A Twinkie Story

Today, my twinkies turn 3. Hard to believe it. I will warn you now, this post has A LOT of pictures and words. So if that's not your bag, quit looking. This is their little story.

The Dude had just gotten back from his second tour in Iraq. We knew we wanted to work on a little family right away, and we did....right away! According to the dates, we conceived the girls about 4 days after he got home. Yeah, I need one of those, "My husband went to war and all I got were these babies" t-shirts.

I couldn't believe that I could possibly be preggers, so my friend Krista demanded I take a test, as she was leaving soon and needed to know before she was gone.

The Dude was out golfing and refused to come home, despite my pleas. He later explained that he knew I was testing and didn't want to be broken hearted if the news was negative (we tried a lot between deployments).

Since I couldn't tell him, I called my bestie and told her. She was also pregnant at the time. We couldn't have planned it better.
The Dude finally made it home. I took him to the kitchen and asked if we could make the 1 1/2 hr. drive to my Mom's.
"Why?" he asked.
"So we can tell her in person."



I think he was happy, lol.
We took the token "before" picture. Damnit if I don't wish I still had THAT body.

Here we are outside my sister's house, about to tell her the news. Aw, we're so young looking...and well rested.

We were transitioning out of the Marine Corps at the time. We moved back to his home town. My new doc wanted to do an ultrasound to ensure everything was alright and to get a baseline since I was a new patient.
This is what we saw:

Myself, The Dude, and the doc all noticed at the same time. The Dude repeated "You're kidding me!" while grinning like a little school girl, I burst into tears and the doc said, "Hold on, let's look for more."

Uh, what?! No stop!!! There were just the two, lol.

Here I am at almost 4 months. Man, my belly is bigger than that NOW. I kidd, I kidd.

This is late August of 05. The day before hurricane Katrina hit actually. We painted the twin's room that day.

Five months:

It just gets ugly from there on, so we'll skip to baby pics.

I made it to 35 wks 3 days. I was scheduled for an induction at 36 wks, so I did pretty well considering.

I did the whole bedrest thing for what seems like forever. Two bouts of premature labor, stopped with meds, thankfully.
It was Saturday morning and I had had all I could take of bedrest. I already had a round of steroids, so I knew the girl's lungs were more than likely mature. I begged hubby to let me go out for an hour. He took me to the town's fall festival. I ate a chili dog and went home.

The Dude went back to the festival to watch the LSU vs. Alabama game. An hour later, it was time to go.

The doctor, The Dude, and father in law stood in front of the tv in my room watching the game. Yeah, more than a little pissed.

The Dude and the father in law then took to watching the contraction monitor and keeping score on how big they were. "Oh, that one wasn't too big." Come HERE and say that!!!

The doc sent everyone home (except me of course) saying the twins probably wouldn't make their appearance till the next day at the earliest.

WRONG.

No less than a half hour after everyone left, one or both of my waters broke.

Oh crap, this really hurts now!!

No, like REALLY hurts. In addition to the labor pains, ya gotta understand, one baby is pushing on the other baby, pushing into...well, I'll stop there.

Drugs! Drugs!! I need drugs!!! It seemed like it went zero to sixty in a minute, but I actually labored for 7 1/2 hrs before the drugs.

When the anesthesiologist walks in and a nurse whispers, "Who is that?" run. Run very fast.

Run even faster when said mystery doc looks at instrument tray and says,

"Hmm, I've never used this type of set. I'll make it work."

I get into the position, leaning on The Dude's shoulder. Mother in law (a former L & D nurse) is next to the anesthesiologist.

"Why does it feel like there is something hot dripping down my back?"

"Pull it out!!" yells the mother in law.

Silence.

Random nurse says, "Man, I haven't seen that in a long time."

"Um, let's try to sit her up."

Oh god! Oh god! The pain!! My eyes roll back into my head and they quickly turn my bed head down.

Crap! Now I've got blinding pain AND I can't breathe.

I start freaking out.

The shit has officially hit the fan.

Nurses are running and yelling into phones.

I hear, "Emergency section. Call everyone in."

The doc isn't there. They decide they'll start without him.

Twin A is having decels. I can't breathe. The pain in my head is so bad I can't see.

They whisk me out of the room, leaving The Dude scared and confused.

On the way out the door, The Dude's mom (who has now kinda taken over the situation) tells him to get bring the anesthesiologist, who was apparently oblivious to the fact that they'd need him int he O.R.

I'm told the doctor ran in without scrubbing and was about to cut when they told him Twin A's heart rate was ok now and he could scrub.

I don't remember the girl's birth. If I was conscious, my brain has blocked it out.

I woke up later in this heater kinda thing in a dark room, alone.
They brought me Twin B 3 hrs later, but only for a few minutes.

I didn't see Twin A until about 12 hrs later, and I couldn't hold her, just look

But, they got better. I got better. I had had a "wet tap." Essentially, the anesthesiologist pushed the needle a little too far in and punctured the dura, leaking out a significant amount of my spinal fluid. Your brain floats in the stuff. Let your imagination run with that one. It happens about

1 % of the time. Yay for me.

Mine was so severe, they did a blood patch, which is injecting my own blood into the spinal space to block the hole and aide in recovery. I had the headache for a few days. But oh, it was worth it.

So teeny!! 4lbs 1oz and 4lbs 6ozs at birth. Look at me, so puffy, ick.

Five day stay for all of us. The girls went home on apnea/bradycardia monitors, weighing in at a whopping 3lbs 14oz and 4lbs 1oz!

2nd week home.

Contrary to my thoughts (are they ever gonna grow?!) they grew.

And grew.

They made our lives wonderful.

They made us laugh, A LOT.

At 22 months old, they became some awesome big sisters!

"Mamma, are you bringing that home?!"

First cotton candy.

Happy Birthday my girls!!