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I found out in early January 2000 that
I was carrying twins. I had undergone
in-vitro fertilization around
Thanksgiving. We were numb at first
but were happily settling into the
idea. We had a son who was born in
1997 with IUI. My pregnancy was
progressing well and I was doing well
except for 3 colds back to back. I
had no morning sickness and except for
the colds and fatigue was feeling
great. Around midnight on April 27,
2000 I awoke from sleep to the
sensation that I was wetting the bed.
When I awoke fully I realized that it
was my water breaking. I was only 24
weeks 1 day along. We rushed to the
hospital that I was set to deliver
at. They did a sterile speculum exam
and determined that my water had
indeed broken but that I wasn't
dilating or contracting. I was
transferred by ambulance to UNC
Hospitals in Chapel Hill, NC. They
did an ultrasound and determined that
the water had broken around baby A
(our son) We were perplexed because
the doctors at the first hospital
determined that the water had broken
around baby B (our daughter). They
determined that they weighed 1lb 6oz
(baby A) and a mere 14oz (baby B)
They didn't give us much hope that I
would get farther than 48 hours with
ruptured membranes and I would be
lucky to get 1 week. I was admitted
on hospital bedrest. My water would
re-rupture about once a week and I
made 3 trips to labor and delivery,
but I made it to 28 weeks 5 days
before I started spiking a fever. My
time was up but my babies had gotten 5
more weeks. On May 29, 2000 (Memorial
Day) my twins were born via C-
section. Our son Liam Nicholas was
born first. I didn't get to see him
when he came out but we heard him give
a tiny cry. My daughter Olivia Faith
was next and doctors discovered that
indeed, it was her sack that had
ruptured not her brother's. She gave
an even tinier cry. Both babies were
taken off to the NICU. Two hours
later my husband came back with a
status report. Liam weighed 2lb 14.5
oz and Olivia weighed only 1lb 15.5
oz. Both babies were on a ventilator
but were breathing over it and were
stable. Liam was taken off the vent
the next afternoon and Olivia came off
late that night. When I visited the
NICU the next day both babies were
missing! They'd remained off the vent
and were stable enough to be
transferred out of intensive care and
into the intermediate nursery. In
fact when I looked at Olivia her face
was cluttered only by a feeding tube.
She didn't even need supplemental O2
and she was satting at 99% on the
pulse ox. She eventually began to
tire and needed some low flow O2 and
had days where she needed high flow
and a couple where she needed C-PAP.
Liam did well too and went back and
forth from C-PAP to cannulas several
time. My babies had 8 and 10 weeks
hospital stays mostly because they had
persistant episodes of A's and B's.
Both babies were sent home on apnea
monitors but had no problems once they
came home. My little miracles will be
2 this year and have done extremely
well. No problems noted yet and
they're now on the growth chart in all
areas with term babies their own age.
We are so thankful that God saved our
babies and that they're doing so well.
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