The Twin’s Birth Story: Anderson and Grey

On February 9th at 38 weeks and 2 days I was scheduled for my induction at the same hospital where Everly was born. Jake and I woke up as normal, got Everly ready for school, dropped her off and grabbed our Starbucks. We checked into the hospital at 8:30AM ready to meet the babies ASAP. In some ways the 38 weeks flew by, but the last 4ish weeks of pregnancy dragged. My body was carrying so much weight – an extra 35 pounds – and getting so uncomfortable. I was having a hard time sleeping, walking and getting up off the couch. I couldn’t put my shoes on anymore and could barely get in my SUV.

After checking in and getting put in an observation room I was met by my OB who was working that day. I was so happy that she was there on shift and would possibly deliver the babies. The first thing I said to her was, “I want to have these babies ASAP… they’re ready, so just let me know what I need to do to move this along”. She checked to see if I was dilated at all and gave me my dose of misoprostal (the cervical ripening medication). At 10am I was dilated to 1cm – it felt like we had a REALLY long way to go.

Jake and I sat in the room and watched TV. I also listened to a podcast and we ordered lunch from Saloniki. This is when the “breech specialist” came by to confirm that Baby B was still breech. He let us know his plan for delivering and asked if I wanted to switch to a C-section. I completely trusted that he was comfortable delivering Baby B breech, so we decided to go forward with a vaginal delivery.

By 1pm I was starting to have stronger contractions and my stomach was turning. I knew that this was a sign that labor was beginning. At 2pm I was sitting up in the observation bed with my legs criss-crossed and thought I peed myself. It was actually my water breaking! A resident came to check if I was further dilated and I was at 3cm.

Then the nurses found me a labor and delivery room to move to, so that I could get my epidural. At 3pm I was met by the anesthesiologist who administered the epidural! Thankfully, just in time because my contractions were really picking up. I got settled in the bed with the “peanut” ball between my legs – this is something that really helped when I was in labor with Everly. The nurse was putting the heart rate monitors back on my belly and at that point I felt like I had to push. Even with the epidural I could feel a lot of pressure and knew that was the sign to begin pushing.

The nurse called for my OB to come check my cervix again, but she was unavailable. Thankfully, the nurse trusted my instinct and checked my cervix. She could feel baby A’s head crowning and got my OB to come to the room. Twins are delivered in the operating room at my hospital, so they begin calling to get everyone into place for delivery. Jake got into his surgical bunny suit to prepare and they wheeled me into the OR.

As soon as we got to the operating room, I was more than ready to push Baby A out. Waiting those few minutes was one of the worst parts and my body started shaking and shivering. Once my OB was ready, I was instructed to push. It’s so funny how even after doing this once before I totally forgot how to push. After only two or three full pushes at 5:01pm, Baby A was born head down. As soon as I heard his crying I was completely relieved.

Being naive, I thought I would have a few minutes to collect myself and get ready to push for Baby B. Immediately after Baby A was born the ultrasound tech was looking for Baby B’s foot. I’ll spare everyone the full details, but the specialist had to reach in and grab her foot. The pressure was so intense that I thought I was dying. It felt surreal and it’s something I would never want to go through again! He pulled by her feet until her torso was out and then it was time for a few big pushes to deliver her head. Every single person in the room was screaming loudly for me to push as hard as possible. Then at 5:05pm I felt immediate relief of all of the pressure as Baby B was delivered. After the fact, the anesthesiologist let me know that we were only seconds away from an emergency C-section…. so crazy!

Baby A and B were cleaned up and I held Baby A on my chest as I delivered their placentas and was stitched up from the grade 1 tear. Jake was able to hold Baby B and she finally began to let out little cries. I couldn’t stop saying “oh my god” over and over. It was just so unreal that it all happened the way we wanted it too – and so quickly!

Grey (born at 5:01pm) was 6lbs 6oz and Anderson (born at 5:05pm) was 6lbs 4oz.

Welcome to the world Gerald George Kokos III and Anderson Layne Kokos! You have completed our family 🙂

xo,

Jacci