My Celebratory Birth Story

I figured I needed to document my birth story before life got too hectic to breathe. Between pumping, feeding, washing bottles and running errands, I hardly get a chance to enjoy my coffee. Excuse typos and incorrect grammar.

I still get the chills when I think back to my hospital stay and months of bedrest. Sometimes someone will say something like "hungry?" and it sounds exactly like the lunch-lady at the hospital when she brought me my food every day. I lost all independence for a few months and not to be dramatic but that was downright traumatic for me. The hospital staff was great but the whole situation is still something I want to block from my memory. I just never felt so "unme" in my life and I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be back. Was it worth it? Absolutely!

As you can imagine, looking back at my 32 week belly shot, I was anxious for these babies to come. I just knew my body couldn't take one more day and somehow, I knew the babies were going to be allright. Since we knew delivery was immenant, Max spent the night at the hospital the night my water broke. I woke up and immediately felt a small "trickle". Just to make sure, I got up and went to the bathroom...I wanted to experience that "gush" and I did! I was thrilled! I put on a touch of blush and pulled my hair back. I was not in a huge hurry; after all, I knew women who waited hours after their water broke to go to the hospital. I paged the nurse and let her know my water had broke and then finally woke up Max. Max was also very calm and we both just stood looking at each other for a few blissful minutes...until the whirlwind.

About a minute after paging the nurse, two nurses flew into my room. One was completely hysterical. She screamed at me to lay down in my bed and immediately started transferring me to another mobile bed. I honestly thought I was going to travel down to L&D in a wheelchair. The way this nurse was acting, I thought I was about to pop a baby out any second. As we were about to be wheeled out the door in a mobile bed, a resident from L&D came in and screamed "This is not an emergency C-section. Everyone calm down!" I was all smiles and hadn't felt as at peace in months. With the resident in tow, I was wheeled away calmly to be prepped for my babies arrival.

I would have loved my doctor to have performed the c-section. I grew very attached to him through this process and wanted him to deliver my babies. Unfortunately, I had not met the doctor that was on call that night; although, she was very nice. Ironically, one of the residents performing the c-section was the same resident that worked with me at my initial hospital visit at 24 weeks. At the time, she had me worried I was going to deliver VERY EARLY but here we were, meeting again 10 weeks later.

The actual c-section was the easiest part of this whole pregnancy. The spinal did not feel awesome; especially since it took three times to find the right spot, but it was nothing compared to the pains I felt near the end of my pregnancy. Some of the experience was foggy but I felt very at ease and (maybe it was the morphine). I remember the residents asking the doctor if they shaved enough...I commented to go ahead and take off as much as they could :)

The babies arrived VERY quickly. I never felt a thing...not even any tugging or pulling. The atmosphere of the room was celebratory. Amelia came out first and everyone was cheering and saying "happy birthday beautiful!" Marcus was born the same minute as Amelia. It was his water that broke and he wanted out FAST! Both him and Amelia were immediately whisked away to another room. Josie came out one minute later. She is the only one that came out screaming (no big surprise know that I know her personality). She was washed up in the same room with me. Within minutes, they brought Amelia over to me to see and kiss. She was SO TINY! I remember thinking.."dear lord, that is how tiny a 4 lb. baby is!". But then I saw Jossie screaming and squirming in the bassinet and she looked much bigger. I though my eyes must have been deceiving me.

Max had followed Marcus and Amelia to their room to get cleaned up. He came back in to see me and the doctors were reporting their weights. They said "Baby A, 2 lbs, 10 oz.". I said "no , that isn't right, she is suppose to be 4 lbs." Then Max said "No, she was 2 lbs. 12.5 oz". I remember thinking Max also said the wrong weight. It honestly wasn't until I was in the recovery room that it sunk in that Amelia really was only 2+lbs. Max assured me she was doing just great despite her size so I wasn't concerned.

I was thrilled that all my babies were doing so well. I was relieved the pregnancy was over. I was spent! Many women, even triplet moms, say they miss being pregnant. I must admit, I have yet to miss any of it.

The NICU experience was actually ok for me. I had prepared myself for the worst case scenario. I read all the books and looked at all the pictures of NICU premature babies. I was comfortable with all the IV's and wires and knew all the things that could go wrong and when. The truth was, our babies were doing 100% better than I ever imagined and only a small fraction of the "Preemies: Life in the NICU" book ended up applying to us. We were blessed! I also give props to myself. I strictly followed all the rules and for a short time sacrificed my independence, body, and mental well-being for my precious angels. Despite it all, I tried to stay positive and happy. It has paid off more than I can imagine. Traumatic, yes! Worth it, yes!

I have to say, I wouldn't wish this experience on anyone. At the same time, I feel extremely lucky to have triplets. Yesterday was my scheduled c-section date. I would have been 35.5 weeks. Ironically, Mia is coming home today, the day after she would have been due. In fact, Max just arrived with my precious bundle. Time for our complete family to be together at last!

My girls and our forever toddler