WEBVTT - The Mum Whose Twins Were Born Two Very Different Ways 0:00:21.773 --> 0:00:26.372 You're listening to a MoMA Mia podcast. Mama Mia acknowledges 0:00:26.372 --> 0:00:29.412 the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast 0:00:29.573 --> 0:00:32.412 is recorded on. We pay our respects to elders past, 0:00:32.573 --> 0:00:36.132 present and emerging, and feel privileged to continue the sharing 0:00:36.173 --> 0:00:39.293 of birth stories and knowledge that has been a fundamental 0:00:39.333 --> 0:00:40.892 part of Indigenous culture. 0:00:45.132 --> 0:00:45.333 Hi. 0:00:45.492 --> 0:00:48.773 I'm Cassenya Lukij and this is Diary of a birth. 0:00:49.453 --> 0:00:52.333 We've all heard the stories of women not planning on 0:00:52.453 --> 0:00:58.093 getting pregnant then whoops, positive pregnancy test. But imagine thinking 0:00:58.133 --> 0:01:01.853 you were done having kids and whoops, twins. 0:01:02.853 --> 0:01:06.693 I showed him the photo that had the two sacks 0:01:06.733 --> 0:01:09.853 on the screen and he just said, no, no, show 0:01:09.893 --> 0:01:13.172 me the real photo. And I said, this is the 0:01:13.333 --> 0:01:17.373 real photo, and then we both just started laughing. And 0:01:17.613 --> 0:01:20.373 we've just sort of been laughing our way through ever since. 0:01:20.372 --> 0:01:25.652 I pose. And while we know that pregnancy with multiples 0:01:25.773 --> 0:01:29.372 often ends in a C section, today's mum was relieved 0:01:29.372 --> 0:01:32.772 to find out she was cleared to attempt a vaginal delivery. 0:01:33.173 --> 0:01:36.853 They basically said because I had had a successful vaginal 0:01:36.893 --> 0:01:41.452 birth previously and have twin a head down, that I 0:01:41.613 --> 0:01:44.853 was a great candidate to attempt a vaginal twin birth. 0:01:45.532 --> 0:01:47.373 So let's meet today's mum. 0:01:48.093 --> 0:01:50.852 Hi. I'm Cassie Jackson and this is my birth story 0:01:50.893 --> 0:01:52.532 with my twins, Charlie and Luna. 0:01:55.733 --> 0:01:59.453 Seeking a quieter life with acreage, Cassie and Scott moved 0:01:59.532 --> 0:02:02.612 up to Mackay from Brisbane for Cassie's teaching job. 0:02:03.053 --> 0:02:06.453 So life before the twins we were going through a 0:02:06.653 --> 0:02:10.013 massive change within our family. We had just sold our 0:02:10.053 --> 0:02:14.093 house in Brisbane to move up to MacKaye, taking a 0:02:14.133 --> 0:02:17.773 bit of a gamble on a opportunity for me to 0:02:18.252 --> 0:02:22.493 get a teaching position in a rural area where we 0:02:22.493 --> 0:02:27.373 were very fortunate to get relocation and teacher subsidized housing 0:02:27.453 --> 0:02:30.653 and those sorts of things in place so that we 0:02:30.733 --> 0:02:34.733 could work towards our dream of buying an acreage property, 0:02:34.773 --> 0:02:36.893 which we knew was never going to happen if we 0:02:36.933 --> 0:02:40.213 stayed in Brisbane. We wanted to have that slower pace 0:02:40.292 --> 0:02:42.213 of life for our kids. 0:02:42.813 --> 0:02:45.532 With a thirteen year old step son and three year 0:02:45.572 --> 0:02:48.813 old daughter she shared with Scott, Cassie was looking forward 0:02:48.852 --> 0:02:51.252 to a fresh start in far North Queensland. 0:02:52.773 --> 0:02:56.493 Yeah, we weren't planning to have any more children. Within 0:02:56.532 --> 0:02:58.773 a space of a few weeks, I lost both of 0:02:58.813 --> 0:03:03.053 my grandfathers on my side of the family. And it 0:03:03.093 --> 0:03:05.692 was only a couple of weeks after that, during one 0:03:05.733 --> 0:03:08.373 of my grandfather's funerals, that I knew that there was 0:03:08.493 --> 0:03:11.013 just something else sort of going on, And so I 0:03:11.053 --> 0:03:15.292 took a test that night and it came up very 0:03:15.373 --> 0:03:17.773 very strong straight away. And I would have only been 0:03:17.813 --> 0:03:19.773 about three and a half weeks or so at that 0:03:19.893 --> 0:03:22.373 point in time, so it was definitely a bit of 0:03:22.412 --> 0:03:26.413 a shock, but also something that I sort of felt 0:03:26.453 --> 0:03:28.773 in my bones that there was some sort of other 0:03:28.933 --> 0:03:30.933 change that was still to come after all of the 0:03:30.972 --> 0:03:37.893 loss that we had just gone through. When I told Scott, 0:03:37.893 --> 0:03:41.613 my husband, that we were having twins, we just laughed 0:03:41.733 --> 0:03:45.053 our way through. It was during COVID time, so I 0:03:45.133 --> 0:03:48.693 had to go to the dating scan by myself as 0:03:48.733 --> 0:03:51.452 he had to stay home with our other children. And 0:03:52.013 --> 0:03:54.733 I saw those two sacks up on the screen, saw 0:03:54.773 --> 0:03:57.453 those two heartbeats, and we had had a little joke 0:03:57.573 --> 0:04:00.293 the night before as well that wouldn't it be funny 0:04:00.293 --> 0:04:04.013 if there was two heart beats, And so I showed 0:04:04.053 --> 0:04:08.053 him the photo that had the two sacks on the screen, 0:04:08.373 --> 0:04:11.493 and he just said, no, no, show me the real photo. 0:04:12.013 --> 0:04:15.172 And I said, no, this is the real photo. And 0:04:15.373 --> 0:04:18.733 you know then very sternly, no, where is the real photo? 0:04:19.453 --> 0:04:23.253 And I said, this is the real photo. And then 0:04:23.533 --> 0:04:26.332 we both just started laughing, and we've just sort of 0:04:26.373 --> 0:04:29.173 been laughing our way through ever since. I suppose. 0:04:29.853 --> 0:04:33.413 Given the added risk of multiples, Cassie was monitored closely, 0:04:33.613 --> 0:04:36.892 but by thirty six weeks and a very hot summer, 0:04:37.493 --> 0:04:40.253 Cassie was ready to meet her twins. 0:04:40.293 --> 0:04:44.213 From about my twenty week scan TWINB she liked to 0:04:44.293 --> 0:04:47.013 flip all over the place, but that was pretty common 0:04:47.493 --> 0:04:50.773 for a twin bee, and so they basically said, because 0:04:50.813 --> 0:04:55.613 I had had a successful vaginal birth previously and have 0:04:55.813 --> 0:04:58.813 twin a head down, that I was a great candidate 0:04:59.173 --> 0:05:04.333 to attempt a vaginal twin birth. From about thirty six 0:05:04.613 --> 0:05:08.493 and a half weeks, I was definitely ready for these 0:05:08.573 --> 0:05:11.333 babies to come out. It was the middle of a 0:05:11.733 --> 0:05:17.573 very hot summer in North Queensland. We had set everything up, 0:05:17.653 --> 0:05:20.653 the beds, nursery, all of those scenes. We were ready 0:05:20.733 --> 0:05:21.973 for these babies to come. 0:05:22.693 --> 0:05:25.133 Usually twins don't make it to full term, so hats 0:05:25.173 --> 0:05:27.293 off to Cassie for keeping those little ones in there 0:05:27.373 --> 0:05:30.853 till thirty eight weeks, but now it was time. 0:05:31.053 --> 0:05:34.253 I made it to thirty eight weeks. It was a Sunday. 0:05:34.493 --> 0:05:36.173 I knew that day that we were going into the 0:05:36.173 --> 0:05:38.893 hospital to have our next sort of check in. I 0:05:39.013 --> 0:05:42.173 was not leaving that hospital without them out of me. 0:05:43.853 --> 0:05:49.493 Really done by that stage. We went with the plan 0:05:49.653 --> 0:05:53.573 of getting induced, so they started the process of doing 0:05:53.613 --> 0:05:58.253 the induction. I stayed in the birthing sweet overnight that night, 0:05:58.533 --> 0:06:01.013 which was really great because Scott was able to stay 0:06:01.053 --> 0:06:03.493 with me. They set up a little cot for him 0:06:03.533 --> 0:06:07.893 in the side of the birthing sweet room. Because it 0:06:07.973 --> 0:06:13.133 was getting towards midnight. I was getting some really intense 0:06:13.333 --> 0:06:16.973 cramping pain, contraction type pain, which I think is quite 0:06:17.013 --> 0:06:21.053 common when it comes to the tape form of action. 0:06:22.133 --> 0:06:25.133 They were able to give me some morphine and that 0:06:25.253 --> 0:06:29.173 sort of slowed everything back down, and then the doctors 0:06:29.173 --> 0:06:34.213 all came in and manually broke my waters and started 0:06:34.293 --> 0:06:35.613 the whole process from there. 0:06:36.213 --> 0:06:39.573 Cassie's team had a loose birth plan, but things don't 0:06:39.613 --> 0:06:41.133 always go as expected. 0:06:41.813 --> 0:06:44.613 They were sort of checking on how bubbs were doing 0:06:44.973 --> 0:06:48.213 by having both of their heart rates monitored. They did 0:06:48.253 --> 0:06:51.413 an ultrasound to see where they were positioned to once 0:06:51.453 --> 0:06:54.773 again make sure that Twin A was still head down 0:06:55.493 --> 0:06:58.933 and to see what position Twin B was in. At 0:06:58.933 --> 0:07:04.053 that point in time she was breached. She was feet first. 0:07:05.133 --> 0:07:08.733 So we had reassessed and made sure that we knew 0:07:09.133 --> 0:07:12.813 what our plan was, and it was to attempt a 0:07:12.933 --> 0:07:16.573 vaginal birth for my twins in a way that's called 0:07:16.693 --> 0:07:21.733 a trial by theater birth. That basically just means that 0:07:21.773 --> 0:07:26.413 we were going to have the babies in the theater 0:07:26.613 --> 0:07:30.093 room so that if anything was to happen, we were 0:07:30.133 --> 0:07:35.533 already there. As where the birthing suite to the theater 0:07:36.053 --> 0:07:39.733 at the Mackay Base Hospital is very far away from 0:07:39.733 --> 0:07:42.533 each other, and they wanted to make sure that we 0:07:42.533 --> 0:07:44.573 were there just in case anything went wrong. 0:07:45.453 --> 0:07:48.693 Coming up. Charlie and Luna have their own birth plan. 0:07:58.133 --> 0:08:02.653 So I had the epidural. I am a teacher myself, 0:08:02.693 --> 0:08:07.453 so I am always open to allowing student doctors or 0:08:07.533 --> 0:08:11.893 junior doctors the opportunity to learn and practice. I did 0:08:11.893 --> 0:08:15.453 the same thing with my first pregnancy. He did have 0:08:15.533 --> 0:08:19.693 a couple of cracks at it and didn't quite get there, 0:08:19.773 --> 0:08:24.093 so the scene doctor took over and finished off the epidural. 0:08:25.013 --> 0:08:27.613 At that point in time they had done a quick 0:08:27.693 --> 0:08:30.653 dilation check and I was sitting at about three and 0:08:30.693 --> 0:08:34.053 a half centimeters dilated, and then it was just a 0:08:34.093 --> 0:08:36.893 waiting game to see how long it would take before 0:08:36.973 --> 0:08:41.053 I was in active labor and close to that ten 0:08:41.173 --> 0:08:43.852 centimeter dilation mark for us to move across to the 0:08:43.852 --> 0:08:44.573 theater rooms. 0:08:45.293 --> 0:08:49.613 With her epidural in place but patchy at best, Cassie 0:08:49.653 --> 0:08:51.933 was moving through labor the best that she could. 0:08:52.413 --> 0:08:56.732 After a couple of hours, I suppose my pain levels 0:08:57.413 --> 0:09:02.133 started to increase quite dramatically. So it turns out that 0:09:02.413 --> 0:09:05.853 the epidural that I had was patchy. That's the way 0:09:05.853 --> 0:09:08.973 that they described it, and essentially that just meant that 0:09:09.053 --> 0:09:14.693 I was feeling the entire body's worth of contractions in 0:09:14.813 --> 0:09:20.573 one spot, just in my right groin area. So I'm 0:09:20.933 --> 0:09:26.613 curled over, screaming in so much pain, feeling like this 0:09:26.853 --> 0:09:30.733 is it. I'm not going to survive this pain, and 0:09:30.933 --> 0:09:34.573 telling them I've had an epidural before. I know that 0:09:34.653 --> 0:09:38.973 there is something wrong here. This is not right. I 0:09:39.053 --> 0:09:41.973 need the anethesis to come back and have another look. 0:09:42.773 --> 0:09:46.133 I felt like if I tried to lay down flat, 0:09:46.613 --> 0:09:50.453 that my body was going to explode or something. It 0:09:50.613 --> 0:09:52.973 just felt like I needed to stay in that curled 0:09:53.053 --> 0:09:56.453 up fetal position to stay alive. At that point, the 0:09:56.733 --> 0:10:00.293 midwives managed to convince me that the anethesis was on 0:10:00.333 --> 0:10:02.732 his way, that he was going to check the epidural. 0:10:03.253 --> 0:10:06.893 They said that they needed to check my cervix now. 0:10:07.133 --> 0:10:10.133 They managed to get me to lie down and the 0:10:10.333 --> 0:10:13.213 midwives said to me, look, you're probably not going to 0:10:13.213 --> 0:10:16.933 be much further past three and a half centimeters looking 0:10:16.973 --> 0:10:21.693 at the screens. You're only having two contractions every ten minutes. 0:10:21.733 --> 0:10:25.173 You're not even inactive labor, but we just need to check. 0:10:25.813 --> 0:10:33.333 I will never forget the midwives voice when she said, okay, 0:10:34.173 --> 0:10:38.653 so we're ten plus one, and then really all hell 0:10:38.773 --> 0:10:43.693 broke loose from there. I don't think anyone was expecting 0:10:45.213 --> 0:10:48.733 me to be anywhere close to ten centimeters, let alone 0:10:48.853 --> 0:10:51.453 thinking that I was even going to be five centimeters. 0:10:52.053 --> 0:10:55.173 So I think the doctors all thought that they had 0:10:55.173 --> 0:10:59.013 hours and hours and hours before anything was going to happen. 0:10:59.693 --> 0:11:03.653 And I think that because everything happened so much quicker 0:11:03.653 --> 0:11:07.253 than expected, it definitely led to a lot of the 0:11:07.413 --> 0:11:11.133 further complications coming up because we just weren't prepared in 0:11:11.213 --> 0:11:12.973 the way that we sort of should have been. 0:11:13.013 --> 0:11:17.173 I suppose Cassie's medical team sprang into action with the 0:11:17.253 --> 0:11:20.253 drama worthy of a script written by Shonda Rhimes. 0:11:20.933 --> 0:11:25.293 It was absolute chaos. There were people everywhere, So I 0:11:25.333 --> 0:11:31.253 had the midwives, my doctors, the assistants all getting ready 0:11:31.253 --> 0:11:34.693 to wheel me up to the theater room and to 0:11:34.773 --> 0:11:39.852 get up there straight away. It was the quickest way 0:11:40.373 --> 0:11:43.973 to get to the theater room from the birthing suite 0:11:44.013 --> 0:11:48.253 at the Mackai Hospital is to go through the public corridors. 0:11:49.173 --> 0:11:54.213 So here I am legs up, crowning with my boy 0:11:54.333 --> 0:12:00.372 Charlie and getting run through these corridors while I am 0:12:00.573 --> 0:12:07.133 still having these intense contractions, you know, screaming in pain. 0:12:07.813 --> 0:12:10.173 While there are people who are just going about their 0:12:10.213 --> 0:12:14.373 normal day to day business at the hospital. I'm sure 0:12:14.373 --> 0:12:16.333 that they would have had the shock of their lives. 0:12:16.333 --> 0:12:19.453 And I'm turning to Scott and I'm saying to him, 0:12:19.493 --> 0:12:22.893 they can all see, they can all see what's going on. 0:12:23.653 --> 0:12:26.733 And you know, he was turning to me and saying, no, no, 0:12:26.813 --> 0:12:29.173 they can't see anything. It's all okay, come on, we're 0:12:29.213 --> 0:12:31.333 going to go. We're going It's all going to be 0:12:31.373 --> 0:12:35.773 okay now. And it was a couple of weeks after. 0:12:36.613 --> 0:12:39.653 He said to me when we were reliving it all, 0:12:39.693 --> 0:12:43.533 he said, yeah, they probably could see some stuff, but 0:12:43.613 --> 0:12:45.253 I wasn't going to tell you that then. 0:12:45.333 --> 0:12:48.693 And there sometimes lies are for the best. 0:12:49.413 --> 0:12:53.053 We're getting closer and closer towards the theater room and 0:12:53.173 --> 0:12:57.413 exiting I suppose the public section of the hospital, and 0:12:57.493 --> 0:13:01.133 it really was a scene like straight out of Grey's Anatomy. 0:13:01.773 --> 0:13:04.893 So Charlie was twin a he was head down, he 0:13:05.093 --> 0:13:07.933 was good to go. He had engaged, so they were 0:13:07.933 --> 0:13:11.453 really ready for him to come straight out. As soon 0:13:11.613 --> 0:13:17.933 as we got up there, I come into the theater 0:13:18.053 --> 0:13:23.253 room and there are just people everywhere. Now I'm talking 0:13:23.493 --> 0:13:27.733 forty to fifty people in this room. Because we had 0:13:28.573 --> 0:13:32.893 my whole team of doctors, we had the theater team 0:13:32.973 --> 0:13:37.293 of doctors. We had two sets of pedutricians for each 0:13:37.413 --> 0:13:41.853 baby and their teams. So I've got all these people 0:13:41.933 --> 0:13:45.773 coming up to me, putting their faces right up close 0:13:45.813 --> 0:13:49.453 to my head. Turns out that there was some miscommunication 0:13:49.693 --> 0:13:54.252 between my doctor team and the theater doctor team. In 0:13:54.293 --> 0:13:58.973 the theater's mind, I was coming up for an emergency 0:13:59.013 --> 0:14:02.933 C section for both twins, so in their head they 0:14:03.013 --> 0:14:06.813 needed to replace my epidural with a full spinal tap. 0:14:07.213 --> 0:14:10.213 They did do the spinal tap on me. My midwife 0:14:10.213 --> 0:14:13.333 all of a sudden appeared Scott was next to me, thankfully, 0:14:13.373 --> 0:14:16.493 and my midwife, she was the first one to put 0:14:16.533 --> 0:14:20.013 two and two together that, oh, they think that she's 0:14:20.093 --> 0:14:24.133 here for a C section. She literally body blocked me 0:14:24.653 --> 0:14:27.933 when the doctor was coming in ready to cut twin 0:14:27.973 --> 0:14:31.133 a out. So my midwife turned to them and said, 0:14:31.293 --> 0:14:35.413 she's here to push. She's here to push, And then 0:14:35.493 --> 0:14:39.613 it was put two and two together. Oh, well, she's 0:14:39.653 --> 0:14:43.293 had a spinal tap, so that's going to make things 0:14:43.333 --> 0:14:47.853 extremely difficult. But we're going to try this. We're going 0:14:47.893 --> 0:14:50.933 to try to push him out. We will use fourceps 0:14:50.973 --> 0:14:54.093 if we need to, but he is ready to go. 0:14:54.773 --> 0:14:57.573 Let's see if we can get him out still in 0:14:57.613 --> 0:15:00.653 the way that we wanted to with having a full 0:15:00.733 --> 0:15:04.933 spinal tap. I could not feel a single thing from 0:15:04.973 --> 0:15:08.373 my neck down. I could have been just grinning a 0:15:08.693 --> 0:15:13.533 ginormous smile. I can't feel a single thing. I don't 0:15:13.573 --> 0:15:16.573 know if I'm even pushing. Then they decided to get 0:15:16.573 --> 0:15:20.253 the forceps out and were able to get Charlie out 0:15:20.813 --> 0:15:24.213 with forceps and they put him straight onto my chest. 0:15:24.973 --> 0:15:28.373 When he was on my chest, he was quite a 0:15:28.373 --> 0:15:32.533 bluish color. He wasn't crying. They ended up taking him 0:15:33.013 --> 0:15:36.493 off of my chest and straight over to his pediatric team, 0:15:37.013 --> 0:15:41.613 where I then didn't know what was happening. No one 0:15:41.653 --> 0:15:46.733 gave me any updates of whether he was okay. I 0:15:46.773 --> 0:15:50.613 still couldn't hear him crying. There was a lot of commotion, 0:15:51.893 --> 0:15:56.093 and I kept saying, is he okay? My husband, Scott 0:15:56.253 --> 0:15:59.853 kept turning to me and saying, okay, we need to 0:15:59.893 --> 0:16:02.173 get our girl out now. We need to focus on 0:16:02.213 --> 0:16:05.213 getting our girl out and making sure that I was 0:16:05.293 --> 0:16:09.533 ready to go again. Could get Luna to Quinn b 0:16:09.813 --> 0:16:14.293 out safely, But in my head, I was petrified, and 0:16:14.333 --> 0:16:18.533 I think more than that, I was so overwhelmed with 0:16:18.893 --> 0:16:23.253 everything that had all happened and everything that I knew 0:16:23.373 --> 0:16:27.253 was still to come. I felt like I had that 0:16:27.493 --> 0:16:31.493 tunnel vision of just needing to know that he was okay. 0:16:31.973 --> 0:16:34.573 The doctors were saying to Scott, we need to get 0:16:34.613 --> 0:16:37.933 her to refocus now. Scott ended up turning to me 0:16:37.973 --> 0:16:40.013 and saying, like, yep, they gave me the thumbs up. 0:16:40.053 --> 0:16:43.253 He's fine, He's good to go. Let's do this now. 0:16:43.653 --> 0:16:46.533 He told me again later that that was the second 0:16:46.533 --> 0:16:49.373 time that day that he lied to me because he 0:16:49.493 --> 0:16:53.493 had absolutely no idea, but he knew that I wasn't 0:16:53.533 --> 0:16:57.173 going to be able to focus on getting our girl 0:16:57.253 --> 0:17:00.213 out safely if I thought that there was anything going 0:17:00.253 --> 0:17:02.573 on untoward with Charlie. 0:17:03.013 --> 0:17:06.773 And just like that, baby Charlie was born, but Cassie 0:17:06.893 --> 0:17:07.733 wasn't done yet. 0:17:08.292 --> 0:17:12.133 He had been told the morning of that the plan 0:17:12.493 --> 0:17:16.213 was once Charlie was out, that we would have an 0:17:16.292 --> 0:17:21.532 ultrasound done to locate and see what position twin B 0:17:21.812 --> 0:17:26.572 or lunar was in. If she was still feet first, 0:17:26.853 --> 0:17:31.292 we would be attempting what's called a foot extraction, where 0:17:31.373 --> 0:17:37.213 the doctor puts their hand up through the vagina and 0:17:37.493 --> 0:17:41.532 into the uterus and will grab the baby by the 0:17:41.693 --> 0:17:46.853 feet and pull them back through the canal to deliver safely. 0:17:47.293 --> 0:17:50.493 There are a couple of risks involved with that. The 0:17:50.533 --> 0:17:52.973 main one that we were told was that they could 0:17:52.973 --> 0:17:59.332 not break her amniotic sack because twin A's placenta and 0:17:59.373 --> 0:18:01.973 his sack and all of his fluids and his maconium, 0:18:02.493 --> 0:18:05.093 all of those things would be in there with her, 0:18:05.333 --> 0:18:08.973 and that could lead to serious complications and serious risk 0:18:09.053 --> 0:18:11.852 of infection and all of those other types of things. 0:18:12.453 --> 0:18:16.973 If she had flipped around and was headfirst, that chances 0:18:16.973 --> 0:18:21.813 are she would engage on her own and just come 0:18:21.853 --> 0:18:26.973 on out. The doctor put his hand up and started 0:18:27.013 --> 0:18:31.773 searching for her feet. He is searching around, and he 0:18:31.933 --> 0:18:35.532 turned to the other senior doctor and said, I can't 0:18:35.573 --> 0:18:39.013 find it. You have a go. So the second doctor 0:18:39.293 --> 0:18:45.332 came in and she went on up and was also 0:18:45.693 --> 0:18:49.733 you know, attempting to locate Luna's feet, which they still 0:18:49.773 --> 0:18:56.453 initially thought was feet first. The midwife, my saving grace, 0:18:56.613 --> 0:19:00.413 my guardian angel. On that day. She was like, get 0:19:00.413 --> 0:19:04.052 that old rasound machine over here now, and so we 0:19:04.133 --> 0:19:07.493 did that and found that she actually had flipped around, 0:19:07.693 --> 0:19:12.013 as she quite often did anyway, and she was head first. 0:19:12.853 --> 0:19:15.813 I have nothing but the utmost respect for midwives. They 0:19:15.853 --> 0:19:16.693 are heroes. 0:19:17.413 --> 0:19:21.693 At this point in time, though, the senior head consultant, 0:19:22.053 --> 0:19:24.373 she was starting to get a bit worried about how 0:19:24.413 --> 0:19:28.092 things were progressing, and decided that she was going to 0:19:28.133 --> 0:19:32.332 be the third doctor to attempt a foot extraction. She 0:19:32.533 --> 0:19:36.093 had done it previously and said that even with her 0:19:36.173 --> 0:19:40.333 being now head first, she was able to get all 0:19:40.373 --> 0:19:44.533 the way up and be able to essentially pull her 0:19:44.813 --> 0:19:51.773 around and down, so she was elbow deep in me. 0:19:53.173 --> 0:19:56.773 We had no curtain up or anything like that because 0:19:56.813 --> 0:19:59.493 it wasn't a C section at this point in time, 0:20:00.093 --> 0:20:02.733 And so I could look down and see this woman's 0:20:02.813 --> 0:20:07.333 face as she is searching around for my daughter's feet 0:20:07.373 --> 0:20:12.053 inside of me. I could see the panic in her 0:20:12.173 --> 0:20:17.812 eyes when the monitors were going off saying that baby 0:20:17.933 --> 0:20:21.333 was in distress, and she said, I just need one 0:20:21.333 --> 0:20:23.333 more goal at this, I just need one more goal 0:20:23.373 --> 0:20:27.933 with this to try to do the foot extraction. But unfortunately, 0:20:28.093 --> 0:20:34.013 during that process, her amniotic SAP was broken, her stats plummeted, 0:20:34.093 --> 0:20:37.572 her heart rate was down into the sixties, and my 0:20:37.693 --> 0:20:40.333 midwife said to me the next day she knew at 0:20:40.333 --> 0:20:44.373 that point there was absolutely no other option. We had 0:20:44.453 --> 0:20:49.453 to do the emergency C section straight away as Luna's 0:20:49.493 --> 0:20:51.293 life was in danger. 0:20:57.933 --> 0:21:01.173 So how did Cassie feel after her emergency sea section? 0:21:02.133 --> 0:21:06.693 For all intents and purposes, the sea section was done flawlessly. 0:21:07.853 --> 0:21:11.533 I have recovered really, really well. I didn't have any 0:21:11.613 --> 0:21:16.052 issues in regards to infection or scarring and all of 0:21:16.053 --> 0:21:20.532 those sorts of things. But when Luna came out, her 0:21:21.413 --> 0:21:26.613 at birth Apgar score was two. One is the lowest 0:21:26.613 --> 0:21:30.613 that you can go. So they got her out. They 0:21:30.653 --> 0:21:35.413 put her straight into the incubator. Her pediatric team said 0:21:35.453 --> 0:21:39.453 we need to go now. They turned to Scott who 0:21:39.573 --> 0:21:42.813 was right by my side, and they said to him, Dad, 0:21:42.853 --> 0:21:45.613 are you coming. He turned to me and he said, 0:21:45.973 --> 0:21:48.292 what do you want me to do? And I said, 0:21:48.373 --> 0:21:52.853 go with them. So he got up straight away, gave 0:21:52.893 --> 0:21:55.653 me a big kiss, said you've got this, and he 0:21:55.693 --> 0:21:59.733 went off with both Charlie and Luna straight down to 0:21:59.773 --> 0:22:02.653 the special care nursery, so that he was there with them, 0:22:03.013 --> 0:22:07.253 and it made me feel obviously a big pang of 0:22:07.333 --> 0:22:11.413 jealousy that he was with them, but I knew that 0:22:11.453 --> 0:22:13.933 they weren't alone, and they had one of us there, 0:22:13.973 --> 0:22:16.013 and that was the most important thing to me at 0:22:16.013 --> 0:22:20.532 that point in time. Charlie had recovered. I suppose by 0:22:20.573 --> 0:22:24.413 that stage he's doing really, really well, but it was 0:22:24.493 --> 0:22:26.133 Luna that we were worried about. 0:22:26.493 --> 0:22:30.933 After a truly traumatic and dramatic birth. Cassie was eager 0:22:30.973 --> 0:22:33.573 to spend time with both her babies and make sure 0:22:33.573 --> 0:22:34.253 they were okay. 0:22:34.973 --> 0:22:38.853 I knew that Luna was not doing well at all. 0:22:39.573 --> 0:22:41.333 They had told me that they needed to get her 0:22:41.413 --> 0:22:45.493 down straight away and get her onto the cepat machine, 0:22:45.493 --> 0:22:48.533 the bubbles and all of those other things, because her 0:22:48.573 --> 0:22:52.133 life was still in grave danger. She had been deprived 0:22:52.173 --> 0:22:56.372 of oxygen for a period of time throughout the birthing process, 0:22:57.333 --> 0:23:00.253 and I was being, let's just say, a bit of 0:23:00.293 --> 0:23:04.413 a pain in the ass, saying, how are my babies? 0:23:04.533 --> 0:23:07.253 Can we get an update on the babies? Are they okay? 0:23:07.653 --> 0:23:11.693 Is Luna okay? They kept telling me to just have 0:23:11.773 --> 0:23:14.933 a rest. Your body has been through so much. Have 0:23:15.053 --> 0:23:18.532 a sleep, You'll feel so much better. Just kept saying, 0:23:19.173 --> 0:23:21.413 I'm not going to rest. I need I need to 0:23:21.453 --> 0:23:24.453 see them. I need to know that they're okay. There 0:23:24.493 --> 0:23:27.853 was one nurse in particular. She turned to me, she said, 0:23:28.013 --> 0:23:31.613 you're not going to sleep, are you? I said, no chance. 0:23:32.013 --> 0:23:36.332 So she went and got me a yellow zoopa dupa 0:23:37.133 --> 0:23:39.653 to get my sugar levels back up because she could 0:23:39.693 --> 0:23:42.733 see how hard I was fighting the sleep when my 0:23:42.853 --> 0:23:46.413 whole body was obviously just craving it, but my mind 0:23:46.733 --> 0:23:52.893 was never going to let that happen. So eventually, after 0:23:53.053 --> 0:23:57.013 I'd say a couple of hours in the recovery ward, 0:23:57.773 --> 0:24:01.532 my beautiful midwife came back up, and she was up 0:24:01.573 --> 0:24:04.613 to get me to take me back down. I had 0:24:04.773 --> 0:24:08.132 gotten enough movement in my feet and my body at 0:24:08.133 --> 0:24:10.092 that point for them to be happy for me to 0:24:10.213 --> 0:24:13.453 leave the recovery ward. And as soon as she turned 0:24:13.493 --> 0:24:16.052 the corner, I could see the smile on her face, 0:24:16.173 --> 0:24:18.853 and I just knew that everything was going to be okay. 0:24:19.453 --> 0:24:23.973 And she told me that Charlie was doing fantastic, that 0:24:24.093 --> 0:24:27.053 he was having some skin to skin time with Dad, 0:24:27.733 --> 0:24:30.893 and that Luna was off the bubble machine, but she 0:24:31.093 --> 0:24:33.733 was just staying in the incubator for a little bit longer, 0:24:33.853 --> 0:24:37.813 just to make sure that everything was still going okay. 0:24:37.893 --> 0:24:41.813 But she was definitely out of that mortal danger side 0:24:41.853 --> 0:24:45.333 of things by that point in time. So she wheeled 0:24:45.373 --> 0:24:49.013 me down, wheeled me down to the Special Care nursery, 0:24:49.493 --> 0:24:52.813 and Charlie was still having some beautiful skin to skin 0:24:52.933 --> 0:24:57.213 time cuddles with Dad, and he was right next to 0:24:57.293 --> 0:25:01.013 the incubator with Luna in there. They had said that 0:25:01.053 --> 0:25:05.132 she was a feisty little thing and ripped the dummy 0:25:05.173 --> 0:25:07.733 out of her mouth and threw it straight through the 0:25:07.773 --> 0:25:10.173 little hole in the side of the incubator. They said, 0:25:10.173 --> 0:25:12.693 she's got to be a basketball player or a netball 0:25:12.693 --> 0:25:17.613 player or something when she gets older. Once I was 0:25:17.693 --> 0:25:20.253 down there and they had given me those little updates 0:25:20.973 --> 0:25:23.653 that it was time for Charlie to come over to 0:25:23.733 --> 0:25:26.532 have some skin to skin cudd all time with me, 0:25:27.213 --> 0:25:30.092 and that Luna would be ready very soon. They just 0:25:30.093 --> 0:25:32.773 wanted to do one last check on her. So I 0:25:32.813 --> 0:25:36.013 had some cuddles with Charlie and it was just so beautiful, 0:25:36.133 --> 0:25:39.292 you know, having Luna right there next to me. I 0:25:39.373 --> 0:25:41.453 was still able to put my hand in and touch 0:25:41.453 --> 0:25:46.132 her and everything like that. Obviously she was fully cooked, 0:25:46.333 --> 0:25:49.653 I suppose at thirty eight weeks, so it was fully 0:25:49.693 --> 0:25:52.453 safe to do all that had Charlie on me, and 0:25:52.493 --> 0:25:57.532 it just felt so much relief that after everything that 0:25:57.573 --> 0:26:01.053 we had gone through over those past couple of hours, 0:26:01.773 --> 0:26:05.373