It Was Too Early, I Was Only 20 Weeks Along :: A Story of Hope

Told by Amanda
My pregnancy went well, minus horrible all day sickness until 20 weeks. Then at 20 weeks 5 days along I went in for a regularly scheduled appointment to discover that I was 3 centimeters dilated with bulging membranes! To back up a little I have to say that in hindsight I did show many signs of Pre-term labor. (backache, menstrual cramps, increased discharge) Instead of calling my doctor though I just asked some ladies online and was reassured that this was normal. Now, back to 3 cm dilated.

I knew from the ultra sound techs face that something was really, really wrong. When my perinatologist came in and told me I was losing the pregnancy, I went into shock. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around those words. I felt so good, I could feel my babies kicking, how could this be happening? I told him no, no way, there must be something we can do. I didn’t even know I was contracting at that point. He left the room and came back about 5 minutes later. He said to me “You are not a candidate for a cerclage, but if you’re willing to try it, I’m willing to place it.” (A cerclage is a surgical procedure where they sew your cervix shut during pregnancy.  It is usually done around week 12 to treat incompetent cervix which has allowed for a past late term loss.) He went on to explain how a cerclage worked and why I wasn’t a candidate: active labor, bulging membranes, too far dilated and the very slim chance that this would work. I vividly remember him saying that he might be able to buy me a couple days, but he didn’t see how he could get me to viability. I jumped at having a couple more days with my babies. I would have done anything for just another hour with my precious babies.

Our Journey: Hyperemesis Gravidarum

Written by: Kelly Larson – husband and father to two year old twins

After hearing the long awaited news that my wife, Debbie, and I were expecting twins, we enjoyed a brief time to prepare together. But then things took a horrible turn.

Two weeks later, Debbie was diagnosed with severe Hyperemesis Gravidarum – a debilitating and potentially life-threatening pregnancy disease marked by rapid weight loss, malnutrition, and dehydration due to unrelenting nausea and vomiting. Unable to eat or drink, we knew the clock was ticking to get help, to save our twins’ lives.

Within days, I was (briefly) trained to administer daily Total Parental Nutrition (TPN). TPN is a way of supplying all the nutritional needs of the body by bypassing the digestive system and dripping nutrients directly into a vein. Every day at our home, stoically yet nervously I went through a multi-step process of sterilizing everything, flushing lines, mixing lipids and proteins, maintaining complicated pumps, and praying.

Know the signs of pre-term labor

Multiple pregnancies are considered high risk by nature and you will likely be monitored more closely than someone carrying only one baby.  However, you should be familiar with the signs and symptoms of pre-term labor so that you can respond quickly and seek appropriate care.

According to the March of Dimes, pre-term labor is defined as any labor that occurs between 20 weeks and 37 weeks of pregnancy.

You should familiarize yourself with the the symptoms:

• Contractions (your abdomen tightens like a fist) every 10 minutes or more often
• Change in vaginal discharge (leaking fluid or bleeding from your vagina)
• Pelvic pressure—the feeling that your baby is pushing down
• Low, dull backache
• Cramps that feel like your period
• Abdominal cramps with or without diarrhea

Don’t let anyone tell you that these symptoms are “normal discomforts of pregnancy”! If any of them (you don’t need to have all of them) happen before your 37th week of pregnancy, you need to do something about it.