Doodle's Birth Story

One of the parts of having twins that terrifies me most is the birth. I am very scared of having a c-section, scared of the recovery and not being able to do things right away that I feel I should be able to do. Since this has been on my mind so much I thought it might be a good time to share Doodle's birth story with all of you. I wrote this 7 days after he was born. The process was somewhat trying at the time, however, I think it is such a beautiful story and I have very fond memories of the actual birth and labor.

I remember Nichole from work saying.... "you will have a birth story" like it was the neatest thing in the world. Now I realize it is. Keith's birth story is quite the tale, with the most happy ending!



I had been fighting pregnancy induced hypertension for about 2 months when I went to the doctor on January 13th. At this appointment my blood pressure was again high and I had traces of protein in my urine. I had been on bed rest for over a week now. Dr. Yazdi asked, "so when are we going to have this baby?" to which I replied "I don't know you haven't told me yet". After some more conversation back and forth he called the birthing center and set up an appointment for me to be induced the following day, January 14th at 7:00 pm.


Nate and I got the house all ready for the baby to come. Just last minute things like changing our sheets and sweeping the floors. We were all packed and ready to go. At about 6:40pm we knelt at our bedside and said a prayer for the impending labor and delivery and the health of our son. We then left the house thinking that when we returned our lives would be forever changed (in fact we told the kitty's that their lives as they knew them were over!)..


At 7:00 on January 14th we arrived at the hospital. They checked us into room 222 ( a room we became quite familiar with). My nurse's name was Karri. I ended up having a special place in my heart for this particular nurse because she had been through in-vetro 5 times and had just found out she was pregnant with twins! We had both seen the same doctor for the procedure. My vitals were taken and my first misoprostol was given at approximately 8:00pm. Throughout the night my cervix was checked several times with little to no changes. At about 2:30 am I woke up with pretty steady, strong contractions. I was given a misoprostol approximately every 4 hours. After about 39 hours of getting my cervix checked and misoprostol inserted every 4 hours I was sent home. I guess it wasn't really a failed induction because we didn't really even get to the induction point. The misoprostol was supposed to thin my cervix, but it was not working. So I returned home, with no baby... and continued on my bed rest. Sadly we also had my mother, Nate's mother, Nate's sister, and Nate's father who had spend the last 38 hours at the hospital with us waiting, who all returned to their homes as well..Over the next two days I lost my mucus plug, so I knew things were progressing and could not wait until my doctor appointment on Monday!


Monday at about 3:30pm Nate called the doctor's office to be sure that they were on time for my appointment, something that we had been doing the last couple of weeks trying to avoid me having to sit up for to long because being up would make my blood pressure spike. When he called he was informed that we did not have an appointment, but in fact, were being induced at 7:00pm that night, something that we had not been informed of. After much confusion it was determined that this was the new plan. So, Nate and I began to prepare yet again to have the baby. This time was a lot less stressful. We had already been there, done that... Luckily the house was still quite clean so we got everything together again, knelt by the bed for a prayer, and headed back to the birthing center hoping that this time when we returned we would have our son...


We were checked into room 222 again and Karri was our nurse. Dr. Yazdi came in at approximately 8:00 pm, checked me, and gave me a pill. After my two hours laying down, Nate and I began walking. I was having pretty good contractions. Dr. Yazdi was still at the hospital at about 11:40 when it was time to be checked and get another pill because he had another patient in labor. Dr. Yazdi checked me and said that I was still only about 1c m but my cervix had thinned to about 80%. He then left. At about 11:58 I felt a weird pop inside my body, it was like nothing I had ever felt before. Then I felt something wet between my legs. It was just a trickle so I didn't think to much of it. When I felt a little more a few seconds later I said to Nate, "I think my water just broke". We then called in the nurse. She and Dr. Yazdi checked and in fact my water had broken. We were on our way to having a baby!! As Dr. Yazdi walked out of the room he said "that is the best news I have heard all night!". Karri told me that at any point from then on I could have my epidural. I stated, "oh,no I don't need that yet" after about 45 minutes I changed my mind. My contractions were coming one on top of the other so I called for Karri. She asked if I would like to try some pain meds in the arm first so I said ok. She then said, well let me check you really quick and make sure your body hasn't made a big change on me". She checked me and found that I was 100% effaced and 3 cm dilated! I had changed a lot in about 1 hour. Karri then said she would just go ahead and call for the epidural. I was also put on a pitocin drip at this time, but not to induce contractions, to regulate them, something that never did happen throughout the labor.


Wow! That was the most agonizing 45 minutes of my life. My contractions were STRONG! and right on top of on another. Finally the epidural came. It took about 20 minutes and 4 pokes to get it in. Turns out I have a little bit of scoliosis and my vertebrae are very close together so it was hard to get it. Thank goodness it was even possible! Once it was it it was almost instant relief! I was able to drift in and out of sleep for the next several hours.


At about 7:00am I was checked and was very close to being 10 cm. I only had "a rim" to go. The shift changed and our new nurse, Silvia, joined us. By this time my epidural had began to wear off and I was feeling my contractions again. They called up the Doctor and I was given a "booster". At this time I lost all feeling in my legs and could not move them! I was able to fall into a pretty good sleep at this time until about 8:30.


At 8:30 Dr. Yazdi came in. He checked me and stated that if I did anymore sleeping he would turn off the epidural. It was time to push!! Pushing was quite the experience for me because I was so numb. I really couldn't feel the contractions coming or going and didn't even know if I was pushing right. Unfortunately my contractions were still coming one on top of another and could not really be charted. Silvia my nurse kept making me flip from side to side and push. It was at about this time we found out that the baby had defecated in the womb. We were informed that there was a chance that he would breathe in his meconium at birth and that if this happened he may have to go to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit. I did not like the thought of this!! Over the next 2 hours I continued to push. At about 10:30 the epidural began to wear off again and I could somewhat feel the contractions, something I was thankful for because now I knew when to push! About 15 minutes later Dr. Yazdi came in. This is when we were told that the baby was "sunny side up" or facing, face up in the birth canal. My pelvis was not expanding much and the position he was in was not allowing for him to pass through. He need to flip over into traditional birth position for the extra space to move through. Dr. Yazdi tells me that he will have to get the forceps to flip him. He states that this is a one push try and if it does not work we will be having an emergency c-section. Dr. Yazdi states that there is a chance I could tear during this procedure. I looked at Nate wanting him to tell me what to do and then said "just do it". The next few minutes were a whirlwind! I felt the forceps going in, felt some pressure, and the next thing I knew I was looking at my screaming, green, cone headed baby! I looked over at Nate and tears were streaming down both of our faces.... At 11:02 am, on January 20th, 2009, just as our nations 1st African American President was sworn in, Keith Douglas DeLaet was born. A miracle, a blessing.


Keith did not breathe in any of his meconium so he was cleaned, given his Vitamin K shot, and Nate cut his umbilical cord. During this time I was stitched up. Keith weighed 7 lbs and 4 oz. He is 20 1/2 inches long. He is the most perfect, wonderful thing that has ever happened to us. We will thank God everyday for him. I can't wait to watch this little man grow up... He has already been through so much, from being an egg retrieved from my uterus, to being fertilized in a lab, to being frozen and unthawed, to being flipped in the birth canal with forceps. My baby is a fighter... The beginning....