I went to the ER when I first noticed
the leak at 15 weeks - I was terrified
and worried that my water had broken,
but they sent me home. I think they
thought I had wet my pants. The fluid
level looked ok for both babies. No
one tested the fluid to see if it was
amniotic fluid. I didn't know about
the nitrate test then.
I continued to have some leaking over
the next three weeks, but I didn't
worry too much about it. Then at 18
weeks I went in for a standard
ultrasound to determine the gender of
my twins and found out that twin A had
very low fluid. The perinatologist was
very concerned and advised me that
many people terminate the pregnancy.
He also mentioned that sometimes with
twins, people hold out and hope that
the other twin could survive. He said
the odds were very poor. I asked him
what his wife would do, and he told me
she would wait and see. Also, My OB
said that the next 48 hours were very
critical and would determine what
would happen. So I went home.
It was all very surreal. I was
terrified and in shock. But, after the
initial meltdown I decided I would
hope for the best. I went on bedrest
at home immediately and after two days
at home I started to bleed and went
into the hospital on bedrest. Again, I
panicked. We went to L&D but both
heartbeats were strong. There was
still some fluid around A but not a
lot. I was admitted to the hospital,
and I stayed there for 10 weeks.
Things were fairly stable until 23
weeks. My best ultrasound was at 23
weeks, when the MVP for twin A was 3.3
cm. From there it decreased each week,
and I started to bleed at 24 weeks. I
received a steroid shot and went on
total bedrest including using a
bedpan. It was pretty humiliating. I
started contracting periodically at 24
weeks and recieved shots and pills of
terbutaline to help keep it at bay.
At 25 weeks, things were calm, but
then I started to bleed again at 26.
My MVP was 1.3 for twin A at 27 weeks.
At 28 weeks I got another dose of
steroids. It was clear that twin A was
getting squashed by his brother. I was
in a lot of pain by then. The
contractions were not showing on the
monitor, but they were severely
painful - about 1 or 2 per hour. After
several days of telling the doctors
and nurses that I was in agony - I
realized at 6 in the morning that I
was ready to have the babies. It
turned out that my pain had been full
labor and I was completely
dialated.
They rushed me to L&D and I had an
emergency c-section at 28 weeks, 3
days. Both boys were rushed to the
NICU. Twin A weighted 2 lb. 6 oz. and
Twin B was 2 lb. 9 oz. They were both
ventilated initially. Twin A had more
breathing problems. He was on the
ventilator for 16 days and had a chest
tube because his lung collapsed. He
also was very fluid sensitive and had
a couple of rounds of fluid on his
lungs before they got his diuretic
doses figured out.
Twin B - Henry - was in the NICU from
Oct. 22 to Dec. 10 (35 weeks) and is
now home currently 3 weeks past his
due date of Jan. 11 weighing 10 lbs.
Twin A - Wyatt is also home now. He
was in the NICU from Oct. 22 to Jan.
12 (40 weeks). He currently weighs 7
lbs. and is still on oxygen at home. I
expect he will be off in about a
month. He is really thriving and
growing so quickly now.
So, we had a long hard road - it was 5
months from the time I went on bedrest
to the day when Wyatt got out of the
hospital. BUT I have two WONDERFUL
boys and I thank God for them every
day.
This web site was an inspiration to me
during my bedrest. Hang in there and
keep praying and hoping. There are
miracle babies out there like mine who
survive this.
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