Our miracle story begins in 2006 when
my husband and I learned I was in
premature menopause and would not
conceive a baby on my own. After
several years of discussing options,
and trying naturopathic remedies as
well as acupuncture we decided to use
an anonymous egg donor to conceive. A
year ago today we went down to Seattle
to fertilize the donor's eggs with my
husband's sperm and transferred two
embryo's into my uterus. I remember
the Dr asking,"are you sure you want
to transfer two embryos, we could just
do one." Our response was yes two we
are prepared for the idea of
multiples!
Five days later I took a home
pregnancy test that was positive! We
were so excited! The bld test revealed
a very high HCg level and I knew we
were having twins! The six week U/S
confirmed it I saw two little hearts
fluttering away and I was in love! The
pregnancy was pretty standard nausea
and vomiting from six weeks on,
tiredness and back ache which made
working difficult as I am a labor and
delivery RN. By 18 weeks I decided I
wanted to go off work and I guess my
body agreed!
My 18 week U/S seemed pretty straight
forward until the tech told me my Dr
would be calling me soon. The next day
I started to have contractions so I
went in to the hospital where I worked
pretty anxious and worried; luckily
labor stopped and my cervix was closed
but my U/S showed that twin A had
severe low fld.I was very confused
because I was certain I had not leaked
at all. I left the unit that day
absolutely devestated knowing that the
outcome is not good with PPROM.
After two weeks of extreme anxiety and
complete bedrest we met with the
perinatologists at BC women's hospital
to do a follow up U/S and discuss
options. The U/S on twin A was so
scary, she was so jammed in my pelvis
we couldn't see her face, heart, spine
or limbs and the pocket of fld was so
small. I knew it didn't look good. We
were given the horrible list of
options: 1) carry on the pregnancy as
is, 2) terminate the pregnancy or
just twin A or; 3) do an amniocentesis
with an amnioinfusion to diagnose the
cause of the low fld.
I think we cried the whole car ride
home, right away I knew in my heart I
could not actively terminate the
pregnancy or choose one baby over the
other. We wanted these babies for so
long and were so invested already! We
decided to choose option 3 and two
days later at 20 wks we did the two
hour drive back and had the amnio
done. The amnio was nerve wracking to
have done because the risk of
miscarriage is high and the more
needles the higher the risk is so we
decided to leave baby girl B
(Brooklyn) alone and just do the amnio
on baby girl A (Alyssa). We went home
and continued on bedrest and weekly
U/S that showed the infusion worked
and I was retaining amniotic fld in
the moderate oligo to normal
range.
Then at 23 weeks I woke up and had a
huge gush of fld I had never been so
scared in my life I was certain that
there was no fld left around Alyssa or
worse Brooklyn's sac had ruptured.
Amazingly when we had the U/S that day
the AFI was normal and my cervix was
not only closed but 4cm long. At this
visit they reminded my husband and I
that we are getting closer to
viability at 24 weeks and that is the
last possible time they could
selectively abort we told them no
thanks, besides doing that at this
stage would only put Brooklyn in
harm's way increasing the chance of
labor and losing both!
At 24 weeks I was admitted to
hospital, 25 weeks I received steroids
to mature the babies lungs. 26 weeks
they discharged me to my mother's
house on the antepartum at home care
program because my house was too far
away. The nurses came and monitored me
everyday and everything continued to
progress normally despite continuous
gushes of fld. The girls were active,
growing and I stayed infection and
labor free. We had a shower at 30 wks
to celebrate making it this far!
At 32 wks I started to feel pretty
awful and noticed a slight rise in my
BP. At 32+4 I went into the hospital I
had bad headaches and heartburn and my
pulse was 112 bpm. I was admitted
because of my blodd pressure and
started labor at 2am. The next evening
at 1854 and 1856 my beautiful girls
were born by C/S! We were so happy
when both girls cried with stimulation
and looked a good size. They were both
4lbs!
We waited all evening to see the girls
and finally the neonatologist came up
to talk to us, Alyssa had a collapsed
lung due to the small size of her
underdeveloped lungs! She was on a
ventilator that gave small puffs of
air and had a chest tube. He said she
was not out of the woods yet and that
they would know in the next 24 hours
if she'd make it! Brooklyn was on the
CPAPP and looked good. I cried so
hard, to make it all this way and
still have her fight for life! It
didn't seem fair!
Shockingly both girls were off their
ventilators in 36 hours and on room
air and never went back! They were
discharged to my hospital where I live
and I even caught a ride with the
transport team! Alyssa thrived in the
nursery and was off the monitors and
taking full feeds long before
Brooklyn! They are absolutely
beautiful and have none of the issues
the perinatologists warned us of!
The girls are now 5 months old and are
breastfeeding exclusively! They are
active and Alyssa loves to sing! When
we look at the girls we know we are
truly blessed and meant to be their
parents and they were meant to be
ours!
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