In July 2002, my husband and I found
out we were pregnant. Because we had
been taking fertility medicine, we
knew there was an increased chance of
multiples, so we did an early
ultrasound to see how many babies
there were. At 6 weeks, we were told
there was one embryo and one
heartbeat. Well at 11 weeks, I
experienced a sudden gush of fluid,
which, after checking, turned out to
be blood. We went to the emergency
room expecting the worst (that we had
lost the baby) but instead were told
that things looked fine and that
instead of just one heartbeat....
there were two! And while twin A
looked just fine, twin B was measuring
about 2 weeks behind in size. They
thought the bleeding was something
called a subchorionic hemorrhage and
that I should just rest for a couple
of days until the bleeding stopped.
When we discussed this with my OB, she
thought the outlook was pretty grim
and that chances were good that twin B
wouldn't even make it until week 20.
At such an early stage in my
pregnancy, there was nothing that
could be done to help twin B along.
But my husband and I didn't want to
think that way and decided that we
were just going to stay positive,
follow the doctor's orders, and wish
and hope for the best.
I continued to have intermittent
bleeding from that point until the
morning of 15 weeks 4 days when I woke
up with another big gush. I of course
thought it was blood, but went to
check and saw just clear fluid. When I
went to the doctor, they checked to
see if it was amniotic fluid and it
tested negative. So at the time, I was
told that one of the babies probably
kicked my bladder and released its
contents. I was sent home to rest and
to limit my activity to about 4-5
hours a day. This continued (as did
the intermittent bleeding and leaking
of fluid) until week 20 when I went to
see a perinatologist and had a Level
II ultrasound done. At this point, the
doctor looked back on my pregnancy and
for the first time diagnosed that I
had PROM on twin B. Lucky for us, twin
B was located on the top of my uterus
and was being protected by twin A on
the bottom.
The hard part though was that there
was still nothing to do but wait
things out. Our doctor told us he
was "cautiously optimistic" about the
outcome since we had already made it
this far. But his plan for me at that
point was to stay on complete bedrest
at home until week 23 at which point I
was to be admitted to the hospital
until delivery. The reason for the
hospital stay was to keep a close tab
on the babies' development and to
watch for any signs of infection,
which could mean imminent delivery.
So I stayed in the hospital for 10
weeks and had the babies monitored
daily. Twin B started to catch up in
size but stayed between 1 and 2 weeks
behind twin A. We always looked for
things to keep us positive......weight
gains, good scores on the biophysical
tests, reaching another week. The
doctors couldn't guarantee what our
outcome would be, but we all knew that
the longer I stayed pregnant, the
better off my babies would be. The
hardest part however, was due to the
low level of fluid around twin B. We
were told that it was the amniotic
fluid that developed the baby’s lungs
and we wouldn’t know until birth
whether or not twin B had enough lung
development to breath on its own once
born. Even though our test always
showed that there was some fluid,
nobody could know whether or not this
baby would make it outside the womb
(even if my pregnancy went to term,
because the issue was with how early I
ruptured and began to lose fluid).
We had decided to plan for a C-section
as twin B was transverse in my uterus
and had already been in distress for
so long, we didn’t want to subject
that baby to the trauma of going
through the birth canal. So on the
morning of February 3, 2003 when I was
32 weeks and 6 days pregnant, I began
to go into labor. I was prepped for
the C-section pretty quickly and
brought to the OR. My babies were
taken out at 7 minutes and 8 minutes
into the surgery. Twin A was our
little girl, Molly Anne, who was born
at 4lbs, 5 oz and breathing fine on
her own. Twin B, our little boy
Griffin Mark, was born at 3 lbs 8oz
and was whisked away to the NICU
pretty quickly. After assessing him
for several hours, they decided to
intubate him with a breathing tube. He
had less viable lung tissue than a
healthy newborn, but he did have some
and we had to wait to see how he was
going to do.
The first several days (even weeks)
were a blur, with both of our babies
in the hospital nurseries (Molly in
the Level II nursery and Griffin about
a block and a half away in the Level
III nursery). Molly had the typical
preemie issues to overcome: regulating
her body temperature and coordinating
her sucking/swallowing/ breathing
enough so that she could eat on her
own without a feeding tube. She ended
up coming home with us after 4 weeks
in the hospital.
Griffin on the other hand was on a
ventilator for 9 days, and then weaned
to a CPAP for a day and then put on
standard oxygen. He was then moved to
be with his sister in the Level II
nursery when they were about 2 ½ weeks
old. Griffin also had some
contractures in his arms and one
clubfoot from being so cramped in the
womb with such little amniotic fluid.
His arm contractures were dealt with
through occupational therapy and
exercises and he now has full range.
His clubfoot was addressed with serial
casting and a minor laser procedure
called a tenotomy. He now has full and
accurate range with that foot as well
and just wears a foot brace at night
to retain its position. And just days
before we thought we were to bring
Griffin home too (when he was about 5
weeks old) we found out that he had
another obstacle to overcome. He was
aspirating when he swallowed and
therefore breast milk was getting into
his lungs when he was being fed
orally. So to our demise, we were told
that he would have to continue to be
fed through a feeding tube and would
have to stay in the hospital for
another month. Apparently, this was
not related to the PROM or even to his
prematurity. But it was another
obstacle that we had to work through.
So for the next 4 weeks, I took Molly
to the hospital every morning and we
spent the day with Griffin. Every
evening we would come back to the
hospital with my husband as well and
have our family time. This went on
until Griffin was 10 weeks old at
which point it was determined that we
could finally bring him home……with
oxygen and a feeding tube and a casted
foot. But home was where we wanted
him, so it didn’t matter what needed
to be done to care for him. We knew we
would do whatever it took.
Well it is now the end of September
and our beautiful twins are almost 8
months old. They are both healthy,
strong, happy and playful. They are
the light of our lives and worth every
tear shed, every day in the hospital,
every scare, and every doctor
appointment, every procedure, every
worried moment. Griffin is off of his
oxygen, he doesn’t use a feeding tube
anymore, and his foot looks beautiful.
He is a joyful, happy baby who is an
absolute miracle to us and to all
those who were familiar with our
situation.
And to all those who had doubt, I say:
never give up, never stop believing
and never stop loving. My husband and
I would go through it all again if we
had to. Having Molly and Griffin is
the greatest gift we could have ever
asked for and one (or two!) that we
cherish more than words could ever
explain.
So if you are reading this and are
dealing with a difficult pregnancy,
PLEASE have hope. PLEASE have faith.
And PLEASE stay positive. I spent a
total of 12 weeks on modified bedrest
at home, 10 weeks on bedrest at the
hospital and then another 10 weeks at
the hospital with our babies. And what
got us through was our positive
attitude, the mountains of love and
support we received from family and
friends and our hope and belief that
our babies would make it through.
I wish you all the luck in the world
and hope you too have a story with a
happy ending to post on this site in
the future.
Leslie, happy mommy to Molly and
Griffin
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