David & Kaitlan Walker: Crew & Campbell- The Birth Story

I don't even know where to begin! We are so in love with these two babies! They are so much fun and fit in our family perfectly. We can't believe they've only been with us for three weeks! (Obviously I started writing this a while ago)

I will start at week 37. On Wednesday, April 16 I went in to my last doctors appointment. David came with me. I was 80% effaced and dilated to a 3, and Baby A was engaged and at a -1 station. (And my uterus was measuring 42cm) The doc said she'd be surprised if I made it past the weekend and asked if I wanted her to strip my membranes. David was all for it! I had heard how painful it was so was a little hesitant but ended up doing it. And it wasn't bad! David's finals started that Friday, the 18 and went through wednesday the 23. He wanted the babies to come before finals started so he wasn't worried everyday he left the house that I would be going into labor.

I had a hard time identifying what a contraction was because my stomach was already stretched so much and so tight all the time that that's what felt normal! Saturday night we decided to go out one last time and went to a dollar movie. I was uncomfortable the whole time and figured it was from the seats and sitting in one spot for 2 hours. Oh and also from all the stairs we climbed to try and induce labor! I really wanted to go into labor on my own instead of being induced! And so did David, so we hiked the football stadium stairs and the RB stairs on Saturday morning and afternoon. Sunday was the same thing. Lots of just uncomfortable positions and lots of walks.

Here we are Easter Sunday (April 20) and the last sunday as a family of 2! My calves were so sore from climbing all the stairs! I told David I was for sure getting an epidural because of the already pain in my legs haha. Grandpa George's birthday was today so that would have been cool to have the babies share a birthday with him, but I didn't want my babies to be born on 4/20, so I'm glad they held out a little longer!

Monday came along and I anticipated a phone call from the hospital to set up a time to come in tuesday for the induction. I slept in and took it pretty easy for most of the day. I finally convinced myself I was having contractions but they weren't obvious enough to track or time. I also finished up cleaning and packing as much as possible. We were planning to move 2 weeks after the babies were born and I knew I wouldn't feel like packing much after they were born!

The call finally came at 4:30pm. I was to come in Tuesday morning(4/22) at 6am! YES! I was so excited that it was first thing in the morning! The nurse told me to call in at 5am tho to make sure there was still a bed available.

I was starting to feel more intense contractions but sometimes they would be 5 min apart and then 30 min apart...nothing consistent. I had told myself I didn't want to go into the hospital until my water broke, because i'd then know for sure I was in labor. ha. So David went to his review monday night 7-9pm. At this point he only had one final left to take. (He took two friday and two saturday. The most important and hardest one was the only one left). I was definitely not feeling "normal" at this point but nothing I couldn't handle and didn't want to complain about it if it was nothing. So I dropped David off on campus and came back home to lay down. Around 8 o'clock, I text David and told him I didn't think I could wait till the morning. Well he had thought that same thing and was already walking home when he got my text. So we decided we were going into the hospital that night! I got in the shower and made sure the hospital bag was ready to go.

David got home and I was feeling totally fine. That's also what was hard was that I felt so good in between these contraction that I thought no way this was labor! I didn't want to be one of those people that the hospital sent home because of false labor. I'd be embarrassed and feel like a baby who couldn't handle a little pain haha. But, it's provo so I'm sure it happens all the time! I shouldn't have been afraid of that. So we took our time, ate dinner and went to fuel up the car before heading to the hospital. The hospital is 7 blocks from our house! So nice :)

We got to the hospital at 10pm Monday night. We were taken back to a room and waited for a nurse to check me. I was dilated to a 4 and 100% effaced, so she went to call the doctor to see if I should be admitted. I was far enough along that I got to stay! *side note (There were three other sets of twins in the hospital to be born that day!)After filling out all the paperwork, the doc came in to see me. (about 11pm) I was so excited to see that it was Dr Jacob! He was the doctor at my first appt who told me I was having twins! i hadn't seen him since because I went to a clinic with several rotating doctors. I was now dilated to a 5. He told me he'd like to give me an epidural just in case I needed to have an emergency C section and hoped that hadn't ruined any of my birth plans. Totally fine with me :) I was also having contractions every 30 seconds at this point.

Everything happened so fast after that! Dr Jacob broke my water right then and called in an epidural for me. Breaking my water was such a weird but cool feeling! He only broke Baby A's sac and would later break Baby B's. I was definitely feeling the contractions now! They were intense.

*Also, my parents were already on their way driving down to Utah. They had left Monday afternoon and had planned to make it a two day trip; staying in Burley monday night. But, once I told them I was thinking about going into the hospital monday night, they decided to come all the way through.

The anesthisologist came in and set up the epidural. I was told the meds would kick in in about 15 min. After an hour I still wasn't feeling much relief so he gave me another dose. Once I did feel it kick in, I couldn't feel a thing! It was awesome :) Now it was just the waiting game...

At midnight my parents got into Provo and came to say hi. I was dilated to a 6. We took pictures and then they left to our apt to sleep until the babies came. My nurse was great! She came in every hour and was always complementing me and making sure I was comfortable. At 2:30am I was at a 10! But, there was a little bit of cervix left on one side so we waited and she said she would come check again in another hour. (I remember thinking/feeling "another hour! I am going to have a baby in my lap if you leave me here for an hour" Haha little did I know how hard it was when it came time to pushing). At 3:30am, she came into check again and it wasn't cervix, it was Baby A's ear she was feeling! So she called the doctor to meet us in the Operating Room. The nurse unhooked all the monitors I was hooked up to and she and David wheeled me to the OR. I was so nervous, scared and excited at the same time! Within minutes, i was going to be a mom!

There was a total of 3 nurses, my doctor + David in the OR with me. A nurse for each baby and me. After about 10-15 minutes our Baby Boy was born! His nurse (David went too) took him away and the doctor didn't waste anytime getting ready for our baby girl to come. He broke her water and she dropped right into place. Campbell was born 6 min after Crew. The nurse came back in and I got to hold my baby boy for the first time! David came in also and told me Campbell had to be taken to the NICU to get some help breathing, so he went with her. But, reassured me that she was going to be okay. After 4 hours, I finally got to see my baby girl too!

Crew David Walker
6lbs 15 oz & 19in long
Born April 22, 2014 at 4:01am

Campbell Michelle Walker

6 lbs 6oz & 18 in long

Born April 22, 2014 at 4:07am

We were released Wednesday night. David got permission from his professor to take his final a date later. Thank heavens because we didn't get much sleep the first few nights at home. :)