Spafford Family News

On July 19th my mother in law Barb finally arrived at our house and what a blessing that was! On july 5th I went to the specialist office for my routine ultrasound that I had every two weeks and I got put on bed rest because the babies fluids were not looking great. Gabby had an over abundance of fluid and Briggs fluid was low. In a way I kind of laughed at the doctor when he said bed rest because how in the world was I going to be on bed rest with 4 little ones and no family and very few friends around but I told him I would do my best! I called the relief society president Mary Snow and she was awesome. her youngest just left for BYU for summer semester so she was and empty nester for the first time ever. What better way to fill her time them watching my four little ones almost ever day. While on bed rest I was allowed to get up to make my food, go to the bath room, and attend Dr. appts. So the morning of the 20th which was a friday I went to the acupuncture lady to try and get Briggs to flip so that I could hopefully have a vaginal birth. After my Dr. appt that I had on Thursday the specialist kind of freaked me out about Gabby's fluids so I was a little on the paranoid side. I knew my Dr. office closed at noon on friday so at 11ish I called my doctors office and asked them if I could please just go to the hospital for a non stress test so that I could relax over the weekend and know that both babies were ok. I headed to the hospital and was there for a few hours with multiple nursing trying to complete a NST on both babies and they were not able to because Gabby was moving way to much. So since they couldn't complete the NST they sent me down for an ultrasound. The lady that was doing my ultrasound was a complete idiot. I guess she was new and was in the training process. Also the kid on ultrasound she was trying to do was not one that she typically did is was a biophysical profile. After about an hour and 40 minutes she finally finished the test and I was wheeled back to my room! it was now around 5:40 and it was obvious that we were not going to be attending the ward activity that night! When I got back to my room Zach and Allissa were there. Allissa was worried about me so zach brought her with me. Briggs ended up failing the ultrasound because he wasn't moving his extremities like he was suppose to and one other thing that I think had to do with his "practice breaths" I honestly wasn't that worried because the tech was such an idiot. Needless to say my Dr was ready to cut me open, but the specialist wanted me to stay in the hospital over night and redo the test in the morning. If Briggs failed the test again then the baby specialist agreed to take the babies. At 7 there was a shift change and my new nurse came in and introduced herself to me. She said, I notice you are having regular contractions can you feel them? I said, "yes, but that they were no big deal that I have had them for MONTHS!!!!" By 8 i called the nurse in and asked her is there was medicine that she could give to to stop the contractions because they were a little worse and if I HAD to sleep in a hospital for the night with monitors all over my tummy I preferred to be comfortable! She said she would ask Dr. Field about it and get back to me. They moved me to a different room for the night that was just down the hall but that was smaller since I wasn't having babies! At 9 Zach left to take Allissa home for the night, get the camera just in case.Right after they left the nurse comes in and says, Dr Field wants me to check you to make sure the contractions are not doing anything and along as all was unchanged I could have meds to stop contractions. At 9:05 she checked me and said, "honey, you are a 4.5 and I can feel a foot, you are going to have some babies now!!!!" The nurse was like where did you husband go. I told her that he was talking our daughter home. She said, "call him right now and tell him to hurry back." after that everything was a blur. I called Zach right away and said, "Honey hurry back we are having the babies!!!" By the time he got back, the lab had been in my room to get my blood type for the c-section just incase i needed blood, and the nurses had put in my iv. I called my mom and informed her of all and then I gave the phone to Zach to talk to here. They brought me to the OR and made Zach stay behind and get changed and ready for the OR. I was so nervous I couldn't stop shaking. My ob was sooooooo awesome she held my legs and comforted me as I received my spinal block. The nurse offered to take over for Dr Field but she declined and said she would do it!!! She was such and excellent doctor!!! Because I had just eaten a huge meal, since I had not eaten since breakfast and thought I was just spending the night, the anestiologist was not happy. He made me drink this incredibly nasty stuff to help me not choke and die on my food during to operation. Zach finally came in once the operation was ready to start. My mom insisted on being on the phone so she was in his pocket so she could here what was going on. Everything great! There were a lot of people in the OR because each baby had their own NICU team ready for them. Both babies were born and were healthy. The anestieologist took our camera and took all the pictures you see below during the operation and us meeting the babies for the first time! Briggs came out first weighing 4 pound and Gabby 1 minute later weighing 4.14. They were born at 34 weeks 5 days.

Briggs

Gabby

Briggs

Gabby

Meeting and holding Briggs for the first time before they took them to the NICU

gabby

briggs

This is about 1am when I was released from recovery and was heading to my room. I go to see the babies and touch them for a few minutes.

Zach holding Briggs

Briggs

This is at like 8am when I was able to go see the babies for the first time. After this visit I barfed my brains out as they were wheeling me out of the NICU. Normally they don't let you get up to go see your babies for 24 hours after a c-section but I insisted I was fine because I had to see my babies!!!!

Gabby and Briggs together for the first time after being delivered

Grandma Barb getting to hold Briggs for the first time. Just after this picture we were informed that only mom and dad can hold the babies in the NICU