My husband and I were excited and
shocked to find out I was carrying
twins for my 2nd pregnancy. I had
some spotting off and on for the 1st
trimester. My husband is in the Air
Force, and at the beginning of my
pregnancy we were in Mississippi. I
was to accompany my husband for 3
months to Oklahoma while he did some
training and then come back to MS for
about a month before heading to New
Jersey as our next permanent base.
After moving to OK, I noticed
occasional leaking that I thought was
stress incontinence. The day that I
was 18w6d it became much worse, and I
knew that it had to be amniotic
fluid. I went to the ER and then was
admitted to labor and delivery. It
was confirmed that I was leaking
amniotic fluid, and I was told about
the high risk of infection and
probability of delivery in the near
future. I was given IV antibiotics
for a couple days, and had 2
ultrasounds which showed both babies
had around 4-5cm of amniotic fluid. I
was discharged from the hospital and
sent home on bedrest.
The Air Force allowed my husband to
stop his training and be off to take
care of me and our then 10 month old
daughter. They also decided to send
us ahead to our next permanent base in
New Jersey when I was close to 23
weeks and then hospitalize me there.
In the meantime I had weekly OB checks
with an ultrasound and blood checks.
My fluid remained very low. At 22w5d
I was flown by medical airplane to NJ
and taken straight to the hospital.
At 23w5d I was transferred to another
hospital about an hour from base, but
with a great NICU. I was to remain
there until I delivered.
Each new week I passed gave me a
hope that my baby girls would be ok.
I received steroid shots at 24 weeks,
and had ultrasounds weekly with twice
daily fetal monitoring. At each
ultrasound, my fluid remained below
2cm, but the babies were looking good
with movement and "breathing"
motions. The perinatologists were
great and gave me as much optimism as
they could. They couldn't figure out,
though, why both babies had low fluid
because usually only one sac ruptures
with twins and both mine had. Both
babies were growing within the normal
limits and each baby was making
urine.
As I got farther along, I began to
have more and more braxton hicks
contractions. Usually I could drink
more water and they would go away. I
had been leaking the whole time, but
my leaking also began to increase. At
28w1d my amniotic fluid turned almost
red, then pink, and then back to clear
in a 36hr. time period. An ultrasound
found that I was not dilating, so I
thought all was well again.
At 1am, September 17 (I was 28w4d)
I woke with some different pain low in
my abdomen. At first it didn't seem
to coincide with my braxton hicks
contractions, but I was placed on the
monitor anyway. It wasn't long until
the pain was intensifying and
corresponded with the tightening of my
uterus. I was given fluids to try to
stop the contractions, but that didn't
work. I was then checked and found to
be 3cm dilated, so I was told to call
my husband to come in.
At 3:22 and 3:23am I delivered
Gabrielle Rose and Michelle Dawn via C-
section. My husband didn't arrive
until they were already born.
Gabrielle gave a cry when she came
out, but Michelle didn't. I was so
frustrated to not be able to see my
babies when they were born and know
how they were doing as they stitched
me back up.
As soon as I spent some time in
recovery, I was taken to the NICU. We
were told that Michelle was really not
doing very well, but Gabrielle was
doing a little better. I spent time
holding little Michelle's hand as they
worked on her. Her little lungs just
weren't developed. About 3 hrs. after
she was born, they took her off the
ventilator and let me hold her as she
died in my arms. It was
heartbreaking, and I only prayed that
I wouldn't have to go through it again
with Gabrielle.
We then went over to where
Gabrielle was and we were told she was
doing fairly well and only on a small
percentage of oxygen on the
ventilator. We went back to my room
to call family and then rest for a
couple hours. We received updates
from the NICU on Gabrielle and while
she did ok for awhile, she slowly
began to deteriorate. We went back to
the NICU then to spend time with her.
Later that afternoon Gabrielle kept
getting worse. They tried a different
ventilator and replaced her chest
tube. They did all they could, but
slowly her oxygen level began to
drop. They told us she would not make
it. About 13 hours after she was
born, they took her off the ventilator
and placed her in my arms to take her
last breaths. This time was even
harder as my husband and I realized
that we were left with no babies.
As hard as this has been for us, we
are comforted in knowing that our
beautiful baby girls are in heaven
waiting for us. We are grateful for
the short time we did have to hold and
love our girls. As hard as fighting
for our babies was, I would not trade
it for anything. I know that I did
everything I could for our babies, but
God wanted them to be with Him.
|
|
