I wanted to share my story to
hopefully give a little encouragement
to whoever reads this-it truly can all
work out!
This website both encouraged me and
scared me to death when my water
broke. There were so many stories
both good and bad... so I wanted to
add another good one...
My husband and I had tried to get
pregnant for 3 1/2 years when we tried
In-Vitro. We transferred 2 embryos
and to our surprise, it worked! We
found out at our first ultra sound at
6 weeks that we were pregnant with
twins, we were thrilled. Everything
looked great-- 1 week later I looked
down while I was driving in my car--
there was bright red blood
everywhere. I thought for sure we had
miscarried the babies. I called our
fertility clinic and they were not as
discouraged-- they told me to come in
first thing the next morning and they
would do another ultrasound. I did
and was so reassured to hear that both
babies were fine and I had a
relatively small subchronic
hemorrage. I continued to bleed some
for the next few weeks-- nothing
scary, just some light blood here and
there. Then at just over 11 weeks I
had another gush of red blood. I sat
down for a minute, it was the weekend
after Thanksgiving and I had been
decorating for Christmas. I stood up
afterward and the really scary part
came, pink tinted fluid... a lot of
it. I called our O.B.'s office and he
was the doctor on call. He said he
thought it may be okay still-- not to
panic yet. He gave me the option to
come in the next morning or to go into
the E.R. that night... we went to the
E.R.-- long story short they said
everything looked fine. They had no
idea what the gush was but that it
must not have been amniotic fluid
because on ultrasound everything
looked fine. They never tested the
fluid that day. All went well for the
next few weeks, we finally allowed
ourselves to get excited after we met
the magical '12 week' mark. Then at
16 weeks and 6 days I had another gush
of clear fluid. I called the doctor
and they said to come straight in. It
was January 5th, the worst day of my
life. My husband and I didn't have a
good feeling-- he left work and came
to meet me. I'm so glad he did. They
took us back and did an exam, they
couldn't be sure if it was amniotic
fluid but sent us to a high risk
maternal fetal specialist because they
were not sure what to do. Ultra sound
showed a significant decrease in baby
a's fluid. The ultrasound tech said
to us,"all we can do is pray."
The maternal fetal specialist did
another ultrasound and gave us the
worst news we had ever heard. They
told us that baby A's water had broken
and were quite sure it had broken back
at 11 weeks. They weren't sure what
would happen, but most likely we would
either go into labor and lose both
babies or we lose them both to
infection. If I did go into labor
there was a very small chance they
could deliver baby A and save baby B,
but they would not know until the time
came, and that hope was slim. We
needed to go home and prepare for the
worst. I had to take my temperature
every few hours to check for infection
and watch for any signs of labor. If
I did go into labor the only option we
would have is to deliver-- no D&C, no
knocking me out-- we would have to
deliver the babies we had prayed and
hoped so long for and watch them die
while we held them. I couldn't
breathe. I would be on
bedrest, "until the end of pregnancy,"
was how they said it. I could sit up
at a 45 degree angle, shower every
other day, and go to the bathroom--
that was it. I took vitamin C,
1,000mg daily-- they said it could
help.
So I went home, waited and prayed.
We got a second opinion and they had
the same thoughts. Best case scenario
would be to make it to 24 weeks and
try to save baby B. Baby A would most
likely smother after birth, even if it
did live, due to lack of lung
development-- if we made it that far.
Everyone we know prayed and prayed and
prayed.
Weeks passed, no infection, no labor.
I continued to leak fluid a little off
and on. Baby A accumulated more and
more fluid. At 20 weeks we went in
and it was a 5, when it broke at 16
weeks it was reading just below a 2,
we were estatic. I had another huge
gush just a couple days later-- I
thought that was it. We had lost
every bit of the fluid we had gained--
we were crushed again. We continued
to wait and to pray.
More weeks passed, more fluid
accumulated. I stopped leaking fluid,
babies kept growing. I made it to 30
weeks and 3 days. The day before I
went into labor my O.B. made the
comment, "I think we can officially
call this a miracle." Amen to that.
On April 10, 2010 Lila Emery (Baby A)
and Thatcher Goodman (Baby B) were
born. My water had broken again that
afternoon and they did an emergency c-
section, this time labor had begun.
Lila came out first and I heard her
sweet cry... it was the best sound
ever-- babies who don't have lungs
can't cry :) Thatch came out a couple
minutes later and cried a sweet cry as
well. She weighed 2.9 lbs and he was
3.9 lbs. They were off of the
ventilator in three days, never had
any infections. Lila had a grade 1
brain bleed and a small heart murmur.
They treated the heart murmur and it
resolved in a few days, when they re-
scanned for the brain bleed it had
resolved as well. Thatch never had
any problems. We brought them home 3
weeks before their due date and they
have done wonderfully. No issues
whatsoever.
God is good-- and he is able. I know
that not every story will turn out
like ours, but some of them will. I
prayed several times during our
journey that if he didn't change the
situation he would change me. I was
not at a place where I could
physically do what was being asked of
me-- I could not deliver two babies
and watch them die. I couldn't. But
I just prayed that if God were going
to ask me to do that he would allow me
the strength to get through it. His
mercies truly are new every morning.
I look back at that time in my life
lying there and it was such a
blessing. I have this wonderful trust
in God and his promises-- and two
sweet babies as well.
"For I know the plans I have for you,"
declares the Lord, "plans to prosper
you and not to harm you, plans to give
you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11
I wish anyone who reads this the very
best-- I hope this has given you some
encouragement.
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