After trying to get pregnant for a
year my husband and I decided to just
go for it and give IVF a shot. We were
exstatic to find out we were pregnant
the first try. A few weeks later we
were even more exstatic to find out we
were expecting twins!
The first few months of pregnancy were
wonderful, everything looking normal
except for getting fat a little sooner
than I had anticipated. On Labor Day
when I was 18 weeks pregnant I was
camping with family when I felt a gush
of fluid while using the bathroom.
Since I was going to the bathroom at
the time I didnt know what to think
and assumed my bladder was playing a
mean trick on me. I didnt even know
that it was possible to have your
water break so early so I didnt worry
that much. I gave my Dr. a call anyway
and he said he thought it was fine but
he would see me anyway.
The next morning we casually went to
our OB and discovered that Twin A's
water had broken and he had nearly no
amniotic fluid. We didnt know what
this ment but the Dr. confirmed that
the outlook was grim for both babies.
We were sent to see a specialist at U
of Washington Labor and Delivery and
he agreed that we had about a 75% to
90% chance of loosing both babies
within the week. He mentioned that a
lot of parents decide to terminate the
pregnancy at this point due to risk of
infection and my husband and I both
knew without a doubt that we were not
ready to give up yet.
We were devestated and were sent home
to "wait it out" After two days of
crying and worrying I discovered a
prolapsed cord. This time I knew
exactly what was happening and went to
the hospital right away. After hours
in the hospital Baby A's Heartrate had
dropped beyond dangerous levels from
the cord protruding and getting the
blood supply cut. We made the hard
decision to cut the cord and hope that
Baby B could hold out for us. After
that we waited for 3 days in the
hospital until I went into labor. The
Dr.s all said they would not stop
labor but my husband and I were
secretly hoping to deliver baby A and
hold onto Babay B.
So after a minimal amount of labor
Baby A, our first son, was still born
on Sept 7. We did not get to hold him
but we did have time to pray for him
and say our goodbyes.
Soon after my labor seemed to stop on
its own and our Dr.s felt that it was
time to finally look into Delayed
Interval Delivery. This is what we
were hoping for but we had not
realized that it came with so many
risks and this is why the Dr.s are
reserved about taking it on.
After a couple Days I was sent home
still pregnant with our second son,
(they finally told us it was a boy!)
We waited patiently and hoped for the
best but were aware of the worst.
We went to see a perinatologist a week
later that determined this was most
likely caused by incompetant cervix...
and we needed to get a cerclage to sew
my cervix shut. We did this later that
week. The Perinatolgist gave us hope
with his positive attitude that we had
a perfect little boy growing in there.
He was a great support system for my
husband and I and I truly counted down
the days inbetween visits with him. He
also had a great 4D ultrasound machine
that confirmed our babies amazing
growth for the following 15
weeks.
I spent 99 days on strict bedrest.
Thankfully my mother spent everyday at
our house cooking and cleaning and
hoping for the best with us. This is
only bathroom breaks and a daily
shower. I cleaned with wipes and drank
a gallon of water a day. I also drank
cranberry juice and ate a lot of
yogurt. This is the time that I found
this site and spent countless hours on
the internet trying to find anything
about our situation.
On 32 weeks to the day I woke up
feeling pretty crappy. I knew in the
back of my mind what was happening. I
was on an at home monitoring system
and they confirmed that I was having 5
contractions an hour. We were headed
to our local hospital. We got there
and I was given 4 g of Magnesium
Sulfate... this is awful stuff. I was
also given 2-3 shots of terbutaline...
also not the best feeling stuff. With
very little success they decided to
transfer me via ambulance to Tacoma
General, a hospital nearby with a
level 3 NICU.
Upon arrival that night, after a lot
of testing they decided that my risk
for infection outweighed the
possibility of holding on for a few
days longer. They decided to cut my
Cerclage and see what happened.
After being so eager to join us he
sure seemed to take his sweet time
after that. They discovered that I had
a "unfavorable pelvis for vaginal
delivery" but they assumed I would be
ok because the baby would be so small
at 32 weeks.
Well that wasnt really the case. He
entered the world at 5 lbs and 2 oz
after some pretty intense pushing and
a big bruise on his noggin for
proof.
He was quickly wisked away by the
waiting NICU team. It was a couple
hours before we were able to see him.
He looked so small but bigger than we
had been anticipating. He was on a
CPAP and they feared he would need to
go on the ventilator.
He improved a bit overnight and was
put on a room air nasal canula. But
after a couple hours of breathing a
little too hard he was moved back to a
CPAP.
He is now almost 4 days old and seems
to get stronger every time we see
him.
This has definately been the hardest
and scariest journey of our lives but
now looking back we still feel like
the luckiest parents in the world. It
is amazing how beautiful and perfect
they can look even with all those
tubes and monitors.
We named him Bennett. It means
"little blessed one" in latin and
starts with a B, as in Baby B.
It is so hard to see the twins in the
NICU and think that we could be there
but my husband and I just have to
remember that Bennett was meant to be
here with us and that is the only
reason he made it this far... a strong
little guy forsure :)
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