Birth Story, Part III: Postpartum

LukeMotherhoodZoey

Apr 1

Written By Kristen

(If you haven't already, you can read about my labor and delivery here and here.)

So, after delivery and being sewn up in the OR, I was taken back to my room. The babies were already there with their grandparents, and were getting checked out/cleaned up. It seemed like ages before I got to hold them! My dad got me a roast beef sandwich and milk (I hadn't been allowed anything but broth and popsicles all day), and FINALLY I got to hold the babies. And try to breastfeed, which went pretty well (although that wouldn't continue to be the case).

After a couple hours, they were ready to move me upstairs, and during that transition I got so cold, violently shaking, which my nurse said often happens after delivery. My husband and the babies came upstairs with me to another private room (I can't tell you how much I appreciated the fact that our hospital had private rooms)...it was pretty late at night by that point, one or two in the morning, and we put the babies between my bed and the couch my husband was going to sleep on, and it was hard to go to sleep with them in the room, I just felt such overwhelming love and awe. I also kept thinking that if something happened to them, there is no way I'd be able to survive it.

We stayed two more nights and another full day in the hospital...the twins were fine, but my health was worrying the doctors, with my blood pressure sky high and my liver enzymes and something else I can't remember (kidney function?) abnormal and trending the wrong way. My doctor said if they discharged me and I had to come back I wouldn't be able to bring the babies, so they didn't want to let me go home until they were pretty sure I was going to be OK.

Hard to get any sleep in the hospital, with blood draws every 6 hours, and people checking on me and the babies round the clock, and visitors (my brother and a family friend came over from Denver...was so great to have him meet the twins!)

We needed (and had) lots of help from the lactation nurses. (Breastfeeding has been a challenge. But that's a post of it's own.)

I was in a bit of pain, but some drugs and heating pads and ice packs helped.

Was also dealing with that nasty cold, which was such a bummer, but it is what it is.

Didn't get into a shower until a couple hours before I went home, and it felt soooooo good.

And then it was time, and home we went.

We've been home two weeks now, and having these babies...it is just amazing. Words can't even begin to describe how incredibly happy we are. And tired. Oh, Lord. But my husband's home 5 days a week to help, and my mom comes the other two, and we've had friends and neighbors bringing us meals, so tons of help and that makes a big difference. Also, our babies are really easy babies so far (knock on wood), crying pretty much only when they are hungry (although right now that's eight or more times a day) and then after eating going right back to sleep. So all in all, things have been pretty manageable. The babies are already growing and changing, too, which is so fun to watch, but makes it so apparent how fleeting these days of them being newborns are...

Just trying to soak it all in and remember every moment...

Here are a few pictures: