|
| ||
| ||
Click here for some great mommmy and baby freebies from BabiesOnline.com
 | ||||||||
 Main Page Site Index Getting Pregnant Pregnancy Parenting Pregnancy and Parenting Journals 
|
I found out I was pregnant in May of 93. This was my second pregnancy,
the first being rather short-lived (a miscarriage at 3 weeks). At my 12
week checkup (the first they do in the military facility providing my
care) there was some confusion over my dates, since I was measuring
slightly larger than would have been expected, so they scheduled an
ultrasound. The sonogram revealed 2 fetuses, one appearing to be
roughly 5 weeks older than the other. The smaller baby appeared to have
heart defects, though at the time we were not told how extensive, and
other anomolies. We were sent home in shock, not sure what to expect,
or what to do.
We told no one about the twins. At the next ultrasound
(there would be a total of 24), they discovered that Baby B (as the
smaller baby was to be called thereafter) had only 3 chambers to its
heart (the normal heart has 4) and there appeared to be a large "space"
in the right side of the skull, where half of the brain should have
been. The end diagnosis was that this fetus was not viable--even if it
survived to term, the extensive damage to the heart and brain would make
it unlikely to live more than a few weeks outside of thw womb. On top
of that, we were told that Baby A appeared to have a similar heart
anomoly, and someone was missing a hand. Each ultrasound, we were given
the same grave news. The babies (identical girls--or so they thought)
weren't expected to live. At best, we were told, we'd be able to enjoy
them for a few weeks.
Then in September of 93, during another
"routine" ultrasound, we watched as what was left of Baby B's heart
stopped beating all together. She was gone. The pregnancy entered a
whole new dimension with her death. We were given 3 options--deliver
vaginally now, and maybe try to maintain the surviving fetus inutero
(nearly impossible with identicals); remove Baby B via cesarean, and try
to continue the rest of the pregnancy with Baby A, or wait. Since the
odds for either procedure were that we would lose them both, we decided
to wait.
What followed can only be described as utter frustration. I
was put on bedrest for the next twelve weeks, fed mostly intraveniously,
and given several different medications to prevent premature labor
(magnesium sulfate, brethine) as well as steroids to boost the baby's
lung development, and antibiotics.
Before dawn on the morning of
December 29th, 93, they took me off the anti-labor meds, and within a
few hours, I was in the delivery room. The babies had to be turned
manually (baby A was frank breech, sitting on top of baby B, who was
transverse). Flipping the babies was excruciatingly painful, but didn't
take more than 30 minutes. At 5:18 am, Baby B was delivered. She
weighed about 13 oz. We didn't get to see or hold her at all. At 5:22,
baby A came screaming into the world--a 4 lb, 12 oz BOY. He, too, was
whisked away quickly to the NICU.
The official cause of death
for our daughter, whose name is Ari, was the heart defect. She also had
severe hydrocphaly (water on the brain--this is what caused the space),
digestive defects, cranial deformities, and was missing an arm below the
elbow due to amniotic banding.
Our son, Keith, underwent surgery to
correct a mild heart defect (they did it through his groin!) and
submucosal cleft palate. He is now a healthy active 3 1/2 yr old. Our
daughter's death was declared a miscarriage, and we donated her tissues
to study. Perhaps someone else's baby might be saved from what is
learned from Ari's death.
|
|
||||||
Please feel free to email us at 
if you have any questions or comments!
© Earth's Magic Inc 2000 - 2007. All Rights Reserved. [ Disclaimer | Privacy Statement ]