Callie & Kimber: The Story

Kimber, Callie

Kimber, Callie

This post has been a long time coming but better late than never, right? Honestly, I think that I needed to have enough time between the present and the actual experience before I was ready to elaborate the details.

As much as I hoped that I would be able to go into labor with the girls on my own before my due date, deep down I think I always knew that it just wasn't in the cards. I had scheduled an induction date for Monday, Nov. 22, just two days before my due date, in order to give my body plenty of time to cooperate. While I had plenty of contractions and false labor, Jeff & I found ourselves heading to the hospital just before 6am on that chilly Monday morning. Twin #1 was in optimal head-first position, but Twin #2 was lying tranverse on the top of her. I was prepared for a vaginal delivery of Twin #1, manual turning of #2, and if everything went smoothly, a vaginal delivery of #2. My doctor & I were fairly confident that Twin #2 would be able to turn quite easily after #1 was out, considering the extra room she would have and the elasticity of my uterus after 5 pregnancies.

I was put on the pitocin around 7am and everything went smoothly for a few hours. I received an epidural somewhere in there, maybe around 10. Around 11 things started getting exciting and we started prepping to head to the operating room. Twin deliveries are routinely done in the operating room in the event that an emergency C-section needs to be done. Shortly afterwards, we left the familiarity of the labor room and I was wheeled out into the hallway, only to be greeted by several nurses, doctors, etc. lining the walls in their scrubs and face masks. We wheeled through a few hallways to the O.R. where I was immediately overwhelmed by the bright lights, tables of tools, two infant workstations, and even more hospital personnel ready to assist. I looked over at Jeff, who was by my side the entire time, and made the comment that this was a lot different than anything we had ever experienced. It made it seem so scary.

After only a few minutes, Twin #1 was born without any trouble at all. Honestly, I don't even know if I even got through one full push before she was out. I watched as they swept her over to the corner to be tested, weighed, cleaned, etc. Without hardly a moment's hesitation, my doctor started trying to manipulate Twin #2 into a head-down or foot-first position. I faintly heard someone say "7 lbs. 5 oz." I questioned Jeff, "Did they really say 7, 5? Oh, that is so tiny." Jeff went over to watch her and within just a few minutes was back by my side holding a sweet little bundle. I will never forget seeing that face peeking out from her little hat and swaddle - she was precious and I was instantly in love!

I wish the joy at meeting my new baby wasn't marred by what was happening at the time, but it was. While I was meeting one sweet baby, the other one was thrashing around inside of me. At least that is what it felt like. I lied there on that operating table for what seemed like an eternity while the doctor jerked and pulled and did everything he could to turn the baby. I felt like I was birthing a baby deer or something - it was quite intense. I could tell the doctor was using all his muscles and energy, but it just wasn't happening. It was so painful and scary all at the same time. Every minute or so, he would ask someone to check the baby's heartbeat and they would have to search all over my tummy to find it. I just kept praying over and over, "Please help my baby to be OK. Please help her to be born safely." And towards the end, "Please help them get my baby out of me!"

After about 8-10 minutes of this, the doc told me that it wasn't working and that we needed to do a C-section. The anesthesiologist on hand administered more drugs to numb me and within just a few minutes, I felt the tugging and pulling of Baby #2 being born. They whisked her away, I heard "8 lbs. even" and before I knew it, Jeff was by my side proudly holding TWO bundles. I wish I had a picture to capture that moment of seeing him holding our two little babies together, I hope that I never forget the love I felt for all three of them. I could tell that Baby #2 was rounder in the face than #1 but couldn't tell much of anything else.

They made Jeff and the babies leave to the nursery while I got stitched up and went to a post-op room. I kept asking them when I could see my husband and my babies, I am pretty sure I was getting annoying. They let Jeff come into the post-op room after a while to visit and we realized that in the hub-bub of things, we hadn't taken a camera into the operating room. He left to take some pictures of the girls in the nursery and I dozed until I could go into a regular recovery room.

We went to the recovery room and after another hour or so, they brought Baby #1 to us, saying that Baby #2 needed to warm up a little bit more before they could bring her in. We enjoyed some one-on-one time with the oldest of our youngest. Jeff asked me what I thought about naming her Callie and the other baby in the nursery Kimber. While we had been contemplating Kimber since the summertime, Callie had only been an option since the night before when Jeff saw it in a baby name book and thought it was cute. I looked at the baby in my arms and thought Callie was a perfect name for her and told Jeff that if the other baby looked like a Kimber then Callie & Kimber they would be. One hour later, Baby #2 was reunited with her sister and after one look, I knew that she was my Kimber. So it was that after 8 months of agonizing over what we would name them, Twin #1 became Callie Michelle and Twin #2 Kimber Kae.

Thus began our journey as parents of twins and most importantly, of six beautiful children. We love each of our children dearly and feel it a great privilege to have them in our home. We are so grateful that Callie & Kimber were born without major incident and that within 5 days, we were all able to go home together.

**more to come on the first few weeks after birth**