If you are a long time reader you know most of my pregnancy story. I've written several posts about it but I'm going to give a brief recap here. Clayton and I started trying to get pregnant very soon after we got married. We knew would have a rough time because I was previously diagnosed with endometriosis. Due to the severity of my endometriosis we ultimately decided to do an IUI to help us get pregnant. On our first try it was successful! We were both so excited and shocked. I thought it would take a couple of tries. At the beginning of November 2010 we found out we were pregnant. A few weeks later during a trip to the ER because of excessive vomiting we had a routine ultra sound done. We were shocked to find out we were expecting twins.
I have always wanted twins. My dad is a twin and growing up I always thought it was so cool. My pregnancy started off pretty well but around six weeks I started getting sick. I was sick my entire pregnancy. It was awful but I would do it all over again to have my sweet babies. Around 12 weeks pregnant I was sent to the ER with tachycardia (which is an extremely fast hear rate). When i was admitted to the ER my heart rate was 164. After a two day hospital stay and multiple tests I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. This is explained a lot. I had been hardly gaining weight while pregnant, was always out of breath and had a fast heart rate. This was just the first of many ER trips for me during my pregnancy.
My second ER trip was a few weeks later when I started to feel pain. I wasn't sure what was happening but after being checked out I was not contracting and everything looked good.
Around 15 weeks pregnant during a routine ultra sound with my high risk ob I mentioned that I had been feeling funny. I didn't have any idea what a contraction felt like but I knew deep down that something wasn't right. After the ultra sound the doctor told us that my cervix was funnelling. I was so confused. Basically I was dilating from the inside out. I was freaked out. The high risk ob I was seeing did not have the best bed side manner. He was very matter of fact and not very encouraging. He told me that day that it would be unlikely I could carry my babies past 23-24 weeks. He gave me my options and sent me home.
After discussing our situation with my regular OB we decided to do three things. We would do progesterone shots which are though to relax the uterus. We would do a cerclage which is stitches put into my cervix to help keep it shut. And lastly we would do bed rest.
At 16 weeks I had a cerclage put in and was sent home to continue my bed rest. Everything was going pretty well. Clayton is lucky enough to work from home and was there to feed me and take care of me. AT 22 weeks one night I woke up around 4 in the morning with the weirdest feeling. I woke Clayton up and told him I was having weird feelings. I already had an appointment that morning with my regular OB. By the time we got to the OB I knew something was up. The doctor took one look at me felt my belly and sent us straight to the hospital. I don't think at that time I knew exactly what was happening.
At the hospital I was told that I was having contractions. They gave me shot to stop the contractions. It was successful but I was told I would more than likely be spending the rest of my pregnancy in the hospital. I was terrified. You can read about one of the conversations we had with the doctor here. I was transferred via ambulance to another hospital that was better suited to handle my case. I spent the next several weeks in the hospital until I delivered my sweet miracles at 29 weeks and six days. I feel incredibly lucky and indebted to the doctors and to God that I was able to carry my babies as long as I did. You can read about their birth story here and here.
Thank you so much for reading my pregnancy story. Mine is a very unique one and not typical. Please hop on over to Jennifer's blog and link up to share you story. Here are a bunch of pics I've never shared on the blog of my pregnancy. Warning they are not pretty!
Ps. I hope you all had a fantastic Mother's Day! I was spoiled by my family and I feel incredibly blessed!
what an adventurous pregnancy! good job keeping & birthing those beautiful babies. glad you had a great mother's day.
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