Set 'Em Up

“Okay, go ahead and get dressed then walk over to the hospital. Labor & Delivery will be expecting you. I’d say the babies will be here before noon.”

It was 7:45am.

We weren’t necessarily expecting this. I had only brought The Suitcase as a precaution. The dog was at home still, there were dishes in the sink.  I mean, yeah we were 36 weeks and 3 days pregnant with twins and I couldn’t WAIT to not be pregnant anymore, but this was it. It was going to be REAL. No turning back; full on parent-hood was apparently less than four hours away...and we were terrified.

After nine months of my doctor warning of bed rest and premature labor, we walked (well, I waddled) across the skywalk to the L&D unit, bellied up to the nurses’ station at about 8am and half-stated, half-asked, “Hi. We’re supposed to have our babies now?”

A flurry of activity ensued. I was taken to a room where I changed into my gown and was given an IV. Corey ran home to get his things (we had been pretty certain we’d be going back home to wash those dishes) and a rapid succession of texts and phone calls were fired off, informing our loved ones that today was the day! By 9:45 Corey was changed into his scrubs and we were walking hand-in-hand down the hallway (my other hand was holding the back of my gown closed…yikes) to the OR. As we passed the nurses’ station everyone was cheering and waving; wishing us luck and telling us how they couldn’t wait to meet the babies. 

As we rounded the corner we could see the OR through the open door. Clean, cool, and calm, the sight of it offered a bit of relief from my nervousness and made my pulse slow slightly as we walked in. “Turn left,” the nurse said.

Apparently that was not our OR.

As we turned, an entirely different scene came into focus. This one was loud with sounds of beeping, loud talking, alarms, and other machines. It seemed as if the room itself was moving because there were so many doctors, nurses, and techs hurrying about, making adjustments and setting up equipment. The table at the center seemed to be a tiny, motionless island in a sea of chaotic preparations. My eyes were huge as they sat me on the table to administer the spinal. I don’t even remember where Corey was at this time, but the nurses held my hand as they placed the spinal and I cried, saying I was scared and wasn’t ready. 

The anesthesia started to work immediately and it felt like the most intense case of pins-and-needles I have every experienced…then I was just numb. This must have cheered me up, because I remember loudly telling the nurses that I was disappointed they couldn’t see my feet (I was wearing socks) because I had had a pedicure and got the right toes painted pink and the left toes blue. Very important stuff.

After a few pretty unpleasant few minutes on the table (I was not feeling well at all) and not even three hours after leaving our house that morning, at 10:01am on Monday, January 9 Nora Rose was born and her brother, Nolan Joseph joined us two minutes later.

And that is how our story begins.