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Thirty-one-week Twins
By Gloria Hensley
I am in the Air Force, and shortly after I found out I was pregnant with twins I got stationed to Germany. This was my first pregnancy so of course I was nervous, but I work in a clinic so I was never really worried.
One day at work I was feeling dizzy so we checked my blood pressure; it was extremely high. I went to the hospital immediately. I was in preterm labor; I was only 28 weeks.
They were able to stop the labor, but I was ordered to stay on bed rest. I had severe pre-eclampsia. The babies were not growing like they should. Because of my blood pressure, not enough blood was going into the placenta that they shared, so at 30 weeks and 6 days they induced me.
Nora and Ella were born March 25, weighing 2 pounds, 4 ounces and 2 pounds, 6 ounces. They went straight to the NICU.
I was on magnesium for the pre-eclampsia so I couldn't get out of bed for a day. My husband got to see the girls for only a short period of time.
They did OK. They both had to be intubated for five days. They both had small brain bleeds and PDAs. Also because of the brain bleed, they had an excess fluid buildup on the brain. Everything was resolved with medicine or it was self resolved. They had a hard time getting used to eating, but after a couple of weeks they finally got it.
Nora spent 60 days in the NICU and Ella is still there. She will get released next week (we are doing our brady count down).
It has been such a rollercoaster ride. I am very thankful that my beautiful babies turned out just fine. I know that I still have a long road ahead of us, but I know we can deal with it as a family. I couldn't have done this without my wonderful husband and supportive families. Nora and Ella truly are little miracles and my little angels.
