Casear Fun! Warning - surgery photos!

Me in my sexy surgery get up.  Too bad you can't see the attractive pressure stockings.

So I had a scheduled Casear.  This means I didn't actually go into labour at all.  I don't know what a contraction feels like...I didn't even experience those Braxton Hicks fake thingies!  So roughly a casear can be broken up into these phases:

Epidural/Spinal Block:

So they stick a big ass needle in your back that hurts like hell.  Yes, I cried, yes it's painful but seriously - it probably isn't as painful as pushing out a baby!

Numbing:

Everything from my chest down went numb.  I could feel the OB pushing and prodding but I couldn't feel hot/cold or pain. Yes, I could tell when he was cutting and I knew when he was pulling out a baby.  It's this bizarre sensation of rumaging around in your insides that's hard to explain. 

 

Baby A comes out:

So the OB yanks out the first bub and she screams - woo hoo!  Because of the curtain I couldn't see my tummy but I could see bub come out all covered in goop and blood.  So bub A gets whisked off to the assessment area.

Baby B comes out:

Because Baby B was a bit higher up the OB had to really tug her out with some force that literally took my breath away and made me feel a bit off colour!  She also let out a cry.  The OB tells me she had an umbilical cord (no idea whose) wrapped around her leg but she's ok.  Baby B gets whisked off to the other assessment station.

Nausea, uncontrollable shaking and feeling whoosy:

Unfortunate side effects of the anesthetic...the anethetist pops in an anti-nausea to my drip which helps a bit but I'm still shaking a lot.  Not that best thing when you are about to hold a baby (or two!).

Hold babies:

I held Sophia (baby A) for awhile very akwardly on my chest.  I'm long sighted so trying to look at her when she's basically on top of my chin was tricky and made my eyes hurt.  They brought over Phoebe for me to cuddle but I was already concerned about dropping Sophia so told them to hand her to Simon. This was a truly beautiful moment staring into Sophia's eyes (yes she opened them!).

Immediate recovery:

About 15 minutes after birth the girls were put in humidity cribs and I was left to lie in the recovery area.  I wasn't feeling the best from the anesthetic so happy to just do nothing and smile to myself.  I can't remember how long I was there...maybe 45 minutes - 1 hour?

Special Care Visit:  

I then got wheeled into special care so I could pat their head for a few minutes.

Recovery in maternity ward:

The anesthetic wore off a few hours after surgery and boy was my tummy in pain!  There was the internal pain and then the casear stitches pain - ow!  I couldn't move...not even roll over.  I had a catheta and they had to check the blood loss....I won't go into details!  Let's just say it's just as well I was pretty out of it otherwise I would've been much more self concious!  I vomited quite a bit 6 hours after surgery.  I'm sure you can appreciate how painful this was considering how many tummy muscles are required to vomit.  I was only allowed to visit my girls in special care once I was off the catheta and the catheta stays in for about 24 hours.  During that time Simon was showing me video and photos of the girls - this was just awesome!  As soon as that was out I forced myself into a wheelchair and went for a thrilling ride through the ward to see my bubs.  I didn't walk on my own to special care until about two and a half days after surgery and when I did start walking I felt pretty whoosy and I was in quite a bit of pain.  By the time I checked out of hospital the whoosy feeling had gone and I only had the casear site pain, pelvic pain and muscle weakening to deal with (refer to pregnancy info post re. pelvis pain and muscle loss).

Recovery at home:

I wasn't lifting a baby and when I did it was a very very light baby so I think my recovery from the casear was pretty quick.  The casear site pain had completely gone about 2.5 weeks after surgery.

What is it like to be pregnant with twins?

I thought I might answer some of the common questions I get asked.....and I thought I would start at the very beginning.  I've already written about the emotional side of being preggers with my twinnies but failed to mention what it felt like physically (other than the panic attacks during scans!).

Morning Sickness:
I had really bad morning sickness from 5-15weeks.  Have you ever had gastro?  Well, that's exactly what it felt like except you add an intense feeling of starvation.  It's a vicious cycle of:  I'm sick, I'm starving, I eat, I feel better, now I'm sick and need to throw up, now I've thrown up I'm starving and feel sick, I eat.....etc. 

Pelvic Pain:
I had Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction from 9 weeks gestation till the girls were about 3 months old.  Basically my pelvis moved around too much. It was excruciating!!!  My pelvic area felt like two bones were grating on each other and not playing happy families.  I did physio and couldn't walk very far let alone exercise.

Muscle Weakening:
I was basically sedentary due to the pelvic pain so after I gave birth I had lost a lot of muscle in my legs.  I couldn't get up off the floor for months and a walk around the block felt like a marathon.

Stretch Marks:
I got a lot of them.....everywhere.....

Multi-baby kicking:
It really did feel like a party was going on in there.  Most of the time it was good fun but sometimes it was extremely uncomfortable and made it difficult to sleep.

Weight gain:
I put on 20kg and I have slowly lost the weight over the past 18 months.  I still have 1.5kg to go though.


Wow - it really sounds horrible doesn't it?  There are a lot of people out there with much worse experiences and there are a lot out there that would give anything to be pregnant so I can't complain!  I just thought I would be honest and tell it as it is.

12-18 Months

The last 6 months have been filled with lots of adventure. The girls have started to go to playgrounds and play with kangaroos! It is such a joy to watch them get excited over something like a puppy dog or even a train set. I think my favourite moments have been them learning to talk. I was thrilled to hear their first word (other than mum, dad, nanna) which was "bird". This was around 13 months. They say about 50 words now. They have started to talk to wach other as well. Their first word to each other was "boo" as in peekaboo then "share" quickly followed by "no" and "hello". They also hug and kiss each other...awwww. I am yet to capture this on camera though.

I must admit not everything has been smooth sailing. They still got sick once a month and there was a trip to the emergency room with dehydration. They still don't sleep through the night either. They have been able to self settle for over a year. Unfortunately they still aren't very good at staying asleep. They go to sleep fine at 7pm but will wake once or twice in the night and will be up for 1-3hours. I think our problem is that when they are sick we help them to go back to sleep (rocking, cosleeping, milk feed) and then they get used to this and demand it all the time. We have tried over and over to sleep train them (cut back the milk and cosleeping) and eventually they will get a bit better but by the time we've done that they are sick again and we are back at square one. There is just no way they will fall asleep by themselves when they are sick. They can't suck their thumb with a blocked nose which is the main issue....they really like their thumb! They are sick every month which drives us nuts but we've been told there's nothing we can do about that.

Top 10 clues you are a sleep deprived parent with toddler/s

10. Even though the babysitter is happy to stay up until midnight you return from date night at 8.30pm so that you can catch some shut eye before the kids start to wake.

9. You have become proficient at sleeping while your child cries - much to the annoyance of your spouse.
8. There is a space on your bookshelf where all the parenting books used to be. These books were destroyed several months ago in a cathartic bonfire.

7. When you wake to a screaming child you don't need to look at the clock to know what time it is....you can just tell it isn't 7am.

6. There's a sweet little night light in your house you bought to help you see things while feeding and changing your newborn baby/ies. This light has been on for 18 months.

5. You know what Phenergan is.

4. The pharmacist knows you by name because you have purchased colic relief, phenergen, nasal spray, panadol, nurofen, vapouriser, baby vicks, real vicks, cough syrup, losec, antibiotics, teething gel, hypoallergenic formula, various thermometers........and most importantly - a LOT of birth control!!!!

3. You have a pillow and blanket set up on the playmat so that you can lie on it while your child/ children can play around you first thing in the morning.

2. You cannot remember the last time you set an alarm or even bothered to close the curtains to keep sun out.

1. You are writing a post about sleep deprivation.

Happy Birthday Phoebe and Sophia!

On Phoebe and Sophia's birthday 11.01.11 our suburb was flooded and we had to evacuate. We didn't have power for a week and the beautiful park we planned to have their party at was covered in muddy water! Thankfully our property was not flooded and we were able to celebrate the girls' birthday a couple of weeks later at our home.

Our gorgeous girls were all grown up! They walked, talked and giggled just like all the other toddlers. I was actually getting the Huggies moments I had been dreaming of for so long. They drank a full bottle for the first time in their lives and they both slept through for 5 nights in a row (this record is yet to be broken!). Most importantly they were HAPPY! And happy babies make for a happy mummy.

8-11 Months

At around 8 months my life seemed to gain some kind of normality. I wasn't housebound and I could actually get a few things done (e.g. the washing up!) while the girls were awake. My house was starting to look more livable, I was having regular showers and on the odd occasion I had the opportunity to style my hair. I stopped walking the girls in the pram for 2 hours in the afternoon to keep them happy and went to the shopping centre or a friends place instead. This didn't help my weight loss efforts! Instead of burning off calories by walking the girls and starving in the afternoon (never had time to pack a snack for myself) I was downing iced coffees and biscuity snacks.

It was around this time I joined a gym. I left the girls in the care of complete strangers (the creche workers) for the first time. They settled pretty well at the creche and I was able to have some baby free time. The best thing about going to the gym was being able to shower and get dressed without fear of waking a child or having to listen to them protest at my unavailability!

Being able to crawl around was fantastic for the girls because they could finally get up to some mischief! They loved to do things like ....fossick through the kitchen cupboard, smash open a packet of chocolate buttons and nibble on them.

4-7 Months

My little munchins look all sweet and innocent in this photo (Phoebe is on the left). However, they were a HUGE challenge. Let's see....
* they didn't sleep through the night (still don't!)
* it took ages (and a lot of screaming!) to get them to settle to sleep
*cat napped during the day
*never drank a full bottle....in fact never drank anywhere near the recommended amount and often did not put on any weight
*were sick ALL the time (reflux, colic, cold, flu, teething pain, immunisation reactions...etc.)

The one thing the really really upset me was the inconsolable screaming. Those tiny babies were depending on me to keep them happy and I failed.....miserably....every...single...day. I was very close to depression several times. I had lots of help from family (especially my loving husband) but the fact I couldn't seem to do a good job even with all this help made me feel even worse. Even with all the help there were days when I had 2 hours of sleep and no shower.

We were given lots of (conflicting) advice but the only advice that seemed to make a big difference came from a Baby Whisperer we paid to come out to our house and work out what was going on. She told us that they were severely over stimulated and overtired. She showed us how to do a form of controlled crying. After a couple of weeks of putting her advice in place we had babies that put themselves asleep. They started to feed a little better and scream a little less too. They still were quite difficult and it wasn't until 7 months that I took them out of the house by myself - a HUGE achievement!