The labour

The girls are finally here. Kate Emily Dodd was born at 8:08pm on August 26th and only 3 minutes later at 8:11pm Lucy Olivia Dodd was born. Lucy was breech and was fished out with the help of Dr. Woo, who was on call at the time.

I went in at 11:00am on Friday the 25th to be induced (37 weeks along). They finally inserted proglastin gel at around 3pm, which softens the cervix and is a bit more natural than the alternate oxytocin. It stimulates the cervix to begin to 'ripen' and so brings on contractions. I was monitored for about 2 hours and then sent home. I began contractions immediately after given the gel and by the time I was sent home they had become somewhat regular and further apart (the first hour was one on top of the other but not super strong). I was having them fairly regular at about 30 then 20 minutes apart and decided to go have a shower to help me relax. That was great. Upon emerging from the shower I had a strong contraction which didn't seem to let up. I crawled just outside the bathroom and laid on the floor for a good 20 minutes having contractions one on top of the other again but quite painful. I had Chris call the hospital (I was supposed to wait for them to come 5 min's apart but never really had that interval) and they said to come right in. I discovered when finally leaving the house that I could barely walk and the ride to the hospital again was not fun. Once at the hospital we were settled into a new room with a twin room attached and they began to monitor the baby's and my contractions again. It was pretty clear to them they would not be sending me back home and began all the procedures to get me onto some drugs so I would get some relief. Let me tell you I wanted it! They tried to give me 'laughing gas' (nitrous oxide) but it just made me gag so I opted to deal with the pain for the moment...although periodically I did attempt to make use of it. Once they inserted an I.V. they injected me with nitrous (I didn't hear them call it anything else) which did take the edge off. Next came the epidural, which did offer quite a bit of relief. I got these medications about an hour and a half after I got there and was so relieved to get them. I could not believe how anyone could go through the whole labour like that but apparently most people do not have contractions on top of one another, there IS a bit of a rest in between to regroup (so I'm told). Anyway, we were told to try to sleep and about 2 pm Chris got to sleep but what with the monitoring and checks mom and I didn't sleep more than an hour. They had to keep quite a close eye on the activities of the twins as those type of contractions can be quite hard on babies but they tolerated it well. I attempted to doze off and on throughout the day on Saturday. Chris' family was in and out visiting and I kept occupied talking to the nurses and mom. At some point they put in a catheter which I hated because I could feel it even though they said I shouldn't feel much and would get used to it. Around 4:30 I awoke from a doze to find I needed to have a bowel movement (so I thought). The nurse told me I didn't and she would get the Dr. that was on call at the time. At about this time I began to feel my contractions again to make me uncomfortable and I started using the self administering button for the epidural. After about an hour and a half of waiting for the Dr. (who was in the O.R.) he finally arrived and they found that I was fully dialated and ready to push. This was great news for me but I was wondering why the epidural didn't seem to be working so well. No answer was forthcoming. So began the pushing. It was painful but managable for awhile. Chris and mom were a big help in supporting me and helping me to push. As time passed the pain got increasingly worse and they got the anesthesiologist to try and figure out what was going wrong with the epidural. That was never figured out and by the end of my labour they had me on the same amount as they give some one for a c-section and were also topping it up periodically. I was still in A LOT of pain. Anyway, after an hour and a half or so of pushing (I have no idea of the actual time frame, this is what I was told, it seemed like forever), they decided that as Baby A (Kate) was not moving into position and may have been loosing oxygen they would use the vaccuum to get her out. I think the insertion of this was one of the most painful things ever. They asked me to tell them if I wanted them to stop but when I did they kept on. It was good they did in the end but no fun at the time. So after that when I pushed they pulled and Kate was out in a matter of minutes. I actually got to see her being born as I was mostly upright as was comfortable for me, but was so exhausted I just laid there dull eyed for what must have only been a few seconds before they said they were going in for Baby B (Lucy). I thought the vaccuum, then Kate's head was bad in terms of pain but having the Dr, who did not have small hands, reach up to figure out how she was sitting was BAD. The found her to be breech still and so pulled her out feet first. This part was horrible because of the finding of Lucy but also because they made me lay flat which was NOT comfortable...but on the up side once they got her feet she was out in a matter of mintues and I barely even noticed her head exit. I didn't get to see her being born due to my position but I think I wouldn't have noticed much by then anyway.

They whisked the babies to the twin room while I was stiched up. Thankfully I didn't have an episiotomy which I really didn't want, but I did tear a bit. Unfortunately the local they gave me for the stiching didn't work so hot either but in comparison to labour I could tolerate that pain. (although I did grumble and harrass the Dr. doing the stiching, but good naturedly.) Some time later I got to meet Lucy (and hold her for a few minutes), before they took her and Kate to the nursery. Kate had a lack of oxygen and they both were breathing a little fast and so had to be monitored. Chris went with the girls while I waited until they were finished with me in the delivery room. Another 1/2 hour to an hour later I got to go to the nursery in my new friend the wheelchair to see the girls and was then wheeled to my room.