Miraculous Pregnancy

I was 36 weeks pregnant. Because of my high risk pregnancy, this pregnancy had miraculously lasted until 36 weeks. The day before the babies were born, I attended my regular appointment with my OB, hoping for a discussion about removing my cerclage. Upon arrival, he mentioned that we would talk about it the following week and likely remove it then. I brought up the increased pressure on my cervix and some more bleeding, although it wasn’t heavy. He decided to check my cervix, and his expression changed as he informed me, “Oh, we’re having a different conversation today; you’re 3-4 centimeters dilated. The cerclage isn’t effective anymore; it needs to come out.” He stepped out to get the nurse, and I felt unprepared and anxious about going home without the cerclage—I didn’t want two separate birth experiences. He removed the cerclage without causing any pain and instructed me to stay on bed rest, call the on-call doctor the next morning, and come to the hospital since he was on duty that day and would check on me. He aimed to keep me pregnant as long as possible, given the early stage of the babies.

C-Section Birth at 36 Weeks

We returned home to pack. Since I was scheduled for a C-section due to “baby B” being breech, I needed to fast from midnight before heading to the hospital. At 7 a.m., we called in and were told to come in. After checking in around 8, the nurse mentioned, “I heard you didn’t experience pain or contractions at 9 cm dilation with your first.” After checking, she said I was at 6-7 cm dilation and would be having the baby around 10:30. They had me drink an unpleasant beverage to prevent any acid from harming my lungs if I vomited.

We moved to the same room where my cerclage procedure took place. They administered the spinal, and my husband joined me. I kept telling the anesthesiologist I was feeling nauseous, and she provided medication. Everything progressed quickly, but I focused on not throwing up. At one point, I was either vomiting or dry heaving. The anesthesiologist noted that it wasn’t the spinal causing my nausea, but the procedure itself, as I could feel them moving things around in my stomach. While I didn’t experience any pain, I was aware of the movements.

Recovery

In the recovery room, I was still very nauseous. The first day, I struggled to keep my eyes open due to exhaustion. I remember trying hard to stay awake while everyone visited. I was also not allowed to get out of bed alone, which I didn’t mind, given how dizzy and swollen I felt. The nurses insisted on a blood transfusion due to my severe anemia, with my numbers at 6.

I was extremely anemic, and the nurses were hesitant to discharge me. They commented on my pale appearance and how dizzy I was. I even threw up when I sat up for dinner (broth) on the first night, feeling nauseous and unwell. I had been anemic throughout my pregnancy, but it worsened significantly after the birth.

NICU and Home

That first night, one of the twins had low blood glucose levels and had to be taken to the NICU, which was challenging. I couldn’t visit her frequently since I needed a wheelchair and a nurse to assist. Initially, her blood glucose was low, then her temperature dropped. She came home after us. They gave me a snuggle doll to smell like me, which I placed in her crib. We could watch her through the NICU camera, but it wasn’t the same; we longed to be together as a family.

After she was in the NICU for five days, she was able to come home and we were all able to be together once again.