Starting February 11th, Jared and I experienced one of the worst weeks of our lives... the following is a timeline of the series of events.
Saturday, February 11, 2012 - Day One
9:03 I was going to the bathroom when my water broke. I just knew it because it was such a large amount of fluid and there was blood in it. :( I immediately called Jared and told him to get home NOW (he was taking out the recycling). I called my dr.'s answering service and they got a dr. on the phone. I explained what had happened and she said it sounded like a hemorrhoid or that my water had broken but that I needed to go to the hospital.
9:40 We arrived at the emergency room and waited to be called back.
10:00 We're finally called back {it's amazing how long 20 min can feel}. The nurse asked me a million questions and I was then told that my dr. wanted me transferred over to L&D {labor and delivery} which of course freaked me out. I hated the sound of that place because in my mind if I went there, it meant everything was over. L&D was completely full so they transferred me to the floor just above L&D {where all the new mom's with their new babies stay}.
2:00 I was brought to radiology where Skye the ultrasound tech. did an u/s on my belly. She had a hard time seeing baby "A" on the screen and wasn't able to get very many measurements. "A"'s heart rate was 120 and looked to be sleeping soundly. Baby "B" was very easy to see and she was able to get measurements of everything that she needed too. "B" woke up during the u/s and started wiggling around. Heart rate was 160.
3:00 I was taken directly from radiology to L&D. Dr. Grady did a cervical exam to see if I was dilated. His prognosis - My cervix was dilated 2". He told me that the radiologist had reviewed the u/s and said that baby "A"'s fluid level was very low. Based on those two things, Dr. Grady gave me 1-24 hours before my body would go into labor and I delivered the babies. He said that in almost every case with twins, when one baby delivers the other follows, so there really isn't anything we could do for baby "B". He left Jared and I alone for a few minutes to digest what we were just told and as soon as the door closed Jared and I both just broke. Jared's not a crier, and this man, my big strong mr. sasquatch husband, layed his head on me and sobbed in my arms. No parent wants to receive news like this and there wasn't a thing we could do about it. We just had to sit back and wait.
The dr. came back after a few minutes later and gave us the only two options we had. Either we could let nature take its course and he would send me back up to my room to wait for everything to start, or he could speed things along and induce labor. We did what I think any parent would do. We chose to let nature take its course. It's the only thing we could think of that would give baby "B"... our little Wyatt, a chance. The dr.'s concern was that since my water was broken and I was dilated, I was at risk for infection... but I didn't care. I figured I was in the hospital and that they would monitor me closely enough that it would be fine. We went back to the room and spent the night there.
Sunday, February 12, 2012 - Day 2
Morning - Dr. Grady checked in on me. I report that I hadn't had any contractions or cramps so far. He reiterates my two options & that it's really only a matter of time before I'm going to deliver these babies. Of course we stick to our guns. No way was I going to be induced and just give up on our babies.
Afternoon - Dr. Grady checked in again - still no cramps/contractions to report. He asked if I would like another cervical inspection to see if I've dilated any more. I declined. Every inspection that is done could increase my risk for infection. Before bed, Jared gave me a sponge bath and washed my hair. It felt soooo good to be clean again!
Monday, February 13, 2012 - Day 3
Morning - Jared had to go to work :( He and I don't want to be apart for fear of something happening while he was gone, so we said a prayer. After, we both felt that nothing bad would happen while Jared was gone and I told him it was okay for him to leave.
Dr. checked in again. Still no labor signs. He admitted that he was surprised that I hadn't experienced anything and told me that he needed to do another exam. After exam he told me that I was dilated to a 4 and that he could feel the feet of baby "A" through the cervix. Because I've made it this far he decided to involve a perinatologist by the name of Dr. Rodriguez. She specializes in premature things like this and he felt more comfortable involving her because of her experience.
Dr. Rodriguez came in mid morning and told me that before we talked about anything she wanted to do an ultrasound on me. The ultrasound showed baby "B" doing very well. He was sitting in lots of fluid and had a good heartbeat and was moving around. Then she got to baby "A". She said that there was no fluid around the baby, that the baby was collapsing in on itself and had no heartbeat... that baby "A" was not alive. This news unfortunately did not surprise me. People talk about a mothers intuition... and how sometime mothers just "know"... I knew that my little angel had left me and I had prepared myself to hear it.
Dr. R also told me that my cervix looked like it was actually closed. She brought me downstairs and did a cervical exam that agreed with the u/s. My cervix was not dilated. So we made a game plan. If I went into labor and delivered baby "A". She would do amniocentesis on baby "B" to make sure there was no infection in the amniotic fluid and if there was not, then I would have a cerclage. {My cervix would be sutured closed} If I did NOT go into labor, then after a few days they would reevaluate the situation, but she did not want to do a cerclage with baby "A" sitting right on top of my cervix. So I was sent back up to my room to wait some more.
Afternoon - Hospital billing brought me a letter that stated insurance was going to cover my stay 100%. This is a HUGE blessing. Dr. G checked in. Dr. R had given him her report and he agreed it is a good idea. Still no labor signs to report. He's still convinced that I will go into labor very soon.
Tuesday, Feburary 14, 2012 - Day 4
Morning - Baby "A" decided to make an entrance. I did not have any cramping or contractions. "A" just started to sort of... fall out. When I discovered "A" I yelled at Jared to call a nurse and then my body went into shock and I started shaking uncontrollably which, unfortunately started mild contractions. The nurses called Dr. G who directed the nurses to try and pull out the baby and to give me a terb shot {medicine that relaxes the pelvis and makes contractions go away}. They couldn't get the baby out because "A"'s head was on the other side of my cervix, so after several attempts my two diff. L&D nurses, Dr. G said to wait until he arrived. A catheter was put in and I was ordered to stay in bed. When he got there he tried to pull "A" out once, repositioned my hips, had my push a little, and baby came out easily on the first push. We then learned that baby "A" was not a little girl, but a boy. A nurse cleaned him up a little bit and Jared and I were left alone for a few minutes. We decided to call our little man Michael, after the archangel and Warren after his daddy. Michael Warren Barney. A perfect name for our perfect angel. Michael was then taken to be cleaned up a little and weighed and measured for hospital records. While he was gone, Dr. R came in to do amniocentesis. {Which hurts like crap by the way.. idk why anyone would voluntarily do this} Wyatt still looked good. The mild contractions hadn't compromised his sac at all. All that was left to do at this point was wait again. There were 4 tests to do on the fluid. 2 of the results would be in later that day, the other 2 results would take 3 days to get back. I was started on an antibiotic, given medicine to control contractions AND was given compression socks so I didn't get any blood clots in my legs.
Jared and I spent the rest of that morning with only each other and talked and talked and talked. We decided that we would have Michael cremated.
Afternoon/Evening - We received news that the first 2 tests had come back negative - meaning no infection. Dr G went out of town on a vacation that he had planned prior to any of this happening and he put Dr. R in charge.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 - Day 5
Morning - Because I was under such close observation and we had to wait a couple for days for the other test results, Jared went in to work. Around 10:45 I received a call from Dr. R. After 24 hours of observation on the culture and sensitivity test, nothing had even sort of started to happen and so she felt comfortable saying that there was absolutely no infection. She wanted to schedule the cerclage for that evening. I called Jared and he came right back to the hospital. Dr. R called in a favor to Dr. Morrison to do the cerclage. When she told me this, I felt a wave of comfort and peace wash over me. Dr. Morrison was the dr that I had originally wanted for my OBGYN. However, when I tried to make an appt. with his office, I was told that he had retired and was no longer accepting new patients. About 3 weeks ago, he came out of retirement and started working again because he got bored with all of his newly found free time. Dr. R said that Dr. M was the best she knew of to do this procedure and that he had agreed to do it.
Afternoon/Evening - I've been at the hospital for 96 hours so a new IV is put in. I got another sponge bath {YAY!!!} and went for the procedure at 5:00. They did spinal anesthesia {since general is not safe for pregnant women} and had to do it twice because it failed to work the first time. Not. Fun. The procedure went very well and it only took about 10 minutes once everything was ready. Shortly after, I was brought to L&D for overnight observation. They strapped a sensor around my belly that could sense if I was having even the tiniest contraction. It was pretty cool.
Thursday, February 16, 2012 - Day 6
Morning - Only a couple of contractions overnight and the last one was at 4:10 am. Dr. R came in to do an u/s. Wyatt looked great and was swimming around in 14.2 ml of fluid. This is amazing news! Then Dr. M checked in on me and since everything looked great, he had the catheter removed, gave me my bathroom privileges back and moved me back to my old room one floor up. Possible release date is set for Monday.
Evening - Jared and I celebrated Valentines Day. He gave me pink Gerber daisies and a little Willow Tree family. A husband and wife, and set of twin boys. It was the perfect gift.
Friday, February 17, 2012 - Day 7
Jared and I decided on a funeral home.
Dr. R went out of town for the weekend and Dr. G is still out of town, so she put her associate in charge of me.
Saturday, February 18, 2012 - Day 8
Jared went to the funeral home to make all of the arrangements for Michael. They picked up his body that afternoon. Dr. R's associate checked in on me. Everything is going well. He ordered a doppler for me so we could hear little Wyatt's heartbeat.
Sunday, February 19, 2012 - Day 9
I'm finished receiving antibiotics through IV and start taking the antibiotic pills. I asked if the IV could be removed since it was no longer necessary, Dr. R's associate doesn't want to make a decision like that so he said no. Since it had been 96 hours again, the IV is removed and IV #3 is put in. I asked if I can at least have a shower. He declines that request as well. I cried.
My mom flew in and Jared brought her to the hospital. Jared gave me a sponge bath and my mom washed my hair. It's amazing how much better you feel when you're clean. I'm never taking a shower for granted again.
Monday, February 20, 2012 - Day 10
Morning - Dr. G came in first thing and checked up on my progress. He said as long as Dr. R was good with releasing me that I could go home. Dr. R came in later that morning and did an u/s. Wyatt was still looking great. His sac measured 15.4 ml amniotic fluid and he had a strong heartbeat. Dr. R ordered bloodwork and said as long as it came back good that I could go home that afternoon.
Afternoon - The results from the bloodwork came back clean. Dr. Grady ordered me a wheelchair for home and Dr. G ordered me compression socks for home. I'm given a prescription for 3 more days worth of antibiotics and anti nausea medicine {since one of the antibiotics makes me sick... it made me throw up 3x during my hospital stay} The discharge paperwork is complete and I'm finally allowed to leave around 6 pm.
After 10 days in the hospital, I'm in no hurry to get back... however, the nurses were amazing and so nice to me, and I know that everything possible is being done to make sure Wyatt gets here safe and sound IN 20 WEEKS. :)
Hundreds of prayers were said on behalf of my family and I know God heard each and every one of them. I know that God works in mysterious ways and I truly believe that He watched over us and showered blessings on us during our hospital stay.
Here are a few of the blessings that we have experienced.
Blessing #1 - Insurance approved 100% coverage of my stay
Blessing #2 - Michael stayed put until a perinatologist was involved and a plan was set to save Wyatt's life. {He's such a good brother}
Blessing #3 - I didn't go into labor
Blessing #4 - no infection was found in Wyatt's amniotic fluid
Blessing #5 - An amazing dr. was called in to do the cerclage.
Blessing #6 - The procedure was successful
Blessing #7 - The hospital staff
Blessing #8 - Wyatt is healthy and doing very well
Blessing #9 - My mom was able to fly out to spend a week with me.
Blessing #10 - my sister in law cleaned my entire house while we were in the hospital
There are a few others very special experiences but they are just a little to dear to my heart to share.
I really am blessed to have a family as amazing as mine.
During my entire hospital stay, Jared slept on the chair next to my bed. He helped me get to the bathroom, he bathed me and washed my hair. On days that I felt too yucky to eat, he fed me. He rubbed my back 3x a day because it hurt so much from laying in a bed. He rubbed my legs so I could get a break from the compression socks, and before I even came home on Monday, he had installed a new shower head with an extender and a shower chair so that I can take showers.... this man did absolutely everything I needed and more. I'm the luckiest girl in the world to be able to call him mine.
My mom has been amazing. She washed my hair at the hospital Sunday night {which was seriously one of the best hair washings I've had in my life} and slept there so that Jared could go home and actually get a good nights rest. We've only been at my house for 2 days now and she's already weeded my flowers, cleaned out my fridge freezer and my deep freezer, made a menu, shopped for the ingredients and has so far made 21 freezer meals and 9 loaves of bread. And she's planning on cooking all day tomorrow as well. This is a HUGE blessing since I am on strict bedrest and am not allowed to do any cooking or cleaning of any kind. I get to have her here until Saturday and that day is already coming too soon.
I have learned a lot from this experience and I have grown a lot spiritually. Jared and I have grown so much closer together. Knowing that we have a son waiting for and watching over us has already inspired us to be the best we know how and knowing that we have another son depending on us inspires us to be as strong as we can be. We look forward to bringing Wyatt home with us in 20 weeks, and we look forward to the day that we will get to meet our Michael.
You can read about
Wyatt's birth story here
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