Ok I've been planning this post since the last one. I've so wanted to post here but I didn't want to waste my 100th post on more whining about the pregnancy. Well guess what? I will whine no more (at least about the pregnancy) since my girls are here now.
Anastasia Elizabeth and Lillian Grace arrived at 4:32 and 4:52pm respectively on May 12th 2008. It's been a very long first week since the Birth experience took way longer than I ever thought it would. I had gone to see my OB on the 6th of May (Tuesday) and while there I kept telling him that I so wanted to evict these little girls of mine since it was starting to feel like I would be pregnant for the rest of my life. He agreed with me and we talked about an inducement date and came up with three options: 1. Thursday the 8th, 2. Tuesday the 13th or 3. wait till my body went into labor on it's own accord. I literally laughed at him which made him decide that Thursday it would be. He called the hospital and got me booked for Thursday at 7am. I then called Lee to tell him the good news. He wound up coming home early that day since he was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement that our babies would be here so soon and his supervisor gave him the rest of the week off to be home with me. Wednesday I had a NST scheduled and it went ok. I really can't remember too much about it at the moment. Thursday the 8th Lee and I got up nice and early and got ourselves to the hospital a little late but they knew that we were coming. I got hooked up to an IV and then was forced to wait on the actual Induction since there was someone getting a C-section done in the OR suite and they weren't sure how quickly I was going to go and didn't want to risk having to make me wait for the other procedure to be done before getting me in. So the actual induction didn't start till almost 11am. Lee and I slept and played games for most of the day as we watched my contractions ebb and flow and basically do nothing. At one point the contractions were being so hard on me that I was literally crying and I could get no relief from the pain. The Pitocin was then turned off and I was allowed off the monitors for a while and even given a shower and some food to eat. Dr M came by during all of this and I had another good cry basically in his arms. Friday morning they tried to induce me again with the Pitocin but differently in that they started the dose off very low and gradually increased it during the day from 2 to 24 with no resulting labor. Dr M came by once again and it got decided (since my dilation was nil) that I should go home for the weekend and rest and we'd try again on Monday morning. Dr M also told us that I should get one truly last NST in on Sunday afternoon. So I spent the weekend trying to further tie up any loose ends that I had on Saturday. Sunday afternoon I went in for my NST and passed it quite easily but the OB on duty felt that I needed a fluid check via u/s. It took 3 hours to get done since the U/S people were rather busy and I had to call my mom to come and sit with me. The u/s seemed to go well but even my mom could tell that the fluid numbers weren't adding up to much and once the report was in, it was deemed that my numbers were too low to let me go anywhere and I got admitted for the night. Lee was called and my mom went and got him for me and my bags from the car with all my stuff for labor and the babies since we knew at this point I wasn't leaving till I had babies in my arms. I got a brand new IV put in to help with the fluid levels and was kept comfortable for the night or as comfortable as I could be with monitors on me. Monday morning (the 12th) the Pitocin was restarted around 10am and Dr M came to visit and check me at 11am. There was still no change in dilation and since the fluid was already low it got decided between the three of us that my water should be broken and then we'd see what happens from there. Well after doing that I swear the contractions came quickly and quite strongly. It didn't take long for me to ask for an epidural for the pain and I got one starting at 1pm. That was the best thing ever. I was still contracting but the toll on me physically wasn't as bad and I was able to rest here and there. Around 2pm I had Lee call my mom to come and visit and she showed up around 2:30pm to help us pass the time. At approximately 3:30pm the nurses decided to check me and low and behold I was primed and ready to go for delivery. Dr M arrived and checked me also and almost delivered me right there in my room before the nurses reminded him that all twins go to the OR suite for delivery just in case a C-section is needed. Lee got a cute little outfit to wear for the delivery himself and followed me into the OR suite a few minutes after they got me situated. Once the girls were delivered (both vaginally) I got to hold them for a few minutes and pictures were taken of us before we all went back to our room to recover for a couple of hours before going up to the Maternity ward where I became the star of the floor with my twin girls and my double vaginal delivery. Anna weighed in at 5lbs 9oz and 19 inches long and Lily weighed in at 5lbs 6oz and 18.75 inches long. Both girls have reddish-blonde hair and gray eyes. Also once we got upstairs to the Maternity ward, Lee kept going down to the Nursery to peek in at the girls. I finally said that I felt jealous that he could go see the girls and I couldn't because I felt so sick. Lee wound up surprising me by bringing by Anna to visit and Lily followed not too long later. It was a nice visit even though my stomach basically exploded and it wasn't a pretty moment for this new mommy. Tuesday we had a ton of visitors at the hospital and Wednesday we were allowed to go home. Since we've been home it's been quite the whirlwind of activity with my mom coming by constantly to visit and help out.
Oh I almost forgot that I need to explain my reference at the top of the post about the Band arriving. We have a really great comedian friend who as part of his act thanks the band (which are some dragon statues at the club we see him at). So when the girls arrived Lee dubbed them as The Band and even printed off a picture of our friend from the net and added a speech bubble that says "The Band" and put it in the crib with the girls.
The Girls at Two Weeks. Lily and Anna
Anna tries out the bouncy chair 
Mom and Lily bonding 
Mommy's belly is gone!
