I found out I was having twins when I was about 23 weeks along. I thought I was having twins right from the get go though. At 25 weeks, I went into early labour. I was stopped and ordered on to strict bed rest. Premature delivery is not so convenient when you have a 3 year old and 18 month old at home.
All was well until Jan 29 2002. My due date was April 9. I awoke at about 6:00 am with a little pain and a rock hard belly. I sat in the tub for most of the morning. The pain got a little better as the day went by. My best friend was a little concerned and dragged me to the hospital. The Dr. on call came to look me over and said I was 1 cm dialated. I did not see anything wrong with this [as] I had been 1 cm for three weeks.
The contractions were consistant, about every 2 minutes or so but did not hurt too bad. He let me be for a bit [and] to get rehydrated to see if that would help. I felt better but was now 2-3 cm dialated. I was now starting to worry. It was now after midnight and I was tired and hungery. They would not feed me though. He had given me some steroids to help their little lungs develop and called an ambulance to bring me to the hospital. He came into my room with the ultrasound machine to take a look at the positions of my girls and of course they were lying sideways.
By this time it was about 4:00 am and the peramedics were finally there to take me away. That is when I became scared. I did not want to go in the ambulance by myself. I did ok though. I was transported to a high risk hospital and another Dr to come in and ask if I knew what a c-section was. Of course I know what a c-section is I told him and he handed me a piece of paper and told me to sign it. I did as he asked and away he went. They hooked me up to the fetal monitor for a few seconds and then they wisked me away. I had to have an epidural. My other children were natural delivery’s no i.v’s or other kind of meds.
At 30 weeks gestation, Jenna Mae or baby A, as they called her, was born at 5:47 am weighing 3lbs 3oz’s and 16 1/2 in long, followed by her little sister, Emma Leigh, at 5:49 am weighing 2lbs 15ozs 16 in long. Jenna cried for a few moments but Emma did not move or make a sound. So off to recovery I went and it was the NICU for the girls. Nobody would tell me if my sweet baby girls were ok. They kept telling me they were being stablized.
At about 1:30 in the afternoon and still no sleep for me, a nurse came in with the NICU Dr to let me know that they were fine. Jenna had been able to breath on her own for about 10 minutes before being vented. Emma was vented right away but resonded well and pinked up as soon after. They told me it was ok to go and see them. So off we went. I was wheeled into the NICU by my best friend and we washed up. A nurse came out to get us so we could see them. I do not think I had ever seen such little babies in my life. I reached out to touch my beautiful girl and the nurse grabbed my hand. You can only lightly place your hand on them she said. I must have gave her quite the look because she quickly explained that if you rub them even lightly you can rub their skin right off. So of course I was now afraid to touch them.
Emma got well right away. She was off the ventilator after 5 days. Jenna took a turn for the worst at 1 week [old]. She got an infection called NEC [Necrotizing Enterocolitis: A gangrene-like condition of the intestinal tract which can afflict premature babies] and had a blood infection. Emma came home weighing 4lbs 9ozs at 5 weeks old. Jenna came home weighing 6lbs 5ozs at 4 months old.
They are now 20 months old and Emma weighs 24lbs and Jenna 21lbs. They are trying hard to walk and talk. They are very determined little girls and I feel that once they catch up, they will not be stopped.
Erika
Jumelle: Prenatal, Postnatal & Beyond 