For once, my OB appointment was not cancelled today. Of course, it was actually with the nurse practitioner, who is not part of the hospital on-call rotation, so that helps. In general, it was the usual brief, uneventful visit. I’ve gained more weight, not surprisingly, but I think a lot of it is fluid retention. Blood pressure remains fine, heartbeats were good and easy to find.
I talked to her briefly about delivery options. Well, alright, I know what the options are. Assuming they stay in the same positions (one vertex, one breech), it depends on who decides to present or engage first. If little miss breech wants to be the first one out, then there is no choice: c-section all the way. If vertex boy pushes her out of the way, it depends in part on which doctor is on call if and when I go into labor. My doctor and one or two others are willing to do a breech extraction of the second twin (especially since she’s smaller). Other doctors will not. And all that aside, my OB’s practice gives the choice of a c-section to all twin moms, even if both are head-down.
First, I asked the nurse practitioner (who I love, by the way) whether she would prefer/recommend having the “choice” made ahead of time, if there ends up a choice to be made. For her two cents, she felt like she was personally more of a “planner,” and therefore would want to have her mind made up. This very much resonated with me, as I like to know as much as I can ahead of time. She then said that if she was in the situation of having twins and both were head down, she’d go for the vaginal. But, if it was her, if one of the babies was breech, she’d go for the c-section and not run the risk of the breech one getting stuck or not turning. This was absolutely her opinion, and I did not feel like she was suggesting that I ought to do the same thing. I had asked her personal opinion, and she gave it.
And you know what? In many ways, it was exactly what I wanted to hear. That pretty much sums up how I’ve felt all along. If by some miracle little miss manages to flip over again and her larger brother is presenting first, I might be willing to attempt the vaginal birth. But in pretty much any other situation, I really think I’m going to choose the c-section. It’s not without risk, and I know many people would choose differently. But this feels like the right decision for me.
I also asked when they might start talking about scheduling a c-section, in case I should go all the way to 37-38 weeks. She said I could absolutely start having that conversation with my OB at my next appointment (next week. yes, now they’re all weekly). Though I know I could just as easily go into labor on my own, I think it would be nice to have a date scheduled so that I have an actual end-point in sight.
So, what do you think would make a good birthday between August 10 and August 17 (37-38w)? Is a particular day of the week more desirable for any reason? I’m not really one to go for superstition or numerology, so I’d probably just as soon take whatever day they give me. But do chime in if you think any of those days is more auspicious than another!
(OK, funny thing. I just checked our family tree for other birthdays in that week. Turns out the only other twins in our families, one on my side and one on his, were born on the 15th and 16th of August. And as both sets are children of our male cousins, it has absolutely no impact on the fact that we are having twins. Just a very strange coincidence.)
Hi! Thanks for stopping by our blog. Congrats on the upcoming birth of your twins. I had ours by scheduled c-section at 36 weeks because they were both breech. I was dialated to 2 and having intermittent contractions. Since the risk of a prolopsed cord(s) was evident, we had an amnio and, once the results came back positive, we had the c-section the next day. I was certainly ready to meet them!!
You have the same opinion as I do as far as the vaginal and c-section “choice”. At first, I was scarred of the c-section and would have done anything possible to get out of it. But, then again, my “worst case scenerio” was to have one vaginally and then something happen to baby B and have to have an emergency c-section. So, had there been a choice in my case (there wasn’t however, since both were breech since 28 weeks), I would have had them vaginally if both were vertex, but if B was breech…i’d go for the c-section.
By the way, the recovery was not THAT bad. By day four, once I was home, I was off all medication and could climb stairs, pick up babies, etc. just fine.
Good luck and I’ll be checking back to see how thing progress!
Hi – my twins are six, but I remember this situation vividly. Mine were both breech, so there wasn’t much of a choice once we found that out, but in many ways, it was a relief to me to not have to plan out 2 scenarios. Plus, I had the same worst-case scanario that Carrie (above) – had! I agree with you, the nurse practitioner, and Carrie – that’s what I would do.
I also remember a fundamental, significant shift in my attitude towards the delivery sometime around month 5. Instead of thinking about what my husband and I wanted to happen during the birth (our beliefs about pain medications, pitosin, etc.) what was best for the babies became of primary importance.
I had a great preganncy and was scheduled to deliver at 37 1/2 weeks, but around week 35, my body all of a sudden began to signal that IT WAS SOON GOING TO BE TIME to get those babies birthed! So, after consulting with the totally wonderful twins-specialist OB, I rescheduled for 36 1/2 weeks. Almost immediately after that phone call, my great pregnancy became a very uncomfortable one. By that time, I wasn’t sleeping very much or well, and my abdomen broke out in a very itchy rash. My doctor said it was OK to take some allergy medicine (don’t remember which kind), but what helped the most was a homeopathic product called Califlora Calendula Gel by B&T. I felt like my body had given all it could and now it was time for those babies to get out! And they came out very ready – 6 lbs 6 oz and 6 lbs 9 oz.!
My experience with a c-section was a little different than Carrie’s. The actual c-section was fine (no one lost a surgical instrument inside of me) but there were a few things afterwards which took me by surprise, and I wish some had told me that these things MIGHT happen. Really, I’m not trying to be a source of gloom; I’m the kind of person who just likes to know in advance what might happen, positive or negative. And I had heard only about the easy recoveries before my c-section, so I was a bit discouraged. That’s why I’m including the below paragraphs, but if you’d rather not hear about them, you should stop reading…..now………………
OK? OK:
- First, I got a catheter inserted. Some people don’t mind; I’m pretty sensitive to it. It was taken out only when I could demonstrate that I could walk to the bathroom. It was awful.
- Second, the day I left the hospital, my legs and feet swelled up a lot (no one told me this was fairly normal until afterwards! I was a bit panicked at first!) Then I developed yet another rash, this time as an allergic reaction to the pseudo-codeine pain medication. As soon as they switched me, the rash cleared up (as did the swelling). But this was not something I could deal with easily in those first days of being a new parent.
- Third, I was totally shocked that I couldn’t raise myself AT ALL from a lying-down position for a good week or so. Duh, they had to cut through the stomach muscles! I don’t think that people who haven’t had that happen truly understand what this means. I remember a friend saying “well, it IS major surgery, after all.” From talking with friends, this is common, but happens in varying degrees . I think I was at the extreme end of the spectrum for this one. Hopefully, it’ll be easier for you.
But as Carrie says, it does get better. Just don’t feel as if you’re the only one if the recovery doesn’t go as smoothly as you’d expect or like – the post c-section experiences are so different for everyone. What is probably NOT so different for everyone is the overwhelming joy and pleasure that these two new beings will bring to you! My husband and I spent a lot of time exclaiming at various cute moments “And there’s TWO of them!”
OK, that’s it for now! Have a fantastic last month of preganancy!
I remember those once a week appts.
Of course, by 33 weeks I had already been in the hospital for a month.
You are doing great! Hang in there.
I like August 17th. I have no idea why.
I forgot about one thing in my post…I thought I remembered reading that you had pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel??? If you do, I just have to warn you…
I had this starting about week 20 on up. It just got progressively worse to the point where I could no longer write, feel anything in those few fingers and the pain, numbness and tingling (especially at night!) were horrendous. I tried everything under the sun…wearing splints, ice, etc. Anyway, I’d say that the hardest part of the c-section was the fluid retention and thus, an exaserbation (sp?) of the CT syndrome symptoms. The night after the c-section, this was my chief complaint. I held ice bags constantly and they gave me an additional anti-inflammatory and diuretic. But, it gets better every day and now I am 100% free of something that I thought I’d have for the rest of my life…although if it did not clear up by 3 months post-partum I was all about the CT release surgery…I am a research analyst and there was no way I could handle that being at my computer all day.
Anyway, I don’t mean to freak you out, but the swelling is “quite” significant. I just wish that someone would have warned me about this “side effect” because it would have made things a lot easier just knowing that it WOULD get better!
You’re going to do great!!
My kiddos were delivered by c-section at 39! weeks. My daughter weighed 6lbs 12 oz’s and my son weighed 7lbs 12 oz’s. I was tremendously uncomfortable at the end, by my docs were super cautious and wouldn’t deliver me before then. Twin A (boy) was breech, Twin B transverse. Honestly, I was relieved to have the decision made for me as I too REALLY didn’t want to do both. The C-section was uncomplicated, but recovery was rough. Of course, I never has a baby vaginally so I had nothing to compare it to. I remember feeling some pressure (I don’t know from who) to have a vaginal delivery if at all possible, almost as if a c-section was the easy way out.
I am sure you will make the best decision for you, and I can’t wait to hear how well everything goes!
Take care!