Welcome to the PPROM and Prematurity

Landon and Isabella - the blessing that changed my life forever.
First, let me say. Did I want kids when I was younger. NO. I was like, that just isn't for me. Well around the time I turned 25 I was like give me the babies. Well it turns out it wasn't so easy for me to get pregnant, but after a couple of years and some medical help. I was pregnant with twins. I can't begin to tell you how happy I was and how scared. Of course, I had researched everything on miscarriage. But in my research I didn't really look PPROM. I figured with twins I wouldn't go term. But I thought I would make it to 36 weeks without a hitch. I WAS WRONG. Routine day at work, went to lunch, ate, came back, in the bathroom my water broke. There was no missing it....Not for the squeamish. My plug was there. So I took off right away to my drs office which was like 10 minutes away. This was on 2/21/06. I was 21 week pregnant. The dr immediately test and found it was amniotic fluid and it was Isabella. She was complete ruptured. I was put on medical bedrest in the hospital within 30 minutes. In the 30 minutes they managed to cath me, start me on mag to stop labor if it was going to start and to tell me how bad the situation was. I would most likely deliver and they wouldn't be able to stop it. Well after a few days of MAG and not one single contraction they stopped it. They had also been treating me with antibiotics. At the time I was at a private hospital without a nicu. So it was agreed that when I hit 23 weeks we would move me. If I did make it that far. Every day I was told my chances were slim and the Isabella probably wouldn't make it because she had been without amniotic fluid for to long. She made more fluid, but it leaked out. During this time they monitored the kids and they never showed signs of distress and I didn't show signs of infection. Landon didn't know anything was wrong, he would go nuts when they were pressing around for the heartbeat!! Well we had it planned to move me on Friday. It was already PLANNED. I hadn't had one contraction in the hospital that I felt anyway. What happens? Friday morning I start contracting. They gave me some medication to stop it and pain meds. I was freaked out needless to say. They pretty much rushed me to the hospital that had the NICU. Once there they did an intake eval of their own which included an unltrasound. Well Isabella had moved her head onto my cervix. Ladies, you know what this means. She is making her way out. Slowly but surely. I contracted ALOT that night. Mostly cervical pains. They finally gave me enough Demerol they stopped. Also, the dr didn' t want me to take MAG or any other labor stoppers because I had been ruptured so long it could hide infection and kill me and the babies. I was like you are giving me something. So we agreed on procardia. Well, we held out another week. However, on Saturday 3/11/2006 Isabella said to heck with this and I am outa here. Pretty much the only thing holding her in when they checked is that I wouldn't push her out. We went to the OR and delivered the old fashioned way and Landon by Csection. That was the beginning of our long NICU stay and of more medical issues than I ever thought I would see in this life. Isabella spent almost the entire first year of life in the hospital. She is a very, complex case. She is catching up fast now. Quite the sassy girl. She developed PVT, ascites, cirrhosis from TPN, required a nissen, g tube and liver biopsy before she was one. Landon, not so complex, 6 months NICU, 2 open heart surgeries, pacemaker, inutero stroke and global delays. Landon has more of the regular preemie issues besides his Aortic Stenosis (congenital heart defect). Isabella however has written a book all her own. Nothing she has done goes by any preemie textbook. Either way, these are 2 of the most special, wonderful, beautiful kids. I will devote an entire post to each child's medical issues. By the way, there wasn't any defineable reason I ruptured, no infection. Just happened.