The Birth Story

I found out I was pregnant on December 17th, 1999. The doctor said it was twins. I was completely ecstatic! At my 13 week appointment, the doctors confirmed I was carrying triplets (three girls) and that one baby could be anencephalic. I miscarried one girl, who we later named Amelia Grace, on February 7th, 2000 when I was about 17 weeks pregnant. The rest of the pregnancy was fairly uneventful, except I was forever going into labor, but..... I woke up around 8:00am on Sunday, May 28th, having contractions. After being told I was already one centimeter dilated on Friday, I figured I'd let it go. I was only 33 weeks, but the doctors were sure that the babies were viable. The contractions were regular and kept gradually worsening. I hung around the house until my water broke at 1:34pm. I called my doctor who said to come in when I thought I needed to. Great support, I thought to myself. We arrived at the hospital around 7:20pm. When I was checked, I was already 8 centimeters and the sonogram showed Baby A, Brittney, vertex and Baby B, Kate, transverse. That got me scared because the last thing I wanted was a c-section. I was dilating extremely fast and they were going to hold off on the eipdural for the first one and give it to me for the second. After I started screaming and begging for it, they finally paged Anesthesiology and I got my epidural at about 8:00pm. The nurse checked me around 8:10, and I remember her nodding her head and looking up at me. "Susan, this is going to be the best news you've heard in your life," she said to me. "I'm 10 centimeters?" I asked and she nodded. Joel let out his breath as if he had been holding it for hours. I pushed about four times and Brittney Joan Ostermann arrived at 8:16pm. She was born kicking and screaming with APGARS of 8 and 9. She weighed 5lbs. 1oz. and was 16 inches long. The next delivery was a bit more complicated. After Brittney was born, Kate had immediately turned vertex and the doctor said he could feel her head in my pelvis. My water broke again at 8:24 and my uterus began contracting hypertonically. After I pushed only twice, he realized that I wouldn't be able to deliver this baby without some assistance. He quickly explained the procedures and gave me a first degree episiotomy and used the vacuum suction to deliver Kate Elizabeth Ostermann at 8:31pm. She was born cyanotic and hypoxic and whisked off to the NICU for extra oxygen. She was 4lbs. 9 1/2oz. 16 inches long. Her APGARS were 5 and 8. The healthy placenta was delivered at 8:34pm. My total labor had lasted about 12 1/2 hours, and believe me, I was ready to be done with it!

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