Back in November 2011, I posted this topic on General - thoughts and prayers for my wife and our unborn twins - she was suffering unknown bleeding at 16 weeks pregnant.
https://texags.com/forums/12/topics/1987628/1
Lots of people gave generously of their prayers, and as it turned out, we would we need every one of them. At 23 weeks, the sac of Twin A ruptured and started to lose fluid. My wife was admitted to the hospital. Unfortunately her doctor was out of town so we had to rely on others to tell us what was going on. The plan was to keep her in bed and getting pumped full of fluids and keep the babies inside of her as long as possible.
At the time most hospitals were not resuscitating babies born before 24 weeks, but my wife had researched them and picked one that was equipped with a NICU for micro-preemies just in case. Twin B's sac was intact and the hope was to keep her inside the tummy as long as possible, even if Twin A came early. Most of the staff doubted it would be more than 24 hours before Twin A would be born.
That first night, a female doctor who has the worst bedside manner of anyone I've ever seen stopped by to check on my wife, then said that there was our daughters probably had less than a 5% chance of being born "normal". At that point I told her to get the **** out of the room.
Instead of 24 hours though, my wife held out and held the babies in for 24, then 36, then 48, then 60, then 72, then 84, then 96 hours. At 23 weeks, 5 days, Twin A was ready to come out, so the doctors gave my wife a dose of magnesium which would help the babies keep their head shape intact during premature delivery. The downside being that for the mother it felt "like you're on fire.'
So my wife toughed it out with the epidural and we all got into the delivery room. Twin A was born on the second push, measuring 1 lb. 4 oz and measuring 11. 5 inches long. Twin B was not interested in coming out but unfortunately my wife had lost a ton of blood and was running a fever. She got a transfusion, but Baby B had to come out now, or risk getting the fever as well, with no immune system to speak of.
Thus began me lying to my wife that "this is the last push" about 150 times in a row. Twin B was born 2 hours and 24 minutes after Twin A at 1 lb, 8 oz. and 12 inches long. She was healthy enough for them to put her foot in the ink pad and put the impression on my surgical hat. Her entire foot was smaller than my thumb.
Twin A suffered a Grade II and a Grade IV brain bleed. At 9 days of age she was lifeflighted to the Houston Medical Center for a perforated intestine. Both girls had heart surgery in the first 3 months they were alive. They both also has a revolutionary eye surgery to prevent blindness associated with micro-preemies.
My wife suffered some post-delivery problems and had to have emergency surgery two months after delivery. She was in the same hospital as our girls but couldn't go see them for almost a week, it was agonizing.
Twin B came home after 126 days in the NICU. Twin A joined her after 142 days. Both have some health problems that other kids their age do not.But they have thrived beyond any reasonable expectation from those early, dark days.
Unfortunately there's a hard ceiling on the invitation list. Otherwise I'd invite you all to their 8th birthday party on Sunday.
TL;DR = my wife and daughters are the best
https://texags.com/forums/12/topics/1987628/1
Lots of people gave generously of their prayers, and as it turned out, we would we need every one of them. At 23 weeks, the sac of Twin A ruptured and started to lose fluid. My wife was admitted to the hospital. Unfortunately her doctor was out of town so we had to rely on others to tell us what was going on. The plan was to keep her in bed and getting pumped full of fluids and keep the babies inside of her as long as possible.
At the time most hospitals were not resuscitating babies born before 24 weeks, but my wife had researched them and picked one that was equipped with a NICU for micro-preemies just in case. Twin B's sac was intact and the hope was to keep her inside the tummy as long as possible, even if Twin A came early. Most of the staff doubted it would be more than 24 hours before Twin A would be born.
That first night, a female doctor who has the worst bedside manner of anyone I've ever seen stopped by to check on my wife, then said that there was our daughters probably had less than a 5% chance of being born "normal". At that point I told her to get the **** out of the room.
Instead of 24 hours though, my wife held out and held the babies in for 24, then 36, then 48, then 60, then 72, then 84, then 96 hours. At 23 weeks, 5 days, Twin A was ready to come out, so the doctors gave my wife a dose of magnesium which would help the babies keep their head shape intact during premature delivery. The downside being that for the mother it felt "like you're on fire.'
So my wife toughed it out with the epidural and we all got into the delivery room. Twin A was born on the second push, measuring 1 lb. 4 oz and measuring 11. 5 inches long. Twin B was not interested in coming out but unfortunately my wife had lost a ton of blood and was running a fever. She got a transfusion, but Baby B had to come out now, or risk getting the fever as well, with no immune system to speak of.
Thus began me lying to my wife that "this is the last push" about 150 times in a row. Twin B was born 2 hours and 24 minutes after Twin A at 1 lb, 8 oz. and 12 inches long. She was healthy enough for them to put her foot in the ink pad and put the impression on my surgical hat. Her entire foot was smaller than my thumb.
Twin A suffered a Grade II and a Grade IV brain bleed. At 9 days of age she was lifeflighted to the Houston Medical Center for a perforated intestine. Both girls had heart surgery in the first 3 months they were alive. They both also has a revolutionary eye surgery to prevent blindness associated with micro-preemies.
My wife suffered some post-delivery problems and had to have emergency surgery two months after delivery. She was in the same hospital as our girls but couldn't go see them for almost a week, it was agonizing.
Twin B came home after 126 days in the NICU. Twin A joined her after 142 days. Both have some health problems that other kids their age do not.But they have thrived beyond any reasonable expectation from those early, dark days.
Unfortunately there's a hard ceiling on the invitation list. Otherwise I'd invite you all to their 8th birthday party on Sunday.
TL;DR = my wife and daughters are the best
