My name is Tony, Tess's husband and I
am posting this story for my wife. It
rips my heart out to write this story,
since I was so hopeful I would be
writing it with a different ending.
My wife had three eptopic (baby begins
to grow in a tube) pregnancies, and
consequently had to have both tubes
removed. She also lost one ovary.
After
we got married in April of 1997, we
immediately started IVF. Over the
course of the past four years, we did
three IVF procedures. Even with only
one ovary, my wife always yielded a
good amount of eggs, usually between 7
and 12 that were transferable.
On our third try this year, she became
pregnant and we found out it was
twins.
We were very excited and very happy.
My
wife did very little, mostly staying
around the house. I had a woman come
over and do the house work so she
wouldn't have to. She ate well and
took
her vitamins. Every time we went for a
doctor visit, everything was normal
and
on track. She had no pain, no
bleeding,
no cramping, and very little morning
sickness. It appeared to be a picture
perfect pregnancy.
On Monday, May 7th, at 14w3d, my wife
phoned me at 1:00pm and told me she
felt a large amount of fluid run down
her leg as she laid in bed. I called
the doctor's office and they told me
to
bring her in. After an ultrasound,
they
confirmed that baby A's sac had
ruptured and just about all of the
fluid had been lost. She was
immediately admitted into the
hospital.
They gave her antibiotics and
monitored
her temperature and white blood cell
count, which were both high. They
didn't tell us, but after reading
about
PROM on the Internet, I learned that
they were basically waiting for her to
go onto labor and lose the babies.
That
never happened. They did tell us that
baby A would most likely not survive
without the fluid. That didn't happen
either.
After a two-week stay in the hospital,
the doctors were shocked that Tess did
not go into labor, and that baby A was
still alive. They sent her home on bed
rest. She was allowed to get up for
the
bathroom and take a shower two or
three
times a week. Another three weeks
passed and she had no infection, pain,
bleeding, temperature, nothing. At
19w4d, I came home to have lunch with
Tess. She got out of bed to go to the
bathroom, and asked me to look at her
and make sure there was nothing on her
after going. When I did, I was
horrified to see about one inch of
umbilical cord sticking out of her. I
called the doctor and they immediately
sent her to the hospital.
At the Hospital, our doctor confirmed
it was the umbilical cord of baby A,
and that the baby was no longer
living.
They brought Tess into the labor room,
and cut and tied the cord, hoping it
would retract and baby A would begin
to
reabsorb, allowing baby B to continue.
Tess seemed okay until the following
morning, when she had a 101.3
temperature and felt really bad.
Approximately 2:00pm, she started
having contractions. As the time
passed, they gradually became stronger
and closer together. Around 6:00, the
arm of baby A appeared. It took about
an hour but they got baby A out. As
soon as baby A was out, they checked
baby B with ultrasound and she looked
okay. About three minutes later, her
sac burst and she was out and died in
a
minute or two.
We named the girl Isabella Maria, and
the boy Anthony Jr. We had a mass for
them at our church, and we had them
cremated. I have never experienced
pain
like this, and I know it is the same,
if not much worse for my wife. I am
sure we will get over this as time
passes, but we will never forget them,
and they will always be our first. Our
priest told us during the mass that
since they were so young, they are now
saints. I believe that and we will
both
be praying to them. My wife and I are
strong people and I know we will try
again. However, this has been a
terrible experience that I pray we
will
never go through again. Our hearts and
prayers go out to those who been
through this, or will in the future.
We operate a large Internet business.
We will be developing a web site to
help promote PROM awareness since I
had
such a difficult time finding any
information. I will post the link here
once it's complete. God bless all of
you and thank you for your support. If
anyone has any questions, feel free to
e-mail me at any time.
PAP PG Story
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