By Crissy Dunn, Murfreesboro, TN United StatesI wanted to share my story to hopefully give a little encouragement to whoever reads this-it truly can all work out!
PROM at 11 weeks + 4 days. Delivery at 30 weeks + 3 days.
Story added: 2010-07-01
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.