At 32 weeks our twins were born, we spent just over a month in the hospital
12-12-2019
That morning I had an appointment at the UMC Radboud Nijmegen. I had been under observation since 28 weeks due to TTS syndrome. Our smallest girl had hardly any amniotic fluid compared to her sister, who was swimming in it. I was connected to the CTG to monitor the girls' heartbeats. I was experiencing some initial back pain, but it was nothing significant. Every time I felt that back pain, I saw the heart rates spike. I said to my husband: 'This is not right.' However, the gynecologist indicated that the CTG looked fine. He said that if I were really having contractions, I would have been sitting differently. With some doubt, we drove back home. I still said to my husband: 'Bet we'll be back here tonight!'
Around 4:00 PM, the mobile hairdresser came to cut and dye hair
I still had some mild back pain. After the hairdresser left, I lay down on the couch. Ouch, suddenly I experienced severe pain! I called Radboud, but they said: "Ma'am, you have been sitting a lot. Just take a hot water bottle and a paracetamol." After twenty minutes, I called again because I had to breathe through the pain. "Come to the hospital," was their response. I lay down in the back of my husband's bus with a pregnancy pillow between my legs. The back pain was intense and wouldn't go away. My husband kept asking: "Are you okay? Is the pain gone?!" I could barely respond to him because I was so focused inward to cope with the pain. Once we arrived after a 45-minute drive, a wheelchair was fetched for me. Arriving at the department at 9:00 PM, I was told through the intercom: "Please take a seat in the waiting room." "No!" I exclaimed, "I can't do that anymore!" Sitting was no longer possible! I was immediately taken to a delivery room.
I frantically asked for pain relief
“We will first perform a cervical examination and then make a plan,” said the gynecologist. I remember it so clearly. I get a stomachache just thinking about it... “You are fully dilated, ma'am! You need to start pushing now!”, the gynecologist suddenly exclaimed. Pushing?! Panic rushed through my head. I was just over 32 weeks! This was way too early! In the room next to me, two incubators were being prepared and there stood a trio of doctors. I yelled at my husband: “Close that door! There are all these people watching”, not realizing that all this was for our girls! The gynecologist sternly addressed me again: “Bo, I know this is a quick change, but you need to start pushing now!” There was one nurse who continuously monitored the girls' heartbeats. Additionally, there was a midwife and a gynecologist present.
I was pushing hard. The umbilical cord was 'born', but no babies yet. I could tell by the eyes of the gynecologist that this was not supposed to happen. 'Keep going and push!', I was instructed. At 10:10 PM I started pushing and at 10:32 PM there was Puck. She wasn't laid on my chest, but was immediately placed in an incubator. The incubator was wheeled away and I had to keep pushing. The second birth was about Sam. She had an enormous amount of amniotic fluid. You can probably guess: a wave of amniotic fluid went right over the gynecologist's clothes. I had to laugh and apologized at the same time. Fortunately, they could laugh about it too! At 10:42 PM there was Sam and she also went straight into the incubator. Then I lay waiting for the placenta that wouldn't detach. My legs were shaking and I was totally stunned by what had happened in just over an hour. We had become parents of two girls. I had seen them briefly. Now they were in the ICU. I didn't know what to feel: joy or sorrow? I was tired and empty. After an hour, the placenta came loose, but a piece was missing. 'Bo, you're going under full anesthesia and will have a curettage. Everyone is ready.' Once out of anesthesia, I saw my husband again and we were allowed to go to the ICU together. It was 2:00 AM, I was exhausted and felt miserable. In the ICU, there were over fifteen incubators, there were definitely 15 white coats walking around and I heard many beeping sounds. We were led to Puck and Sam. 'These are your children and they are doing well! Do you want to do skin-to-skin?' Then came our smallest girl Puck, weighing 1300 grams. She had various wires attached to her. Puck was laid on my chest and all I could think was: 'What a small, vulnerable girl'. Sam was on a ventilator. After twenty minutes, it was enough, we went to our room and Puck and Sam stayed in the ICU.
The next morning we had a conversation with the pediatrician: “Your girls are doing so well. They can be transferred to a hospital in your area!” This was positive news. No more continuous driving back and forth to Nijmegen. Our girls were transferred to Uden where Sam stayed for another four weeks and was allowed to go home at 36 weeks. Puck had to stay in the hospital for an extra week.
At this moment, our girls are 17 weeks old, corrected to 9 weeks. They are doing well! Sam weighed 1844 grams at birth and now almost 5.5 kilos! Puck weighed 1300 grams at birth and now just over 4.5 kilos. It's been an intense few weeks, but now we have twins at home. Home!
OB
