As of
today, I find myself 4 months pregnant with twins as I try desperately to
console my cranky 14 month old twins who are teething, hitting some
developmental milestones, and recovering from 3 vaccinations (don’t get me
started on that!)
I have
read and heard that each subsequent pregnancy can be harder than the previous
one on your body, and I have to say that I agree. I am feeling everything
sooner this time (as in unpleasant symptoms) and the physical strain of caring
for other children adds to it. But this pregnancy there is more to it for me.
My last pregnancy I didn’t have any complications except pregnancy induced
hyperthyroidism and late term high blood pressure. It was a breeze really. And
with no children at home I could nap when I pleased and take good care of
myself.
This
twin pregnancy, however, brought with it a new scare. Around 8 ½ weeks into
this pregnancy I had a sudden gush of blood which led to an ER visit. They did
an ultrasound and found a sub chorionic hematoma around twin A, otherwise known
as a hemorrhage. Now, when I hear the word hemorrhage I think of blood, the
brain, and death. It does not paint nice pictures. Of course the ER doctor
couldn’t tell me much at all except that my OB would want to follow up with me
and that I should be on bed rest.
Bed
rest is kind of hard when you have twins at home! But alas, I did as I was
told. Two days later I experienced fresh bright bleeding and went back to the
ER. After a 2nd ultrasound, it was discovered that a new hemorrhage
had formed around twin B. Now I had 2 hemorrhages. If you have ever used the
internet, you know that looking up an ailment is the worst thing you can do.
Search results strike fear into the hearts of all who look upon illness related
results. Even scarier, I have a few friends who have lost babies due to these
hemorrhages.
To add
insult to injury, the new doctor at my OB’s office who saw me last wasn’t even
concerned. She didn’t want to see me for a month. A lot can happen in month! It
was also found that twin B had half the size of a gestational sac as twin A,
which could cause the baby to die.
Yeah,
second pregnancy, first trimester; scary! Apparently all women have a 25%
chance of miscarriage in the first trimester. Thanks doc for telling me that,
very reassuring. So I did what any frightened mom to be would do, I forced my
way into an appointment with my perinatologist (high risk pregnancy doctor) and
asked his opinion. He said he wasn’t too concerned about the hemorrhages
because they were small, but that I shouldn’t lift my kids. And he was more
worried about twin B’s gestational sac size, at least until I entered the
second trimester.
So I
left that appointment feeling a little better. Fast forward and I didn’t have any
more bleeding praise the Lord! We, and a lot of friends, sent up an abundance
of prayers in the 3 weeks that followed. I even bought an FDA approved medical
grade fetal heart Doppler to use at home, just to reassure myself that the
babies still had heartbeats. (It is great by the way!)
I
want to pause right here to convey the heart of this post; God is so big and so
good and so merciful. He always shines
through the darkness. My pain is always worth it because it ends up glorifying
God and showing the world His mercy and love.
At 12
weeks and 2 days I had an early anatomy scan at the perinatologist’s office.
Little did I know, this day would be filled with unbelievable joy. They
performed an ultrasound and found that Twin A and Twin B were growing only a
few days apart in size! They also found that both hemorrhages had just
disappeared! Oh, and they told me that it looks like I am having a BOY and a
GIRL again!
I
couldn’t have asked for better news. When we learned about the hemorrhages, I
had no choice but to trust God. The hemorrhages really gave me the opportunity
to trust God and God only. It also showed the love of God as He used people to
bless us. We had so many friends step up and into our lives to help on a daily
basis.
So
thank you to all of you who helped us in any way! Now we just wait and believe
that this pregnancy will continue without any other complications.
