birth ...

A very small part of me feels like such a slacker for not blogging sooner

Oaklee Jane and Carea McKinley arrived June 9, 2011 

Oaklee was born at 8:09 am weighed 5 lbs 4 oz and was 18 inches long

Carea was born at 8:11 am weighed 5 lbs 14 oz and was also 18 inches long

My experience with the C-Section was amazing!  I was sooo very terrified to have one and I wish my stubborn self would have just listened to what everyone told me... THAT it was GOING TO BE FINE!  I was having such anxiety that I called Labor and Delivery at the Riverton Hospital the night before asking if they could drug me before actually having the procedure.  The nurse literally laughed at me... I thought it was rude at the moment, but after the surgery I now know why she laughed.  

How it all went down...

A few weeks before I actually had the babes my blood pressure started to rise.  My fabulous Dr (Dr. England) of course was concerned because I was also swelling more which I had no idea was possible :), getting headaches... blah blah blah ... these are signs of preeclampsia.  So I had to go to the Dr 2-3 times a week to have NST's (Non-Stress Test) done and ultrasounds to make sure the girls were doing ok.  My Dr. gave the order for me to stay home and my last day of work was May 31st.  On June 7th I went into IMC in Murray to have the babies measured again.  Neither of the girls had gained a full pound since the month before when they were last measured.  The Dr. there decided that it would be best to have the babies asap because they would pretty much be better off here in the real world than in my womb.  The call was made to Dr. England and they scheduled my C-Section for Thursday at 5 pm.  (crazy I know).  Well that night and the next day I was freaking out... I was sick with the worlds worst cold... could barely breath, and had no voice.
Wednesday I made the call to labor and delivery for drugs... was laughed at... tried to be brave and not cry every second.  
Well at about 4 pm Wednesday L&D called to see if I would be interested in going in Thursday morning for a 7:30 procedure.  I said "HELL YES" as loud as I could with my manly-ish voice on the phone... but once I hung up the stress, nerves, anxiousness were all maxed out.  LITERALLY!  I am surprised I didn't kill over or at least put myself in labor.

Everyone kept asking me why I was so nervous to have a C-Section and honestly the unknown freaks me out.  I have a very hard time doing things that I have never done before, I was stressed that something was going to go wrong and I was so worried about the health of my 2 baby girls, I was nervous about how Larkyn would react... was she going to feel left out or neglected...Would I be able to be a mom of a 2 year old and 2 newborns...  A million thoughts and worries.   

Did I sleep Wednesday night... YEAH RIGHT!  I watched "Baby Mama", painted my toes and filed my finger nails, took a nice warm bath, cried some more, curled my hair and did my makeup.  Finally 5 am rolled around and it was time to leave.  While we were driving to the hospital Logan looked at me and said "I can't believe we are leaving as a family of 3 and in a few days we will be a family of 5"  Yeah I started to cry again.  

Once we were settled in our room at the hospital I relaxed a little, but not much.  The poor nurse that was trying to hook up my IV hit the bone in my hand and missed my vein 3 times... I almost killed her!  She was soo sweet too.  It just hurt like HELL!  I was prepped and Logan got dressed.  Then it hit me again.  I had a melt down.  My nurse Kristina (different than the miss my vein nurse) was so sweet and encouraging.  She walked me through everything one more time, walked me into the OR Room, once I was on the table she looked at me and promised I was going to be OK.  (I am sure they all thought I was a basket case).  

The SPINAL... 

I just want to say that the anesthesiologist (?) rocked it up!  He was hilarious.  AND he drugged me good.  Ha!  Once I started to get numb and it was creeping up my abdomen then to my chest... I FELT GOOD!  I was so relaxed that stress wasn't even apart of me!  It was the weirdest feeling ever.  I told Logan that they were the best drugs!  I may have been a little sleep deprived so I tend to get a little loopy as it is.  But thank heaven for modern medicine and the awesome spinal I got!  Holla!  

The OR Staff, DR, Logan, and Anesthesiologist...

We had about 15 staff in with us.  Double since there were 2 babies.  Each baby had their own set of Dr's and Nurses to take care of them.  Again all of these ladies and men were AMAZING!  They were having a good time joking around with Logan (of course) and telling him which pictures to take during the procedure and once the babies started to come out. (I think Logan will crack jokes at my funeral one day... that's just who he is and I love him for it!)  One of the nurses was from South Africa... of course Logan had her teach him bad phrases so he could harass one of his friends who is also from South Africa.  HAHA!  She was a riot!  The little pager / phone things they had clipped to them were so neat.  Logan had a good time with those as well.  These little devices (not sure what they are called) they would make funny noices when they would page "beam me up scotty" and other funky things.  Apparently the IT staff at the hospital have a good time at work :).    Dr. England made this experience very fun for me.  He is pretty goofy.  He popped his head over the curtain a few times to check on me and would make funny comments.  I asked him to give me a tummy tuck while he had me open and they pulled out this tiny piece of fat and said "here's your tummy tuck!"  LOL.  The anesthesiologist was pretty territorial, but that didn't stop Logan from giving him a hard time and asking him a million questions.  He warmed up to Logan and they became the best of friends (ok not really haha).  


Birth...
Yes before and during all of that (above: memories I need) the girls were finally born.  Oaklee came first... butt first too!   Logan looked at me and said "she has lots of brown hair."  I honestly thought he was kidding.  I heard her cry.  Tears streamed down my face ... she was here.  They put her on the warming bed and she just layed there, content.  Carea came next and she came head first :).  They were both finally here!  I had sooo many tears coming down my face!  My sweet baby Carea had a lot of fluid in her lungs and was having breathing issues.  They hooked her up to oxygen and monitors but she had to go to the nursery for about an hour to be watched over.  Finally they returned me to my labor and delivery room and about 30 minutes later I had both girls in my arms.  


Its such an overwhelming feeling to have more than one baby.  I never thought I could love another child as much as I love Larkyn and sure enough I thought wrong.  To hold 2 babies and have them stare back at you is amazing.  I feel so lucky to have been able to carry 2 healthy babies.  I am grateful for this adventure that has been handed to me.  


ps... I want to give a shout out to the Riverton Hospital!  They were hands down some of the most caring and awesome medical staff that I have ever been around!  EVERY single one of them were genuine and touched our family's life.