Hank and Wyatt's birth story

I can honestly tell you that I am horrible at updating this blog. You already knew that since you probably stopped checking it months ago. Well I have a few moments in the craziness of my life to fill you in on the twins and yes, I have pictures too. It has been just over 10 weeks ago that Hank and Wyatt FINALLY made their entrance into our family. We were anxiously waiting, and waiting, and waiting just like we usually do when I am pregnant. When we found out we were having twins at 35 weeks gestation I promptly called three of my friends and my cousins who have twins and tried to absorbs as much info as I could from them about what I should expect, how to breastfeed them, what extra items I needed to buy, and borrowed a few books which I read in one weeks time. I fully expected it would be any day from my ultra sound. Why I even thought they would come before their due date, I don't know, but I am very glad they waited despite the stretch marks they gave me. We were very glad they were full term, healthy, and BIG for twins. I was so worried I would have to have them in the hospital! Funny how people think I am crazy for not wanting to have them at a hospital cause most people would be scared to do it at home. Thankfully they were both head down and my midwife has had LOTS of experience delivering twins, even breached twins so I was not worried to continue with our plans to have them at home. It all started on the morning of my due date. I had decided I needed a morning to myself so I called my friend Teresa and dropped Jake and Wade off around 9am. On my way out the door Joe asked me when I was going to pick them up. I responded in a not so loving way(a sign that I was already going into labor). My plan was to use my breast pump to stimulate some contractions. I was determined to get these babies out on their due date! The day before I went to the chiropractor to get adjusted, with hopes that it would start labor. My doctor was amazed that I wanted him to be rough with me and not so sure he believed it would help. I began pumping for 20 min on, 40 min off for four hours. Every time I pumped I would have a contraction every 5 min so it was actually working! Around noon I called my friend and told her I would not be picking up the boys because I was pretty sure I would be in full blown labor by the late afternoon. Good thing I gave her the boys over night bag in hopes I wouldn't have to pick them up. Joe came home from work so we could prepare the birthing tub and get the birth kit ready for action! I continued to have small contractions so long as I was moving around doing something. I cleaned the bathroom and my midwife showed up at 4pm. She sent us outside to walk around to help my contractions continue since they slowed down if I was resting. We walked to our neighbors house, Josh and Denise Wisley, to drop off our dog and I had several hard contractions in just those few hundred feet of walking. An hour later the other midwives started to show up. I was told that because of having twins my midwife would have a few assistants with her to help out. I had no idea that there would be 6 midwives in my house at once! They were all so wonderful! I was able to labor in my room alone with Joe most of the time and they were so quiet in my living room I would not have known they were present. Hard labor started when my mom and sister arrived around 6pm. I was so glad they were able to witness the birth since I knew this would be my last pregnancy. At least we hope it will be our last! I keep telling Joe it's time for him to schedule a little surgery that will keep this body of mine from bearing any more children. My contractions picked up and became more intense an hour later and continued to stay the same for the next couple of hours. I was able to move around a lot. It was nice to have the birthing tub to climb into when I felt I needed a little break from collapsing on the floor to get through each contraction. My midwife would come in every hour to make sure I would go pee and then listen to the heart beat and left us to ourselves again. Around 10pm I became discouraged because I was still going and didn't feel close to pushing. I had two options. Go for a bumpy car ride or have my midwife check me to see how far dilated I was. Of course I opted for the second option and good thing cause I was fully dilated and we were just waiting for my water to break. I begged for her to break it so we could get this show on the road and have babies before midnight. You see. I was also really wanting all my babies to have birthdays that were in odd years, in odd months and on an odd day and so far I had the first two covered just needed to get them out before the 10th day of January rolled in. Within 10 min of my water being broken I was pushing Hank Levi out at 7lb 2 oz and with lots of hair all over his body! It felt great. Not the part of him coming out, but him being out of my body! I actually said a few bad words as I pushed him out. Thankfully my mom didn't hear those! I confessed anyway and she gave me that look that all mommy's give when you say words that are banned from your vocabulary. Love you mom! Well, after feeling like I was done I realized great; I have to do this all over again! We waited for over 20 min and nothing was happening! More frustration! I got out of the tub and tried squatting. 28 min after Hank came Wyatt James at 6lb! He was almost completely bald. Finally! What an amazing feeling it is to know it is all over. Or so i thought. You would think that delivering the placenta would be the easy part. It wasn't after Jake was born and it was happening all over again! My placenta would not come out. I pushed and pushed and just knew what was going to have to happen next. It was going to be my midwife who would go in and scrape it out. Let's just say that hurt more than two babies being pushed out of my body. After that I have lost twice the amount of blood and feeling very faint. Joe carried me to my tub and I literally lay there trying not to pass out. They put smelling salt under my nose and carried me to bed so I could get warm and they hand fed me toast with peanut butter and made me drink tons of orange juice to help me get my energy back. I guess I was pretty pale in the face. Soon I had my color back and was nursing two babies at once! I don't think I slept more than an hour that night. My after pains were pretty intense every time I nursed and I was also given 5 cc's of an antibiotic just to keep me from infection since it took a while for the placenta to come out. The pain of that shot was the worst! I can still feel the knock in my hip from it! Everyone was probably out of the house around 1am. Of course I was ready to pass out from exhaustion but I think I only slept a whole hour that first night from the pain of the shot and from my uterus contracting. It was a long night and I was so relieved when 7am rolled around. I hate laying in bed when I can't sleep and I knew I would soon be able to take a good long nap when my mom woke up. I am so thankful for my wonderful mother who stayed with me for over a week! My youngest sister Kim also stayed for about 5 days to help out as well! They were both so wonderful keeping Jake and Wade occupied and allowing me rest, cooking meals and organizing any and everything they could find to do to help me out! When my mom left to go home she took Jake and Wade with her so I could adjust to the babies and get them on a schedule. I cried when my mom hugged me goodbye, not knowing how I would manage two babies and how I would do without Jake and Wade around. I missed them terribly! The house was SO quiet and it stayed so CLEAN too! I had to close their bedroom door because every time I walked by and saw their stuff I would cry. It was 11 days before my mom brought them home. Joe and I were both so happy to have them back. My mom stayed with us for another week! She is just the best! So glad she has the time to come help! Over the course of the first 6 weeks we had a lot of other helpers. My sister-in-law Janice came with her mother and two kids Kate and Luke for about 3 days. The kids were great with the babies and helped keep Jake and Wade busy. Joe's mom came for a few days and it was nice to ask her a bunch of questions about how she raised Joe and Josh 33 years ago. Oh the resources these days compared to 30 years ago! I am so glad I have a mother-in-law who went through it and she didn't have near the help I have had! You are one great woman Judi! Don't know how you did it?! Our next pair of helping hands was Joe's Step Mom Shari. His dad Jerry also came too. I could tell that every time Jerry would hold the twins it would take him right back to what life was like when his twins were little. One more person who has been a huge help ever since Jake was born. Teresa Graber and her husband Allen and daughter Abbie! They are known to Jake and Wade as Mamaw T and Papaw Allen. Teresa has come over several times a week to help out and we often drop our children off at their house so we can run errands or go out for dinner. Thanks for all the breaks you have given us over the years! Thanks to all who came to stay with us! I hope I am not leaving anyone out! It has been a crazy journey but I have gotten used to the chaos. I consider it a blessing to have four boys and know each day will have it's challenges but so long as I take one day at a time I can get through it. I still have a large list of people that want to help us out. Here are a few pictures of our new family!