Monday, May 19, 2008

Looking back.....2

A peek into my journal...Continued. (This was written after I was feeling a little better and could function. Some of it was written in present tense and some in past tense)

7 Weeks Pregnant. We have all moved in to my Mom and Dad's house. Matt goes to work at 5:00 AM and I am still so sick! I can't function. I can't take care of myself or my kids. Life is very hard right now. I am very lucky to have good parents that can take care of me and my family. Some days I don't think I can survive this. Most days I don't even get out of bed, except to go to the bathroom. My mom and dad bring me food and medicine and anything else I might need. They are like my own personal nurses. All I need now is a little bell to ring!
They are taking very good care of all of us. We are very lucky. We could not make it through this without them.

16 Weeks Pregnant. Things are still horrible. I am feeling worse than ever. This week has been so awful. I don't think I can survive much more of this pregnancy. I went to see my perinatologist today and we discussed the possibility of getting a feeding tube. We talked it over and decided to hold off another couple weeks and hope things will start to get better.

17 Weeks Pregnant. This week I am actually able to keep a little bit of food down. I am glad we didn't do the feeding tube. The nausea has let up some, and I am actually starting to feel somewhat human again! Yeah!

18 Weeks Pregnant. I got my pic line out a few days ago! Yeah!:) I am so glad to be feeling better!

By the time I was 19 weeks pregnant, we had moved back home. We continued to see my doctor weekly for ultrasounds as we had been doing since week 7. We also started seeing the peri because we are considered "high risk." Having one placenta with two sacks is the middle risk category for twins. We are monochorionic diamniotic. Our biggest risk/worry is twin to twin transfusion-where one baby gets more blood and nutrition than the other and you end up with one baby a lot bigger than the other. You also get two very sick babies. So far there is no sign of this for us.
We also found out we are having girls! We are evening out our family all at once. And doubling it, too!
I know having two babies is going to be very challenging, but I am so excited!

February 27, 2006
About 20 Weeks Pregnant. We had an appointment with MFM (peri) today. As the tech was doing our ultrasound, she noticed something floating somewhat freely. After looking at it for a few minutes, she came to a very unusual conclusion. Somehow, the membrane which was separating the babies (which is about the thickness of saran wrap) has ruptured. We could see the membrane just floating around.
This changes everything!:(
Then our peri came in to talk about our new diagnosis. Our babies are now in the same sack, which makes us monochorionic monoamniotic, or momo. This also puts us in the highest risk category because now we have to worry about the babies' cords getting tangled and cord compression. Our peri informed us that I will be hospitalized at 28 weeks and that, considering we still have live babies, we will deliver them at 32 weeks.
I think my head was spinning!
Then I came home and did some research online and read some horrifying articles. They quote a 50% mortality rate. This makes me REALLY scared.
I can't lose these babies now. I can't even imagine what I would do. Reading these articles made me cry.
My peri was baffled by what has happened to us. He said he has never seen this happen before. He said, "This just doesn't happen." He said we are in our own category and he doesn't really know what to do with us. Therefore, we ere on the side of caution and treat us as if we've always been momo. I am glad he is being cautious.
Hospitalized for four weeks? I don't like the sound of that. However, I do want healthy babies, so I guess we better start preparing.

To be continued...

(By the way, those of you that aren't familiar with momos, the 50% mortality rate is NOT current. I will get more into that in part 3. Just want to make sure I'm not giving out bad info here!)

9 comments:

Claremont First Ward said...

Jaime,
These looking back posts are awesome. I can't imagine being that sick! I forgot that your membrane ruptured, too. Such a rare thing!

Anonymous said...

I am enjoying reading about your experience.

We go tomorrow to our first perinatologist appointment. We are hoping to find out how many sacks.

Thanks for sharing these glimpses from your past, they are so comforting.

Jocasta said...

Wow - I love reading your story.

Laura said...

I am absolutely enjoying reading your story! I get very sick while pregnant too but I feel lucky when I read your story! WOW! I cannot believe your membrane ruptured either. Don't you love it when they say, " this never happens but" It must have been a lot to take in. I hope you will share your story for me to post on the MOMO blog Angie and I have (hint hint).

Michele said...

Wow, isn't it neat to look back and remember all those emotions and what you were going through? Well, obviously it was very difficult but it really makes you count your lucky stars. Maybe I'll stop moping around and complaining about being sick and pregnant.

I am Arizona; a person, not a place. said...

I love reading your story, but its hard too, since I had momo's as well (and I like to pretend like that whole experience never happened!) At least I didn't have such horrible "morning" sickness. I can't imagine! That must have been awful. And why do they call it morning sickness when it happens all day long?

Carissa(GoodnCrazy) said...

That's freaky and I'm glad it's over...and I know the end of the story. Is it a pretty random thing? Or possible with another pregnancy?

Jaime said...

It is completely random. And momos are only about 1% of twins. And to have a sack rupture like mine is even less common than that! I think anything is possible with another pregnancy, but I don't think it's ever happened. The odds of that would have to be amazingly small. Never say never, though.

Are You Serious! said...

♡ What an amazing story! I can't even imagine being that sick!!! That's just crazy about the sack breaking!!! WOW!!! I'm so glad for you that your sweet girls are so healthy now! :)