By Jodi, Libertyville IL USA
PROM at 17 weeksDelivery at 26 weeks + 5 days.
Story added: 2002-07-21

My story begins last Sept. When we found out I was pregnant. We were so excited because I had a miscarriage one year prior. We went for an ultrasound to find out I was having twins! At 12 weeks I began having bleeding, so I was put on bedrest, 2 weeks later I was feeling pretty good, but noticed at 17 weeks I was leaking fluid, my doctor said it was just the blood clot resolving, so I tried not to worry, but had a bad feeling about it. On my first level 2 ultrasound at 19 weeks we found out twin B was a boy and twin A was ruptured. We were told the baby would not live and baby B would be lost too, because I would probably deliver before they were viable. I went for 2 more level 2 ultrasounds and was told the same thing each time, no fluid, no lungs, no baby. I was givin the options to stop the entire pregnancy, stop baby A's pregnancy or continue and see what happened, well this was not for me to decide, I felt it was God's decision, so we continued on as long as we could. I went for weekly doctor appointments, to check for heartbeats, positons of the babies and fluid levels on baby A which never really accumulated. On March 9 I began having contractions, so I was sent to a level 3 hospital, where they gave me steroid shots and LOTS of fluid. 10 days later, baby A's cord prolapsed and I found myself in an emergency c section. I was put under general anesthsia and woke up a few hours later to find out baby A was a girl! She weighed 1 pound 7 oz. and our little boy weighed 1 pound 14 oz. And the best news was, they were BOTH alive! They both had surfactant treatments, and were intubated. The ventilator wasn't good enough so they were both put on an oscilator for a few weeks. The first month was very touch and go with both of them. Evan our little boy eventually took off and was rleased from the hospital on a bit of oxygen one week after his due date. He is now over 8 pounds at 4 months (1 month corrected) Alison our little girl has continued to fight for her life every day and with many prayers, she has FINALLY come off the ventilator this past week. She now weighs 7 pounds 1 oz. She was put on nitric oxide, given 2 rounds of dexmethesone, hydrocortisone, diuretics, and a whole slew of other drugs. She was scheduled to have a tracheostomy this past Thursday, but coughed out her tube 4 days before the surgery was to take place. The attending nurse noticed how pink she became with the bag oxygen and suggested they just try her on CPAP. To everyone amazement she has done unbelievable, the doctors and nurses said "this just does not happen with babies as sick as Alison", today they began to cycle her on a nasal cannula and did wonderfully! We hope to have her home around labor day. It has been a LONG wait and we have learned our lesson in patience. This website gave me a lot of support and hope and with MANY prayers we have beat all odds! I hope this story offers some support and hope to others, Miracles DO happen, just ask...