I had a great pregnancy, no morning sickness, just some dizziness, usually in the morning. My husband and I couldn't have been happier. The doctors were all happy with how everything was going and how I was growing. We had decided not to find out the sexes of the babies so we could have the "surprise" at the delivery.
Everything started to go down hill on September 29th. We had a party at our house and that morning I was having some cramping. I called the doctors and they said to just take it easy and don't do a lot. Well that was kind of nice because it got me out of a lot of work for the party. We had a nice time and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The next morning I woke up and was having cramping again. I called the doctor again and apparently told her that "I was having pressure on my cervix" (I found this out later when she told me that is what concerned her since not many women say those exact words) I was just under 22 weeks pregnant and we headed to L&D. I was contracting every 20 minutes and they weren't very strong so I went home. That night I was still cramping. I went to the bathroom and had some bloody discharge. It wasn't much, but I figured I should let the doctors know about it. They said I could go back in, but since I was fine earlier and I wasn't contracting any more frequently, and since it was only a tiny bit of blood, I didn't have to. We decided not to go, and went to bed. I woke up around 2am to go to the bathroom and remember my husband waking up to ask me what was wrong. I said "nothing I just have to pee". I woke back up around 4am and felt like I was bleeding so I got up to go to the bathroom again. I took one step into the bathroom and had a huge gush of fluid. I scream for my husband to get up that my water had broken. We put a call out to the doctor, but also got into the car to go to the hospital. I was so scared because I was only 22 weeks exactly. Way too early for the babies to be born and survive. When I got to the hospital I was found to be in active labor and 2-3cm dilated. The sac for baby "a" had ruptured, and we were told that they both had heart beats, but if they were born that early they would never survive. I can remember my heart on the monitor beating 160 beats/min because I was so scared. I have never been so terrified in my life. I was laying on my head so there would be no pressure on my cervix, but eventually I was contracting so much that the doctors sat me up because they were so sure I was going to deliver. An ultrasound was done to check the positions of the babies and we decided that we needed to know what we were having so we could name them. We found out baby "b" was a sweet baby boy, but were unable to find out what "a" was due to the lack of fluid. I was in active labor all day, and then around 2am, somehow stopped contracting. No one knows how or why, but we were all happy.
We talked to the neonatology team and the perinatologist , and knew that the likely hood of having two healthy babies was extremely unlikely. My husband and I were even told at one point "you will never get both, you'll be lucky to get one and you need to write baby "a" off". I promptly kicked that doctor (a perinatologist) out of my room. I was told I would remain on bed rest until I delivered. Every possible scenario was played out. What we were told the doctors would try to do was deliver "a" since the sac was ruptured, and try to stop labor and keep baby "b" in until he was viable. I also faced the problem that I needed to be transferred to another hospital because the on I was at couldn't take babies as premature as mine might be. After a week of being on strict bed rest, not getting up or even sitting up at all I was transferred via ambulance to a hospital an hour from our home. I remained on strict bed rest and felt like a ticking time bomb. I had weekly ultrasounds, and was monitored three times a day. Both babies remained looking well although baby "a" never regained any fluid. There was constantly fluid being produce because I was leaking it, but the rupture was too big and never repaired itself. I was told that if they made it baby"a" would probably be severely deformed from having no fluid, and the lungs would also be very bad from the lack of fluid.
I remained on strict bed rest and counted the days. My short term goal was 26 weeks, then 28, then 32. If I would make it that far everyone would be happy. I have the best husband who was there every day and stayed over night with me for the first two weeks. The night of October 1st he left kind of early because he was working over night at his part time job. His plan was to go home in the morning and sleep a little before coming to the hospital. I woke up at 6:30 having a lot of pelvic pressure. I hit the call bell and asked the nurse to come in. She poked her head in and had a scared look. She said that the way I asked her to come in she thought she was going to find a baby on the bed. She obviously didn't, but I did tell her I was having a lot of cramping. I was put on the monitor to watch the babies and contractions. I was contracting a lot. I was so frightened because I was only 25weeks and 5 days pregnant. The babies were considered viable, but would be micro preemies if born now, with only a little chance of survival. We decided I needed to call my husband who had just gotten off of work. He had just laid down. I told him what was going on, and he asked if he should come up. I said I would call back if they didn't go away, because I wanted him to be able to sleep. I called back 5 minutes later and told him he needed to get there. After a lot of convincing by the doctors I was checked to see how dilated I was. I had been told not to let anyone check me because I was so open to infection, but it was necessary since I was contracting so much. I was given IV fluid and told by the OB resident on that day that it was "too nice for a c-section". We knew I was going to be sectioned since the babies had turned to breech and transverse. I was wheeled over to a labor room to be monitored more closely. At this point my husband got to the hospital and I was in a lot of pain. I was checked again and was 5cm dilated and 100% effaced. There was no turning back now. That was the last time I was checked, but I will almost guarantee that I went fully dilated because as they were wheeling me into the OR I told them they better hurry because I felt like I had to poop. I was always told that is how it feels when you have to push. I received a spinal and the section began. The first baby was born at 9:59 am on October 28, 2007 and came out with a little cry. I ask what it was since we never were able to find out, and no one knew. After a few second we found out we had a daughter. At 10:01 am our son was born and crying also. They were quickly whisked off to the NICU. Both babies ended up on ventilators. Our daughter was 1 lb 13.7 oz and our son was 1 lb 13.2oz. We were told that they were doing ok but the next few days were crucial. That night I was woken up because my daughters right lung collapsed and they had to put a chest tube in her and were placing her on a special vent, but that she was ok. I went up and saw her and she looked pretty comfortable, but was hooked up to so much stuff.
After 2 long weeks I was able to hold my sweet daughter for the first time, and a few days after that my sweet baby boy. It killed my that I wasn't able to hold them until then. I felt helpless. We had a long road in the NICU, 96 days to be exact, but on February 1, 2008, 4 days before my due date we brought both babies home. It has been a whirl wind adventure, but I wouldn't change it for the world. We have been blessed with TWO healthy miracle babies!
Then:
Now:
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