We've come a long way since Shawn and I viewed the results of our EPT test early morning on New Year's Day 2003! Yea! We're pregnant! What a blessing! What more could we ask for? And then, the 10 week sonogram…the Lord had plans for us. Two babies?? All we could do was laugh at first, until the technician asked me to be still so she could make sure there were only two! Yikes! We've watched these two gals grow over the months with each sonogram. Baby A, who is now Reagan, was the show off during most of the sonograms. She would put her hands by her face and suck her thumb, open her eyes and always show her face. But Baby B, Olivia, was always a bit shy. We couldn't wait to see what these girls were actually going to look like! And now we know…and they are beautiful….

Of course, their coming into the world wasn't easy for any of us. Tuesday evening on August 11 after a nice day working in the yard and running errands, my water broke. It was a shock and a relief at the same time. During the controlled rush of getting my things together and calling Dr. Maurus, Shawn and I suddenly stopped and looked at each other, knowing what each of us were thinking…this is it, we're going to see these girls soon! Unfortunately, 'soon' was about 27 hours later!

We took the 35 minute drive to the hospital, contractions hadn't really started yet…well, any painful ones anyway. Our friend Ann Driscoll, who works in labor and delivery, met us at the hospital and got us all set up. She had us in the cushy room, #7, and put the babies on monitors, IV's in my arm and tucked me in with warm blankets. Nothing much happened throughout the wee hours of the morning, not even a nap. Too much excitement! No turning back now! Later Wednesday morning, Ann still at our side, I was still waiting for some major contractions to start. Dr. Maurus suggested Petocin to get something happening in my uterus that clearly hadn't gotten the message my water broke! Well, things started moving along slowly but surely. Kinda like this story.

We're heading into late afternoon on August 13th now…Ann took a short nap so she could work another shift and Shawn finally was able to take a short nap on the cot they brought in for him. My Mom was there and my sister Monica came over too, as well as Shawn Driscoll, Ann's husband (they introduced Shawn and I by the way). Soon, my delivery room was a 'joke room' as Monica called it, with everyone encouraging me with laughter and fun. The fun was soon to begin. We were having a hard time keeping the girls heart monitors separate so Ann had to do an internal monitor on Reagan. This procedure seemed to deplete my bragged about "high tolerance for pain" to zero, so Ann paged Dr. Ole, my extra special anestesiologist, who performed an epidural. Ahhh, how do you spell relief? Dr. Ole.

Finally, around 10 p.m. Dr. Maurus gave the okay to wheel me into the operating room. We had to deliver there in case of an emergency c-section. After a quick sonogram, showing both of the girls' heads down and ready to deliver naturally, we headed down the hall. We had a room full, with Shawn and my Mom present along with thirteen hospital staff. Dr. Maurus, Dr. Ole, Dr. Jenny Jones (resident Dr. and a complete joy), and the neo-natal Dr. Izquierdo (Izzy) along with Ann, Sally Graham (who is married to Dennis, an old friend of Shawn's), four neo-natal nurses, two for each baby and a few scattered others. We had quite an audience! Luckily, I still had my great sense of humor, stemming from the joke room back in #7 - not to mention Dr. Oles' special potion - and we kept it a jovial atmosphere in between each contraction. Monica was suited up also, but had to stay behind the glass.

Finally, the pushing could begin. Sally explained the process to me and told me to start whenever I felt the urge. Luckily, the epidural blocked most of the pain, but I had some "spot" pains on my left side and could still feel fully when a contraction was starting. Initially, I was afraid to take the deep breath and push, but I knew I had to get these babies out because then I could eat! I was so hungry…and thirsty! I finally begged Dr. Maurus enough that he let Sally feed me some ice chips periodically. So the pushing has begun! Ann started out counting…one to ten, and I pushed through the count. Then Shawn took over the counting and I pushed through the count. Mom was behind me, giving me encouragement and a gentle touch on my face and neck in affirmation that she was there. And I pushed. Monica, behind the glass, gave me a soft wave of support. And I pushed. I told one of the neo-natal nurses waiting patiently for the first baby that "I was going to give her something to do in just a minute". And I pushed and pushed and pushed. After more than an hour and a half Dr. Maurus suggested using a suction device on Reagan, to help her turn a bit. Once they did that, it was only a few more pushes and she was out. You'll see a few pictures when the "hickie" is still noticeable on her head. It was Wednesday, August 13 at 11:58 when Reagan Elizabeth was born. Dr. Maurus asked if we wanted to wait a few more minutes before pushing Reagan out so the girls would have the same birthday…but the urge was too great and Baby A was born…screaming her head off.

What a relief! Only one more baby and I can eat! I was hoping Olivia would be easier on me and be a little more eager to enter the world. But alas, she too was trouble of a different kind. Somewhere between the sonogram and pushing, she decided to turn - sideways. There would be no pushing this baby out. After presenting with her arm, Dr. Maurus took a quick look at it, pushed it back in and calmly sounded out "we're going to do a c-section". Everyone in the room had a job to do and they did it with absolute precision. Last thing I remember is Ann putting her cheek against mine, reassuring me everything was going to be fine while my tears flowed down our common cheek, and then I was out. On Thursday, August 14th at 12:08 am Olivia Marie was born.

Shawn was on his own after Monica and Mom left. I was completely out of it and he hung out in the neo-natal looking at his two new baby girls. He told me later he felt a little sick at this point. He's a Dad…there is a lot of responsibility there! They were so tiny, both right at five pounds and measuring 17-3/4" long. Good size for twins! He waited for me to wake from the surgery before he was going to lie down and try to get some much needed sleep. A few hours after the surgery, I started to get a sharp pain between my breasts. After a while I told the nurse about it and soon after that Dr. Maurus came to see us. Before we knew it, I was back in intensive care and Shawn was about to have a very long day. I, on the other hand, was recovering from anesthesia and on some pain meds and don't really remember most of the day, luckily. Shawn was going on almost 60 hours without any sleep to speak of and all three of his girls were in intensive care! A nurse came in and told me that I was going for some tests. Shawn went to the cafeteria to get something to eat but was soon interrupted by a nurse that explained to him the Doctor thought I might have a blood clot in my lung or maybe a ruptured liver and that I was asking for him. Soon, we were traveling all over the hospital. We started with an x-ray, then a lung scan, MRI, CT scan and back for another x-ray. Shawn came with me to each test, tired and no where to rest, mentally or physically. If enough wasn't going on, Dr. Izzy came to Shawn and explained that Reagan had to go for an MRI also. She had a subdural hematoma that was probably not anything to worry about but he wanted to make sure. Her tests turned out fine and so did mine. I showed some fluid around my lungs and my blood count was off. My platelets were down to 27,000 (normal is 150,000). Dr. Maurus explained to Shawn that I had a complication of toxemia called HELLP syndrome. It was odd that it showed up after I delivered the babies, but it did and praise God that Dr. Maurus was right on top of it!

I was started on a drug called magnesium sulfate to stop any convulsions and was also to get plenty of rest. No visitors allowed! Ann was still with me after taking yet another nap so she could do yet another shift. Poor Shawn and Ann, I was sleeping away while they took care of me and worried. I remember waking up and Shawn would be feeding one of the girls or changing their diaper. He was certainly proactive in his new role while I lay…still just wanting something to eat. I did get some jello that afternoon and Ann brought me an oriental wrap from Applebee's that night! What a gal!

I don't remember much about the next couple of days, although I guess I talked and laughed and held the girls because there are pictures to prove it. They took blood every few hours on Thursday to watch my platelet count and liver functions and by Friday afternoon both were returning to normal. Olivia was out of the NICU by this time and Reagan would remain there until Sunday. I was released from intensive care (and Ann's extra special care) on Saturday and we were all able to leave the hospital on Monday afternoon. Shawn and I joked that this was our vacation for the year, six days at Trinity West, with two wonderful souvenirs!