Little did I know that just a few hours after my last blog, I’d begin experiencing contractions and have to be admitted to the hospital.

It was a regular Sunday evening for us. Walt had cleaned the entire house from top to bottom to prepare for the arrival of our twins on Friday, April 6th (my schedule 38 week induction date). We finished off the evening by watching a little tv and that’s when it all went down hill.

I began experiencing some symptoms that I had never felt before. I began feeling menstrual cramp like pains. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but we called the doctor anyways to see what was going on. Dr. Williams said that what I was feeling was probably just Braxton Hicks but to continue to monitor them And call her if they got worse. Again, I had never had Braxton Hicks the entire pregnancy so I wasn’t sure what they felt like. All I know is that I had experienced them 3 times within the last 30 minutes.

The hubby and I then downloaded contraction apps on our iPhone’s to document these “Braxton Hicks” and see if we could keep record of what was going on and how often it was going on. Over a 2 hour period the pain got increasingly more intense, and closer together. It got to the point where I could barely even walk. We then called the doctor back at 10:30pm to report what was going on, and her words were “go to the hospital.”

Because my husband has been on top of his game this entire pregnancy, the hospital bags had been in the car for over a month and the car seats were put in a couple weeks ago. We were prepared. At least as far as clothing was concerned. Lol

We arrived to the hospital around 11pm Sunday night where I was taken to the triage room for physical examination and questioning. Apparently the 300 forms we filled out and submitted in advance weren’t enough and there were more questions to be asked. When the nurse examined me, I was dilated between a 3.5 and 4. At that point all I was thinking was “Whoa, this is really happening!” When I was at the doctor just 3 days earlier, I was only dilated between a 1 and 2.

The nurse then took me back to my labor and delivery room where I got settled and tried to keep my cool with these unbearable contractions. Soon after we arrived in our L&D room (12am), my mom was able to come back to the room to be with us, followed shortly by Walt’s mom and sister.

Around 1am I had enough fluid in me to finally receive my epidural. That stuff is like liquid gold. It kicked in after about 5 minutes and I did not feel another ounce of pain from that point forward.

Shortly afterwards Dr. Williams came to greet me and examine me as well. When she checked me, I was now dilated to a 6. Again things were really starting to sink in. I was going to meet my children in just a few short hours. Dr. Williams then told me that everything looked good, and that she could break my water now and have the process go more quickly but we decided to just go with the flow and let it happen on its own.

2 hours later the doc came back to the room and I was now 9.5 cm dilated. It was time to start getting ready to push in just a few.

We started pushing for a while in the labor and delivery room, but I was actually going to deliver them in the OR (operation room). Even though both twins were vertical, Dr. Williams wanted to be in there just in case of emergency. Better to be safe than sorry.

Myself, the Doc, my nurses, husband and my mom moved to the OR around 4 something AM and began to prepare for the babies. At this point my epidural was so good that I had to be told when to push because I couldn’t feel the contractions. After about 45 minutes of pushing (5:17am) Tenley Noelle Hicks was born. 37 minutes later (5:54am) her brother Tatum Gray Hicks was born. Tenley weighed 4lbs 10oz and was 18.5 inches long. Tatum was 6lbs even and was 19.25 inches long. 2 healthy babies with all 10 fingers and toes. This was absolutely the happiest moment of my life.

I can’t lie, I was pretty proud of myself. I gave birth to two of the prettiest human beings I have ever seen. I can’t even describe how good it feels to be a mommy.

Since I had a great delivery and the twins were healthy, I only stayed in the hospital for 48 hours. I can’t thank God enough for keeping me safe and healthy during my pregnancy and during delivery and for letting me reach full term with them (37 weeks). He is truly awesome.

Well, that’s the birth story of the twins. I’ll be updating as much as I can while on maternity leave, but it’s been pretty busy around the house taking care of these two and getting accustomed to parenthood.

Hope you all have a Happy Easter as I know we certainly will! 😉

Xoxo

BTW baby girl Tenley is pictured to the left and baby boy Tatum is pictured to the right! 😉