Honest Birth #19 featuring Ros Emely Ferreira

Mama Ros Emely Ferreira of Stress Free Mommies shares the C-section birth story of her twins on the Honest Birth birth story series! Ros Emely went into labor on her own at 36 weeks, had a C-section, and then experienced HELLP syndrome and postpartum preeclampsia and had to stay in the hospital for two weeks.

Hey mamas! Welcome to the nineteenth post in my Honest Birth series! I’m excited to share another real mama’s birth story, because I think it’s so important to share our childbirth experiences with each other. My goal with this series is to provide a place for women to share their birth stories without holding anything back, as well as compile stories for pregnant mamas to read in preparation for their own childbirth experiences. Every mama is different and every birth is different, and I believe that when we share our stories we help each other.

Today I am featuring my friend Ros Emely! Ros Emely and I have followed each other’s blogs for a few years, and we both blog about pregnancy and babies, so we definitely benefit from helping each other out! Also, today is her birthday!!! Happy birthday, Ros Emely!!! Ros Emely and her husband live in New York City with their three kids (a boy and two girls). She blogs over at Stress Free Mommies and she shares lots of great posts about pregnancy and babies, just like me! Today, Ros Emely is sharing the C-section birth story of her twins.

Ready to read all about her twins’ story? Here we go!

The Birth Story of the Ferreira Twins

My first born daughter had turned 3 years old when I decided it was time for my hubby and I to start trying for a second baby. We were ready and excited when we saw a positive sign on the 20th pregnancy test I took during the course of 3 months trying. I was a bit obsessed to say the least. There we were at our first sonogram appointment when my doctor said she sees two heartbeats. I was like “What! What does that even mean?” haha! It was a total shock for both me and my hubby to find out that we were expecting twins!

I was 24 years old when I got pregnant for the second time with twins. My pregnancy was normal, healthy and I had no complaints really. Well, other than having morning sickness (didn’t puke, thank God!) in the first trimester and then having swollen feet to the point that it hurt while walking. Yeah, that’s pregnancy life for you. I had an OBGYN, who to be honest, I didn’t really like that much. Something was off but I stayed with her because I didn’t want to deal with the
trouble of finding another OBGYN and all of that.

I was put on bedrest for the last two months of my pregnancy, which was fine by me. I got to spend a lot of time with my toddler before welcoming two more babies into our family, so that was great. But by the end of my pregnancy, I was already feeling super tired, I was having difficulty sleeping, was short of breath, and had to deal with swollen feet. I wanted to give birth already!

I remember the week before I gave birth; I experienced abdominal pain and was nauseous. I told my father to take me to the hospital because my hubby was working and he was going to meet us there. So we headed to the hospital where the nurses checked the babies to see if everything was okay. Everything with my babies was okay, but not with me and the nurses and I didn’t know it yet. They didn’t check on me at all! I was told to go home and I did, but then decided to go to my OBGYN. She told me it was probably something that I ate that was causing my abdominal pain. Okay? So I went home and a week later my water broke at 36 weeks pregnant.

I have always wanted to experience my water breaking and I finally did (I know I’m weird!). With my first pregnancy, my doctor broke my water and since I had the epidural, I didn’t feel anything. Anyways, so my water broke two weeks before my scheduled C-section. I was in my bed, ready to go to sleep when all of a sudden I hear a balloon popping sound. Then a lot of
water gushing through me. It was crazy to say the least.

Once in the hospital, my contractions were so intense I was almost crying. I couldn’t bear the pain. The only thing that I did was to breathe in and out through every contraction to try to help ease the pain. I had to sign a lot of papers in the hospital through every contraction and it wasn’t fun. My hubby was doing his best to help me calm down and relax. My parents and older sister were also in the room with me, while my youngest sister was taking care of my first born. My doctor finally came and I was wheeled to the operation room. I finally got my epidural and I felt so much better. Everything else went by super-fast. My hubby was right next to me and about 10 other doctors and nurses as well. I would say it took less than 30 minutes for my twins to be born via C-section. My twins were finally born on July 6, 2013.

My baby boy (baby A) was born first at 3:33 am weighing 5 lbs. 8oz and my baby girl (baby B) was born at 3:35am weighing 5lbs 10oz.It was love at first sight. We couldn’t be happier. After my surgery was done, they took me to a recovery room. To further keep an eye on me and for my hubby and I to spend time cuddling with our twins. My parents and sister were there to
spend time with my twins as well. It was a beautiful day.

My recovery was a little different than many women would experience. After two hours being in the recovery room, the nurses transferred me to my postpartum room. It was great but I knew something wasn’t quite right. The second day of my postpartum recovery, I had a kidney doctor, blood doctor, and my OBGYN doctor come to my room multiple times to check on me, my vitals, take blood out, and check my blood pressure. All I was told was that my blood platelets count was decreasing; my kidney and liver were deteriorating. Nobody really knew what was happening or why. I had wonderful super amazing nurses, I loved them! They helped me not be nervous and also helped me with the care of my twins.

Long story short, the same day of my daughter’s 4th birthday I was supposed to get a kidney biopsy because the doctors thought my health was deteriorating due to a damaged kidney. Mind you, I was healthy throughout my entire pregnancy. I was confused and cried a lot. That same morning, my hubby was with me and that’s when I seized for the first time. I woke up in the ICU the same day where I seized again! This is very hard for me to share because I still get anxiety from time to time. But I want to share my story with you. I was then put under a coma, my blood pressure skyrocketed and I was not looking okay. My family came to visit (I was unconscious). Everyone prayed, prayed and prayed for my health. My sister told me, that I was screaming to see my twins (I don’t remember) and all I wanted to do was be with them. I was in the ICU for about 4 days before I “woke” up from the induced coma. When I opened my eyes, I felt blessed, happy and calm. I knew I went through something
bad but didn’t know to what extent.

So fast forwarding a couple more days, I had amazing nurses taking care of me, I got to see my twins for the first time since being in the ICU. I had very blurry vision, couldn’t walk and one of the nurses told me “I’m taking you to see your babies, so pretend you are awake and good”. So I tried, I could barely see my twins because of my blurry vision. My hubby was there with me and we both hugged. He was extremely happy that I was there with him, with our children. I could honestly cry right now!

I was diagnosed with HELLP syndrome and eclampsia (severe postpartum preeclampsia). After two weeks being in the hospital, I finally got the okay to go home with my twins. I was so happy, scared, and nervous, but so ready to be in my house. My hubby, family and friends were so amazing to me. Every single prayer was heard by God and he made his miracle in me. He gave me a second chance at life. My faith definitely became stronger. I will always and forever be grateful to him. I am healthy, I get to enjoy my kids and my family and do what I love, which is blogging and making my cooking videos. The only thing I would do differently is change my OBGYN immediately after I felt she wasn’t the right fit for me. I would also probably be more informed about the dangers of pre-eclampsia and what signs to look out for. Since any healthy pregnant woman can get it.

The one piece of advice that I would give a mama about to have her baby is to have an open mind, and to not stress if her birth does not go as planned. Trust your body and mommy instinct and enjoy this amazing experience. Once you see your baby for the first time, your life changes forever. For the better, of course!

Wasn’t that amazing? I loved how she was so honest and shared advice for pregnant moms about being open-minded and knowing about HELLP syndrome and postpartum preeclampsia! And it’s so important to make sure you like your care provider, too! Thanks so much to Ros Emely for sharing her story on the Honest Birth series! Make sure you check out her blog and follow her on Facebook and Pinterest! And don’t forget to check back again later this month because I’ll have another Honest Birth post going up!