Tuesday, October 1, 2013

What's in a name

Brett and I had the twin's names picked out very early on.  We had two boys names, two girls names and then our first pick of each.  We did not find out what we were having, so the day of the birth was a complete surprise.  We both wanted names that held a special meaning to both of us.  Maxwell will have a lot to live up to with his name.  Maxwell was the name of Brett's grandfather.  Brett was very close to him and he held a special place in both of our hearts.  Joshua was my brothers first name.  My brother passed away 22 years ago and I have always wanted my first born son to carry on his name.  The name Addilynn was thought of by Brett.  I have always loved the name Abigail and call her Abby, but Brett didn't really like it.  I remembered that Brett had a great grandma Addi and it was a name that we both liked, and it was also a family name.  Now, I didn't want her name to be just Addi, so Brett came up with Addilynn.  Addi's middle name is Grace which was my Grandmothers first name.  At the time of her passing, I was her only granddaughter and she gave me her wedding ring that I now wear today.

Getting up to Speed

So, many of you know that the invetro that we did last January/February worked.  I found out on 2/15/13 that I was pregnant, shortly after that I found out we were having twins! We were both super excited about this.  I had a super easy pregnancy.  I felt good up until the end.

The birth story 9/20/13:
On Wednesday 9/18/13 I had my normal weekly check up with my OB/GYN.  Everything checked out ok, except my blood pressure, it was 120/90.  Some may think that this isn't too bad, but for myself, this is extremely high.  Throughout my pregnancy I had always been on the lower side.  My doctor didn't seem too concerned with these numbers and sent me home with a "I'll see ya next week here in the office for another check."  I went home feeling tired, but normal.  On Thursday evening, I wasn't feeling that great, I thought my stomach was upset from something I ate.  I slept ok that night. On Friday 9/20, I woke up feeling awful.  My stomach was killing me and I was extremely tired.  I went to work and asked one of my coworkers if she could take my blood pressure.  I thought this could be the source of the problem.  It was 140/100.  One of our cardiologist happen to be sitting next to me and heard the result.  He suggested I sit for a couple of minutes and then get another reading.  After sitting for five minutes, the BP came down to a whooping 138/98.  I asked if I should call the doctor and we decided to monitor it throughout the morning.  I worked for a couple of hours and we did another check, it was 147/100, it was time to call the doctor.  I made the call and they sent me to the hospital.
For those of you that don't know, my work place is connected to the hospital, so I made a phone call to Brett to let him know that I was going to the hospital and that he should probably meet me there.  One of my coworkers got a wheel chair and wheeled me over to the hospital and also waited with me till Brett got there. At 10:39am I was hooked up to the monitors which showed I was having some mild contractions.   I also had lab work drawn, when the doctor was able to take a look at the results, she didn't like what she saw.  I was on my way to preeclampsia.  The doctor decided it was best to have the babies that day.
Now, Brett and I already had a c-section scheduled for October 4, so I was not heart broken that I was going to have a csection that day.  I never had it in my head that I was going to have a natural birth.  We had an estimated time of about 4:00pm that I would go back and have these babies.  I was both excited and nervous for obvious reasons. I went back to the OR, sat on the table and was getting ready for the spinal tap, to find out that the doctor had to deliver another baby first.  I thought no big deal, we went back to the room I started in and waited, and waited, and waited, at about 7:00pm, it was finally our turn.  At 7:57pm Addilynn Grace was born and 7:58pm Maxwell Joshua was born!