When I turned 18, I joined the Army and was blessed enough to be stationed in Germany, where I met my husband. We weren’t trying to get pregnant…actually we were trying to not get pregnant. So one night after a 24 hour guard duty shift I came back to the barricks and feeling unlike myself, I took a home pregnancy test…slowly that little line appeared. The next day I went to sick call and they confirmed it, I was pregnant and due February 26, 2003…little did I know I would never make it that far. Here’s our amazing multiple story:
Living in Germany the first thing I did was tried to get back to the States. If we had stayed I would have been stuck there for 3 years because of housing laws, and the baby would be a dual citizen, all of this was very scary. At my first appointment with my OB/GYN they took a heart beat and the doctor looked worried…he said something didn’t sound right and he was going to have to do an immediate ultrasound…as I wasn’t very far along in the pregnancy he had to use the ‘magic wand’ so after several minutes of adjusting readjusting and pointing out different things to the young nurse who was assisting, he froze the screen on one of the many pictures he took that day.
After I was dressed and sitting in the exam room the staff came in and sat me down, the doctor said I want you to take a look at the screen and tell me what you see, I said I see what looks like two little beans, he said you hit the nail on the head, you said that magic word, TWO…I don’t remember anything after that except that I passed out…cold. After a few moments I came to and they did some blood work. That night I called my parents to let them in on the BIG news, they were…shocked to say the least. I wanted another picture of the babies together so I went on the economy and had a German doctor take the ultrasound, laying in the chair she again used the magic wand, and at the bottom of the screen appeared a little dot and it grew and grew and grew and oh a baby and at the bottom of the screen was another dot and it grew and grew and grew and oh another baby and at the bottom of the screen another dot…and it grew…the doctor stopped and looked and me and said “ein (pointing at baby A) zwei (pointing at baby B) drei?” “NEIN NEIN!!” this couldn’t be happening, twins is one thing but you should never have more babies than you have hands NOO!! And then the doctor corrected herself and said that there were only two…phew dodged a bullet there!
After that things moved rather quickly. Because twin B didn’t have the third vessel to his umbilical cord we had to be watched very closely which meant we had to get out of Germany where I could get the care I needed. I was sent to Ft. Hood Texas where they have the best neonatal center the Army had at the time. I got there in August 2002 worked for a few months and in November 2002 I was put on a no-work status. Things were moving along well, baby B was growing. Not long into December I was placed on bed rest and I really started to grow. I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and the only cure is to give birth.
On January 23 I started to cough up blood clots, and I just happened to have an appointment that day. At 10:00 am I was induced, my parents in Ohio had decided to leave a little early and thank God because they enduced me a day early. They arrived in Texas at midnight and at 1:34 am 1/24/03 Lane Micheal was born 35 weeks gestation weighing in at 5 lbs 6 oz. Initially when I was told to push, my contractions weren’t strong enough so the doctor said that in 10 minutes they were having an ugly baby contest and by the looks of the dad I might just win! I laughed so hard that Lane was born immediately. [My labour settled down, so] after sewing me back up they sent me to my room telling me they weren’t certain when baby B would come. My cervix shrank to a nice 6 centimeters and immediately redialated to 10 and at 3:07 am 1/24/03 Ethan Michael was born weighing in at 4 lbs 9 oz. My boys never spent a day in the NICU and were able to come home in about 4-5 days.
I know just how blessed I am to have me now 4 year old twins boys alive and well. I always think to myself they’re getting big and bad but I guess when they’re mischievous they’re healthy! And that’s what I like to see!
Jumelle: Prenatal, Postnatal & Beyond 