I am now 35 years old. I have two
beautiful boys 6 1/2 and 2 1/2. I have
had prom twice, one a beautiful girl at
21 weeks who is an angel in heaven and
the other prom at 21 weeks, delivery at
27 weeks and he is now 2 1/2 years old.
After the experience of the last prom
it took me quite some time to convince
my husband to try again. We went to
the perinatal clinic where our last son
was born and consulted with the same
doctors that had cared for us during my
last prom. We wanted their opinion.
After much discussion with the doctors
we had a plan. They diagnosed me with
incompetent cervix and recommended a
cerclage. Nothing was a guarantee but
we came away from the consult with good
feelings about having another baby.
We conceived right away. I had my
regular ob visit at 4 weeks (I found
out very early that I was pregnant) and
at 6 weeks I went to the perinatal
clinic.
I will never forget that day Oct. 23,
2000. The reason I remember this is
because on this day via ultra sound I
found out we were pregnant with twins.
I was estatic!!! I felt as though God
was giving back the one I lost plus
one!! Words cannot explain my
happiness!!! (My husband, for the first
time in his life was speechless).
On November 20 I had to go back and
have another ultra sound to make sure
they were both viable. (I was spotting
which I seem to do with every
pregnancy) This was needed in order to
schedule the cerclage. At this ultra
sound instead of just seeing a little
heart beats I could actually see the
babies begining to form. They were
viable and the cerclage was set for
Dec. 1.
On Dec. 1 I had a McDonald cerclage
done in the morning (with a spinal) and
was home by 6. I was told to take it
easy for a few days and then resume my
normal but limited activities. I was
pretty tired when we got home so we
went to bed pretty early. At 10
o'clock I was awakened to a steady gush
of blood. Needless to say my husband
rushed me back to the ER where they
admitted me.
After observing me for the next 24
hours the hemorage stopped, but then
suddenly began again around 10 o'clock.
After having another ultra sound they
discovered I had a very large blood
clot in my uterus. I was back in the
operating room, this time having the
cerclage removed. I struggled with
this. This cerclage was going to be
the safety net for my children, it was
going to keep them secure until it was
time for their debut. But now it had
to be removed. Apparently they hit a
blood vessel and it wasn't going to
stop bleeding so we had no choice.
The next morning I awakened to a doctor
wanting to examine me to see if the
bleeding had stopped. Immediate panic
starts. Apparently my pad and the
chuck were full of a clear liquid.
They did a test to see if it was
amniotic fluid. The test came back
negative. The doctor came in and with
a speculum took another sample and it
came back negative. She still wasn't
convinced and sent me down to ultra
sound. The ultra sound showed that
twin A looked as though the amniotic
fluid level was down. But... There was
also a large blood clot pressing down
on the placenta so no one could be sure.
After the doctors conferred they came
back to my room and told me they were
sure (even though the tests were
negative) that I had prom with one of
the twins and that the blood clot
complicated things more. Their advice
was to terminate.
There was that word again
TERMINATE!!!! I had just come from
ultra sound where I saw my two sweet
angels!! Heart beats normal, moving
around!!! Terminate NO WAY!!!! I went
home after spending three days in the
hospital to complete bed rest with
bathroom priviledges and a urine hat(
the little hat that measures your
urine. It fits under the seat)the hat
was to keep track of the amount I was
bleeding. Each time they suggested
this I prayed to God not to make me
make the decision but for him to make
the decision for us.(Make the blood
clot go away or take our sweet angels
home)
I went back 10 days later for another
ultra sound at which time the twins
were fine, the amniotic fluid was the
same. But so was the size of the blood
clot. We were hoping this blood clot
was going to diminish with time. I went
home with strict bed rest still being
the plan. I no more got home that I
began to hemmorage again.
I spent three more days in the
hospital. Through the ultra sounds the
twins remained fine. Growing right on
schedule. The blood clot was the major
issue. As long as the blood clot
remained I could not have the cerclage
again.
So home we go praying that this blood
clot will go away.
Throughout all of this we remained
positive. God had given us our Charlie
(prom at 21 wks) and he was going to
take care of everything one way or
another.
On December 27, 2000 I woke up around
5:30 a.m. I usually slept on my left
side. I rolled over to my back to get
out of bed, but when I rolled over my
belly remained on the left side. I
started to panic. I sat on the edge of
the bed for 30 minutes and nothing
happened so I calmed myself. (knowing I
had a dr.s appt in a few hours) I got
out of bed and walked to the bathroom.
With no warning my first twin was born
in the hat and within minutes the
second was born.
Because the placenta's were caught in
my uterus I had to be taken to the
hospital via an ambulance for fear if
they tore I could have a severe bleed.
We buried our boys Andrew Jacob and
Cole Jeffrey December 29th next to
their sister Micala Marie.
My husband and my sons have been an
incredible source of support along with
my family. I only hope those of you
going through this have the unfailing
love and understanding I've gotten.
My heart aches my emotions soar... my
arms ache to have another child in
them. (Not to replace my three little
angels they each have their own room in
my heart.) I just have two precious
son's on this earth and would love to
have one or two more.
My friend has three young children.
Something one of them said to me has
helped I hope it will help others
too!! "You make good guardian angels"
Thank you all for letting me share my
stories. Thank you that you share
yours!!!!
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