By Laura, Dallas, TX USA
PROM at 15 weeks + 4 days. Delivery at 28 weeks + 3 days.
Story added: 2005-02-02

I went to the ER when I first noticed the leak at 15 weeks - I was terrified and worried that my water had broken, but they sent me home. I think they thought I had wet my pants. The fluid level looked ok for both babies. No one tested the fluid to see if it was amniotic fluid. I didn't know about the nitrate test then.

I continued to have some leaking over the next three weeks, but I didn't worry too much about it. Then at 18 weeks I went in for a standard ultrasound to determine the gender of my twins and found out that twin A had very low fluid. The perinatologist was very concerned and advised me that many people terminate the pregnancy. He also mentioned that sometimes with twins, people hold out and hope that the other twin could survive. He said the odds were very poor. I asked him what his wife would do, and he told me she would wait and see. Also, My OB said that the next 48 hours were very critical and would determine what would happen. So I went home.

It was all very surreal. I was terrified and in shock. But, after the initial meltdown I decided I would hope for the best. I went on bedrest at home immediately and after two days at home I started to bleed and went into the hospital on bedrest. Again, I panicked. We went to L&D but both heartbeats were strong. There was still some fluid around A but not a lot. I was admitted to the hospital, and I stayed there for 10 weeks.

Things were fairly stable until 23 weeks. My best ultrasound was at 23 weeks, when the MVP for twin A was 3.3 cm. From there it decreased each week, and I started to bleed at 24 weeks. I received a steroid shot and went on total bedrest including using a bedpan. It was pretty humiliating. I started contracting periodically at 24 weeks and recieved shots and pills of terbutaline to help keep it at bay.

At 25 weeks, things were calm, but then I started to bleed again at 26. My MVP was 1.3 for twin A at 27 weeks. At 28 weeks I got another dose of steroids. It was clear that twin A was getting squashed by his brother. I was in a lot of pain by then. The contractions were not showing on the monitor, but they were severely painful - about 1 or 2 per hour. After several days of telling the doctors and nurses that I was in agony - I realized at 6 in the morning that I was ready to have the babies. It turned out that my pain had been full labor and I was completely dialated.

They rushed me to L&D and I had an emergency c-section at 28 weeks, 3 days. Both boys were rushed to the NICU. Twin A weighted 2 lb. 6 oz. and Twin B was 2 lb. 9 oz. They were both ventilated initially. Twin A had more breathing problems. He was on the ventilator for 16 days and had a chest tube because his lung collapsed. He also was very fluid sensitive and had a couple of rounds of fluid on his lungs before they got his diuretic doses figured out.

Twin B - Henry - was in the NICU from Oct. 22 to Dec. 10 (35 weeks) and is now home currently 3 weeks past his due date of Jan. 11 weighing 10 lbs. Twin A - Wyatt is also home now. He was in the NICU from Oct. 22 to Jan. 12 (40 weeks). He currently weighs 7 lbs. and is still on oxygen at home. I expect he will be off in about a month. He is really thriving and growing so quickly now.

So, we had a long hard road - it was 5 months from the time I went on bedrest to the day when Wyatt got out of the hospital. BUT I have two WONDERFUL boys and I thank God for them every day.

This web site was an inspiration to me during my bedrest. Hang in there and keep praying and hoping. There are miracle babies out there like mine who survive this.