Our Beginning

Six years ago, after 10 years of marriage we tried to start a family. Of course this was an exciting time filled with joyful expectations of conception. Four years laters later after exhausting several avenues we decided to get assistance. With a little help we became pregnant with twins and as you can imagine we could hardly contain our excitement. As the pregnancy progressed we enjoyed many ultrasounds...we couldn't wait to have each one and show off the prints to our families and co-workers. How exciting it was to mark the growth of these two precious beings. At 3 months pregnant I appeared to be in my 6th month and I kept getting bigger and bigger. About a month later I was elated to feel movement and flutterings. Even though I gained quite a bit of weight and seemed to be swollen things were going smoothly. At 24 weeks; however, that changed. A routine check of my blood pressure sent me to my OB/GYN in a panic. They monitored me in the labor and delivery area of the hospital for a few hours and released me with instructions to check my blood pressure periodically and call if it was high again. I had a history of white-coat syndrome and they weren't sure if this was my nerves or something to be concerned about. A few days later I was diagnosed with preeclampsia (toxemia) and admitted for observation and testing. The tests confirmed the diagnosis. Additionally an ultrasound indicated that one fetus, our son, hadn't grown in the last couple of weeks. At 2:00am, when the last test result was in, I was transferred to another hospital to be treated by a specialist. I was scared to death. Before the transfer I was given a round of steroids to help with lung development, as the physician felt I could delivery within the next 24 hours. Another round of testing took place at the second hospital with the same results. Additional ultrasounds were conducted to check on the babies and they were stable but there was a backflow of blood in the umbilical cord of our son. Five days later I was sent home on bedrest wich instructions to monitor my blood pressure and to remain as calm as possible. Another ultrasound was scheduled for two weeks later to check on our son's growth. Two weeks later he had grown a very small amount and the backflow continued. There was another problem as well, he didn't have hardly any amniotic fluid left in his sack. I was admitted once again to the hospital and the doctor predicted I would deliver within the next two weeks. The following morning I asked if another ultrasound could be done to check how much fluid remained. The doctor made the arrangements and about 8:30 the technician arrived. There was no measurable fluid. At any time our son could roll onto his cord and cut off his oxygen supply which would lead to death. We had two options. The first was to do nothing and sacrifice our son to give our daughter a better chance at survival. The second was to delivery both and pray for their survival. The former wasn't truly an option for me. As a mother-to-be I couldn't stand the thought of giving up on our son. An emergency c-section was arranged and at 10:01 our children were delivered. Our daughter was first and she weighed a hefty 1 lb 14 oz. Second was our son who weighed in at 1 lb 1 oz. I caught a brief glimpse of them as they were rushed to the NICU in an isolette.

To be continued....