This website and email list was a real
godsend for me, so I want to take the
time to share my story, in the hope that
it will help others.
First of all, a little background: At
the age of 40, with a one year old, my
dh and I underwent IVF for baby #2.
IUIs didn't work (like they had for our
dd), so we moved onto IVF. The first
IVF didn't go very well (a huge cyst,
and only two eggs). The doctor
attributed it to my "old eggs".
Luckily we changed doctors and we very
encouraged with the expertise and
aggressive approach of our new RE (Dr.
Zouves). We knew that our chances of
multiples over the age of 40 were slim
(1 in 1000 for more than two) so we
tranferred all 5 embryos. After the
usual stress and anticipation of IVF we
were over the moon to learn that we were
pregnant... with very high hcgs to boot!
At the u/s we were pleased, but shocked
to discover THREE embryos had implanted.
One was much smaller so our RE told us
not to expect it to develop. This
prognosis was confirmed by a
perinologist...and #3 (peanut) continued
to be half the size of the others.
By the 11th weeks, our "peanut" (which
by now, we were rooting for), began to
catch up... so we knew that triplets
were now in the cards. We researched the
risk of triplets and discovered that
there was no difference in outcomes
between triplet and reduced triplet
pregnancies.
I had a fairly uneventful pregnancy,
with the exception that I had a lot of
bleeding up until the 14th week (which I
have since read may be a pre-cursor to
later placenta/prom). I began to dread
going to the bathroom! Ultrasounds
showed nothing amiss. We opted for the
nuchal translucency scan (NT) at 12
weeks, and we were thrilled with the
normal range results. (one perinologist
told me that at my age, there was
"bound to be something wrong with one
of them" - this was also the one that
said that if we wanted to take home
healthy babies that we should reduce).
I was more tired than I had been with my
first pregnancy two years before....and
I began getting big much more quickly,
but other than that, things went fairly
well. I made a point of eating lots of
protein and calories after reading a
very informative book "When you are
expecting Twin, Triplets or Quads" by
Dr. Luke.
At 20 weeks, I requested and received
the home contraction monitoring machine.
My contractions, for the most part,
were under the limit of 4 per hour. I
was happy to be up and about (a friend
of mine with triplets was already
bed-bound at 18 weeks). I was taking it
easy (e.g. several hours in bed a day),
but fairly mobile.
All of this was to end very suddenly,
however, when at 28 weeks, I felt a
trickle while I was in bed. Luckily I
had read that ruptured water does not
necessarily mean delivery right away, or
else I would have been terrified. I
knew that at 28 weeks, my babies would
likely live, but might have
complications.
At the hospital, my perinatologist did a
cervical check and didn't think I had
PROMed. My fibronectin test a week ago
was negative and he didn't see any
fluid. I told him that I knew the
difference between urine and fluid, and
this was definitely fluid. He sent me
home.
Two hours later, I had another "gush",
this time there was blood at well. I
collected some of the fluid in a cup and
headed back to the hospital. The doctor
on call did a ferning test on the fluid
and admitted me. I definitely had
PROMed.
Over the next few days, I had magnesium
(which made me dub my room "The Sahara
Desert"), terbutalin (which I hated
worse than the mag.), and then finally
oral Procardia, which I remained on. My
first goal was to make it two more
weeks, to 30 weeks...which I amazingly
did. Then it was 31.
The time in the hospital was difficult.
The worst part was the hip pain from
all the pressure of three babies. I
kept having bleeds, which unnerved the
nurses. Two times I was tranferred back
to L&D in the middle of the night.
Miraculously, every u/s showed adequate
fluid in all three sacs, so they
couldn't even ascertain which baby had
PROMed. My perinatologist even began to
think I hadn't PROMed!
At 32 weeks, though, my body had had
it... and I began to go into labor.
(the ave. for triplets is 34 weeks, so I
felt very lucky). I had lasted a MONTH
with PROM!! I was very happy. I later
learned (by looking at preemies in the
NICU) just how much that last month
meant to the babies.
So, at 32 weeks, Madeleine Elise (3lbs,
6 ounces), Alexandra Jane (4.4) and
Benjamin Conrad (4.6) were born! (turns
out that Maddie, the peanut - and
highest one in utero, had a velementous
cord placement, the ruptured membrane,
and all three had a placenta abruption -
yikes! - I had really been on thin ice).
They were all healthy, with Alex and Ben
needing some o2 for a few hours. All
were out of the NICU in a week. Maddie
came home at 35 weeks, and Ben and Alex
at 38 weeks (they kept having a's and
b's).
Here's their
homecoming pictures
As I write this, they are 9 weeks old,
and growing like weeds. The girls are 7
lbs+ and Ben is 8 1/2 lbs! You'd never
know that they were preemies.
I attribute the support of this website,
my family/ friends, getting educated and
thus remaining positive for my
successful outcome Thanks so much for
providing this wonderful resource! And
for anyone embarking on the wild road of
PROM... I hope my story has helped you
in some way.
Deb and Anton
Katie (3/3/99), Ben, Alex and Maddie
(1/25/01)
|
|
