The birth of Ryah and Luca

As thankful as I was that I made it to 37 weeks (on the dot!) in my twin pregnancy, and that my water had broken on it's own, it was also one of the most stressful situations I have ever been in! (I can only think of one time in my life to rival this!)
After arriving at the hospital, I was happy to see that Dr. Keever was the OB on call. She supported my decision to try to go it naturally, and offered to call Dr. VanDuuren for me. Since he had the most experience delivering breech twins, he would be the one for the job. But she voiced to me that she was concerned that Ryah was still feet down, and that I was not dilating at all. She said that in her opinion, a c-section would be the safest route for the three of us, and then left me to decide. It was the hardest decision I have ever had to make in my life.
I spent 9 months preparing for a natural birth. I even considered home birth before I knew that it was a high risk twin pregnancy. Of course I knew that c-sections are common among twin moms but I was set on defying the odds. I have a most wonderful friend who happens to be a doula, Logan. She had helped to prepare me for what was to come. She was going to be there with Josh and me to get us through the most painful time in my life. I was even praying that they would not make me deliver in the OR like they typically do, and that things would go so smoothly that I would have the chance to hold and nurse my babies right away.
After an hour of deliberation, and the pressure of knowing that they needed to call in an OR team or Dr. VanDuuren, I took Dr. Keever's advice with a broken heart. The risks were just too high in our situation to justify putting the babies or myself at risk. It turns out (thank God) that I made the right decision.
Ryah's umbilical cord happened to be wrapped around and in between her legs. This would have prevented her exit from the womb. They would have been forced to cut the cord prematurely, leaving her without oxygen during the birth oft he rest of her body and head. As much as I wanted a natural birth, I know now that if I had gone that route it very well might have ended in an emergency c-section anyway, despite my efforts. That would have been twice as stressful I think.

Here is my account of the birth of my babies:In the delivery room, I met the anesthesiologist (wow I spelled that correctly on the first try) Since I hadn't prepared for an operation and had eaten and had water recently, they had to give me some very sour medicine that was supposed to help avoid throwing up. They got me started on an IV and got Josh into a set of scrubs. I was then wheeled to the OR area with Josh there by my side. Apparently though, he was not allowed into the OR until they had completed my spinal and were ready to start, so in I went, all alone.
From the moment that my water broke, I became so nervous that I started shaking violently. It was as though every muscle in my body was tensing as hard as it possibly could, causing me to just shiver uncontrollably. That was probably the most uncomfortable part, and because I was still in early labor I never felt any 'real' contractions.

Once in the OR, the anesthetist and his assistant started engaging me in conversation to help easy my shivering. They asked what type of music I wanted, and I remember saying "I get to choose music?!" and they said "Yeah! We have satellite radio!" So I promptly said "reggae!"
They asked me to sit on the edge of the table, and gave me a pillow to hug. They said to hunch my back over as far as I could and to hug the babies. This would allow a space to open between my vertebrae which is where they would inject the spinal. The Dr. saw my treble clef tattoo and as he worked we talked about music. I told him about how I was a music major in college, and he told me that he played the cello. "That is my favorite instrument!" I said. "I even had one at my wedding." I recall that the spinal did not hurt at all. Perhaps my view of pain had changed since becoming pregnant with twins, because the spinal was less painful than sleeping had become!
They had warned me that once the medicine was in place that they were going to ascend on me. And they did. Suddenly, I was on my back, readjusted and lots and lots of people were now around me quickly getting prepared to operate. I am glad they warned me because otherwise I may have thought that something went wrong. They actually strapped my arms down at the side since my upper half was still mobile, and I was still shaking and chattering violently.
They FINALLY let Josh in, and it was the most welcome distraction of my entire life.

I recall that at one part, my heart began to race, causing me to feel out of breath. I said something out loud and the anesthetist told me she had injected my IV with epi, because my blood pressure was dropping, but that it was normal. I kind of wish that she had told me ahead of time, because it almost caused me to panic and think I was dying. Perhaps she didn't tell me for that very reason though.

After lots of tugging and pulling sensations, they announced that if Josh wanted to see, he should look now. He had always thought that he wouldn't watch, but his curiosity got the best of him! It is one of the only times that I have ever seen a tear in my husband's eye! I recall very vividly that as Ryah began to scream (the most beautiful sound ever!) The Jacob Miller song "Tenement yard" came on. Then I heard Lucas little voice, slightly lower in register than his sisters.

They quickly showed me each baby before taking them over to where Josh would cut the remainder of their cords, and watch them be weighed and measured.

Ryah was bigger at the time, at 6 lbs 5 oz and Luca was 5 lbs 13 oz. (Oh how quickly that would change!)