THE TWINS ARE HERE!

Here is the very long version of how the twins arrived.  Sorry if you want to find out you have to read the whole thing ;)

When I found out I was having twins I probably did too much research and freaked myself out about the pregnancy and delivery.  I was afraid I would be put on bed rest.  I was afraid the babies would be born really early.  I was afraid the babies would be in the NICU.  I was afraid the delivery would be over complicated by the doctors. Lastly, I was afraid I’d have to have surgery.   Well lucky for me I had lots of people praying for me and my twins.   We had finally made it to 37 weeks, which is considered full-term for twins.   Most of my goals had been met (no bed rest etc.).  Now if only they would get here and have a trauma-free delivery.   Then 38 weeks rolls around and still no babies.  In my family, we joke that my mom was the catalyst for my niece and nephews’ births.  They didn’t arrive until Grandma Pattie arrived.  So finally Grandma Pattie arrived at our place around 6 pm Wednesday night.  That night I went to bed resolved the babies wouldn’t come for a few more days.  Yes I was incredibly pregnant and uncomfortable, but mostly I was just mentally ready to start the next chapter.  So Evan and I finally went to bed at midnight.

Thursday September 4, 2014

1:30 AM:  I woke up to use the bathroom (shocker).  And as I hoisted myself out of the bed I felt like I had peed a little, but then realized it was my “water” leaking.  There were no contractions, so I tried to go back to bed.

2:30 AM:  I was having mild contractions about 6 minutes apart and I was too excited that my babies were finally coming so I got out of bed.  I made myself three pieces of peanut butter toast, a banana, and two glasses of milk.  (I always thought one of the hardest parts about labor/delivery is being so hungry and tired…so I ate, while I played Tetris)

4:00 AM:  Evan woke up to use the facilities.  Poor thing was experiencing food poisoning.  He asked if I needed anything and went to do his business.  Then I had to go potty again and kicked him out of the bathroom. 

4:30 AM? He took a shower…then I took a shower, cuz I wanted to shave my legs and wash my nasty hair.  But it was a short shower [editor’s note: short shower for amber is still longer than the average human shower] because my contractions were getting very strong.  These contractions were stronger than any contraction I had with Autumn.  I kept sticking my hand out the shower curtain so I could squeeze Evan’s hand.  I thought If this labor is going to last as long as it did with Autumn’s, AND with these strong of contractions… I’m not going to make it.  But I told myself I could make it until 6 AM.  I tried to take a bath to relax, because I thought these contractions were going to be like this for forever and I should try to relax.  It didn't work.

5:30 AM:  I moved out onto the couch and had Evan bring a fan, because I was hot.  I thought “I just need a 20 minute nap and then we can go to the hospital and have these babies” (For Autumn’s delivery, I had time to take a 20 minute nap after I was at a ten). Evan called my doctor and told him we’d be at the hospital in 30-60 minutes once Amber has collected herself and we got our things ready.  I said, “No, 30”.  I had one contraction on the couch and was super uncomfortable so I got up to walk around.  I rested my head on the desk in our living room and during another contraction I let out a scream, like the kind a terrible actress makes on TV when they are having a pretend baby.  The noise woke my mother up.  Meanwhile Evan was gathering my “hospital bag” and camera bag.  I had my mom hold my hand through one contraction while I yelled to Evan, “HE’S COMING, HE’S COMING!”  Then I pulled down my underwear, pushed once and Maverick David Norby was born.  First thing Dr. Evan did was look at the clock to declare he was born at 5:42 AM.  My first thoughts were:  ”boy do I feel better” and “is he OK?”.  [And yes he was OK.  He had good color, good tone, was crying right away, and had his eyes wide open looking around].  Then my mom says, “ok, what do you want me to do?”.  I said, “Go get Autumn”.   She said, “you want me to wake her up?”  I said, “No, she’s standing right over there” [There being the end of our small hallway staring at Evan holding Maverick.  So my mom took Autumn next door to Evan’ parent’s place. Then my mom asked again what she wanted me to do, I said, “I don’t know.  What did you do for Heather?” (Heather is my sister who also accidently had her second baby at home too).  So my mom got me a bath robe and a beach towel to wrap around my legs while Evan had already started putting our things in the car. At this time, I am holding Maverick while trying not to pull on the umbilical cord.

Then Evan and I headed to the car.  I had two more contractions that were much, much milder than before and one more in the car.  Evan called the doctor again to tell him that the first baby was just born in our living room and that we were heading to the hospital now. Evan parked in “15 minute” parking outside the Emergency room, got a wheel chair, and then came and got me and Maverick (who by the way was still connected to me).  We got into the lobby of the Emergency Department and Evan swiped his hospital badge to get through the doors.  I said to him, “don’t we need to like check in?”  Evan responded, “No, I’m just going to take you up to labor and delivery”.  The looks on the faces of whoever was working the check-in desk were priceless.  They seemed to say, “who is that guy? and Who does he think he is? and Was that lady holding a baby?”  I told Evan to calm down as he was wheeling me in, because he was stressing me out.  I said to him, “we’re fine.  We’re fine.”  Evan said, “I know” (despite the fact that he had just hit the door while wheeling me through the first set of sliding doors).  But right after saying that I told Evan to stop.  He didn’t stop until I screamed “EVAN EVAN EVAN”.  This I did rather loudly, because not only did he stop, but the two people who were at the front desk came running to my wheel chair.  I gave one little push and a huge gush of water came out. followed by Violet Patricia, Evan caught her and handed her to me.  I asked “what time is it?”  Evan said “six ish”.  The lady from the front desk tried to grab the baby to clean her off etc. and Evan snapped at her and told her to leave her and me alone.  The front desk guy asked me, “how are you feeling?”  I said, “much better now…it’s over!”  Then Evan started pushing the wheel chair again.  They tried to say that they wanted an ED doctor to see me, but Evan kept pushing the wheel chair and said he was taking me to Labor and Delivery.   They did call some Labor and Delivery nurses who met us on the elevator.  Which Evan found after making a wrong turn and the front desk people had to correct him on.  He seemed so assertive it was funny when he started to turn the wrong way.

When we made it up to the labor and delivery floor the nurses (like all 7 of them)  started fussing over the three of us and trying to take my babies from me.  I said, “Time out!  What are you doing?  Tell me the plan.”  So they started telling me what they wanted to do (of which was clean the babies up and put them on the warmer)  and I said, “uh, well, we’re still all attached so how about, no.”  My response made them more flustered.  They helped move all three of us to a bed and Evan went into doctor mode, clamping cords, cutting codes etc.  Then my doctor came in, Evan turned his attention to me, and our doctor finished things up...delivered the placenta etc.  One of the nurses was concerned about Maverick’s temperature being 97.4 so she took him to the warmer.  Evan walked over to the warmer saw the repeat temperature being the same and basically told the nurse to bring him back to me which she did. Thank you very much.

Then the nurses funneled out and left us alone for a while.  Overall it was a great day.  No surgery needed;  no unnecessary procedures or poking;  no being confined to the bed on the monitor having the nurses freak out about the fetus’ heart rate, heart rate variability, etc.;  no tearing;  and it was all over so fast.   I’m so thankful they made it here safe and that we’ve all stayed healthy.  My doctor said it was remarkable.  He said that he always worries about the second twin as they often don’t want to come into the birth canal (obviously not the case for miss Violet, I had said for weeks that she would be pushing him out based on the way she acted in the womb) and /or contractions can die down.   I know the relatively easy delivery was due to lots of prayers, priesthood blessings I had received, and definitely a lot of positive thinking.

 We were in a bit of a hurry to get into the hospital so Evan left the camera in the car so our first photos are a few hours after the babies were born.  Above: Violet

 Maverick

 L: Maverick R: Violet

 Maverick

 Violet

 Autumn wanted to leave playgroup early to meet her siblings.  She requested to hold brother first.

 The proud grandparents.

Our family of 5! (Maverick left, Violet right)

Autumn was very excited to help with Maverick's diaper change.

 Maverick and his awesome nurse, Peggy.  The staff was all very kind and helpful.  However since Evan works at the hospital word traveled fast so we had a lot of visitors.  I found it odd that when they'd come in they kept asking if "Doctor Norby" needed anything.  Also I got super annoyed when my doctors would come in and ask if I needed anything but addressed all their questions to Evan.  Um "hello! over here"  

 I surprised Evan with this shirt in the hospital

 L: Violet R: Maverick

 As we were being discharged the nurse gave Autumn a "big sister" arm bracelet

 Welcome home balloons.

 Autumn missed her nap the day before and it was nap time when we got home.  She did not want to take more pictures. 

She wanted to sit in the baby seat.

Chillin' 

So far Autumn has taken to the twins really well.  The first few hours home were a little rough since she was too tired.  She was being naughty including pooping in her pants to get out of taking a nap.  But today was much better.  She and Grandma Pattie are great pals and played at the park for several hours this morning.  She likes to help with the babies and doesn't seem to be too jealous...yet.