The Clayton Family: Gwen and Grace's birth

August 21, 2015 Rob getting dressed to go into the operating room with me.

The day of the twin's birth had been a good day. I was feeling calm and had really had not had any bleeding that day. I hadn't been feeling any contractions either. I was thinking this is a good day. The Clayton family was going to Lagoon and I told Rob to go ahead and go and take the kids, they would have fun and I would be fine. My mom was with me too. About 5:30 I talked to Rob and the phone. Mom and I were just eating dinner and I told him all was well. Almost immediately after getting off the phone with him I had a hot flash and my belly started tightening. I felt yucky. I got up and used the bathroom. I don't remember if there was blood or not. I tried laying on my side and it wasn't really helping. We called the nurse in and she hooked up the babies and the contraction monitor and started watching. I tried drinking water and it wasn't helping. I was definitely having regular contractions. Baby A didn't seem to happy during the contractions and was having some heart rate decelerations during them. It was all such a blur. They kept sending nurses in and were trying to get a hold of the doctor. Dr. Bennett was on. They tried checking me to see if I was dilated and there was so much fluid and blood they really couldn't get a good look. Miraculously Gwen had moved to a head down position and so that concerned them that she was getting ready for birth. They contacted the anesthesiologist and put the NICU on alert that we may be delivering soon. They told me to call my husband and to get him to the hospital. It took about 30 minutes to get a hold of Rob and I just told him I am in labor and they say you need to come now. He raced from Lagoon and made it about 9 or 9:30 p.m. They had tried giving me a few different meds to stop my labor, one of them being magnesium and morphine too I think. The magnesium was awful and made me feel hot and like I had the flu. Nothing seemed to be helping. Dr. Bennett came in once Rob was there and said she didn't think my labor was stopping and asked if we wanted to go ahead and take the babies now or wait a few more hours. She said if we waited it may turn into an emergency situation whereas right now everyone was ready to go. We took her advice and opted to deliver, it is still a decision I question every day. They had already came in and shaved me and so I was ready to go back. They wheeled my bed down the hall and then had me walk into the Operating Room and climb on the table. The anesthesiologist administered the spinal and laid me down. It was so strange feeling to go completely numb and not be able to move below my chest. They strapped my arms down and they hook up warm air to blow on my arms and that was nice because it was so cold in the operating room. Everyone came in and got ready and before I knew it they were pulling Gwen out and passing her to the NICU team. Then they kind of pushed Grace down to where they could get her and pulled her out, I heard a faint cry. They handed her off to the NICU team as well and then came and put our bracelets on Rob and I and took Rob with them to stay with the babies. They worked on me getting me all stitched back up and transferred me back to my bed and wheeled me back to my room. Mom and Roxy and Chris were there packing everything up. I remember throwing up not too long after getting back to my room.

After recovering in my room for a while and before taking me to the Mother/Baby floor they wheeled my whole bed into the NICU to see the girls for the first time. I was pretty drugged and out of it. It was so surreal to see the babies so tiny and to suddenly not be pregnant anymore. It was all very overwhelming.

Haley working on Gwen and Grace warming up in the plastic bags. Haley would end up being one of our favorite nurses!

Miss Gwen.

Miss Grace. I believe these are the first pictures I saw of them.

These are all Gracie. She was already on the CPAP machine and the bili lights.

Two pink bracelets for each twin, my 2 hospital bands, and the NICU bracelet.

I remember being wheeled in and so relieved to see Rob there with the twins acting so calm and confident as he showed me our sweet babies. I really can't imagine what he witnessed as he spent the first few hours with the babies watching nurses and doctors fight to get them stabilized. Gwen has the blue blankets in these pictures and Grace is in white.