Hunter and Shadow's Story

From the very beginning of my pregnancy, I could tell that my belly seemed bigger than usual. I'd had three other kids, and had never grown this big this early on in the pregnancy. I went to see my doctor, and because of our ages, we were offered the option to have an amniocenthesis done in Oklahoma City.

While there for the ultrasound, we were told we were having twins. My fiancé yelled at the technician, "Are you kidding?" She kindly replied that she does not lie about things like that. As you can imagine, we were overwhelmed. Our drive home was full of every emotion you can think of. Happy, scared, tearful, we did not know what we were going to do, but above all we were so happy!

The ultrasound also revealed that I had a cyst. The doctor advised me that it would have to come out sooner rather than later.

A few weeks down the line, I was told that my belly would be cut open right down the middle, the babies would be moved over, and the cyst would be removed. At that point I was four months along and felt terrified at the prospect. When the babies and I came out of the surgery okay, I was surprised and so relieved!

I knew what my other pregnancies had been like, but had no inkling what to expect with this one which had started off so differently. I did not know about double hormones, double sickness or anything like what I was experiencing as time went on.

The summer heat of Oklahoma was a start. I was put on partial bedrest because of heat exhaustion. As if that was not enough, I ended up with high blood pressure, and my iron count went down. By the time I was only five months along I was placed on complete bedrest. My ankles swelled up to the size of my neck, and my vision blurred to where I was seeing things in double. Not to mention the headaches...

I was getting so frustrated that my fiancé and I wanted to have the babies right away. My doctor told me to hold on until August, by which time I would be over 32 weeks along. August came and went, September arrived and I was measuring 47 cm. and growing. The doctor kept saying, "One more week, one more week." After each appointment, I would go home feeling even more frustrated.

I was hospitalized because my blood pressure would not go down, and I was having trouble breathing. I was then measuring 50 cm. My doctor started talking about alternatives to birth: Having a C-section, or natural birth. I had already decided I wanted the C-section, because I did not know how to deliver twins, and I was scared.

Things got more frustrating because I was being seen every third day for a stress test and a check on my blood pressure. I had one false alarm where I had to call the doctor in the middle of the night, and I was told to come see him in the morning. He told me that if by Monday my pressure had gone down, he would induce labor. Finally..... we thought this was it.

Monday came and went, and he said yet again, "One more week." I cried on my way home. I did not know if I could last that long. I measured 51 cm., and my waist was 54 inches wide! I did not know if I could take this anymore.

Miraculously, I went full term, to 39 weeks, and I delivered Hunter and Shadow naturally. Hunter weighed in at six pounds, ten ounces, and Shadow at six pounds, four ounces. I am just so happy that I listened to my doctor, who wasn't the "un-caring, misunderstanding" doctor that I'd thought he was. I was even happier that I delivered my babies so healthy.