It recently occurred to me that I have not posted our story. I actually composed it as my first blog entry. It took me a long time and quite a few tears. In fact I had to stop typing because I was crying, my Dad picked that moments to walk into my house. I scared him. I was crying so hard I could not tell him what was wrong, I can’t even imagine what he thought was wrong. I didn’t get to post it though, something happened and the whole thing was lost. I was too drained to go through it again, so you all got a reader’s digest version.  I will start our story, it’s long though so.. it many take a few posted to get it all out, after all we were in the NICU for 4 months.

Let me first start at the very beginning. Our twins were wanted very badly. Right from the beginning this whole getting pregnant thing was difficult. Not just because we went through IVF but because I had every possible complication and then some. I knew I that our treatment had worked sooner than most because I became very ill, not morning sickness ill but a side effect of the hormones ill, coupled with pregnancy hormones its worse. I was hospitalized for 10 days with ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome. apparently I was one of the worst cases my Dr had ever seen. I retained so much fluid that I was just as big then as I was when the girls were born two thirds of the way through my pregnancy. That was not enough though. While hospitalized I had a central line placed because I was so dehydrated from the OHSS that they could not find a vein for an IV. Two days after I was discharged I woke in the middle of the night and my left arm was very swollen and very painful. I waited until 6am to call my Dr. She advised me to get to the ER right away. We found out later that day that I had a very large blood clot that started in my arm and went into my neck. A potentially life threatening complication. Injections for the rest of the pregnancy was what was prescribed to reduce the clot and prevent an embolism. I am happy to say I recovered very well and remarkably fast, the clot all but disappeared in about one month. Still had to take the injections though.

My pregnancy after that was fairly uneventful. I has two small episodes of bleeding during the first trimester that were attributed to the injections I had to take. I was truly enjoying being pregnant. I loved it and I felt great. There is nothing more amazing than carrying your child and knowing that they are growing and developing inside you. Feeling them move was the best thing I have ever felt.

On October 15th 2006, 24 weeks 6 days into my pregnancy, while at work on a Sunday, I started to bleed. In fact I passed a good sized clot. I immediately left work and drove myself to the hospital. I felt fine, so I thought at the most I was going to get sent home on bed rest.

Wayne hates hospitals and had all the other kids at home so I called him to let him know what was happening but told him to stay home and that I would call him if and let him know what was happening. After all we had been there and done that twice already, why should we both wait to be told nothing is wrong and to go home and rest. I called my best girls friend Leah and had her meet me at the hospital so I didn’t have to wait alone. I then called the hospital to let them know I was coming. Practice makes perfect.

When I got to the hospital they booked me in in the ER and sent me straight upstairs to the antipartem unit to me assessed. I answered all the questions and patiently waited for the Dr. She was dealing with an emergency I was told. The resident came to see me and told me that since I wasn’t cramping and had been bleeding that he would not be doing a vaginal exam because he didn’t want to make the bleeding worse. Made sense to me. The nurse put me on a monitor, found both babies was satisfied and took it off. Then I started to get ”braxton hicks contraction’s they didn’t hurt and I had had them all along so I thought nothing of it. The nurse told me to keep an eye on them though. Then they started to get stronger, not painful, just stronger, they made me catch my breath, that’s all. Starting to get worried now. The nurse came back and re-attached the monitor and told me to watch the timing of the tightenings more closely.

Not long after did she come in and tell me that the Dr wanted me moved to another area to me monitored more closely. Little did I know she was moving me to the high-risk area. I thought she wanted me closer to her because she was still dealing with her emergency. I still did not know I was really in labor. I was scared but sure that they could stop it if it had started. How many times have you heard of someone’s premature labor being stopped?

As soon as I was in a room, the Dr and her resident came in to see me and do an exam. The resident did a physical exam, he turned around and whispered to the Dr. It was then that I knew something was wrong. The Dr. put on gloves and went to do another exam, I stopped her and asked her to tell me what was going on, she said she needed to examine me first. She did, then she told me that She could not tell how dilated I was because all she could feel was the membranes of baby A (Lena). She told me that I would be having my babies soon. I begged her to try and stop it. She said that she would but that she didn’t think it would last long IF she could, I was too far gone. I had already started to cry. The resident looked at me and told me not to cry, my babies were going to be born 3.5 months early, and I was not supposed to cry. He told me that when I cried I pushed and that they DID NOT want me to push. Neither did I, but how do you not cry when you know that it is way to early for your babies and all you care about is them and how fragile and sick they will be.

I owe a million thanks to Leah and my nurse. Leah took charge as soon as she knew I was scared and called Wayne to come, He was on his way before I even asked for him. She also called my parents for me. I am very close to my Mom and Dad and I needed them there. I wish I remembered the name of the nurse. She doesn’t know how much she helped me. When the resident told me not to cry she came over to my bed side sat right on the bed, held my hand and got real close and just talked to me. She told me how I needed to be strong for my babies and how I needed to keep them in as long as I could. I could feel the concern in her voice, like she was crying for me. She really helped. She stayed with me until Wayne got there and he took over. She was also great about getting him ready for the delivery. Thanks ladies I will always remember your kind words and gestures during the time I needed them most.

The labor would not slow down never mind stop. It was all a whirl wind after I was moved into delivery. So much happened so fast. I think it was around 2pm when they moved me there and Lena was born at 3:17pm, Kassie at 3:40pm.

To be continued…