They are here!

I am not pregnant anymore!!! Yippeee! Although, it is a bit weird that I haven't been pregnant for 5 days now and I kinda miss it a bit. Just a bit. I already have forgotten exactly what it felt like. Kinda sad.

Anyways, detail, details....Cooper Hatch Mallard and Walker Grant Mallard joined our family on Friday, September 21, 2012 at 02:39 and 02:40. It was very quick and unexpected.....well to an extent. We knew they were coming sometime soon, but just didn't know at that moment in time it was going to be then. I will explain....

It really couldn't have gone more perfectly really. There were some things that I wanted to happen before they came and they were good boys and waited until I was ready. They waited for their daddy to get home, they waited for their sister to have school pictures, they waited until after 36 weeks to come, and they came at the beginning of the weekend! They already love their momma!!!

Jar got home and the doctor told me that as soon as he did to start doing some brisk walking to help get prepared for their arrival. So I did. And it sucked. That whole week I had been having some back pain and cramping and some contractions, but nothing regular, so I knew it would be quick once I started to try and get things going. So on Wednesday we were in Pincher so I could get my haircut. Jar took Macey to Walmart while I was there. It was a fast cut and so I started walking towards Walmart. It's not too far, but Walmart is on the higher side of the hill than the salon. So I called Jar and got his voicemail. I left a message saying I was done and I was walking and that he needed to come and get me. He didn't. I got to the big steep hill. I saw that the other side of the road had the nice paved walk way that wasn't as steep as the path I had. I couldn't make up my mind if I should cross and take the longer way or just keep going. I kept going. That hill would have been bad on a regular day. I'm sure I gave a few passerby's some good laughs.You're welcome! I finally got a hold of Jar and told him to get me because I was almost at the hospital. When I got to the hospital I saw Jar pulling up and I was so relieved! He kept driving for some reason. Frustrated, I called him again to ask why he drove on by. He said he couldn't see me. Uh huh. You couldn't see the huge pregnant lady waddling down the street. Right. He finally got to me and when I got in I could barely move! It was horrible! The contractions were painful. Well, the contraction was painful. It was just one long cramp. It finally died down and I had some contraction for a bit, but they died down. I think we headed into Lethbridge after we picked up Mackie from school, but I honestly don`t remember what we did. I just remember thinking we were going to be in there for 3 days in a row. Maybe we didn`t go in. My brain is still mush.

We did go in on Thursday. We planned on going out to Buffalo Jump for the day to do some walking around. By the time we left and got close, there wasn`t much time to see anything there, so we continued in to Lethbridge. We stopped and picked up some munchies at Extra Foods in Fort Macleod. I got some hot pepperonis to spice things up. Oh, right, we were in Lethbridge the night before because Jar`s sister and her husband and baby were in town, so we went in to have supper with them. Jar wanted me to have hot wings to try and get things going, but they weren`t all that hot. Anyways, we went to the mall and kinda walked around. We almost got snagged into buying a bunch of Apple stuff. An iPad, and apple tv, a notebook. All that good stuff. We left and went to Henderson to play at the park and walk around. We let the girls play for a bit and then we decided to head home. I was having the same cramps and aches as usual. I was also having contractions, but they didn`t hurt. They wouldn`t go away though either. I started to time them. They were happening about every 4-5 minutes. We got out of Lethbridge and it just didn`t seem right to be leaving Lethbridge when I was feeling like this. The contractions were just too regular. I just thought it was weird that they didn`t hurt. So while we were driving I tried putting my chair back to change position. Contractions still came. I told Jar that we might have to turn around and go to the hospital, just to get things checked out. I told him I wanted to wait until Fort Macleod and I would get out and stand up to see if that helped get rid of the contractions. We got there and after having a few more standing up we decided to head back. We dropped the girls off at our friends house. It was just before 10 at night. I was so glad that it wasn`t in the middle of the night! We got the girls put into bed and we left.

When we got to the hospital they hooked me up to the monitors to watch the contractions. I was having them alright. They were still kinda sporadic though and not super strong. They checked me and I was 3 cm. They decided to keep me in over night and see if I progressed or not. The contractions kept coming, but they were short and irregular and not painful. After awhile, the nurse came back in and I said that they were getting to be a bit more painful and I thought they might be getting stronger, but I wasn`t too sure. So they hooked me back up and watched again. I felt like such an idiot. It felt like those times when you have something wrong with you and you go to the doctor and once you`re there, your symptoms mysteriously vanish. She just sat there and watched and then she asked me if I had felt those contractions. I told her I felt maybe 2 that were a bit more painful. So she checked me again and told me I was 5 cm! I couldn`t believe it! This was it! This was happening! I asked if this was when I would be getting an epidural. She said it was and she was going to go talk to the doctor. Within minutes the doctor was in my room and she told me she didn`t want to me to labor anymore. She wasn`t comfortable doing a VBAC on twins. The chances of my uterus rupturing were high and that can lead to bad things. I was a bit disappointed, but I knew I wasn`t going to be comfortable if she wasn`t, so I said okay. I asked how long it would be until we went in. I was thinking somewhere along the lines of an hour or two. She said 20 minutes. The room was already being prepped! So within 5 minutes I thought I wasn`t in labor to being in labor and having a C-section now. It was crazy!

Jar called both our parents and we got ready to go in. I was excited. I was nervous. When we got into the OR, there weren`t too many people in there. Yet. They gave me the spinal and I laid back on the table. It was so uncomfortable. I started to get dizzy from lying on my back that long. It was the weirdest feeling being numb from the waist down. I could feel them touching me and could feel where my toes were, but I couldn`t move them. It was neat, frustrating, scary. More people started to pile into the room. Baby A`s station was being set up by my head and Baby B`s station was being set up on the other side of the room. Jar had a chair by my head and they put the curtain up. The doctor asked if I could feel any pain. When I said no, she said good, because she was poking my stomach with a very sharp object. Oh good. It was working! She then proceeded to cut me open. It seemed like they were digging around forever in there. It was probably only 5 minutes, but when you`re already feeling sick from the pressure on your blood supply, and people are pushing around in there, it doesn`t really help. I was a mental struggle to keep calm during it all. Finally I heard her say they had Baby A out. And then I heard him cry. I instantly teared up. I also felt a huge difference in my stomach. Just a big hole where one human being used to be. Not long after Baby B was out and crying as well!

We could see Baby A on his table. He was being checked out and all of the sudden he stopped crying. The doctors and nurses started to move a bit quicker and put as mask on him. We had no idea what was going on. They were suctioning him and pumping the air into him and flicking him. He finally started to cry again and all was well. He had apparently breathed in some fluid that he shouldn`t have, but once it was out, he was fine. It was scary though. They brought him over and they brought Baby B over. They were so beautiful! They started to cry in unison and everyone oooohed and aaahed over them. When they were both pulled out, all I heard was Wow! What a big boy! I was a proud mom!

They took the babies up to NICU while I recovered. Jar went with them. I felt helpless and alone, but I was so happy at the same time. I hated not knowing what was going on, how they were doing....they needed me!
Once I got sewn up I went into recovery. The nurses were great in there and soon enough I was headed up to the room. They had told me how much the boys had weighed. Cooper, who was Baby A, had weighed 6 lbs 3 oz and Walker, Baby B, was 5 lbs 11 oz. They were doing good and they would be able to come into my room with me! I was so happy that they didn`t need to be in NICU!

I got to my room and waited for them to get there. Once they finally came in I just wanted to hold them! They were so little! They were perfect! The rest of the night was full of them being checked out and myself being checked. We had no sleep. They passed their glucose test though, so that was great! I had to express milk though and cup feed them their first feeding because they were just too tired to do it themselves. But it was enough to help them pass their tests and not be poked and prodded anymore than was necessary. They both started nursing that day though and did very well! I was so happy. I was really nervous of them not having that reflex yet and that nursing would be an issue. They really couldn`t have done better!

I think I will stop here for now and continue on with the hospital stay for next time. It`s late and I need my sleep!! I will hopefully have pictures put on my computer to put up on here as well!