My twins were born on December 17th 2020, so I’m a bit late to the party… but here’s my birth story –

On Tuesday the 8th of December I attended a routine midwife appointment. I presented with swollen ankles, and wasn’t surprised to hear that my blood pressure was slightly elevated. 139/80 - no big deal, apparently. I was told to monitor for symptoms of PET; swelling in the hands and face, blurry vision, headaches. 

Fast forward to 6 days later - Monday the 14th of December. My partner and I are doing our Christmas shopping. The past couple days my feet, ankles, calves, knees and thighs had been incredibly swollen but I’m one of those annoying people who could get hit by a car and still say they’re fine. So we go to a couple stores and on the way out we stop by the pharmacy. It has one of those self-service health machines that’ll tell you your BMI, heart rate, blood pressure, things like that. 

I figured I may as well check my blood pressure while I’m there, just in case. My blood pressure came back at 153/97. I redid it to ensure the accuracy of the machine. 153/96. 

I called the Women’s Ward. They wanted me in immediately. Upon arrival, half an hour later, my blood pressure was 180/110. I was admitted and sent to the birthing suites. The staff swung into gear very quickly. I was immediately put onto a bed and my obs were done. Whilst a midwife fiddled to get my blood pressure reading, another put a cannula in my right hand and took my bloods.

I was having my blood pressure checked every 15 minutes. It kept rising so they began me on oral medication. They gave me a steroid shot to prepare the twins’ lungs for if they had to deliver them early. My urine came back as positive for signs of protein (the level should have been below 20, it was 271), concluding that I did in fact have preeclampsia.

Tuesday I was feeling a tad better. I had a second steroid injection and was moved to the Women’s Ward. The good thing was that my blood tests indicated my liver wasn’t failing. But we didn’t know how quickly the disease would progress, so it was still a guessing game to all of us.

Wednesday morning I woke up with a headache and severe nausea. I spent the first half of the morning throwing up. In the late afternoon my vision began to blur and then it just hit me like a train. I felt awful. I couldn’t stop shaking, my head was pounding, and my eyes couldn’t open or focus. I was also met with extreme fatigue and was in and out of consciousness. I ended up having a seizure.

My blood pressure was 170/110 and it just kept climbing. I was transferred back to the birthing suites with discussion of delivering tonight as my condition had worsened and was too dangerous for all three of us. They started me on a magnesium drip. By 10:30pm I hadn’t settled, so I was officially next in line for an emergency c-section. 

At 11:20 I was wheeled into the anaesthetic induction room. They placed an arterial cannula to measure my blood pressure - and boy did that hurt. And then they fiddled around with needles in my spine until they got the right spot. I began to feel pins and needles in my feet, and it travelled up to my thighs, and then my lower waist. I was still aware of my feet, legs and torso, but I couldn’t move them.

I was moved to the operation table and the drape was put up. I received morphine, as well as a clexane injection to fight blood clots. A catheter was inserted and my partner entered the room. Not even five minutes later, the twins were born. 

When I first found out I was pregnant with twins and knew a c-section was a high possibility, I did my research and I remember somebody saying that a c-section feels like somebody's doing the dishes inside of you. And I kept that in mind, and you know what, it’s true. I wasn’t in pain. It didn’t tickle or hurt, but I could feel something. Pressure, and movement. It felt like they were pressing on my ribs from the outside of my skin.

And so, on December 17th 2020 at 34 weeks and 5 days, we welcomed the twins. Ivy was born first at 12:03am, weighing 4lbs4. She came out crying and was whisked away to be cleaned up and assessed. Seconds later, Darwin was born at 12:04am, weighing slightly less at 4lbs1. Once my partner had cut their cords and the team had examined them, they were wrapped up and placed on either side of my head as I was stitched up. We took a bunch of photos and then my partner went with the babies to the special care nursery whilst I was wheeled to recovery.

About an hour later I was able to leave recovery and return to the birthing suites. On the way, we stopped by the special care nursery and I got to see the twins in their incubators.

I was awoken a few times during the night as they monitored my blood pressure and oxygen levels. My oxygen saturation levels weren’t too impressive so I was placed on oxygen via a nasal cannula. And as I was still on the magnesium drip, I was on a 25ml per hour liquid restriction.

Around midday I was still having a hard time breathing. They suspected fluid on my lungs or blood clots, so I had a CT. This revealed an infection in my lungs, and with COVID still looming over the state, I was placed into isolation and received a swab. Two hours later my results came back - negative. So they put me on some antibiotics and chalked it up to some random chest infection.

I was discharged a week later. But the twins still remained in Special Care as they established feeding and learnt to regulate their body temperature. They were discharged 16 days later.

By the 26th of December I felt so much better. My blood pressure had stabilised and I’d finished my antibiotics. The incision, whilst tender and itchy, wasn’t causing a great inconvenience and I didn’t require any pain relief. In 9 days I lost 21kg (46lbs) most of which can be accredited to fluid/swelling.

Now it’s February 10th 2021. The twins have been home for 6 weeks, I am back to my old self, and their birth is now a pleasant memory.