Proud Papa!

Last night I became a father. Carson Isaac was born at 9:18 PM at 20 inches long and 6 pounds, 12 ounces. Keira Faith was born at 10:00 PM at 21 inches long and 7 pounds, 5 ounces.

I can't quite put into words how proud I am of my wife and children.

For those interested in trying to appreciate this a little more, I'll try to summarize the events of the last week for us.

We hit 38 weeks with the pregnancy last Thursday (a week ago yesterday). Most doctors don't like to let twins cook for longer than 38 weeks. The average twin birth goes to ~36 weeks. Our doctor and midwives scheduled an induction for Wednesday, 2/10.

We didn't want to do the induction. Twins can and do go to 39, 40, and in rare cases even 41 weeks. We were able to get an appointment with our care provider on Tuesday to discuss it further, as our preference has been to try to allow things to progress as naturally as possible.

The appointment (along with our own scientific Google research ;) ) helped convince us that trying to get these kids out in the 38th week was better than letting them cook much longer. So, on Wednesday morning we went into the hospital for the induction.

To make a pretty long story about Wednesday short, Jamie was hooked up on pitocin all day but saw no progress and we went home at 5:30. We were a bit dejected since we had been told at our Tuesday appointment that things really should move quickly since Jamie's body was ready to have these kids. (She had been dilated to 2-3 cm and 80% effaced for a few weeks.)

We were told we should be able to come back to the hospital Thursday morning to try again, this time with them breaking her water in addition to the pitocin to try to encourage labor.

We called the hospital at 6:00 AM yesterday to see what time we should come in for the induction. The hospital was too busy to take us and we were told to call back in 2 hours. We called at 8:00. They were still too busy and we were told we would get a call if they had room. We started preparing to have to wait until next week to go in again for the induction.

This was really getting a bit frustrating. Yesterday marked the beginning of our 39th week. The risk of problems with twin pregnancies increase significantly into and beyond the 39th week. There are reasonable medical arguments about this that go either way, but the fact is, the statistical bell curve of problems is on the way down by this point. We didn't want to wait much longer.

We got a call at 9:45 saying that we could come in at 11:00. We were really excited!

We arrived at the hospital at 11:15 and got the pitocin drip going by around 12:30. The midwife broke Jamie's water at 1:45 and by early evening labor had finally begun.

I won't go into detail on the labor itself. I'll simply say that my wife was phenomenal. I couldn't be more proud of how well she did! She had nothing to prove to any of us but still, she made it the whole way through without an epidural or any other pain medication!

Between the lack of pain medication, Jamie's composure, and how well labor progressed, our attending nurse said that after 14 years on the job, this was the best twins delivery she'd ever had. I figured that vote of confidence - along with the subsequent nurses who have expressed surprise and admiration after hearing of how it went - had to count for something!

I suppose there are a number of reasons things went so well. Our support group was phenomenal. We couldn't have asked for a better nurse, midwife, doula (thank you Kara Jo!), doctor, etc. As previously stated, Jamie was phenomenal. Her focus, concentration and determination were impeccable. She worked so hard to prepare her mind and body for this before and during the pregnancy. She was ready and it showed. And we prayed numerous times together throughout the day. I think we had some peace because of that and were able to just let go of our anxiety in a way that we hadn't quite done on Wednesday. In that sense, I think the long, drawn out experience of having to go in Wednesday and then come back the next day was beneficial for us.

I think Carson and Keira are about as pretty as a baby can come. Well, close to it. I realize that parents are biased and maybe I am. I guess I'm okay with that.

Carson is on the left, Keira is on the right. I love this picture! I call it The Wink. ;)