Meet our miracle babies

This is the story of my delivery: The birth of our miracle babies

On the evening of Wednesday June 18th I started to not feel well.   I felt as if something wasn't right.  I told my night nurse Kami that I wasn't feeling well, I felt like I couldn't breathe and like something was wrong.  Kami assured me that my babies looked great on the fetal heart monitor and that I was having some uterine irritability but these were not your typical textbook contractions.  After being in the hospital at this point over a month, nurses know their patients really well and she knew that I never complained about pain so that something was definitely up.  
I told her to call my doctor,  he told Kami to start me on an IV I was barely able to sleep that night because I was so worried something was wrong.  In the morning I was in a lot of pain and was no doubt having full blown contractions.  They started me on magnesium to stop
the contractions (and for brain protection).  I kept thinking the whole time the magnesium was
going to work and this was going to be another scare (one of many I had while inpatient).

My doctor came in to check on me and I was a few cm dilated.  The magnesium clearly wasn't working. "It's time, we are having some babies today." he said.
I had never expected that Thursday, June 19th we would be having
babies.  I was only 30 weeks, 4 days.  But I reminded myself I'm 30,
weeks, 4 days!! When we got diagnosed with TTTS (Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome), I was only 23 weeks and reminded myself that we are a special case and have been
preparing for this all along.  I had strong faith that everything would be great!

Well they prepped me for surgery and since I had had a C-section with Abby this was not my first rodeo and I pretty much knew what to expect (spinal tap, anesthesia).  Before I knew it they had started the surgery.  Katherine (Baby A) came out first and I let out a huge cry of relief just to hear her crying  (or screaming rather), phew I thought there is
nothing wrong with her lungs thats for sure.  Seconds later Lauren (Baby B) came out, both
babies whisked away by the NICU team of nurses and doctors.  It was so difficult and painful not to be able to see and hold my babies right away.


It was after the babies were born that the OR vibe changed drastically.  
There was something wrong again I could sense it.  Ed was asked to
leave because I was bleeding out a lot.  I heard them say "We need to
clear this area out for blood transfusion."  WHAT was going on??  With Ed
out of the room no one was by my side or telling me what was happening.  
I felt tugging and pulling and all sorts of bizarre sensations.  It
wasn't until it was all over that they told me what had happened.
My placenta had abrupted.  What did that mean exactly?  Well my OB Dr. C*ok
would come to explain to me and Ed that my placenta had literally deteriorated, completely detaching itself from the uterine wall.  This is also something that is rare - it only happens in about 1% of pregnancies after 20 weeks gestation.  It is one of the more common causes of maternal mortality or event resulting in a hysterectomy.  The thought of that was absolutely terrifying.  And of course throughout this whole journey I never ever thought my life would be in danger.  I was always so worried about my babies' lives.


We had the Lord protecting us that day, as well as people praying for us all over the world and an amazing team of nurses and doctors that worked tirelessly that day to save me and my babies' lives.  It was a slow recovery--both physically and emotionally---trying to go back to my "normal" self would take weeks.  I was supposed to go home that following Monday but I got really sick Sunday night with a fever so my doctor wanted to keep me a few extra days for strict observation and IV antibiotics. 

The hardest part for me in of all of this was not being able to see my girls.  I went straight into the recovery room where I got sick (I'll spare you the details) and then finally back to my room good ol #582.  I was upset because I wanted to see my girls, I had only seen them very briefly in the OR then they were taken up to the NICU.  


These were some of the pictures Dad got--

Katherine was born breathing on her own but they put her on CPAP for precautions

Our precious little miracle babies