Hello everyone.
My water broke at 16w6d weeks on my
twin a from an amnio. I started
leaking fluid that night and it
totally broke the next morning. I
never regained fluid. I was told to
abort my pregnancy, as I would never
make it.
I didn't listen to the doctors and
decided to let nature take it's
course. I was on STRICT bedrest for 10
weeks until I did get an infection and
went into labor at 26 weeks. I leaked
amniotic fluid the entire time and
never went past a 1 level of AFI. I
was in the hospital for 2 weeks
(starting at 25 weeks when
contractions started) on all sorts of
horrible anti-labor drugs (mag, ter,
etc). once my temperature started
spiking, they took the babies via c-
section. I of course was given steroid
doses for my babies lungs while in the
hospital. The prognosis still wasn't
good. Critical lung development time
is from weeks 18-22 and my water broke
at 17 weeks. It's critical to have
amniotic fluid to help the lungs
develop.
AFter delivery I was very sick and
almost died from becoming septic. I
pumped breast milk like a banshee. My
c-section incision also became
infected and needed to be packed for 2
months.
My first born daughter, Corinne, my
prom princess who grew just perfectely
without fluid inside of me and in fact
was a tiny bit bigger than her sister,
was born weighin 1 lb 11 ounces. My
2nd born daughter, Kaitlyn, was born
weighing 1 lb 10 ounces.
The doctors called my daughters more
like 24 weekers as they weighed as
much as a typical 24 weeker. They were
very, very sick.
Neither cried. This was no joyous
delivery. This was a nightmare. I was
wheeled into recovery while the
doctors worked on my daughters to save
their lives. A few hours later the
NICU doc came to tell us that our
first born and prom princess wasn't
saturating oxygen and wasn't going to
make it. I was wheeled in and they
disconnected her from the wires and
vents and handed her to me while I lay
on the gurney. She held on to my
finger and passed a way an hour later.
This was the hardest thing I could
have ever imagined.
My 2nd born, Katilyn, was very, very
sick. She needed heart surgery, was on
a vent for over a month, I coudln't do
anything more than barely touch her as
she was too weak and her skin was too
fragile.
She ended up staying in the NICU for 4
months, she's now 2 years old and is
doing remarkably well for how sick she
was but she still has a lot of issues.
I won't sugar coat things. having a
micro-preemie (weighin unger 2 pounds)
doesn't stop once you leave the NICU.
Our first year of life required 240
doctor visits. ---in 1 year.
She now has a feeding tube, has a
paralyzed vocal chord (from her heart
surgery) wears glasses (from her eye
surgery), but is really doing
remarkably well.
The picture in my avatar is from my
surviving daughter a few days after
she was born. She is wearing my
husbands wedding ring on her foot. It
was the first time I was able to see
her as I was too sick after delivery
and was being packed in ice to reduce
my fever from sepsis (blood infection
caused from the ruptured
membrane).
I've chronicled my story from when I
went on bed rest (after my water
broke). I have pictures and my entire
last 2 years on my blog for those on
bedrest who are looking for something
to read.
my story: www.aLizard.com
I'm a very different person now than
when I was first on these boards with
my first IVF. My life changed forever
when my water broke from that amnio on
7.26.05. I've since started a support
group for mothers of micro preemies
and we have almost 200 members. I've
started local preemies support group
and am an avid supporter of March of
Dimes in their role of prevention of
premature birth.
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