By Jodi West, Beloit, WI USAI am now 35 years old. I have two beautiful boys 6 1/2 and 2 1/2. I have had prom twice, one a beautiful girl at 21 weeks who is an angel in heaven and the other prom at 21 weeks, delivery at 27 weeks and he is now 2 1/2 years old.
PROM at 16 weeksDelivery at 16 weeks.
Story added: 2001-06-15
After the experience of the last prom it took me quite some time to convince my husband to try again. We went to the perinatal clinic where our last son was born and consulted with the same doctors that had cared for us during my last prom. We wanted their opinion.
After much discussion with the doctors we had a plan. They diagnosed me with incompetent cervix and recommended a cerclage. Nothing was a guarantee but we came away from the consult with good feelings about having another baby.
We conceived right away. I had my regular ob visit at 4 weeks (I found out very early that I was pregnant) and at 6 weeks I went to the perinatal clinic.
I will never forget that day Oct. 23, 2000. The reason I remember this is because on this day via ultra sound I found out we were pregnant with twins. I was estatic!!! I felt as though God was giving back the one I lost plus one!! Words cannot explain my happiness!!! (My husband, for the first time in his life was speechless).
On November 20 I had to go back and have another ultra sound to make sure they were both viable. (I was spotting which I seem to do with every pregnancy) This was needed in order to schedule the cerclage. At this ultra sound instead of just seeing a little heart beats I could actually see the babies begining to form. They were viable and the cerclage was set for Dec. 1.
On Dec. 1 I had a McDonald cerclage done in the morning (with a spinal) and was home by 6. I was told to take it easy for a few days and then resume my normal but limited activities. I was pretty tired when we got home so we went to bed pretty early. At 10 o'clock I was awakened to a steady gush of blood. Needless to say my husband rushed me back to the ER where they admitted me.
After observing me for the next 24 hours the hemorage stopped, but then suddenly began again around 10 o'clock. After having another ultra sound they discovered I had a very large blood clot in my uterus. I was back in the operating room, this time having the cerclage removed. I struggled with this. This cerclage was going to be the safety net for my children, it was going to keep them secure until it was time for their debut. But now it had to be removed. Apparently they hit a blood vessel and it wasn't going to stop bleeding so we had no choice.
The next morning I awakened to a doctor wanting to examine me to see if the bleeding had stopped. Immediate panic starts. Apparently my pad and the chuck were full of a clear liquid. They did a test to see if it was amniotic fluid. The test came back negative. The doctor came in and with a speculum took another sample and it came back negative. She still wasn't convinced and sent me down to ultra sound. The ultra sound showed that twin A looked as though the amniotic fluid level was down. But... There was also a large blood clot pressing down on the placenta so no one could be sure.
After the doctors conferred they came back to my room and told me they were sure (even though the tests were negative) that I had prom with one of the twins and that the blood clot complicated things more. Their advice was to terminate.
There was that word again TERMINATE!!!! I had just come from ultra sound where I saw my two sweet angels!! Heart beats normal, moving around!!! Terminate NO WAY!!!! I went home after spending three days in the hospital to complete bed rest with bathroom priviledges and a urine hat( the little hat that measures your urine. It fits under the seat)the hat was to keep track of the amount I was bleeding. Each time they suggested this I prayed to God not to make me make the decision but for him to make the decision for us.(Make the blood clot go away or take our sweet angels home)
I went back 10 days later for another ultra sound at which time the twins were fine, the amniotic fluid was the same. But so was the size of the blood clot. We were hoping this blood clot was going to diminish with time. I went home with strict bed rest still being the plan. I no more got home that I began to hemmorage again.
I spent three more days in the hospital. Through the ultra sounds the twins remained fine. Growing right on schedule. The blood clot was the major issue. As long as the blood clot remained I could not have the cerclage again.
So home we go praying that this blood clot will go away.
Throughout all of this we remained positive. God had given us our Charlie (prom at 21 wks) and he was going to take care of everything one way or another.
On December 27, 2000 I woke up around 5:30 a.m. I usually slept on my left side. I rolled over to my back to get out of bed, but when I rolled over my belly remained on the left side. I started to panic. I sat on the edge of the bed for 30 minutes and nothing happened so I calmed myself. (knowing I had a dr.s appt in a few hours) I got out of bed and walked to the bathroom. With no warning my first twin was born in the hat and within minutes the second was born.
Because the placenta's were caught in my uterus I had to be taken to the hospital via an ambulance for fear if they tore I could have a severe bleed.
We buried our boys Andrew Jacob and Cole Jeffrey December 29th next to their sister Micala Marie.
My husband and my sons have been an incredible source of support along with my family. I only hope those of you going through this have the unfailing love and understanding I've gotten.
My heart aches my emotions soar... my arms ache to have another child in them. (Not to replace my three little angels they each have their own room in my heart.) I just have two precious son's on this earth and would love to have one or two more.
My friend has three young children. Something one of them said to me has helped I hope it will help others too!! "You make good guardian angels"
Thank you all for letting me share my stories. Thank you that you share yours!!!!