By Marla, Yellville, Arkansas US
PROM at 17 weeks + 5 days. Delivery at 27 weeks + 1 days.
Story added: 2004-11-13

After 7 years, 2 surgeries, 4 inseminations and an IVF/ICSI cycle, my husband and I found out we were pregnant with twins! We were so excited and had the perfect 1st 12 weeks...no sickness or anything. At 12 weeks I started gushing bright red blood and was put on modified bed rest. A couple of weeks later I saw a perinatologist who tells me it is a subchorionic bleed and to go back to work (2nd grade teacher). I spotted for the next month and at 17 weeks 5 days my water gushed out. At the time, I didn't know that was what was happening. We were at a theme park over an hour from home, so we headed home. I leaked all the way home. When I called my doctor he said I had probably wet my pants, but to go ahead and meet him at the hospital. After three nitrizine tests and an ultrasound, we knew the truth. Baby A had very little fluid (3 cm). I was taken by ambulance to a more capable hospital where I was told the situation was grim and that I would probably have my babies in 48 hours or less. The odds were definitely against us. Of course I was given magnesium sulfate to keep me from contracting that made me sick as well as just being totally devastated. After the 48 hrs. were over we started feeling better. Of course the doctors were telling us the scenario...they could try to deliver one baby and keep the other one inside if the right baby was presenting. She wasn't. They reminded us each time we got our hopes up about our babies that I wasn't likely to make it to viability, but if I did Baby A didn't have much of a chance. They did 3 ultrasounds a week, measuring the fluid each time and she never had more than 2.1 cm in the whole 9 1/2 weeks I lay in bed. At around 19 weeks we found out Baby B was a boy. On Monday, Dec. 15 I woke up with a totally blood soaked pad on. They sent me to L & D all day and nothing happened. On Tues. the same thing happened first thing in the morning. They monitored me again all day. On Wednesday morning, the 17th of December, again my pad was soaked, but this time it was for real. They rushed me to L & D, and shortly into a c-section. Baby A (Morgan Faith) was intubated in the delivery room. Baby B (Matthew Dawson) was put on CPAP. We were told Morgan had a 20% chance and Dawson had a 50% chance. At 22 hours after her birth, Morgan passed away from severe pulmonary hypoplasia. Dawson spent 9 1/2 weeks in the NICU and came home weighing 3 lb. 15 oz. He is now 16 1/2 pounds and 11 months old (8 months adjusted) and is extremely healthy. He is the light of our life, but we still mourn the death of our precious angel, Morgan. We just try to accept the fact that God could heal all of her and she'll be waiting for us when we get to heaven. I kept an extremely positive attitude in the weeks preceding the birth of our children and just knew God would give me a miracle and save both of my babies, but that didn't happen and it was very difficult to accept at first. I know that God is good and he took Morgan for a reason. Keep your faith and believe in miracles, but know that God has a purpose in whatever happens. God bless you. I'd love the opportunity to help others who share this common bond, so please email me if you would like to talk.