Miracles in the UK

There I lay with a 6 month beautiful bundle of joy and my husband said "I would like another" I smile and say, "in another 5 years", he looks back "I think I will be too old in 5 years. I want to see my children grow up. Look how close Riley and Tia are." (Grandchildren of a friend that are 15 months between each other) I look at him and say "yes, that would be lovely, they would be so close they would be like twins." (Famous last words)

Only the month after I take a pregnancy test which was positive, we were excited. 6 weeks into the pregnancy I started experiencing severe cramping, the doctors sent me for scan as they thought the pregnancy may be eptopic. We went into the scan and they were looking and my husband says "I bet its twins". I hit him and say "don't be so silly", the sonographer laughed and said "do twins run in your....oh!" Both me and my hubby looked scared at her "what's wrong?" we asked. She looks up, "I need a second opinion. I think I can see two fetal poles". "TWINS?!?!" I gasped and we were sent outside for 45 minutes. I remember thinking "I'm only 20, how am I going to cope with twins and a daughter under 2?"

45 minutes later we were called in and they said after looking over the pictures determined there were two fetal poles. My husband says "so we are having twins?" The sonographer looked back and said, "yes, Mr. Reynolds you are having twins. You need to come back in two weeks to be monitored". We agreed and left. Two weeks later in the same spot feeling just as nervous as before we were called in, they looked over and stopped. They told us there was a possibility that the twins were coinjoined and that I would have to come back in 2 weeks for a definite answer.

I left feeling numb I didn't know what quite to say or think. I dodged the subject with my husband till the next scan at 10 weeks. Again same position than before watching the clock tick over more anxious than either of the times before, again we were called in and at the end of the scan she said "Good news, they are definitely not conjoined but I want you to go for a scan in two weeks with a specialist as I can't seem to find a membrane". We sighed with relief but without realising what she had just said was bad.

I got home and curiosity got the better of me and I googled it, after reading all the horror stories. I sat there and cried. My husband sat beside me and asked what was wrong. I showed him and he said there may still be a membrane and not to worry. Having a daughter of 7 months gave me something else to concentrate on between being sick with morning sickness and feeling so tired of course. 12 weeks I sat in the same spot completely overwhelmed again she scanned them over and she looked at me again. "Urm, I'm going to clean you off and I think you should come and sit down." She cleaned my stomach, I rearranged my clothing and she looked at me and said, "I can confirm you are carrying Monochorionic Monoamniotic twins, they are extremly rare and in the UK have less than 50% survival rate. They are in the same amniotic sac and can easily tangle in each others cords which will result in fetal death, they can cut each others blood supply which will result in fetal death and also TTTS which can be handled but isn't 100% that it works. The negatives out weigh the positives and I suggest you get a termination."

On the way home we drove in silence as we parked outside our home in Broadfield, West Sussex (UK) my partner held my hand and said "I will support whatever decision you make." I sarcasticly smiled and got out the car. That night I tried to speak to a few close friends about it, neither knew what to say and told me to do what I thought was best. It was not much help at all. I then, I don't know why, searched in the tool bar MoMo twins and found the facebook group called MoMo Twins: Pregnancy, Birth and More. I spent 2 1/2 hours reading everybodies stories and it gave me a glimmer of hope. I turned to my husband and said, "Who am I to play God with two people's lives? I am not God and don't wish to be so. I am going to let nature take its course... If we come out with two, awesome, with one, so be it, and none, at least we would had tried. I can't give up on them." The next day I received my first consultants appointment at the local hospital where the consultant suggested that I go to 36 weeks and have them naturally and only have a section if there's trouble." I left feeling confused as she said the opposite of the specialist I saw, that night I lay in bed thinking about things. The next morning I decided to call East Surrey hospital (45 mins away) where I saw the specialist and asked for all my appointments there and with a more experienced specialist.

We continued our two weekly scans and all was going well until 18 weeks when I collapsed during a routine scan. I was rushed to accident and emergency and they did all sorts of tests and came back with that they thought was a blood clot on the lung. Over night they gave me blood thinning injections in hope it would flush the clot and the next day I was taken down to radiology where an Indian doctor sat me down and said, "You need to be aware that you are having radiology with gamma rays, we think your babies may have developed all its features BUT there's a chance they may have not and doing this may cause mutation." I asked, "what if I don't do this?'" He responded, "It's likely you won't be able to carry on with your pregnancy." I asked for a few minutes and thought of my options, I came to the conclusion that I would rather risk them being mutated than terminating them as I had I already felt them. I called back the Dr. and said "I will go ahead with procedure" I sat and hugged a huge machine while its took pictures of my lungs. I went back to the ward and anxiously waited the results. 5 hours later a Dr. came to me and said "they couldn't see any clot and they thought it may had flushed out."

Back home all was okay and carried on normally till 28 weeks. I was sat in my living room watching TV while my partner was in the bath  and I started to feel my stomach contracting; having a singleton before I knew what was happening. I left it a hour before I called down my hubby to take me to the hospital. We got there and they monitored me and said "if we can't stop this we need to organise an air ambulance to take you to St. Georges in London as we don't have the facilities here for two 28 week old fetuses". They gave me some medication which calmed them down and 2 hours later stopped. They told me not to go out by myself and do minimal walking and things around the house to avoid preterm labour. At the next consultants appointment she sent me for steroids straight away and said I needed a iron transfusion as my iron levels were dangerously low. The next Thursday I went in at 7am they started pumping the iron into me and at 8pm I was still there. A nurse came in and I asked "excuse me, do you know how much longer it will be as I've been 12 hours". She turned and sternly said "girls like you take up room in the delivery suite because you cannot be left in a chair. It will take as long as it takes". She walked out came back 10 minutes later, "so are you going to breast feed your twins?" I replied "I don't think its good idea to be up all night breastfeeding twins and be up early with a 14 month old."  She stared at me and said "Well, do you know you are going to kill those babies because formula will not digest in the system properly? I had a meeting with my team and we decided when and if you should have a section and we haven't agreed to it."  I looked at her and said "my consultant booked it months ago". I sat there holding back the tears and she then said "when that is finished I will take you to the NICU so you can see how they will be!".

Fifteen minutes later she left me at the door of the NICU and I went in and saw all these babies connected to machines and broke down and left the hospital and went home. The next day I called my consultant to say what had happened and she assured me the next day that the section had been confirmed and nothing to worry about. 1st of December came, delivery day, I was super excited when I looked out the window to see a blanket of snow outside.  We called a taxi who were hesitant to come and told us they would charge us double which my husband said "I don't care, we're having babies."

I got dressed in the gown, was sitting waiting patiently when I saw a smartly dressed man with a brief case who looked out of place on the ward. He was walking towards me he said "Miss Plant?" I looked at him vaguely "yes?!?". He said "I'm sorry to inform you we are unable to do your elective section today due to no space in the NICU at this current time." I got really upset I said "Do you not know how important this is? Do you not understand the consequences?" He looked down and replied, "I'm afraid I have done all I can." I asked "at least you will give me a scan right to monitor the blood flow?" He stated, "No, Miss Plant, we are unable to scan you today please make your way here tomorrow and we will try and fit you in". I went home rather angry but tried to sleep as much as I could.

The next morning I wake and look out the window and we had 2 feet of snow, we call the taxi who again is reluctant to come and said this time they would charge double and a half! Again we responded "We don't care, we are having babies." We drove to a family friend's to drop our daughter off as we went to turn around we were faced with a hill. The taxi did not want to go up but luckily there were 2 strong men trying to dig out their cars that James begged to help. We finally got up the hill with help from two local men and James when we get stuck again up a smaller hill, poor James had to push the taxi up by himself and faceplanted in the snow but like a good sport got back up without a word. It took us a hour and a half but we got to the hospital again. We got dressed for the section when I saw the smartly dressed man again. I looked at James and I said "I can't believe it, he better not be coming here." He stood at my bedside and I looked up, "Miss Plant, we are unable to do your section today due to lack of staff due to the snow. I have considered getting you to another hospital as we realise the importance but we cannot get any ambulances safely here. Please stay and we will see what we can do in the morning." James hugged me tight and said stay here and I will come back tomorrow. I was left 7 am till 7 pm with no monitoring, food or water, then the staff changed and a head midwife came and monitored me and gave me a sandwich and again before bed and showed me to a private room.

At 5am I woke to a knocking at the door and she said I've come to monitor you...I remember thinking all I want is to sleep. As she started to monitor she said "That's not good. Okay stay here I need to go get someone". 10 minutes later a group of people ran in with a scanning machine my little miracles heart rates were 200. They said "We need to get you up to delivery suite now, these babies are coming". I cried "please call my husband, I can't do this alone". They took me up to the delivery suite and the heart rates calmed down but the consultant said they need to come today. They were wheeling me out the room to theatre when James arrived as we went to exit the room I heard "there's not enough staff in the NICU". I shouted 'Noooooo!' And the anesthesiologist smiled and said don't worry "they will be here soon". After a hour I went down to theatre and Maddison Sophia was born at 10:30 on the 3rd of December, weighing 3.15lbs, and Mia Sienna 2 minutes later at 10:32 weighing exactly the same. Their cords were looped and tangled and the cord was wrapped round Mia's neck. Thankfully there was no deformities due to the gamma rays. After a 22 day stay in the NICU Maddison and Mia came home on Christmas day 2010 :)

The Overstreet Twins ~ It was Meant to Be!

August 2007
My husband and I were shocked to find out I was pregnant in August 2007. We had a 3 year old son and an 18 month old daughter and we didn't plan on having any more children. I had some issues with birth control after having my daughter and actually had an appointment to have an IUD placed at the end of August. Imagine our surprise to be pregnant. After the initial shock wore off we were both very excited to have a 3rd coming. It was simply meant to be....

My first appointment @ 9 weeks went well. Having been through this two times before, I went to the appointment alone thinking it was going to be no big deal. When I had the ultrasound to see the baby's heartbeat the tech asked me if this was my first pregnancy. I laughed & replied "No, my third and it was a surprise." Then she laughed and said "Here's another surprise, this is your 3rd & 4th!" I said "HOLY SH**!! I saw the two little heartbeats on the screen and couldn't believe it. I called my husband at work and he thought I was joking. I think we were in shock, again, for about a week. We were then referred to a perinatologist at Maternal Fetal Medicine for a routine first trimester screening the next week. That's the first time we heard the words "monoamniotic" and "high-risk". The only thing we knew about twins was that you could have identical or fraternal. We certainly got a crash course at that appointment. I remember getting home and doing some research on the computer (big mistake at the time). I was terrified by what I read.  I called my Ob/Gyn and he was able to calm me down, telling me that we were in this together and that I had to be strong. I didn't have facebook at that time and I looked for support groups but couldn't find any. I joined a twin website and my first post was "Pregnant with monoamniotic twins and scared", to which I got NO replies. I was even more scared and felt so alone. After two days I finally got a reply from a woman who told me that her hairdresser's cousin had monoamniotic twins and she was kind enough to pass my info on to this momo mom. This was the first person I was able to ask questions, a million of them, via email, and I am so thankful for her. She also told me about monoamniotic.org and I finally felt like I could relate my questions and fears to others who would understand.

We went back to MFM at 12 weeks and we were told that they thought the twins were possibly conjoined, another blow. The next appointment at 14 weeks the doctor suggested we abort the pregnancy because the cords were already tangled and it was going to be "an emotional roller coaster".  I was so upset and refused to see that doctor ever again. At our 16 week appointment we got the confirmation that there was no membrane, but the  good news that the twins were not conjoined, they were just moving in tandem because of the cords. Our MFM doctor was great and very informative during the 16 week appointment. This is when we learned of our treatment course, what to expect and when. The 18 week appointment brought the news that we were having girls, and that one of them had club feet, a small blow that my husband and I took in stride. From 18 weeks until 24 weeks I was seen by MFM every 2 weeks for ultrasounds and Doppler studies. MFM wanted me to begin inpatient monitoring at 24 weeks but my Ob/Gyn pushed to start inpatient at 28 weeks. We had 2 small children at home and the thought of leaving them and my husband was devastating. I also had a full time job and my husband was working full time and doing an accelerated Master's Degree program at night. We agreed on a compromise of outpatient monitoring from 24 to 26 weeks, and checked in to the hospital at 26 weeks for inpatient monitoring with a scheduled c-section at 32 weeks.

The first 2 weeks of my inpatient stay were the hardest of my life up to that point. Being there alone was awful.  My husband could only visit on the weekends because of our kids, his job, and his school. With the help of our family and friends we managed to work out a routine for the kids. Because my husband had class until 11:00pm three nights a week, the kids slept over my sister's on Tuesday and Wednesday, and she took a half day from work every Wednesday so she could bring them in for a visit and dinner with me. Wednesdays were the best. My parents and my mother in law took turns keeping the kids overnight on the weekends so my husband could sleep over with me at the hospital every Saturday night. So I saw my children every Wednesday, and my husband would bring them in early every Saturday to spend the day, then my sister would pick them up from the hospital so my husband could stay over with me. Then my sister would bring them back to the hospital on Sunday mornings to have breakfast with us, and my husband would leave with them around 1:00pm every Sunday. Sunday afternoons were the hardest for me. But that was our schedule and it worked.

During my stay I spent a lot of time at the nurses station, read a ton of books, used my laptop (wish I had Facebook back then), made a great friend with another pregnant mom on the unit, watched TV, napped, had tons of visitors, walked around the whole hospital, got a tour of the NICU, had Reikki, massages, a pedicure, and tried to relax as much as possible. I had a refrigerator in my room which was great for midnight snacks. I had a goal calendar marked for 28 weeks, 30 weeks,  and 32 weeks. It always felt great to scratch one of them off. I also started a CaringBridge website to keep all of our family and friends updated and to help pass the time.

Medically my inpatient stay consisted of one hour monitoring sessions 3 times a day. The monitoring sessions would usually go longer than an hour because it was hard to get both babies on the monitor, and keep them on. It became a routine of having an ultrasound with almost every monitoring session because the girls' hearts would beat in unison and the nurses could never tell if they had both babies on. I also had Doppler studies and growth scans at the MFM office every 2 weeks until 30 weeks, then once a week until I delivered. I called it my field trip for the day and I enjoyed being taken over to the MFM office in a wheelchair. My growth scans showed a slight difference in the size of the babies, so I was encouraged to drink Ensure for almost all of my stay. I was able to walk around almost the whole time I was in the hospital, up until the last 2 weeks. The girls never had any serious decels, but one of them had a scary accel around 29 weeks that lasted about a minute and the doctors were called in to see if they needed to deliver the girls. She recovered and it didn't happen again. On Valentine's Day I woke up at 4:00am with very painful contractions. I was 30 weeks and was sent down to labor and delivery for the day but thankfully they were able to stop the contractions. At this point I was put on complete bed rest because walking around irritated my uterus and started contractions.

My c-section was scheduled for Leap year, Friday, March 29th, 2008. I was 32 weeks 1 day. The day before, one of the neonatologists came to tell me that there was no room in the NICU for my babies, they were full. I was very upset. My Ob/Gyn was upset too. So we had to wait it out one last weekend, the longest weekend of my life, until Monday March 3rd, 2008 which brought me to 32 weeks 4 days.

March 3rd, 2008

Teagan Kathleen was born at 1:45pm, weighing 3lbs 15oz and 16 inches.

Taryn Cynthia was born at 1:47pm, weighing 3lbs 14oz and 16.5 inches.

The NICU was another emotional roller coaster, but in the end it was worth every bit of emotion. We have two miracle babies that have taught us more about life and love then we ever imagined. It changed our lives for the better. I have made life long friends with the nurses who took such great care of  me and the girls. My husband and I learned more about each other during this pregnancy and birth of our girls than we ever knew before, and for that I am so thankful. Small things that others may take for granted are cherished by us. We learned that you can't be afraid to ask questions or challenge a doctor, they don't know everything. If something doesn't feel right, don't be afraid to speak up? Always go with your gut. Most important, we learned how to be advocates for our children.  If you find a great doctor who knows about monoamniotic twins, you will be in great hands.

At this point our girls are almost 4. Sometimes I can't believe it. My husband and I joke all the time about having four kids, especially having twins. And then we say....it was simply meant to be.