How we got here - Part 3

On Tuesday, June 19, I took Christina to what was supposed to be a routine appointment with her perinatologist (specialist for high-risk pregnancies, like twins). The contractions she was having earlier had settled down, and at her appointment the week before, everything looked fine. She was at 32 weeks gestation, or two full months from her due date, and up to this point the doctor expected that she would make it at least to 35 or 36 weeks -- twins rarely make it to the full 40 weeks, but are usually considered full term around 37 weeks.

This time, however, her cervix had shortened quite a bit, and although she was not having contractions, the specialist advised a course of steroids to help the babies' lungs mature just in case she did go into labor soon. Because the medicine was not available from local pharmacies, her regular OB decided to admit her to the hospital that afternoon so that she could get the steroid shots and additional medication to help stop any early labor. By Wednesday afternoon, everything still looked OK, and they expected to send her home that evening after the second steroid injection, or possibly the following morning.

I left the hospital to get some shopping done in preparation for her having a few more weeks of bed rest. By the time I got back "home" (to her apartment, where I'd been staying with her), she called and told me she had suddenly started having contractions, was already dilated to 3cm, and that the doctor told her these babies were on their way!

We already knew she would need a C-section because both babies were breech (butt first instead of head first). I rushed back over to the hospital and called Russ on my way. As he headed to the airport to fly in, Christina and I got ready to go into the operating room.