Many of you have asked about our pregnancy story. So, here it goes. Let me warn you it is sometimes graphic and is very detailed.
Luke and I met in 2001 while attending Sam Houston State University. We married in May of 2005, and shortly thereafter moved into our home. We decided several months later we would try getting pregnant. If I got pregnant, great, if I didn't, well...we would keep trying. We were in no hurry. I have severe endometriosis, so I was told that I had a road of infertility in front of me. Well, needless to say, two months after trying, we were prego! SURPRISE! We went in for initial testing and consult. We listened to our baby's heart beat, and Luke kept telling the nurse "don't you hear two heartbeats?" She assured us it was just my heart beat and the baby's. We were told that at 19 weeks we would have our first ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby. So, we came in, brought our VHS tape and were so excited to learn if our baby was a boy, or a girl. The ultrasound tech immediately asked "is this your first ultrasound?" I responded, "Yes, why?" She left the room to get the doctor, came back in and continued. She held up two fingers to me, and then said "Well, the first one is a boy." I immediately started crying saying "what am I going to do?" Luke is laughing uncontrollably, and my mother stands up and shouts "WHAT?!" My mom's face was ghost white. The tech went on and said "I believe the second one is a girl, but I'm not for sure." OH MY GOSH...TWINS? She went on to tell me how small I was. I'm thinking, great, that means there is something wrong. The doctor, whom I had been going to since I was 15, and gotten to know really well due to my endometirosis, came in and just laughed and laughed. It is not common for women with endometriosis like mine to be so fertile. They measured the babies and told me that Baby A (Brooke) was 3 weeks smaller than baby B (Caden). So, we went by Baby A's measurements. Which made me only 16 weeks pregnant, not 19. Four weeks later I came back for a follow up ultrasound to confirm the gender of Baby A. I asked the ultrasound tech to check Baby A, she wasn't moving a lot. I just wanted to make sure she was "ok". A triple screen was also performed and it came back clear. We were told our babies were healthy. At 24 weeks I had a 4D ultrasound performed by a different tech. I again asked if everything was ok with Baby A. She told me both babies looked great. At 25 weeks we went back to the doctor for a routine check up. At this time I complained of a lot of sharp, shooting pains across my belly. The doctor brushed them off as Braxton Hicks. She told me that I was measuring large, and that I would probably deliver in February rather than my March 21st due date. She told me she didn't think I was having small babies. Boy, was she wrong!
Monday, December 18th, four days after my doctor's appointment, I went to work with horrible back pain. I was on my way to the cardiologist (the twins were pushing up on my chest causing minor complications with my heartbeat and breathing) when I decided that the pain was unbearable. I called the doctor's office and told them of my back pain, they told me to get to a hospital immediately. So, I did. I drove myself to Memorial Hermann Memorial City. I walked up to L & D, told them of my doctor's orders and the woman at the front desk casually told me to "go to the other nurse's station." Remember, I was as big as a house and looked like I could give birth any day. I told the first nurse I saw that I was 26 weeks pregnant with twins having back pain. She immediately yelled "Oh my God, come this way, take off your clothes, put on this gown, and lay down!" Besides that initial reaction, she was a great nurse. She told me "no more working, no more walking, you're going to lay in this bed until you have these babies." I had no idea what was going on. I didn't know I was in labor...my back just hurt. She gave me steroid shots right away to help develop the twins' lungs in case of early delivery. Luke got to the hospital, which made me feel so much better. I was immediately put on Magnesium Sulfate to stop labor, and was told I couldn't get up, even to go to the bathroom. I was 100% effaced and dilated to 1 cm. Ultrasounds were performed and were all clear. I stayed at that hospital for 3 days until they decided that the NICU couldn't handle 26 weekers. Then, I was transferred via ambulance to Memorial Hermann downtown.
I arrived at Hermann and was put back on Mag Sulfate which did not make me very happy (you can't eat or drink for 24-48 hours while on the drug). They did an exam and said they could see baby A's (now Caden) hair. This freaked me out. From the ambulance ride to the hospital I dilated another 3 cms. I thought I was going to deliver that night. I held on for 2 more weeks until the labor fully progressed. I dilated to 10 cms and my water still hadn't broken. They decided that they needed to take the babies. During my stay multiple ultrasounds were performed along with a very high tech ultrasound. They were all normal.
Immediately after the twin's birth, Luke and I noticed that some of Brooke's characteristics just didn't seem right. Right away I noticed her eyes. I asked doctors and nurses about it, and they told me she just had "preemie eyes". Luke noticed that she had some webbing on her toes. They said they would look into it, but we never heard anything. When Brooke was 2 weeks old, she had a day nurse who's brother has Down Syndrome. She caught on right away and asked for genetic testing. Four days later our fears were confirmed, Brooke did in fact have Down Syndrome. Call it "mother's intuition", but I knew all along that something just was not right with her. She didn't move as much as Caden did in the womb, and I just had this "feeling." Luke and I were devastated. We had to mourn the loss of the little girl we thought we had. We feel so blessed that we are Brooke and Caden's parents. We feel so lucky to have them in our lives. We know Brooke, especially, is going to teach us more about life than we can possibly teach her.
Brooke and Caden's NICU stay was a roller coaster ride. There were illnesses and surgeries. I pray that one day all babies will be born healthy so that no one will ever experience what we did. Memorial Hermann's NICU was fabulous, and so were the doctors and nurses. There are several nurses that we still keep up with today. One in particular who is solely responsible for Brooke's development and ultimately her going home. Brooke's stay in the NICU...61 days. Caden's stay in the NICU...72 days.
Our babies have grown and developed into wonderful little people. This is what they have recently been up to:
Brooke & Caden have discovered that they can make each other laugh. Their favorite game is peek-a-boo! They play this either in the toy house or through these french doors! It's too cute!
2 comments:
Thank you for sharing this story. I have tears in my eyes thinking of all you went through with your pregnancy, and diagnosis. Mother always knows!!!
I remember coming to see you in the hospital and how sick you were from the meds. I'm just glad everything turned out alright and you have 2 beautiful miracle babies.
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