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Birth stories have quickly become my favorite part of opening up Twins and Coffee to guest posting.
Today, Shandi is sharing with us her complicated twin birth story that started with a surprise c-section, and ended with her one month old back in the hospital after a long and gut wrenching NICU stay.
I won’t lie, it is a tough twin birth story to read. But that is what I love sharing with you guys. I wish I was more informed of the many ways twin births can occur prior to my emergency c-section at 32 weeks with my own twins.
I hope this complicated twin birth story shared by Shandi today informs you of what could happen in your twin pregnancy, simply to inform you. Not to scare you.
Let’s dive in!
A complicated twin birth story
It was Monday March 18th, I was 31 weeks 5 days, and had a doctors appointment for my first NST.
I was called back for the ultrasound and then I was hooked up to the monitors for the test. The MA stated that she would be right back to check on me. When she came back she acted all shocked and said
“oh my! Are you not feeling those?!?”
I had no clue what she was talking about, turns out I was having contractions and couldn’t feel them. They had me go back to be checked by the doctor and I was 4cm dilated, 90% effaced. The doctor stated that he could just about see Mavericks head and that I was being admitted.
They wheeled me over to labor and delivery and started the process of getting me admitted. They had started me on antibiotics, magnesium and gave me a steroid shot to help develop the twins’ lungs. I was on the magnesium for 24 hours but it felt like it was days. I didn’t sleep but maybe 2 hours in the 24 hour time period. I wasn’t allowed to get out of the bed or eat until I was done with the magnesium.
I remember being so hungry, I was counting down the hours until they would let me eat again. After I finished the magnesium around 6:00PM on the 19th, I was allowed to be off the monitors but I had to be on them once per nurse shift.
I was finally able to get up, I was able to take a shower and move to the recliner, that was pretty much it.
I was so uncomfortable, every step I took It felt like one of them was going to fall out.
About 2 hours after I had showered the contractions started picking up, they were 4-5 minutes apart.
I called the nurse in multiple time to tell her that I was having contractions, (but) she wanted to argue with my mom and I that I wasn’t. She stated that because my belly wasn’t getting hard they were not contractions. She went to get the doctor to see what she thought we should do.
She came in and checked me, I was still 4cm but was definitely having contractions. We started discussing my options to deliver the twins.
I could either have a C-section, try to deliver vaginally and hope Baby B would turn and risk delivering her feet first, or have Baby A vaginally and have a C-section to deliver Baby B.
I opted for the C-section if Baby B hadn’t went head down because I didn’t see the point in risking something happening to her.
She ordered a shot that would hopefully stop the contractions, it didn’t.
She then ordered and oral medication hoping it would stop the contractions, it didn’t stop them either.
She did an ultrasound to see if Baby B was still transverse, and she was. She checked me again, I was now 5cm and the contractions were a lot stronger.
It was time.
Everyone came in and got me ready and they wheeled me down to the OR. I was so nervous but I was also so excited to meet my babies. It felt like I was laying on the table so much longer than I actually was.
On March 20, 2019 at 3:20AM my husband and I welcomed our son Maverick into the world and at 3:23AM we welcomed our daughter Adalynn.
They let me see Maverick before taking him to the NICU, but I wasn’t able to see Adalynn. She was having trouble breathing and was rushed to the NICU.
I went to recovery and the nurse had to push on my stomach 8 times within the hour, every time she pushed on my stomach I thought I was going to die it hurt so bad. Before taking me back to my room to rest they took me is to see the twins, I still wasn’t able to see Adalynn because they were having trouble placing her IV. I was so heart broken that I couldn’t even see my baby.
I don’t remember much after that because I was so tired and drugged up.
When I was finally able to get out of the bed and go up to the NICU, every time I looked at them I just felt so guilty like it was my fault that this was happening to them.
They were so tiny and they’re already experiencing all this pain. We were able to hold Maverick the next day, but we weren’t able to hold Adalynn for 3 days because she had her IV where her cord was.
They both had to be placed under the lights for jaundice. I was discharged 3 days later, I remember crying the entire car ride home and crying myself to sleep that night. It was so hard for me to leave my babies there and not bring them home like you expect to.
My insurance didn’t cover the hospital I was admitted to so the twins had to be transported to another hospital. I was so overwhelmed with everything going on I couldn’t help but cry.
The hospital they were sent to, it wasn’t 10 minutes down the road anymore. It was 30 minutes away. They were in one big room with 30 other babies. It was so loud I couldn’t even think, It was causing me to have an anxiety attack.
The next day they were moved to a private room. At 2 weeks old my daughter was diagnosed with group B strep(Meningitis and Sepsis). She was perfectly fine and then all the sudden she wasn’t. She was pale and lethargic.
I remember walking into the room and thinking my baby was dead.
I couldn’t hold or touch her for the entire first day. They did blood cultures, urine cultures and a spinal tap to confirm her diagnosis and she was intubated because she was having trouble breathing.
They had to move them back downstairs to the NICU that was one big room so there was always a nurse around Incase something were to happen to her. The wanted to place a PICC line so they didn’t have to poke her some many time, after several failed attempts, they had to transport her to Riley to put in the line and bring her back after they were finished. That tacked on 2 extra weeks to her nicu stay, but she was doing well.
Maverick came home 4 days before she did and was doing great, she got to come home at exactly one month old.
Not even 5 days later we had to rush her to the ER because she was pale and lethargic again.
I was so scared that she was going to have meningitis so they did another spinal tap to make sure the Meningitis didn’t come back, thankfully it hadn’t.
She was admitted to Riley Hospital for 8 days. It was days before they knew what was wrong and I again wasn’t able to hold my baby. They were doing test after test to figure out what was wrong and everything kept coming back negative. They had her intubated, and were doing an EEG because they were afraid she was having seizures.
They finally diagnosed her with sepsis from a UTI and she had respiratory failure. She was FINALLY doing better and we were in the clear, the day before she was supposed to come home she started aspirating while eating and she now has an NG Tube.
Before we could bring her home, my husband and I both had to learn how to place it. I felt so awful having to do that to my baby, you never think you’ll be the parent to have to do that. We finally got to bring her home and she’s been doing great!
And the complicated twin birth story has a happy ending! Click here for more guest post stories.
If you have a story to share about your twin birth, NICU stay, or unique life with twins, email me at [email protected]. I would love to chat mama!
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