5:15 am Bridget was up and sleeping in our room.
5:30 am Bridget was sent back to her own bed to sleep.
5:45 am Shawn and I left for the hospital.
6:00 am Arrive at the hospital.
6-7:40 am Got registered, had my IV put in, had blood drawn, talked to a bunch of nurses, talked to my doctor, talked to the perinatologist (it was HIS birthday too!).
7:40 am Wheeled down to the operating room. (Panic! Panic! Panic!) Said "bye" to Shawn who had to stay out in the hall until the last minute.
7:40-8-ish Met the anestethiologist (I don't know how to spell it, we'll call her the "A lady"). She was a young lady, and was very nice to me. I told her she was whom I was most afraid of, and she said she'd get me through the operation and that I was fine. Chit chatted with the doctor and nurses. My doc said that he saw a quad bike with a plow that was "so much cooler than a snowblower". Most of the nurses just asked "dumb" questions because I was so panicked. Got my spinal, and it didn't hurt (though I remembered that it didn't hurt), everyone was congratulating me on getting through the worst part (yah, right) and told me how great I was doing. As I numbed up, I knew it was better than last time because I was only numb to my rib cage. However, I was getting weird feelings. My collarbone hurt, and I told the A lady, and she said that was normal and gave some reason why. Then I'd complain about my ribs hurting and she gave me a reason why. Then I'd tell her that my hands were swollen and numb, and she'd explain why. Then I'd complain about something else, and she would explain why. She was really patient with me, and explained everything, and somehow got me to lower my heart rate from some crazy number to a normal rate.
8-ish to 8:10 am Shawn was allowed into the O.R. He was wide-eyed, checking out all the people and trying to be brave for me. By the time he was there, I was almost calm. He rubbed my sore collarbone and swollen hand. We talked a bit about who-knows-what. I remember asking him, "Are they going to start anytime soon?" and he said, "Arlene, you're already cut open! He's about to take out the first baby." I was amazed because I couldn't feel anything at all, and I thought I'd at least feel pulling and tugging.
8:10 Holly Lynn was born. Dr. said, "Baby 1 is breech. It's a girl. She's coming out peeing!" I didn't see her or hear her cry, Shawn was able to see her. William John was born. Dr. said, "Baby 2 is breech. It's a boy. He's coming out peeing too!" I couldn't see him or hear him. Shawn saw him.
8:11 Megan Delia was born. Dr. said, "Baby 3 is breech. It's a girl!" I could see her being worked on in her cubicle thing. I know she was given oxygen at one point, and 3 people worked on each baby.
8:11-9-ish Babies were cleaned up. Each baby scored a 7 or an 8 APGAR score. Nurses and doctors began leaving the room slowly. Before the babies were taken out, a nurse let me see them, kiss them, and they unhooked my arms from the "jesus position" so that I could touch them too. They were all so perfect and beautiful. Such round heads. So small. The neonatologist told us that all were doing well but they would be going to the NICU for 2 hours for observation.
9-10 I was in the plain old boring recovery room, falling in and out of sleep. Shawn was on the phone calling everyone. Shawn also went to the NICU to see the babies. All 3 were doing great, breathing room air, and getting their baths. The nurse told Shawn that the babies would be able to come out around 11 as long as they all maintained their state. Shawn also ran down to the cafeteria for a quick breakfast.
Around 10:30 I returned to the room and about 30 minutes later the babies were wheeled in one by one. John and Kathie arrived a little later and of course they were over the moon! A little while later, the babies had to go back to the nursery because they were too cold.
The rest of the afternoon was a blurr. Shawn watched over the babies. I was bed ridden.
Shawn picked up Bridget and brought her to visit at about 4 pm. I wanted to record her reaction to seeing the babies on video, but unfortunately, a nurse had me tied up at the time, so I even missed her reaction. I know Shawn asked her what she thought of the babies, and she said, "They're so cute!" and "They're so small!" She got to hold Holly, and she really enjoyed that.
About 6 pm, Grandpa Bill, Grandma Joan, Karen, Ron, Ryan, Kristi and Sandy all came by for a visit. I think Grandpa Bill monopolized little Liam, but who could blame him? Boys are hard to find on that side of the family. The aunts took lots of photos for me, since I couldn't get out of bed yet. The babies were quite content to be held by all the many visitors.
By 8 pm, everyone left. I had to move from the bed to a chair. I told myself that the little pain I'll get from moving around is MUCH easier to tolerate than how I felt 2 days ago, so it didn't take me long to get from bed to chair. Plus, the painkillers must have been working well, cuz it really didn't hurt much.
By 11 pm, the babies went to the nursery for the night. Both Shawn and I needed some sleep. I had only slept less than 5 hours the night before, and Shawn was looking worse than me! It was nice getting about 7 hours sleep that night.
Photos and video from the day are posted at My Mobile Me Gallery.
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