Monday, October 1st I was 18wks and 1
day pregnant with my twins, I had had
a completely normal and uneventful
pregnancy. That day we went to the
Perinatologist for our ultrasound and
to find out what we were having. We
found out we were having twin boys, we
already had a 18 month old little boy
but we were thrilled to have two more.
Tuesday October 2nd I woke up and was
having a normal morning. I actually
said to my husband “I feel so content
right now” about half an hour later I
was getting my son off the changing
table and I started having intense
pain that wouldn’t ease up. I sat on
the couch and my husband asked me if I
was alright. The pain never wained but
it did start to have moments where it
was more intense. I had a planned c-
section with Parker so I had never
experienced labor pains. We dropped
Parker at daycare and headed to the
hospital. The Dr told us I was having
contractions but not labor that my
uterus was just irritable from
growing. They gave me a shot of
terbutaline (a medicine that stops
contractions) along with a
prescription for it and told us they
would keep a close eye on the
pregnancy from there on out but that
they wouldn’t do anything to stop
active labor until I hit 24weeks and
that they wouldn’t help the babies
until 24 weeks as well.
I went home and layed on the couch and
I felt a huge gush of fluid, I
screamed for my husband and he came
running, I told him my water had
broken as I stood there with fluid
running out of me. I kept saying “we
are going to lose the babies” because
at that point I thought that if your
water broke you had to deliver right
away. All he could say was “Oh my
God”. We went to the Dr’s office this
time b/c my Dr had gone from the
hospital to the office and she did a
strip test for amniotic fluid and it
came back negative, we then had an
ultrasound and Baby A had a
conservative 7 for fluid. They called
the Perinatologist’s office we had
been to the day before and they said
that the day before it had been more
than 7 and we made an appt to see the
Peri that Thursday.
That night I spent a good amount of
time on the internet researching what
I found to be called PPROM meaning
Preterm Premature Rupture Of
Membranes. I read a ton of stories on
http://www.kanalen.org/prom/index.php
and they filled me with a mixture of
dread, horror and hope. I also got
some great support from the women on
http://boards.babycenter.com/n/pfx/foru
m.aspx?webtag=bcus1202046 Needless to
say I was starved for information and
I got inspiration from both places. I
lost more fluid that night so we went
back to my OB on Wednesday and Baby A
had a 3.4 for fluid. The Dr (not mine
but one in the practice) told us that
Baby A wouldn’t make it and that if I
didn’t get an infection or go into
labor (which I surely would) that Baby
A would die and calcify in my body and
that I would then absorb him. He also
said there was a slight chance that
the leak would seal itself off but
that it needed to happen soon, keep in
mind he only said this when I
said “isn’t there a chance that the
leak with heal itself?” Brian looked
terrified when we left the office and
I had to tell him all about what I had
read online and how I didn’t care what
the Dr’s said that we were going to
make it and everything was going to be
ok. From then on that is what both of
us kept in our minds no matter what we
heard from the “authorities” on the
situation. I kept thinking, these
babies haven’t given up why would we
give up on them!? I just felt that if
I didn’t keep thinking positive then I
wasn’t giving them the support they
needed to get thru what could be the
most precarious situation they could
have possibly have been in.
Thursday we went to the Perinatologist
and there was no fluid around Baby A,
he did have fluid around the cord but
they don’t count that. She asked if we
wanted to terminate (something we
would hear a couple more times) and we
said absolutely not. I had read online
about women who had successfully made
it thru this ordeal and had healthy
babies. She then said “well, maybe the
women who didn’t have success aren’t
posting their stories” I had to
explain that there were plenty of
those stories out there too but that
it wasn’t as hopeless a situation as I
had been lead to believe. (This was
the type of conversation I would have
with Dr’s for the remainder of my
pregnancy, me saying that we would
make it and the babies would be ok and
Dr’s telling me we didn’t stand a
chance or very little of one) We were
told that if we made it to 24 weeks I
would go on bedrest, we would get
steroid shots for the babies lungs and
that the babies would have a 50/50
shot at life and a pretty good shot at
Baby A having Pulmanary Hypertension
in short, meaning that his lungs
wouldn’t function. She then suggested
I go into the hospital that day for
monitoring b/c she felt labor was
immenent. I said I was just going to
go home and she advised against it. I
was admitted to the hospital for
overnight observation. After an
uneventful stay I asked for an
ultrasound before we were discharged
and there was a tiny bit of fluid in
Baby A’s sack, we were thrilled!
I was sent home and told to continue
with life as normal. I stayed home
from work for a week and stayed off my
feet. I drank about two gallons of
Crystal Light Lemonade a day for the
remainer of my pregnancy and every
time we had an ultra sound both boys
had full bladders, which was my goal.
I drank as much as I could stand b/c I
knew that if I had a leak then if I
could keep them urinating then they
would be making amniotic fluid and
hopefully some would make it to Baby
A’s lungs. I did return to work part
time. I still picked up my 2 year old
a little but I just took it easy in
general.
I continued to have weekly
appointments at my Dr’s office along
with ultrasounds where both babies
continued to grow and have strong
heartbeats, as a matter of fact Baby A
always measured ahead of his brother
and ahead of his gestational age but
there was never ANY fluid in Baby A’s
sack except around his cord. We also
had many trips to the hospital for
random episodes of bleeding, each time
thinking “but we are only (insert
amount of days) from being 24 weeks
this can’t be it. Fortunately it
wasn’t.
Sunday November 11th I hit 24 weeks
and I was admitted to the hospital for
the remainder of my pregnancy.
The babies were monitored twice a day
and always had strong heartbeats, I
was asymptomatic for most of my stay.
When I did show symptoms I was treated
to stop my discomfort. Friday
November 30th I was 26wks 6days I
started having Severe cramping (not
like contractions) for about two hours
that would’t let up then it was
gone
Saturday- Two losses of Serious
amounts of blood. Speculum exam that
was excrutiating, no dialation.
Sunday AM-Contractions that started
out as irritablility then went to
every 3 minutes. Trip to Labor and
Delivery for observation and more
monitoring, Terbutaline to stop the
contractions and back upstairs.
Sunday PM- Contractions that started
as irritablitly and then went to every
3 minutes. Spent the night in labor
and delivery for more monitoring.
Terbutaline to stop contractions back
upstairs to my room.
Monday- Contracted in my room all day
by that night I was out of my mind b/c
I hadn’t slept at this point since
Friday night b/c my contractions would
wake me up all night like at least one
every 30 minutes. After a speculum
exam (no dilation) and a fight with my
nurse she gave me morphine to sleep, I
contracted thru the morphine and woke
up about every 15-30 minutes all night
again.
Tuesday-Contracted all day no meds
helped, they were irregular so they
didn’t do anything. Morphine allowed
me to sleep I think four hours that
night.
Wednesday-Woke up at 3:45AM with
contractions, tried terbutaline,
didn’t help, took a shower (I hadn’t
showered since Sat AM b/c I had been
in so much constant pain and
discomfort) About 8:30 AM they sent me
back down to labor and delivery. We
didn’t think I was in labor (me or the
Dr). Speculum exam, no dilation.
Terbutaline, no change in
contractions. About 12 PM I called
Brian and said “You need to come b/c
something just changed with that last
contraction) By the time he got there
I was crying and begging God to help
me. As the day goes on the
contractions get worse and worse, they
were one right on top of another I was
begging for help, begging God to help
me, I was grabbing Brian by the shirt
and asking why he wouldn’t help me, I
was out of my mind with exhaustion and
pain. They decide to give me dopamine,
no change in pain level. They decide
the babies are coming that night or in
the morning so they order an epi so I
can stop being a freak and so they can
get another round of steriods in me
before I delivered. The anesthesist
came and I told him how my last spinal
didn’t work, he says, and I
quote “Don’t you worry about that,
it’s not going to happen this time, I
will take care of you” So, I am in
hard labor, and he does an epi, I keep
saying that is shooting pain down my
spine into my bottom and he keeps
saying “is it pressure or pain” and I
keep saying “PAIN” so he says OK and
does another epi, no pain this time
(well other than the second needle in
my back!) They lay me down and say
you should notice a change in the next
4-5 contractions. No Change!!!! They
decide to give me a speculum exam (I
begged him to do a digital) he said he
had to do a speculum, did one and
said “I can’t see, there is too much
blood, I have to do a digital” I
wanted to kill him! So he does a
digital, I am 90% effaced and 2 cm
dialated. We already knew I was to
have a c-section so they wheeled me
across the hall and guess what, they
did a SPINAL! Thank GOD it worked! Do
you understand I had 2 epi’s and a
spinal in like 30 minutes?????
Birth: They start the surgery and they
say “here comes the first one” I just
start praying out loud “Lord, Please
let them be ok” I just said it over
and over. They get Abram out first
(Baby A), he comes out crying and
breathing on his own. His APGAR scores
are a 7 and 8 (this is the child they
told us would die in the womb or be
born with no lungs) he weighs 2.6lbs,
Brian and I cry! They take him into
the hall and Brian goes out with him
(He asked if he could and I said OF
COURSE) He comes back in and here,
comes Nathan crying! He is breathing
on his own! His APGAR scores were 8
and 9 he weighed 2lbs.
I get a glimpse at Nathan on his way
out, he is perfect. They had a hat on
him and I said “what color is his
hair?” They said it was dark like
mine. They had to make “multiple
incissions in my uterus b/c Nathan was
stuck” They look at the placentas and
Abram’s had a blood clot (which may
explain the water breaking) and by the
clot the corner of the placenta had
torn from the uterus which does
explain all my unexplained bleeding.
The reason they couldn’t figure out
what was up with my contractions was
b/c they were just irritability caused
by the blood leaking from the
placenta, filling up my uterus and
then my uterus contracting to get rid
of the blood.
Recovery: They took us to the
recovery room and after a while the
neonatologist came in and said “Abram
is not looking good. He was at 90%
oxygen saturation on his own but we
have had to put him on a ventilator
and he is on 100% oxygen to keep his
saturation level where it needs to be.
(you and I breathe 21% oxygen to keep
our saturation levels where they need
to be so he was 79% behind where he
needed to be) He has pulminary
hypertension which means his blood
vessels in his lungs have tightened up
and won’t allow his lungs to open, we
have started him on Nitrous to help
releave those blood vessles but we
have him on a high level ( I think it
was like 50% or something crazy). He
then said the fact is he has done it
on his own before we are just hoping
he can do it again, we know he has the
ability” He left the room and Brian
looked crushed, we both were but I
said “Honey, we knew this was going to
happen, it is going to be a roller
coaster ride for the next few months,
he did breathe on his own and he will
do it again!” about 20 minutes later I
see the Dr walking down the hall, I
said “Oh, No” out loud and right as I
did he gave me a thumbs up. He came in
and said “Abram is responding great to
the drugs we have him back on (I think
it was 34% oxygen) and we have turned
the nitrous way down. We cried!
Abram came home on January 26th with
no monitors and no problems. Nathan
came home on January 31st on no
monitors and with no problems. Both
boys are amazing and perfect! Nathan
did have PDA surgery and hernia
surgery but other than that they are
completely perfect! The are now 3 and
a half months old and Abram weighs
almost 8 and a half lbs and Nathan is
7lbs!
We are so blessed and I truly believe
that we were lucky but there is hope,
don’t ever give up hope, your babies
need you to believe in them. Good Luck
and if you need to talk you can email
me at jennyc@carolina.rr.com May God
Bless you and your babies!
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