Pebble's little eyelids continued to flutter as she attempted to clear the cream from her eyes and look at me. A few minutes later, she seemed to have cleared enough of the cream to focus on my face. This kept her quiet for a few minutes. She must have realized that I was not her mom, because it wasn't long before she started screaming again. Soon afterwards, Keith arrived with BamBam (later named Erik), who was screaming just as hard as his sister. I asked the nurse if the twins could be put in the same warmer. "Sure, but just for a few minutes."
I dropped the side of the warmer down and Keith set BamBam down on the edge, his head resting on Pebbles arm. They immediately turned toward each other. They stopped screaming and stared into each other's eyes. A sense of calm suddenly came over both of them as they obviously recognized each other. BamBam held on tightly to Keith's fingers as Pebbles held on to mine. They stared silently and intently at each other for several minutes. Sadly, the nurse requested that BamBam be moved to another warmer for his newborn physical.
Keith lifted his son to move him to another warmer. Both babies responded immediately as if they were being physically torn apart. It broke my heart to watch them cry. I knew they felt both the loss of their mother's presence and their companion of nine months. Keith did his best to try and keep his hands on BamBam as he received a physical that involved squeezing his genitals to make sure the testicles had descended, pricking his heel for a blood sample, getting a shot of Vitamin K, and having an antibiotic placed over his eyes. I watched Keith cringe and I worried about his obvious anxiety. I finally had Keith come and stay with Pebbles. I felt he needed to bond with her too. This was a good time for me to try and calm BamBam.
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Deb: Suddenly everyone from the birth team was gone from the operating room except Eileen. She returned from the nursery just as Keith and Mary left with BamBam. It felt so wonderful to have Eileen there with me as she reached out and held my hand. I was not upset about being separated from the babies, because I knew they were with Keith, Carol, and Mary. I was feeling good and had just started to come out of my dazed state when the OB asked me to slide my bottom way down to the edge of the bed. She wanted to suture the vaginal tears I received when BamBam came flying through upside down. Before I had a chance to respond, a nurse from across the room yelled out, "She can't do that!" When asked why not, the nurse replied, "Because she's had an epidural!" I guess seeing how calm I had been during the delivery, she thought I'd been medicated. Everyone informed her that I hadn't had an epidural. I guess it surprised her that someone could deliver twins without one. All of a sudden my body began to shake. I held onto Eileen with all my strength. The tremors were so strong they scared the daylights out of me. I can't tell you how glad I was to have Eileen there with me. I don't know what caused the tremors, but they continued for weeks after the delivery and scared me every time. I suppose it had to do with the sudden change in hormone levels. After I was moved into my maternity suite, Keith brought Pebbles to me. BamBam remained in the nursery because his glucose was low. Carol, Mary, and Eileen had all left by this time. I wasn't happy at all with the nurse's decision to keep BamBam in the nursery. I hadn't seen him since the birth and I didn't like the idea of him being alone. The staff wouldn't let me have him until almost midnight, so my anxiety level was very high for the next 2 & 3 hours. Outside of that initial experience, the hospital staff was just wonderful. They brought in a cot for Keith and let us take the babies out of the warmers and into bed with me. Keith was absolutely exhausted and proceeded to pass out cold. |
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