That Time I Gave Birth . . . Twice

We’ve been home with our babies for a week now! We are amazed at how blessed we are, and are so grateful for our sweet, perfect, healthy miracles. Sitting here beside my two sleeping newborns feels surreal, and the scary worry-filled pregnancy feels so far in the past. We never could have dreamed that their surgery 3 months ago would be completely successful, that I would be able to avoid preterm labor, or that our babies would never see the NICU . . . but we have received each of these miracles. We have been comforted throughout all of this knowing that so many have been thinking about and praying for us. When it felt like our faith wouldn’t be strong enough, we had the faith of others to rely on and we are so grateful. Our little babies are so special to us.

Truman Miles Grimmer

October 19, 8:06am

5lb, 1oz. 18 inches

Elliott Beau Grimmer

October 19, 8:19am

5lb, 8oz. 18.5 inches

Now for the birth story-

We went in for our scheduled induction on Thursday, October 18^th. We arrived at 6am and I was so ready to get the show on the road. I was anxious to know how everything would turn out. When they finally checked my cervix, they decided it wasn’t ready yet and started me on cervical ripening stuff. This was a long process and we were frustrated knowing that most of the day would be spent just waiting. At the beginning of the day, I spoke with a doctor about our babies’ situation and he said, “I feel comfortable with you trying to deliver vaginally, but if you would feel more comfortable, I could just do a c-section right now.” I have to admit, I was tempted. The thought of waiting for so long sounded miserable, especially since there was a good chance I would need a c-section at the end of it all anyway (or even worse, that I would deliver one baby then need a c-section for the second). But, I declined the offer.

At the hospital, ready to go!

The day was spent trying to get comfortable in the hospital bed, taking little naps, drinking clear liquids (plus at least 7 jell-o cups), and begging Rob to sneak me bites of food when he took me to the bathroom.  And lots of waiting to see how things were progressing. After the first 3 hours of the cervical ripening medication (at about noon), my cervix had hardly changed (still between 1 and 2), so I got another dose. I was having contractions every 2 to 4 minutes, and they were stronger than the usual Braxton hicks I’d been having, but not horribly painful.

I wasn’t checked again until about 8:00 in the evening, and I was dilated to about a 4. The doctor decided to break my water to get things started. I asked for an ultrasound first to check fluid levels, to make sure the contractions hadn’t forced any connections or brought back the TTTS. Everything looked fine, and they broke my water a little after 9pm. My contractions were getting more painful, and knowing they were about to get much worse, I asked to get the epidural. As much as I love this thing, getting it put in was not fun. I had a hard time relaxing and keeping still. But, once it was in, I happily relaxed, and even slept during the night. It would have been a really long night without that epidural!

I faded in and out of sleep, and the nurse came in and out. At one point, she started a little Pitocin because my contractions seemed to be less regular. I went back to sleep, and woke up around 6:15am feeling pelvic pressure during contractions. I called the nurse in, and she checked me- I was at 9cm! We headed into the operating room at around 7:15 where everyone was waiting for us.

I delivered in an operating room where everyone was prepared for a last minute c-section if needed. In the room were the doctor, 2 residents, a few nurses, and some NICU nurses for each baby. It was super relaxed and we were all talking and joking around, and then finally the doctor said that I could push when I felt like it.

I pushed for about 20 minutes, and our first baby was so close but his heart rate was dropping. So, the doctor used forceps with my next push, and out came our precious baby Truman. I didn’t expect them to hand him to me right away, but they did. He was crying and he was perfect! I kept asking things like “Is he okay?” and “How is the other baby’s heartbeat?” One baby in my arms, and one still inside. He was then taken to be checked out and weighed.

We waited a few minutes for our second baby to drop down. For months, the second baby was breech and the plan was to do a breech extraction after the first baby was born. Amazingly, however, while we spent all day waiting around on Thursday, he completely changed positions and was now sideways. So, after the first baby was born, we waited and he dropped perfectly head down. 13 minutes after his brother was born, with just one push, our little Elliott was here! He too was crying and perfect and placed right in my arms.

In order to tell them apart, they were given bracelets on their wrists and ankles identifying "baby one" and "baby two," the numbers 1 and 2 were written on their hats and diapers, and the nurses put one clamp on Tru's cord and 2 on Elliott's. After doing all these things, they handed me baby Truman, and the first thing I noticed was a perfect little birthmark on his left shoulder! We are so glad we have a permanent way to tell them apart. We would have been in trouble without it. (Although, by now I can tell their faces apart most of the time.)

We had a good hospital stay. I felt like the delivery was perfect, and recovery was way easier than I was expecting! I felt so good so quickly- didn't need any strong pain medications, and only took the mild ones for a few days. As our babies were premature, we expected them to have to stay a little longer. But, they were eating great and every test came back perfectly fine, so they were able to come home with me on Sunday! 

Diaper change

Collin liked meeting his baby brothers!

Big brother with the babies!

Collin gave them each a little ducky for a present!

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit on their very first day!

Going home outfits. Elliott on the left, Truman on the right.

Ready to go home! 

Recent Pictures

A few pictures off my phone:

Zoo day- riding on a hippo

Lion's den

Family at the zoo!

Reading with Grandma- Rob's parents came to visit for the weekend!

At our neighborhood pumpkin patch

Cute boy on a white pumpkin

Twin pumpkins

P.S. I am so proud of Rob for completing his marathon! Such a big accomplishment that he's worked hard for. He's been juggling all of his responsibilities so well- he does so much at home so I can relax. 

Also, he is starting to treat patients in the clinic at school, and he had a pinning ceremony. My pictures didn't turn out well at all, but we got a few afterwards. 

Handsome husband

Rob and Nathan

Last Days of Pregnancy

This Thursday is the big day! I'm scheduled to be induced at 6am. I will be 36 weeks, which is as long as my group of doctors decided I should go. We can't believe we have made it this far-- for a long time, it sounded like having extremely premature babies was a good possibility. I remember when we were glad that we'd made it to 28 weeks. We are so grateful that our babies have had so much more time to grow and develop! Just one of the countless miracles we've had with this pregnancy.

So you'd think that since we've had months of knowing that our babies could come at any time, that we'd be totally ready. Actually, I think all that time of uncertainty made it harder to realize that it was ever really going to happen. All plans were tentative for so long. So it was a little shocking to finally have an actual date, and to realize how soon we are going to have our babies. 

We're nervous to see how everything will go. I'm not nervous about the delivery part, but I'm nervous to see how the babies will do. I've requested extra monitoring and ultrasounds while I'm in labor because there are a few added risks with my babies. I'm nervous to see if there will be any complications, and whether I'll end up having a c-section. The threshold for them doing a c-section is very low-- if anything at all is weird, they'll do one. And, 36 weekers are still premature, so we're nervous about how our babies will do and whether they'll need to be in the NICU. Most 36 week babies don't need much, if any, NICU time, but our babies may be a special case. Even now, when things have been looking much better than we ever expected, I can't just suddenly stop worrying. So we're anxious to see how everything will go, and excited to finally meet our babies.

Since I'm in my last few days of being pregnant with twins, I thought I should try to record what it feels like. It's easy to forget and I'm pretty sure I won't ever have this opportunity again. 

Emotionally, this pregnancy has definitely been a rollercoaster of surprise, excitement, worries, and stress. It's been hard to really understand our babies' situation with TTTS and so many things were uncertain for so long, so it's been hard to explain simple questions. For example, "When are you due?" is the most basic question ever, but I wasn't sure how to give a simple answer. November 14th is the 40 week due date, but I knew from the start it wouldn't be November. So I'd usually say "sometime in October", though we figured the babies would more likely be here in August or September. Or, when we were waiting to see how the TTTS would progress, we hadn't told many people about it. So when people would make small talk and ask how the babies were doing, we had to decide whether to say "fine", which felt like a lie, or whether to explain the many horrible details of this problem they were potentially developing. It's been hard to find a balance between downplaying/ oversimplifying the situation and being negative or dramatic about everything. 

I've also been a little unsure about where my level of activity should be, and a little self conscious too. Some have told me that I should be on bedrest and that anything I do will put me right into labor and put my babies at major risk. And then I've also heard that bedrest itself doesn't prevent preterm labor, and it's unnecessary unless you've been given instructions by your doctor. My doctors have never suggested bedrest, just decreased activity and listening to my body. So that's what I've been doing, and I feel different levels of energy from day to day. So, I've felt self conscious that people might think I'm lazy when I feel unable to do something easy. Or if someone who thinks I should be on bedrest sees me out shopping or at the zoo, they'll think I'm being reckless. I'm sure no one thinks those things--I think it's just myself questioning what exactly I should be doing. If anything, I feel like I've been on the cautious side- still doing normal things like grocery shopping and things around the house, but napping every day and resting when I feel tired. 

Physically, this pregnancy has been different from my first, but not as much as I expected. A few things that have been a little different:

• Size- Some people say I don't look like I'm having twins at all, but then a few strangers have asked me if I'm having twins. I guess I feel big, but not as big as I expected I would get. I only have a few maternity shirts left that are long enough to cover my belly. 
• My belly button sticks out a little- that didn't happen with my first pregnancy.
• I feel lots of movement and I can usually tell which baby is moving. The movements seem more defined, like a tiny elbow sticking up and moving around. 
• And one evening I noticed that both had the hiccups at the same time. They'd take turns, on the left and right sides of my belly. 
• My feet and hands have recently started to swell, but nowhere near as bad as it was for months with Collin. Just a little bit of pitting edema this time (With Collin, you could grab my calf and it would leave a handprint for several minutes). Possibly because I've been off my feet a lot more this time around.
• I think I've discovered what it means to really crave things during this pregnancy. I had really strong cravings in the first trimester. One that stands out to me is salsa con queso with tortilla chips. I truly needed them one day and had Rob go get me some. It was literally the only food in the world I could think of that was appealing, and I was starving. After that day, I've never wanted that nasty stuff again.
• I crave non-food smells. Especially tires! I'll just suddenly out of nowhere get a strong urge to go to a tire store and smell the tires. Also new shoes or gasoline. I've always liked these smells, but I've never craved them before! The smell of exhaust was even appealing to me the other day. 
• I've been having irregular contractions for months. They're sometimes uncomfortable, but not too bad. Lately, when I get a contraction, my face feels hot and I feel pressure going through my ears and head.
• It's hard to maneuver my body, and I can't do a lot of walking or standing. At grocery stores, I frequently have to lean on the shopping cart or find a place to sit. I can't go places alone with Collin because I can't chase after him very well. 

35 Weeks

In general, I don't feel too bad. It's been really nice to have Rob home more than usual to help. Fortunately, I've been able to sleep well at night and take naps, do some fun things with family, and get the things done that I need. 

We're excited to be seeing our babies so soon!

26.2

This is Rob. I don't write very much on our blog, but I wanted to talk about my marathon that I ran! I kept running after the dog lake half marathon last November. I would have run my marathon much earlier, but I kept getting injured! It was very annoying. Here's a non-comprehensive list of the injuries and problems I've had in the last 11 months: 

• Iliotibial Band Syndrome
• Shin Splints
• Plantar Fasciitis
• Achilles Tendonopathy
• Other Musculoskeletal Issues (Sleepy Gluts, Chronically Hypertonic Gastrocsoleus, Costochondritis, Scapular Instability, blah, blah, blah...)
• I also became a Cluster Headache sufferer during this year!

Yes, woe is me. But, despite all my setbacks, I continued to train and finally decided to sign up for the Portland Marathon the last day registration was open. I was undecided because we weren't sure whether the twins would be here during that time or not. In the end, we concluded that it would be my last chance to run a marathon for a long time. So I did it!

 And now, here's a little description about the run:

So, to start out, there's so much to plan for when you're out there for several hours running, like making sure you Vaseline the inside of your thighs and taping your nipples. It sounds odd, but you wouldn't want to not do it. They actually had gigantic tubs of Vaseline at every aid station of the marathon. I brought with me my running belt, which makes me look like a huge dweeb, but its so useful that I don't care. My belt has two water bottles and a pouch, which I carried my phone in, in the case that Rachel went into labor while I was running (worst case scenario). I also brought an iPod with me, but ended up not really listening to anything, because there were so many marching bands, local rock bands, and other artists, that a great portion of the marathon had music. 

 I arrived in downtown Portland around 6 AM and the run began at 7. The run was very nice. The route went up and down the riverfront and then wound around the city, went north to the Saint Johns Bridge and then south along the east bank of the river, crossed and finished back downtown, 26.2 miles later. The river was very pretty and there were so many cool little shops downtown. On top of the Saint Johns Bridge it smelled like there was a sea breeze. It was really nice. The aid stations consisted of water, Ultima (a mineral replacement drink), gummy bears and pretzels. I ate a lot of gummy bears, because I can't stand pretzels. Why would they have pretzels? You'd think that the 15,000 people running would be able to produce enough money to pay for something vastly better than dry, nasty pretzels. The gummy bears were nice though.

The most terrible part of the run was the 2 mile climb up to the Saint Johns Bridge. Pretty much everyone started walking around that point. I won't lie, I was one of them. During training, I had run two 20 mile runs. At the 20 mile mark, every spectator was shouting, "Great job! Only 6.2 miles left!" As if 6.2 miles is a piece of cake. Well, normally it would be, but after running for 20 miles it seems really monumental. Nevertheless, I plodded along and was ecstatic to be finished. Crossing the finish line was great! They had a medal and a space blanket waiting for me. I got those things and then hobbled over to the food area, drank a pint of chocolate milk, ate a banana, 2 orange slices and some other stuff. They were also giving out liter cartons of coconut water, which in case anyone ever wonders what coconut water tastes like, it tastes like a really disgusting version of water. They gave me a finisher T-shirt, a pendant, a collectors coin and tried to offer me a seed for a tree. Then I posed for my photo and went and met Rachel, Collin, my Mom and Dad.

Extreme soreness. But, still totally worth it! I'm not saying that running a marathon is healthy for you, but I am so very grateful that I have a healthy body and that I could accomplish this great challenge! I feel so blessed to have a wife who was so patient with me as I went out on four hour runs on Saturdays and left her with Collin. I'm so grateful for Collin, who would be so happy to see me when I would get back and would sit on the floor with me and stretch. I have an awesome family, soon to be an even awesomer family!