Stella and Rome birth story

Saturday November 19 was a very normal day. Taylor works on Saturdays, so Rocco and I slept in and played around the house all morning/afternoon. Taylor got off work earlier than usual, so I gave him a haircut and we headed to Frisco to go to Ikea and get a few things for the nursery. We bought a crib, a crib mattress, and a dresser and then stopped for dinner on the way home. After getting Rocco bathed and ready for bed, I was laying with him reading stories and doing our usual nighttime ritual. I wasn't in any pain or anything but I remember thinking that there was no way I could be any more uncomfortable than I was at that moment. After Rocco fell asleep, Taylor and I watched an episode of Longmire (our current binge watching show) and after it was over Taylor fell asleep. I stayed up late to read my book as I usually do. Around 1 am, I had to get up and go to the bathroom. At this point in my pregnancy, I had to pee about every 10 minutes so this was nothing strange. I stood up from my bed and felt a little trickle run down my legs. I honestly thought I was losing control of my bladder at this point (haha!) so I went to the bathroom as usual not thinking much of it. When I stood up to walk out of the bathroom, the same thing happened again! I thought this was a little weird seeing as how I had just peed. I went back into our bedroom and was changing my bottoms when Taylor woke up. He asked me what I was doing and I kind of jokingly said, either my water broke or I am peeing my pants! That woke him up quick! He sat up worried and I told him that I really thought I was just losing  control of my bladder and not to worry. Then, Rocco woke up and had to go to the bathroom so I got up and helped him and then sat on the floor in his room for a few minutes until he fell asleep again. Every time I would stand up, the same little trickle would happen. I started googling "how do you know if your water breaks?" My water had never broken with Rocco and I had always heard that when it does break, its a big gush. This is not what was happening to me so I was in major denial. I went back into our room and Taylor was still worried asking me if we needed to go to the hospital. I kept telling him no, I'm not in labor and I'm fine don't worry. A few minutes later I had to use the restroom again and thats when all the blood happened and I knew I was in labor or something was wrong. I went out and told Taylor that we better go to the hospital. We started stressing about what we were going to do with Rocco. It was at least 1:30 in the morning and we just moved to Texas a few months ago so the amount of people we know here and felt comfortable calling in the middle of the night is very small. Taylor's cousin Abby lived about a 5 minute drive from us so we called her first- no answer. Then we called her husband- no answer. Then we called a friend- no answer. We were seriously considering just bringing Rocco to the hospital with us and if I really was in labor than well Taylor would just have to wait in the waiting room- when Abby's husband called us back and told us to drop Rocco off at their house. Up until this point I was pretty calm because like I said- I was in denial that I was in labor! I was only 35 weeks and I was positive that I would make it until at least 37 or 38. So Taylor started packing Rocco's overnight back and I was casually getting dressed when the contractions started. They came on fast and they came on strong! By the time we were loaded in the car on the way to Abby's house I was in a lot of pain and was starting to freak out. We dropped Rocco off around 1:45 am and started heading to the hospital. On the way there I called my mom to tell her what was going on and all I could say was "I think I'm in labor!" because I was hysterically sobbing. She said some things to calm me down and then asked to talk to Taylor because I literally couldn't talk. The hospital we delivered at is about a 20 min drive and I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes. Taylor was doing his best to stay calm but he was starting to freak out too. I was so worried that I was going to get there and they were going to tell me that I was past the point of being able to get an epidural. That drive felt like it took hours! So we finally get there and aren't sure where we are supposed to go so Taylor just jumps out and runs into the ER to ask them, then runs back out and tells me to go in there while he parks the car. The lady at the front desk asks me whats wrong and I say "I am 35 weeks pregnant with twins and I think I am in labor!" as I'm holding onto a chair for support because I am in the middle of a contraction. I remember hearing a woman that was sitting in the waiting room exclaim "Oh Wow!!" Taylor runs back in and they start taking us to the delivery ward but first stopped me at a desk and were having me fill out paperwork. Seriously? I am in so much pain right now and you are making me fill out papers?! We finally get into a room and get hooked up to monitors and I asked the nurse helping us if I was really in labor  or if they were going to send me home. (A little part of me still thought they were going to tell me that my water didn't actually break, I was peeing my pants and they were just going to send me home. Also because when I was in labor with Rocco they sent me home twice before they let me stay) The nurse looked at me and said "You are having contractions every 2 mins and leaking amniotic fluid everywhere, you are staying here and having those babies today!" We called our parents and let them know what was going on. I also asked the nurse if it was too late for an epidural and thankfully she said no it wasn't but I would have to wait a while to get one. We got to the hospital about 2:15 and finally got my epidural around 3. At that point I was dilated to a 3, so once I wasn't in pain anymore they left us alone to rest. I fell asleep on and off for a few hours and then shift change with nurses was happening at 6:30. She told my new nurse everything that was going on and before she left the room said that I was probably ready to be checked again. The new nurse checked me and said "wow! you are at a 10! your baby is right here, you are ready to push! I need to go find the doctor!" and left the room. Since I was having twins I needed to deliver in the OR in case anything happened and I ended up needing a C section. (Both babies had been head down at my last couple of apts so I was hoping that was still the case) I was calm at first, but the longer the nurse was gone the more I started to freak out. I wasn't in pain but could feel a lot of pressure and could feel baby A's head and knew I needed to push. The longer she was gone the more I started freaking out and told Taylor to go out in the hall and tell the nurses that I needed to push. Finally they came and got me and started wheeling me down to the OR. (My regular doctor wasn't on call so I don't even know the doctor who delivered me.) The OR was kinda crazy! There were so many people rushing around and yelling stuff to each other and it was so white and bright. I was trying to stay calm and breathe but was seriously freaking out. I was so scared to deliver two for some reason! Taylor was awesome and stayed super calm the whole time and was doing everything he could to keep me calm too. I pushed two times and my baby A, aka Stella Mia Russell (her middle name is after my mom, Maria, which is also my middle name) was out! She was born at 7:29 a.m. and weighed 4 lbs 4 oz. and was 17 1/4 inches long. She came out with a head full of black hair and she was screaming her head off. Taylor turned to me and sad "She looks just like you!" The nurses took her to clean her off and weigh her and everything and then it was time to get baby B out. My delivery nurse did a quick sonogram to make sure that baby B aka Rome was still head down. Thankfully he was, so I could also deliver him vaginally and start pushing. With Rome, I felt like I was pushing and pushing and nothing was happening. At one point, the doctor told the nurse to get him the vacuum. My delivery nurse leaned down and told me that Rome's heart rate was going down so the vacuum was our last resort to get him out or else we were going to have to do a C section. This is when I started to panic. Luckily, the vacuum worked and Rome Fred Russell (named after Taylor's dad) came out with a few more pushes. It felt like forever, but really it was only 12 minutes between the two. He was born at 7:41 am and was a lot quieter than his sister. He weighed 4 lbs. 15 oz. and was 18 inches long. When they held him up I thought he looked just like Taylor! The nurses took him too and while they were finishing up with me they brought the babies by my bed in their little incubators so that we could see them and touch them through the holes in the glass. At that point I didn't realize that they were going to have to stay in the Nicu for as long as they did- I for sure thought we were going to be able to hold them that day! Little did I know we wouldn't be able to see them for a few hours and wouldn't get to hold them until the next day- and that they would be in the Nicu for 9 days! All in all my delivery and recovery with the twins went really well (my recovery was a lot less painful than with Rocco)  even though it definitely didn't happen how I had it planned out in my head. Thats life, right? Now we have 3 beautiful, healthy, and happy kids and everyone is home safe and sound. I never thought I would be blessed with "spontaneous" twins but feel so lucky and happy that we were!