My new OB practice had found a quite large ovarian cyst and we were discussing the surgery options when I realized I may be pregnant. Safe to say the surgery was put on hold when we found out I was pregnant. At 7 wks we had our first ultrasound and everything looked wonderful, of course after the extremely traumatic miscarriage we were so nervous. But everything with the pregnancy was mostly calm, other than I was nauseous all the time day and night and seemed to be starting to show earlier than most. My nana kept saying “are you sure there’s only one baby in there?” which just made me feel awful.
The weekend before I was to be 20 weeks in the pregnancy, I was at a bridal shower and I started to spot. Of course I totally freaked out, but was an hour away from home and with my mother in law and sister in law. I called the doctor, broke down on the phone, and was inconsolable because I thought the miscarriage was happening again. My OB told me to go right to the hospital so I did, with my husband meeting me there. We spent a few hours in the emergency room just waiting to hear the crushing news. I was sent down to get an ultrasound and that whole experience was really strange.
The ultrasound technician measured the baby and then said she needed to take some more measurements. We were so confused and didn’t know what was going on. We just kept asking what was wrong with the baby, and why she had to take additional measurements. We kept asking was he/she not growing properly, etc. Then the ultrasound technician said she needed to make a phone call and she’d be right back. At this point we were terrified and bombarded her when she returned. She then said, “I can tell how nervous you are, so I’m going to tell you, but when you go back up to the ER you have to promise not to say anything”, of course we agreed we wanted to know what was wrong with our baby. She turned to me and said “Congratulations Happy Mother’s Day you’re having twins!” (it was the day before Mother’s Day). We were shocked! But it was a great shock! When she did the ultrasound and showed us everything the only thing she said was that there was no membrane between the girls which meant that they were identical, which we thought was really cool! We shared with our family the wonderful news and everyone was so excited for us. The next week we had a follow up with my practice to check out the twins.
The doctor did an ultrasound and said there was a membrane in between the girls so there was no way to tell if they were identical or fraternal. The doctor did refer us to Maternal Fetal Medicine and said because they were twins there would be additional monitoring and ultrasounds just to make sure both were growing properly. The following week we went to MFM and met with the staff and had an ultrasound to find out the gender of our twins.
The ultrasound technician at MFM wouldn’t say anything to us while she was doing the ultrasound and I just kept telling her one ultrasound technician said there was no membrane but the doctor said there was and how excited we were to find out if they were identical or fraternal. Immediately after she left the doctor returned with her to show us there was indeed no membrane. He then explained what that meant, we were having monoamniotic/monochorionic twins and congrats they are girls! Tears filled my eyes as we learned about the incredible risks to our sweet angels. He told us that he was surprised I hadn’t miscarried yet and that there was a 50% chance of loss until 21 wks. He told us how they’d be delivered by 32 wks. by a c-section and that I’d be advised to go inpatient at 26 wks, although if I preferred I could simply come in every day for monitoring. The last thing he said to us at that appointment was not to look on the internet when we got home, of course that’s the first thing we did and all the stuff posted was so scary. The next few weeks flew by and I had myself and my husband convinced that I’d be driving the 30 min to the office every day to be monitored. The pregnancy was going well; I had quit my job since they were less than supportive of all my appointments and me taking time off when I didn’t feel well, so I was enjoying getting our one bedroom condo ready for the girls. We had the condo on the market and were looking for a house. We found the house we are in now and were just waiting for the condo to sell.
At 26 wks I went to my first NST appointment to check for cord compression and to see through ultrasound how the girls were doing. Everything looked okay so it was an uneventful ultrasound. Then the doctor came in to talk to me about my choice to not go inpatient. He told me if something happened right after I left my daily appointment I would never forgive myself. After breaking down in the office, I sobbed all the way home and told my husband I was going inpatient tonight. I got home from the appointment and called everyone to let them know and started to pack my stuff. Russ brought me in later that night when he got home from work. After the exam and lots of waiting I got moved upstairs to the place I’d be spending the next few wks at. North 8 Room 22 was my home away from home until the girls would be delivered at 32 wks. My inpatient stay was mostly uneventful.
Of course I had the occasional contraction from not drinking enough but with fluids it always corrected itself and I never actually felt one contraction. I tested borderline with gestational diabetes so they put me on a strict diabetic diet. I started to get double the amount of protein; I’ve never eaten so much chicken in my life. I was on top of everything. I did a journal to show what I ate and what my blood sugars were and adjusted my meal choices if something I ate made my sugar higher. I was not on bed rest so I moved around and visited people. I even made friends with another pregnant woman on my floor who couldn’t get out of bed due to an incompetent cervix. I always had a private room, so I decorated it with pictures all over everywhere. My mom brought in a glade plug in thing so it didn’t even smell like a hospital room. I had a routine every day, I was monitored at 5 am for an hour, blood sugar was tested, got up had breakfast, did my laps around the floor, took a shower, blood sugar tested, had lunch, did my laps around the floor, had snack, blood sugar tested, had dinner, did laps around the floor, blood sugar tested and insulin and snack before bed. My friend brought a portable dvd player so I watched the entire series of Gilmore Girls while I was in the hospital. I had many visitors, friends and family. My husband’s grandmother’s church members came in every day to pray with me. I had visits from a therapy dog, and Reikki massage that was provided through the hospital. I took naps, played cards games with my mom and best friend almost every night. I colored in coloring books, lived on facebook and the internet, played Soduku and counted down the days to when the girls would be here.
My blood pressure was starting to creep up at the end of the pregnancy and it was being carefully monitored. I made it to 32 wks 1 day when the c-section was scheduled and there was never any evidence of problems with the girls. I had my last steroid shot a couple days before the c-section to help the girls lungs develop and an extra amount of insulin (before every meal) to make up for the increase in blood sugar due to the steroid, but I survived. The morning of the c-section I got monitored as normal and got my blood sugar tested, I just couldn’t eat. We went down to labor and delivery at 9:30 am and got taken into the OR at 12:30. The resident had a little bit of an issue getting the spinal in but all the nurses and doctors were joking with me about tattoos and sharing their tattoos with me (I have four on my back), with one of the nurses even pulling down part of her scrub pants to show me one! The spinal was administered and they tested to make sure I couldn’t feel anything. Russ came in and I felt very nauseous but I just kept slowly breathing and the feeling was better. Then all of a sudden we heard a whoosh like in the ocean as the doctor broke my water, she said she was thankful that she had her pants and shoes covered because it was like a flood in there. Courtney was delivered at 1:05 pm and almost immediately Isabella pushed her feet through the incision site and was also delivered. Courtney was born at 3 lbs 15 oz and Isabella at 3 lbs 8 oz. We got to see both of them and then they were whisked away to the NICU. I was brought to recovery for a couple hours then back upstairs. I immediately went down to visit! The girls were hooked up to CPAP and had their IV’s in. I had a spike in my bp that night and was sent down to labor and delivery to be put on magnesium for 24 hrs to prevent seizures and damage to my body. So for 24 hrs I couldn’t see my girls, but I was counting down the minutes til I could and harassed the nurses to get me transferred back upstairs. I was discharged on bp medication and had to take it for a few months after the girls were born, but it eventually returned to normal.
Courtney
Isabella
Overall the girls were very healthy, Bella spent a few days under the tanning lights due to jaundice and Courtney had a few times where she’d forget to breathe (which kept her there an extra day). Bella came home with us under 5 lbs and after 3 wks in the hospital. Courtney came home at 3 wks 1 day. Courtney had no concerns, but there was one concern with Bella. When she was born she had a sacral dimple which they medical staff was concerned that she could have spina bifida. It turned out to be nothing but she did have an issue with her kidneys. She was diagnosed had hydronephrosis on both kidneys which causes them to swell, and diagnosed with partial duplicating collective system on one ureter. We’ve had ultrasounds every year and it has drastically decreased on one side and completely gone away on the other, and we just follow up once a year with the pediatric urologist. Although there is an increased chance of UTI’s she’s been blessed to never have any.
Today the girls are 2 yrs old and thriving. They are at the top of the charts for height and finally about 50th percentile for weight. They say so many words I can’t count them all and say up to 10 word sentences! They’ve met every developmental milestone and continue to amaze me every day!
