Telling My Story- Part 2

This is a continuation in a series of me telling my story. To read the first part please click here.


So on the morning of March 8 I woke up at around 4:30 with a lot of pain in my belly. Being a first time preggers I wasn't quite sure what was happening. I woke Clayton up and told him I was feeling weird. Luckily I had an appointment at 8:30 that morning with my regular OB.  I tired my best to go back to sleep but my mind was racing. I was concerned but at the same time I think I was blissfully ignorant as to what was about to happen. We get to the Dr and we get checked in and I am becoming more and more aware that things are not right. I get back into the room and the nurse comes in to listen to the babies heart beats, feels around on my tummy and says she will be back with the Dr in a few minutes. At this point I was considerably more uncomfortable.  The Dr took one look at me and knew that I needed to go straight to the hospital. Of course I wanted to go home first but they told me to go straight there.

Clayton and I drove to the hospital. That drive felt like it took forever. Looking back I was still a little ignorant as to how rocky things were. I called my mom and sister and told them what was going on. My mom left school and headed straight to the hospital. Clayton and I got to the hospital and got checked in. They hooked the monitors up to me and immediately the contractions started showing up. I felt so weird. I was not sure what was happening. I kept repeating this is too early in my head. I was 22 Weeks and 6 days pregnant. The point of viability for a baby is 24 weeks.

Now the order of things that happened over the next 24 hours is a little blurry. I was so shocked at what was happening. I didn't understand how this was happening. I was mad that the cerclage was not doing it's job. I was mad at myself because my body was failing my babies. I was terrified of loosing these two little people that I had come to love.

I remember my OB coming in and telling me that they were going to give me an injection of medicine that would hopefully stop the contractions. I was all for this. I wanted them to do everything they could to make it stop. The nurse came in and gave me the injection and also told me that they were going to put me upside down to take the pressure off of my cervix. Luckily after I received the shot the contractions stopped and I fell asleep for a few minutes. I think I was physically and mentally exhausted.

After a few minutes rest I was awoken by a perinatologist coming to visit. He decided to to an ultra sound so that they could get a better picture of what was happening with my cervix. During the sonogram the perinatologist (who we will call Dr. G) made small talk with my mom, aunt and sister who had all come to support Clayton and I. When he was done he asked if he could talk to me in front of them or if I wanted them to leave. My stomach was in knots. I told him to speak freely and he began.

What all was said was a blur. I felt like I was having an out of body experience. I was hysterical to say the least and all I can really remember is Clayton standing by my bed holding my hand. Dr. G told us that Levi's bag of water was bulging. Basically the stitches were not holding and that I could go into full on labor at any second. I was horrified.  All I could think about was how I was going to do anything and everything to not loose these babies.

Dr. G left and my family did their best to comfort me. At this point we were well aware that I was not going to be going home anytime soon. Clayton went home to pack some stuff for us and headed back. I remember barely eating that day and just continuously wavering between determination and sheer fear. After trying to eat dinner my aunt went to our house to spend the night with the dogs and my sister had to go home to her kids. My mom stayed with for a little while. I remember seeing the fear in their eyes. We tried to watch HGTV and to act normally but it was all we could do not to be scared. Later in the evening my mom went home and Clayton and I settled in for our first night in the hospital.

The next morning I was seen again by my OB. She discussed with me our options. Because the hospital I was at can only treat babies born after 30 weeks I was going to need to be transferred to a hospital with a higher level NICU and that I would be going there in style. I was going to need to ride in an ambulance to get to the new hospital. There was talk about which hospital was best but ultimately we decided on one that was both close and had the highest level NICU available.

The ride in the ambulance was scary. It was so surreal being in there. They had me hooked up to a contraction monitor and were also monitoring the babies. We arrived at the new hospital and I was taken up to Labor and Delivery.


My story is just beginning. This is the story of faith, hope, trust, and the miracle birth of my babies. Please stay tuned!