance to those who are at risk for preterm labor and/or those who are carrying twins
Copyright © 2007, username: Izzy @ www.minti.com. All rights in all media reserved. The content of this article may be forwarded in full without special permission provided it is used for nonprofit purposes and full attribution and copyright notice are given.
(October 2007) (
