Prior to Lily and Claire's Birth...

My pregnancy with Lily and Claire was completely normal. Both my OB and perinatologist said that everything was going great at 23 weeks. I was told that I should come back for a visit in a month, but that both girls were right on target and both were weighing equally. Twins are always considered a high risk pregnancy. Identical twins carry an even higher pregnancy risk due to the fact that the babies are sharing a placenta. But, at 23 weeks the babies were the same size, so everything seemed to be going perfectly.

That perfect pregnancy changed very quickly because at 25 weeks I started feeling, "off." Something didn't seem right, and I called to see my OB that Friday. He was out of his office, so the nurse said that if I started having contractions or bleeding to go to the ER. Well, I wasn't having contractions or bleeding, so I decided to wait until Saturday to see how I felt. On Saturday morning I woke up again feeling like something was wrong. This time I also felt pressure, so I called Bergan's Maternity line and after talking to a nurse for a while, was told to come and get checked out. As I was getting ready to leave my water broke & we headed straight for the hospital.

After arriving to the hospital, my contractions were 1-2 minutes apart. It was confirmed that my water broke and I was given magnesium (to try and stop contractions) and a steroid shot (to help mature the babies lungs). Thankfully, after many shots and medicine, my contractions slowed down and they were able to stop labor. Until Tuesday morning, I was still having minor contractions and leaking amniotic fluid. Tuesday morning I finally saw my perinatologist for an ultrasound. I was told that baby A's water was extremely high and Baby B had barely and fluid at all. It was later confirmed that the girls had Unequal Placental Sharing. Baby B was also at a lower weight than Baby A. I had to have a procedure done called Amniotic Reduction. With this, they took a long needle and inserted it through my belly and into Baby A's sac. They removed 6 liters of fluid, and close to 10 pounds from her sac. I felt immediate relief (no more back pain or pressure, and it was easier to breathe). I was told that I would be monitored closely and likely would have to have more reductions done.

I went back for two more reductions during my hospital stay. They stayed concerned about Baby B's fluid, but I was told that she was still safe. On Monday the 16th, I felt another small amount of fluid. On Tuesday I had my last amnio reduction. Everything looked okay on the 17th.