the birth story : in photos!

welcome back! i have received the birth photos from Heather Morrow , gone through them, gone through them again, picked my favourites, and decided to blog them!

now there’s something i need you to know: heather took the photos. if you don’t like how they are edited, you blame me. i did that. you never look down on heathers work, because she is glorious.

if you want to read the original post about the birth, you can head to this link and check it out. i’ll be summarizing things i mentioned there and add some new information. BONUS CONTENT. you guys are so lucky. if you like disorganized blogging, that is,  because that’s pretty much what i’m presenting to you right now.

let’s get started.

i’d like to introduce you to New Anesthesiologist – you can see him here in the fancy blue shower cap. originally we were told that due to my bleeding disorder that i would need to be put under for the c-section. this guy shows up and decides that idea is dumb and that he just wants to give me a “one shot spinal” and let me be awake for the surgery. was that a weird decision to have to make just a couple hours before the babies were here when we had been thinking of a different plan for weeks? yes. but New Anesthesiologist was right and there were no issues at all during surgery. it was awesome to be able to see the twins right away! thanks, guy. 

here we see me in my final hours of being the size of a planet. looking back it’s a little shocking! 

this is ann. ann should be a life coach because she had big blue eyes and explained everything in such a calming voice. she could have told me that the surgery was cancelled and i had to be pregnant forever and i would have been okay with that. sweet ann, you doll.

enter: baylie. she ran 46 miles the day before and still managed to be upright and come visit!

pictured below is sarah. she was the one who had me admitted a couple times due to the contractions. she was in charge of the machines that were attached to my belly to monitor the girls. i also love sarah, much like i love ann and New Anesthesiologist.

contractions hurt. as you can tell ann and ryan don’t seem too fazed by the fact that my body was currently trying to expel children out into the world, but whatever. it’s fine.

proud grampa alert. my dad showed up to drop off my medication and then literally taught the doctors about it. glad he was there… 

facetime! technology allowed ryan and i to “conference in” our siblings. i can’t tell you what any of us talked about. turns out that day was pretty busy and if it weren’t for these photos i’d probably forget all together 99% of what happened. 

now it is my pleasure to introduce to you my doctor. she’s one of the greatest humans on earth and if you ever want to have babies – go to her. she even has twin girls as well! how neat, amirite?

here’s where it gets good. mostly because i have that shower cap thing on and look COMPLETELY ridiculous. you’re lucky i’m sharing these photos. i just want to be real with you guys. “child birth is a beautiful thing”… but i’m not sure the outfits that go along with it are very beautiful. (seriously, those leg compression things were so weird. and bulky.)

the walk to the operating room! as you look closely, a nurse has her hand on my back. whats the over/under on her being comforting or making sure i don’t try to run away? 

ryan’s sweet moon suit. his final moments before his wife get sliced in half and new life is brought into the world. no pressure. 

AND IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY IN THESE PHOTOS, HEATHER WAS ABLE TO CATCH THE FIRST MOMENTS OF THE GIRLS BEING IN THE WORLD! look! 

these photos surprised both ryan and myself. i was obviously completely out of it, but he didn’t remember that he wheeled the girls out of the operating room and into the recovery room. i love the photo of him investigating max. makes your heart warm. and if not, it make *my* heart warm.

first round of baby snuggles! 

and first bath!

which … ava wasn’t too pleased about. already so dramatic!

please enjoy my double chin in the photo. i offer it so you can feel better about your lack of double chins. 

waiting room party! ryan came back and reported to me how many people were waiting. i had no idea! it was such a fun surprise. if only i hadn’t felt horrible! i’d demand a redo, but no. no thank you. 

here’s where things took a turn and the preeclampsia showed up and my pain level was … “this goes to 11”. in the original post i had no idea if i had visitors or pain first. looks like pain… visitors…pain.. then i was moved to another room for medication and recovery! in the mean time they had me hold babies. to keep me calm? to bond? i don’t know, but i didn’t mind one bit.

this photo right here shows me many things… but the main thing being that i need to steal that cell phone and delete the plethora of terrible photos of me that are certain to exist. shout out to grandpa dick for not posting those images. (yet?) 

and here comes grampa kevin to meet the girls for the first time! as you can see in that first image he’s LOCKED in and ready to get to know these girls! 

this definitely was one of my favourite things to see during those first few days in the hospital! if my mind wasn’t a steel trap on the pain i felt, i can totally see why girls get all loopy and want to have lots of babies! (and kudos to them for that, i’ll wave my white flag and call it good with twins!) 

voila! birth story in a very very small portion of the photos that heather took for us!

and now i must go, as yet again… my babies are hungry. machines, i tell you. machines.