Hospital packing list for twins or singles

Ok here comes a long story, a probably to detailed, maybe more than you needed to know story and what I needed most when I went to the hospital and had my wonderful twin boy.

I was 38 weeks when I went into the hospital to be induced.  38-39 weeks is considered full term for twins(apparently twins grow faster than singles). I tried every trick in the book to induce labor but when push came to shove(quite literally) those little babies just didn't want to come out. 

So we walked into the hospital entrance with my hospital bag that I way overpacked and I had my list in hand of how I wanted my birth to go. Or so I thought. I had it planned to have a all natural birth no epidural and hopefully no C-section.  Yeah cause life ALWAYS goes as planned right? 

Well we got in there at 8pm on October 17th.  My Husband and I were very excited to meet our little ones that we had only seen pictures of. 

 

We got all settled in and they proceeded to hook me up to an IV(Which hurts pretty bad by the way, but it also might be because I really hate needles) and started the Pitocin and put tons of annoying monitors on my already uncomfortable belly. And had Wyatt and I fill out a whole bunch of paperwork

So the labor started, it was pretty mild at first and I tried to get sleep when I could but its really hard to sleep when you have to many wires attached to you, and you cant sleep on your back, a nurse comes and readjusts the monitors quite often, your having contractions, and you constrantly have someone checking how dilalated you are so you have fingers up you know what, you have to pee like all the time because your still. So I have to either wake up my husband are call a nurse to unhook me from the wired and help me to the bathroom. Oh and might I add with no underwear in a backless gown. Not my most appealing moment but when your that tired and in pain you just don't care who sees your behind.  

So at 8am the next morning my water still hasn't broke and I am know 3 or 4 centimeters. Big bummer for me I because I came in 3 centimeters dilated.  So they broke my water, which is really uncomfortable, they stick this hook thing up there and then a rush of  fluid, in my mind oh water isn't that gross its just really thin water substance and once my water breaks that will be that. Wrong.  yeah my mind was pretty juvenile going into this birth thing. Its more like a slimy messy bloody mess that never stop leaking so every time I went to the bathroom I left a trail of drips to and from the bathroom.  

The contractions had gotten worse after they broke my water. They checked to see if I was dilated at 9am and nothing had changed.  I was still pretty upset that NOTHING had changed. It was been 13 hours and I was still pretty much the same as when I arrived.  So we waited and waited. Wyatt(my husband) has a large family. and combined with my family there was a lot of people coming and seeing us all day. My mom and His mom stayed there pretty much the whole day.  

Finally at 1pm the Dr. came in and told me I had a decision to make. My blood pressure had gone up  from the pain and so be safe I had to make a decision. I had two choices I could either take this really awful medicine that would make me sick or I could have an epidural. Not at this point I hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours because of nausea, I was having contractions every minute and was in a lot of pain and I thought I was being a wimp because of only being 4 centimeters. And there was also the possibility of having to have a C-section because of the twins, and if they did a C-section I would have to be put out completely and I really didn't want to miss the birth of my boys. So I Caved and had an epidural. 

I really have a fear of needle so just the thought of someone poking a needle into my spine really worried me. So they had me take my gown off and I held it over my front as they prepped my back. 

As I sat up in the hospital bed another wave of nausea came and thankfully I my hubby had enough time to grab a bag for me. Right after that whole thing was done the anesthesiologist stuck me with a noodle and then taped it down to my back. I have to clue how this work the only thing I know it was something was taped back there to release the anesthesia. Anyhow it did hurt. 

So right after they finished the epidural my husband decided to go get lunch.  The doctors came in right after he left and checked to see how far I was dilated and it turns out I was over 9 centimeters, and they said I would be going in to the OR soon. So we called my husband and had him come back before he could get a chance to eat. 

We got really excited and got prepped to go to the OR because when you have twins you have to deliver in the OR just in case you have to have a C-section. But to our dismay the OR was full so that meant we had to wait. And waiting felt like forever the pain was starting to come back but it was still bearable. So we waited for 3 hours for the OR to become available.  My Husband was dressed head to toe in blue scrubs and we waited anxiously. 

The nurse came in again and checked my cervix and but she had a really weird look on her face then she left without saying anything and returned with the dr. Then the Dr. proceeded to check my cervix, while she was down there digging around she told me she was having a really hard time finding my cervix. when she finally found it she said I had dilated to 12 centimeters. Not really sure what that means but it is pretty rare. 

So they wheeled me into the OR a little after 4 pm. Then moved me into this metal table and strapped my legs into braces. And within 3 pushes Archer Levi was born. I cant really explain the feeling of seeing your crying baby for the first time but it is truly breathtaking. He was a little miracle that God blessed me with. And I instantly loved him more that I ever thought could ever be possible. 

My husband went to go be with him 10 feet away as they weighed and cleaned him up a bit. Meanwhile Ronan had stuck one of his feet out of my you know what. He was taking advantage of all the room since his brother had left.  The dr. shoved her whole arm in me to try to turn him while pressing on the outside of me belly with the other arm. It had me moving all over the table like a ragdoll.  The Dr. flipped him over trice just to have him flip back over and stick his feet out again. but after the second try his heartbeat dropped and they had to preform a C-section. 

Up until this point I had been able to feel everything, not intense pain but I could feel everything happening. But when Ronan's heartbeat dropped they asked me is I was ok with them preforming a C-section I had no objections. My top priority was to get Ronan in my arms safely.  

So they increased the pain medication and prepped me for surgery. They placed a curtain right under my boobs and layed my arms straight out on either side of me.  They turned on a bright medical light over my belly but I could see it over the curtain. The only bad thing was it had a metal piece that reflected what it was facing at which was right where they were cutting(so I saw everything) They had pretty much taken off the gown that I was wearing and I was freezing so bad. 

 So there I was on a metal table naked with like 15 people watching. But when your in that kind of situation you really don't care.  

When they started cutting it felt really weird, maybe like if you were to press your finger on a taught piece of fabric and slide in down. The Dr. had to work to get Ronan out, I was tugged all over as they pulled him out. I wish I remembered seeing my Ronan for the first time but I really don't. At some point they placed archer on my chest. 

But after Ronan was born I was layed out severely trembling for the cold. And also being yanked around from the dr. trying to clean everything out of my womb. which is a really, really weird feeling. You can actually feel them scraping everything out. I remember slowly drifting off as my body was violently being jostled back and forth.  

The next thing I remember was waking up in the recovery room with my hubby and two wonderful boys.

Ok so you might wonder why I didn't include some things that you would probably think to take. That's because there are some things that the hospital provides that you will want to take advantage. 

• Food. You can order what you want and they will bring it to you. But I would suggest bringing snacks for hubby(Mine gets really hangry if he doesn't eat).
• COFFEE!! I couldn't drink it but Wyatt sure did. 
• Movies. 
• Slippers. They provide them but I wanted my own comfy ones
• Blankets and Pillows for you and your hubby
• Gowns. They provide gown but I still took my own and it ended up being a little small. After the birth is had blood and gross stuff on it so I threw it away and used the hospitals.  But its your choice. 
• Birth ball.
• Swaddles, one hat and clothes for the baby. 
• Washcloths, Towels
• Labor ok foods. they provide food that your hubby or a nurse can go get like yogurt, jello and juice. My husband ate a ton of these. He eats like he is a bottomless pit. 

 Freebies from the Hospital.

• Mega Pads best thing ever for postpartum bleeding. 
•  A water rinse thing for spraying water on your who ha after you give birth. Helps  with the pain a ton.
• Mesh panties. I chose to use my own undies, I when and got some large boy shorts. and they were also big enough to come above my C-section scar.
• Lots of informational packets.
• Boobie stuff Yippee. They gave is a load of Mendela breast pump stuff. 
• Manual breast pump with everything you need to pump.
• Lanolin for the breast pump but it also helps with the pain from nursing.
• A hat for each baby. Not sure if this one is normal for hospitals but I think some old ladies knit hats to give to all the newborns. But they fell on the floor very often and after each on hit the floor I didn't want to use it again until after it was washed to we used a new hat each time. 
• Your very own water bottle.
• I am sure there were a couple more freebies but I cant remember all of them

  The Reason to take stuff for your hubby too

Your hubby is going to support you a lot to through this whole process and he needs to be all set too. 

The number on thing my husband needed was food and if he doesn't have food he gets grouchy and if he gets grouchy it just makes everything worse. So just make sure your hubby is ok. Because we all know going and actually getting something might blow his mid or something.   

  

• Food is the number one thing. I wished I would have packed more man snacks like jerky. But I didn't think that far. But I sure will next time. Oreos helped wyatt a ton too(they are his favorite)!
• Toiletry set for him. This was a necessity because after three days in the hospital he was kind of smelly.  But it was also a good thing because I had to take a shower and with a C-section it was really hard to do it without him. And he washed up too.
• Extra clothes. I packed him 3 T-shirts, a pair of sweats for nights, undies and extra jeans for the trip home.  
• Flip flops for the shower. 
• Blanket. I added blanket to the pictured list because I couldn't remember if the hospital provided the for husbands but if you ask I am sure they wouldn't say no. 
• A water bottle.  So he doesn't have to go back and forth with tiny little cups. 

I Hope this helps you out when you have your little one or ones. 

Please feel free to ask me anything or let me know if I missed something.