Birth Story, Short Version

Thursday May 14 saw the early arrival of the twin boys, James Frederick Barr and Matthew Alden Barr. They were born at 27 weeks, 1 week after Melanie went to the hospital with pre-term labor symptoms. After a week of hospital bed rest, she was scheduled to be discharged Thursday afternoon (May 14). Her physical exam Thursday morning looked fine, indicating she was good to go home. But, she started having some back pains just before lunch that the nurses attributed to muscle spasms or pinched nerves. You can probably see where this is going……by 1:30 the pain had intensified a lot, at which point one of the nurses observed that “she looks like she’s in labor”. The doctor conducted another quick exam and confirmed that, indeed, she was in labor and the babies were already on their way. Melanie asked him if he was sure, and he smiled and said yes, he was sure. They rolled her immediately upstairs to the OR for an emergency c-section. Fortunately, she was awake for the delivery and I was by her side.

Matthew arrived first, at 3:33 pm. He was 14 inches long. His color was pretty good from the start and he was doing well with his blood pressure and breathing, although he was put on a ventilator pretty quickly after the delivery. He was taken off the ventilator within 24 hours (a good thing) and his condition continues to improve.

James was born at 3:38 pm and weighed 2 lbs 5 ounces. He was 14 inches long. James was bruised by the delivery and had a nicked umbilical cord, causing a bit of bleeding. This probably contributed to his poor color and low blood pressure at birth.

A day later and after a blood transfusion and 4 doses of surfactant (lubricant for the lungs), James’ color and vital signs have improved. As of midnight Friday he was maintaining his blood pressure on his own, his color improved, and by Saturday afternoon he was removed from the ventilator.