Phew. It’s been a minute, guys, and I’m sure this post will be a long one because, holy moly. We’ve lived a lifetime since I last posted in early October. We’re still in the early stages of fall here in South Korea (and loving it), but most importantly, we finally welcomed our little twins, Samson and Gideon, smack dab in the middle of October! Before it all slips away into the fog of postpartum ether, I figured we’d share all about welcoming Samson and Gideon, as well as our twin birth story which, shocker of all shockers, was nothing like we’d planned or hoped.
Our Twin Birth Story
Ryan will tell you that the past few months have easily been the most miserable he’s ever seen me – and he’s right. My body ached all over. I was exhausted nonstop. I couldn’t sit, stand, or walk more than 10-15 minutes near the end of our twin pregnancy, and honestly, I hated every second of it. So, when I was diagnosed with gestational hypertension and told that I needed to be induced right at week 37, I was so dang relieved. On October 15th, I headed into BDAACH bright and early (the hospital on Camp Humphreys) for our planned induction, which we were sure would go fast due to a bout of preterm labor at week 35.
When I arrived at the hospital, we discovered that I was already in early labor, so my doctor and I agreed to see how things progressed on their own for a couple hours. I was already at 3 cm, so we were fairly confident that things would progress. But, spoiler alert, they didn’t. By 10:30 AM, I hadn’t progressed, and they decided to start with a bulb to increase dilation and move things along. But, by 4:30 PM, I was only at 4 cm, and hadn’t made much progress at all.
The Next 12 Hours…
Now, mind you, I was on monitors for both babies the entire time. Baby A was head down, and Baby B was transverse. The plan was to try for a vaginal delivery because Baby A, the bigger twin, was presenting properly, and they hoped that Baby B would drop head down the moment he had space to do so. So, with little progress, we started pushing pitocin slowly. I’ll spare the nitty gritty because, honestly, this birth was miserable, and I really struggled through the length of the process, but I was finally at 6 cm by 6 AM the next day, and they broke my water. But, by 8 AM when my doctor went off shift, I was still at just 7 cm.
However, things went crazy really fast after my doctor went off his 24 hour shift. At about 8:10, my epidural wore off everywhere I wanted it to work. I needed the epidural because the deal was that I had to give birth in the OR just in case Baby B decided to present problems. The anesthesiologist came in and changed my dosage, which worked very well. I couldn’t feel anything from the waist down. By 8:20, I felt the urge to push, and my new doctor who’d just come on shift, started rushing people into the OR.
Welcome, Samson and Gideon!
At 8:29 AM, Baby A was born vaginally weighing 6 lb 4 oz. Samson Kirk was taken over by his own team of nurses and doctors, checked over, and given a clean bill of health. Baby B did exactly what we’d hoped and dropped head down, but my doctor quickly realized something wasn’t quite right. He immediately dropped with his foot by his head, along with his cord. They had no choice but to opt for an emergency c-section, as well.
So, within minutes, I was moved from the delivery bed to the operating bed, and just 12 minutes later, Baby B was born via emergency c-section. At just 5 lb 10 oz, Gideon Roelof was born – small, but not nearly as small as they expected. And me? My blood pressure dropped, I was immediately in and out of consciousness, and completely flummoxed that my “worst case scenario” had happened. I got the two-for-one special and gave birth both ways.
The Next Few Days…
The hours and days following the birth were no less wild. On day two, the twins were transferred to the NICU in Seoul for an inability to maintain their blood sugars. I was discharged 36 hours after delivery to be able to go see them. Thankfully, they were only there two days, and I’ve healed well overall since, but it’s been a wild recovery process – especially emotionally. I’m so glad I’ll never have more kids because our twin birth story was the wildest, craziest, most insane thing I’ve ever experienced.
There’s more to it, and there are so many other pieces that are worth mentioning (like how the original epidural dropped my blood pressure so much that I couldn’t see or hear, and I threw up violently. However, through it all, Ryan was there keeping me tethered, and we’re so grateful these little boys have joined our family. So, now we’re in the throes of sleeplessness, learning life as a family of seven, and sharing a whole lot of joy through it all.
