Their journey to life...

Tuesday May 31^st – The morning began with me deciding to call my clinic because I had noticed a mild cramping in combination with the Braxton Hicks.  I had been experiencing Braxton Hicks for about a week or two but never in combination with cramping.  I first began to notice the mild cramping on Sunday while shopping in Portland during a weekend getaway with Cody.  On the drive home that night I noticed that the cramping seemed to happen on a regular basis so I decided to time them.  They were 9-10 minutes apart and would last for about 20-30 seconds.  I called my sister to ask her about what contractions should feel like and she said it sounded like something to call an on-call doctor about.  So I called the on-call doctor at about 11:30 p.m. and told him what I was experiencing.  He told me that since I was only 26 weeks it was probably just round ligament pain so I was to take some Ibuprofen when I got home and put my legs up.  I questioned him by asking about how they seemed to be happening on a schedule and he told me contractions would bring tears to my eyes and would occur every 5 minutes or less and last a minute or longer.  Since what I was experiencing was occurring less frequently and in shorter duration without moderate to severe pain I decided to take his advice.  I could not call my doctor at the clinic Monday morning because it was closed due to the holiday so I went about my day still feeling the occasional cramps but I just moved through them.  Tuesday morning I called my clinic so I could see my doctor and find out if there would be any type of restrictions for me during the week as my next appointment wasn’t until the following Monday.  I wanted to be sure the activity level I had was still okay.  My doctor was out so I saw a different doctor.  When I left for work I told Cody I would see him at the appointment and he didn’t think he was going to go to this one.  I told him it would be nice since he had been at all of my other appointments (it was always nice for me to have an extra set of ears).  I explained to the doctor why I was there and what I had been experiencing.  He asked if my regular doctor had been checking my cervix at my appointments and I told him he was going to be doing so at my next appointment the following week.  When he checked my cervix he told me I was dilated 3 cm.  Cody and I had no idea what this meant.  The doctor told me it meant I would go to the hospital, check in, and I would be on bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy.  He said they would give me medication to slow things down.  His overall goal for me was to make it to 32 weeks.  I kept giving myself a pep talk of “I can do six weeks of bed rest”.  So Cody and I checked into the hospital and got settled into a room while the nurses gave me magnesium through an IV.  I was hooked up to monitor that showed the babies’ heart rates as well as the timing of the contractions.  About 20 minutes after receiving the magnesium I noticed the timing of the contractions were occurring closer together and they were getting a bit more painful.  I asked the nurse when the medicine is suppose to start taking effect and she told me that she had called for the doctor to come look at the screen.  When I asked if that meant the medicine should have started working and if it was concerning she repeated her self and said “Yes, I am concerned”.  My heart didn’t completely sink not knowing yet what this meant but I was getting nervous.  The doctor came over and looked at the screen and said there was other medications he could attempt.  While he walked away to tell another nurse what medication to get for me a felt something wet.  I told the nurse that I thought maybe my water broke.  She asked the doctor to come examine me.  He checked me and instantly told the nurses to hold the medicine and book the OR – he told me I was having my babies that day.  I looked at him with what had to have been the most confused look on my face and asked him “So there is no way this can be stopped?” and he replied with “You’re having these babies within the hour”.  I looked at Cody and just cried and told him this can’t be happening because it’s too early.  They had Cody quickly get into some scrubs.  When he came out I was whisked away to the OR immediately.  I had Cody call my mom and tell her to start driving from Moses Lake immediately.  Just a little under two hours from arriving to my room for bed rest I was in the OR with a roomful of doctors, nurses, and anesthesiologist.  I was given an epidural; however, Jocie was delivered just 18 minutes from getting into the OR allowing little time for it to take effect.  After delivering Jocie I was having difficulty getting Jace out so I was put under  and he was delivered via c-section just 8 minutes later at 2:41 p.m.  During the entire process the doctor kept telling me the babies are in the best place with Kadlec’s NICU team.  I was so scared and I had no idea what would happen to my babies – would they come out breathing?, what would they look like?, will they be okay?, etc.  I remember after delivering Jocie asking Cody if she was okay because I couldn’t hear her cry.  He looked over at her and looked at me with a blank and scared face until a second later when we heard her cry – and so I did too.  I was so relieved to hear that cry.  I was kept in recovery until I became conscious for a few hours.  When I woke up I was confused, sad, in disbelief, etc.  I was taken to my room and I remember seeing Cody, his parents, and my parents waiting there and I just cried.  I didn’t know where my babies were or how they were doing.  I found out Cody had been with them while I was in recovery and he told me they were doing okay.  However, I still didn’t know the extent to which “okay” meant and at that point I really didn’t want to know yet.  I was even afraid to know how much they weighed.  I did get to see some pictures of them that Cody had.  They were perfect.  She looked so angelic and he looked – well – so much like Cody!  Our little babies – Jocie Nicole Ratliff 1 lb. 12 oz and 13 inches long born at 2:33 p.m. and Jace Kirby Ratliff 1 lb. 15 oz and 13¼ inches long born at 2:41 p.m. at 10:30 p.m.  I finally got to see them in the NICU at 10:30 p.m. that night.