Name: Katie Guy
Where do you currently live? Fargo, North Dakota
How far along were you when you found out you were expecting twins? 10 weeks-we went in for our first OBGYN appointment/ultrasound and I remember the nurse asking us {while doing my/our family medical history} if twins ran in either of our families. Josh nudged me and said something along the lines of, “Wouldn’t it be funny if we had twins?!” I laughed at him….but the joke was apparently on me because half an hour later I was laying on the exam table naively looking at the small ultrasound screen when Josh looked at the NP doing the US, pointed at the screen and asked “Is that what I think it is?" He was SO excited and I was SO scared.
Any issues during your pregnancy? OH where do I begin?! A UTI at 11 weeks followed by an extremely painful kidney infection at 16 weeks. At 18 weeks we spent 6 hours in the ER, a night in the cardiac wing of the hospital and I was diagnosed with Tachycardia {my heart rate laying down was 160}. I was given strict orders to work no more than 20 hours per week and do nothing but lay down when I got home each day. I also took medication for the Tachycardia. I worked {I taught preschool at the time} until I was 30 weeks when I was put on full bed rest due to high blood pressure and my cervix shortening.
Memorable/funny moment when you were pregnant: SO many! I LOVED laying in bed feeling them move all over. :) Eli {Baby B} would always push back if I pushed on him and I thought that was just the coolest thing! I also thought the amount of looks and comments I got {especially towards the end} was amusing…and, if I am being honest, sometimes rude and annoying!
Looking back, what is one thing you would tell your pregnant self? SLEEP! I fully realize there isn’t a magic “sleep box” you can put all that extra sleep in and then use it in the future when you are a sleep deprived mother of twins but PLEASE go to sleep anyway!
How many weeks/days were you when your twins were born? 36 weeks
Baby A's Information: Max Robert
May 15th, 2012
7:48am
6 pounds, 9 ounces
19 inches long
Baby B's Information: Eli David
May 15th, 2012
7:49am
5 pounds, 11 ounces
17.5 inches long
Are your twins identical? Yes {Monochorionic-Diamniotic identical}
Did you have a c-section or natural delivery? C-section {this decision was made because Eli was breech and there are several risks involved with delivering twins who share a placenta naturally}. I hardly slept more than 2 hours the night before and we had to be at the hospital at 5:30am…I was SO nervous and the pre-op part of the morning is a huge blur to me. There were doctors, nurses and anesthesiologists in and out of my room all morning and finally it was time to walk into the OR. The spinal didn’t hurt one bit and my sweet nurse did her best to keep me distracted until Josh and my mom were allowed in the room {my OB was amazing and allowed my mom in the OR with us during the delivery which is fairly unheard of-I LOVED that my mom was there with us}. I was amazed by the amount of people who were in the OR that day-mostly all for my babies but still! I was SO thankful that a close friend of mine had answered my demands of a very specific walk through of her c-section experience because I got the shakes SO terribly {I thought I was going to shatter my own teeth} and she had warned me about them-I feel as though I would have been terrified if I hadn’t been expecting them. Josh and my mom both were practically sitting on my arms to keep them from shaking! I didn’t feel a ton of pressure but I think this is because I was SO focused on the shaking and listening to the doctor’s talk. Max was out first with a very loud cry-they held him up so I could see him and then whisked him away. No sooner was he out than I heard the nurses all laugh and my OB exclaim, “He peed all over me-that has NEVER happened to me!” :) Then it was time for Eli’s grand entrance! They held him up and blood splattered all over the curtain that was up…the nurse said, “Don’t worry-that’s not his blood”…how comforting {insert sarcasm here}. I felt like there was SO much going on at this point-I kept asking Josh to please go over and check on them but he was more focused on me and trying to help soothe the shakes. Max was being stubborn with his breathing so they brought him to me and laid him on my chest with instructions to talk to him…this is the most amazing part of my delivery experience because as I mentioned I had been shaking horribly and the anesthesiologist mentioned he could give me something to help with the shakes but it would make me very groggy. The second they put Max on me I stopped shaking and I just assumed he had given it to me…it wasn’t until they took Max away that I started shaking again and realized he hadn’t given me anything-amazing! Josh was able to hold both of them almost right away and he went with them to the nursery while they finished stitching me up. They wheeled me into the recovery room and brought the boys in almost right away so I could hold them for the first time :)
Any NICU time? If yes, for what reason and how long? NOPE! Max gave us a little worry right away but as soon as he got next to mama and heard my voice he straightened up ;)
Did you have any complications after delivery? I was great in the recovery room-they brought the boys in and we immediately tried breastfeeding which went fairly well. Once I could move my feet they moved me into my normal room and I insisted that Josh and my parents go get something to eat. A few minutes later they were bringing the boys in and suddenly I got extremely nauseous, light headed and felt like I was on fire {drenched in sweat}…my OB was paged and the rest is a blur to me…they gave me some meds through my IV, called Josh and took the babies out of the room. I woke up 4 hours later. :( This makes me SO incredibly sad but I know they did what they had to. I was in an extreme amount of pain the second day and by the end of the third day I started to feel more like myself! When I was discharged the on-call doctor told me to stop taking the medication I had been taking for my Tachycardia because my BP and heart rate had been great while I was in the hospital {um obviously-I’ve been laying in a bed for almost five days}…we went to my lactation appointment one week post-partum and my blood pressure was 189/105. I think the poor lactation nurse almost had a stroke herself! My OB was called, I was put back on bed rest {haha-with newborn twins} and back on my medication. Luckily at 12 weeks PP I was able to wean myself off of it and have had no problems since.
How long did you (the parents) stay in the hospital? 4 days
Did your twins stay with you or in the hospital nursery at night? In the nursery…the first night our nurse suggested we send them and honestly I didn’t argue with her-I was SO exhausted. After that first night we just went with that decision and it worked out well for us!
What are three things you are so glad you had (or wish you would have had) at the hospital?
1. Nursing tanks: I am sorry but the hospital gown was ditched after day 1 and I was SO thankful I had packed the nursing tanks…when you are a new mom and trying to figure out breastfeeding with not one but TWO babies the last thing you need is to be messing with shirts/hospital gowns/etc.
2. Chapstick: Anyone who knows me knows I don’t go anywhere without at least 2 tubes of Burts Bee’s…I even insisted Josh smuggle it into the OR with him {shhh don’t tell on me}!
3. Baby Onsies: I don’t know about anyone else but people kept telling me not to bother with packing a bunch of clothes for the boys because the hospital provides clothing for them…um NO…those wrap shirts do NOT count as clothing. SO glad I didn’t listen to that piece of advice. ;)
Describe one of your favorite moments while you were at the hospital: I was finishing up in the shower-a PROCESS when you have just given birth-and I overheard Josh telling our boys how much he loved them…I burst into tears {hello hormones}!
If you had one piece of advice you could give an expecting mom of twins, what would it be? Read Twin Talk Blog. :) Social Media is amazing and can be SO resourceful! (Thank you, Katie!) :) And I know this is a cliché but enjoy the journey…one day you will look back on it with nostalgia!
Katie's Instagram: @katieroseguy
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Stay tuned for another fun giveaway from Twin Talk! You guys are so awesome.
Have a fun and safe 4th of July!
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