Unsettling news...

Hi everyone... I had a Dr.s appt on Thursday. The twins Dr. told me everything looked good! Still no sign of TTTS! YAY! My bad news came at my OB appt after... The Dr. said that I am measuring at 38 weeks (I was only 27 weeks 1 day) and that because I am measuring so big (one girl's booty is right underneath my left boob and the other ones head is right down... well it's super low I'll put it that way!) and that my torso is so small (I'm only 5 foot 2) they will be happy if I make it past 30... My regular Dr. wasn't available for this appointment so I had to see one of her nurses that I haven't seen before. I wasn't dilated when my regular Dr. checked me 2 weeks prior and this lady didn't check me this time. I know that before I freak out I should wait and talk to my regular Dr. at my appt next Monday, but I am really freaked. I want them to stay in for as long as possible!! I don't care how uncomfortable I get I just want them safe! I have been feeling fine except for the normal aches and pains... Is there anyone out there that has been told this and made it to 36 weeks (which is when they say they are going to induce or do a scheduled c-section)??

 

I hate when doctors put limits on patients. I have worked on a Mother Baby Unit for 4 years now. I have seen some very tiny, narrow hipped women carry and deliver twins with no problems. I know this isn't twin related but my very short and very skinny sister (100 lbs soaking wet) had 4 singletons, her smallest was 10 lbs 15 oz and her biggest was 12 lbs 2 oz. All were 40 weeks or more. No one limited her. She had 4 vaginal deliveries and she and my nices/nephews did great. You can do this!!!

 

AGREED. Don't let that nurse get you down. 36 weeks is your endpoint- no sooner. If you go at it with a mindset that you're going to keep them in because you are going to do everything in your power to do so, I think that goes a long way. Eat, rest, and take care of yourself. Don't do anything silly like move anvils (ok, maybe not anvils... you aren't a cartoon, after all!) or be on your feet all day. :youcandoit: :youcandoit: :youcandoit:

 

I'm with Tara, I don't like when doctors put limits and feel they can predict when something unpredictable will happen. :gah: Please stay positive (and off your feet as much as you can ) and just take it day by day. Worrying will do no one any good. :hug: :hug: My doctor told me I wouldn't make it past 34 weeks. ardon: No real reason other then they were always measuring really big... and I made it to 39. I know everyone is different but get into the mindset that you will prove your doctor wrong. :youcandoit: Stay positive.

 

I'm 5'1", short-waisted and very narrow-hipped. I easily carried my girls until 37.1 weeks. I was nowhere near labor (cervix long and thick), but I had run out of space for my amnions, so they did schedule me for a c/s, which went very smoothly. My girls were 6,13 and 6,9. The only limit my dr put on me was don't stand too much, and no more than walking for exercise. And I couldn't drive, because I couldn't reach the pedals. :laughing:

My dr was very reassuring and treated me as a normal pregnant woman except for scheduling 3 NSTs a week at 32 weeks.

 

agree with everyone above.... I'm 5'2" and i still carried my two to 37 weeks and the only reason they came out that night was because we lost taylor... i probably still would've gone another day or two at least. Although i did start getting contractions around 29 weeks which was helped with terbutaline and rest/water as much as possible. It can happen

 

From everything I've heard on this site, the mother's height (except maybe in very extreme cases) has nothing to do with how long the pregnancy lasts. I'm only 5'4" and I had a scheduled c-section at 37 weeks.

 

Thanks guys! I feel a little better... I'm going to ask both the specialist and my regular OB on Monday about it...
Sandy if you don't mind me asking, what was the medical oversight that caused you to lose Taylor? I'm so sorry for your loss...

 

I am 5" 3 w/ a short torso and although I had my girls earlyt (31.6) it was NOT due to my height/size etc (baby B was in distress). I was on bedrest, but I could have gone longer according to my 'size' (I measured 42 when I delivered at almost 32 weeks). My water did not break or was I in serious labor at that time.

 

I'm 5 1, and went 37 weeks. At 27 weeks I measured 37. I remember my doctor saying "bless you" for carrying these big boys! I slowed down by the end, but my doc stopped measuring at 42!

 

I had one of my obs make similar comments. I'm only 5'2", my boys were measuring big for twins, and Baby A was head down and ready to go from 30 weeks on. I was ginormous, but I didn't go into labor until 37 1/2 weeks - one day before my scheduled c-section. Ignore the nurse and don't let her get you down.

 

ahhh, no problem... i feel better talking about it anyways. The whole time i was pregnant Taylor was always 1 oz larger than her brother, but at 30 weeks she was 4 ozs bigger than parker. At 34 weeks, their weights flipped and he was now 4 ozs. bigger than taylor... i questioned them up and down and they even redid the measurement. The told me it's just a "typical twin pregnancy and that this is normal" I honestly didn't feel 100 percent about it, but i trusted the doctors. So parker was 5 lbs 4 ozs and Taylor was 5 lbs. At 35 weeks and 5 days i ended up going to hospital for nasty contractions and they were able to calm them down. At the time my dumb a## doctor offered to take the babies but guilted me by saying "they probably would have to stay in the nicu for at least a week" so i declined and told him that i would rather give them time to mature. he didn't do an ultrasound to check on them and sent me back home. At this point in the pregnancy i was going to my doctors once a week, my peri's for NST twice a week, and a full ultrasound once a month... so i was heavily being monitored. Well when i went to my NST two days before i ended up having the babies, I ended up in a quiet room (usually the place was packed) and i got the nurse practioner that i really didn't care for (she wasn't attentive at all and was hardly in the room but maybe a few seconds here and there). The hooked me up and immediately i noticed that Taylor's heartrate was in the 180s while parker was asleep at 130... not normal for them at all... they were usually pretty close together.. when one was awake so was the other. She kept me on the monitor while she left the room for a long time and during that time i noticed that Taylor started having quick decels... her heartrate would dip down to 140 than shoot back up to 180s within a second or two... not normal at all. Still parker was sleeping and i sat there praying in my head for help to bring her heartrate back to normal so we knew everything was okay. Eventually after a good 40 mins, her heartrate went to normal and the NP came back in looked at my sheet for a second and said everything looked okay you can go. I kept my mouth shut because i trusted the doctors and didn't know those were actual decels she was having until i put two and two together later on. So figured everything was fine. but i have a feeling she missed it on the paper. Two days later i didn't feel Taylor after a few hours of being awake... got her heartrate on my monitor after two tries(it was hers for sure since you had to be on the EXACT spot for the monitor to work)... figured she was probably a little stressed out and got done and headed to the hospital. By the time i got there, waited, and then finally got the monitors on me she had passed... somewhere in the 4 hour time period. After the twins were born that night, we realized that a) she had meuconium in her sack(not really lethal to most babies, but it's a sign of distress) b) she was only 5 lbs 3 ozs... so she only gained 3 ozs in 3 weeks yet she was a whole 1 1/2 inches longer than parker while parker continued to grow to 6 lbs 4 ozs at birth. This showed she stopped growing and basically held on with dear life for as long as she could. When she finally showed distress.. they missed it in the NST at the peri's office. If my doctor would've done a ultrasound to check on them when i went into false labor at 35 5 days than we would've seen she wasn't growing like her brother c) after all the research i did i found that more than likely she developed IUGR that started somewhere after the 30th week which can happen in multiples and that when you have IUGR... the baby can suffocate from the meuconium. It happened so fast and yet because of all the little misses by my doctor and my peri's office, we lost our little girl. That's why i always say if you don't like your doctor to drop them and find someone better and to always voice your opinion. You as a patient have so much more power than you think you do... you just need to put your foot down and demand proper care... i assumed i was getting it and in the end i have to live with not speaking up when i had the single opportunity to save my child because of being too trusting. Life is so precious and yet it can end in a blink of an eye... losing my daughter has shown me so many things i never saw and i'm forever thankful for that, but i still mourn all the time. I miss my daughter and i should've never lost her at 37 weeks... just never knew that could happen. Sorry i know it was long... so much easier to say it person to person than to type.

 

So sorry for your loss but thank you for sharing and giving all of us the encouragement to speak up if we are concerned and not to stop until we are satisfied. I know it is sometimes hard to do but the outcome can be life or death. Blessings.

 

Sandy thank you so much for sharing that... as this is my first pregnancy I think it's really hard for me to tell what is normal and what isn't. This let me know not to just trust the doctors, but also my instincts. Thank you and I'm so sorry for what you had to go through... :hug:

 

Sandy, thanks for sharing your story, and I am so sorry for your loss. I am a twin myself and my twin sister died at birth because of medical neglect also, even if she was Twin A and she was over 1# heavier than me. There was no issue with her, other than she was breech, but they tried to deliver naturally and her chin got stuck on mine - I was vertex... Of course, they had an emergency C-section, but she died from the stress and swallowing too much amniotic liquid. That was in 1977 so I hope it's not as bad anymore, stories like our birth story are the reason why they are reluctant to deliver twins naturally when Twin A is breech. My birth story always scared me, and now that I am having twins myself, I am also worried, but I am trying to be as voccal as I can with my concerns and my doctor seems to be OK with it. My twin A is breech also, and my doctor wants to schedule a C-section if she doesn't flip in the meantime. Anyway, I didn't mean to depress anyone with my story, I just wanted to let you know I feel for you!

 

thank you, i truly do talk about it to keep people aware that doctors aren't perfect and they do make mistakes just like any other person... don't be afraid to question every little thing that happens even if you think you feel dumb because sometimes that might be what saves a life. I wish i would've known what i know now, but since i can't go back and change the past i try to change the future for others. Good luck to you all in your pregnancies and may you all deliver happy healthy babies.

 

This is a very good point, always trust your instincts. :good:



Sandy-:hug: Thank you for sharing your story. I am so sorry for your loss. :hug:

 

Amy, how did your twins happen to be born 10 days apart? I'm just curious... feel free to tell me if it's none of my business I'm not easily offended!

 

I don't mind sharing their story. Here is the short version.


Everything going fine until a routine appt. at 23w6d and at that appt. it was found that my cervix was short (it was nice and long 3 weeks before that) and that I was dilated to 2cm and there was a foot there, yikes!! So they sent me to the hospital to see if I was having contractions, which I told them I wasn't as I felt great and didn't feel a thing, hooked me up to the monitors and sure enough it was picking them up. :umm: So I had an emergency cerclage the next day (and the steroid shots thank goodness) and was told that should take care of it. I was released from the hospital 5 days later and they told me I was not having contractions, except by this time I was feeling something. I was sent home on total bedrest, that was Sunday. That week saw my reg. OB and high risk OB and was told everything looked great. Saturday, yes not even a week later, Emilie pops out at home feet first. :shok: I was 25w3d. The only thing I felt was this huge pressure, no contractions.

The paramedics arrived to fully deliver her, as I was not having contractions, and said the other baby was fine. I just kept saying "what do you mean the other one is not coming, twins come together". So I get to the hospital, of course totally afraid I'm going to have the other one in the ambulance, and was told they were keeping Trevor in as long as they could. I could not believe what they were telling me. I was on total, I mean not get out of bed for anything, hospital bedrest, and couldn't even see Emilie in the NICU for 9 days!!!

10 days later they checked my white blood cells, Emilie's placenta was still inside as they were afraid it could be attached to Trevor's, and was told they were on the rise and would have to take him via c-section (for fear of infection), he was born on Valentine's day, at 26w6d.

Emilie weighed 1 lb. 10 oz. and Trevor was 2 lbs. 7 oz.

Emilie was on a vent for 4 days and Trevor NEVER went on one. I totally credit this to me receiving the steroid shots when I was in for the cerclage and thank God my OB had them done. I think this made all the difference in the world.

They both came home together on April 14, 2006, 5 weeks before their due date.


They turned 4 in February and are doing fabulous. They have absolutely no lingering effects of being so premature. We know we are very lucky!!

 

I remember reading your story before a long time ago and thought how wonderful that was that they did so well. Especially the vent part... which for that gestation is a miracle in itself. I always love happy endings and it's so great they are doing well now with no lasting effects of their prematurity

 

Honestly, sometimes I really wonder how we got so lucky.

I know going through it all I needed to hear happy ending stories!

 

Wow! That is incredible Amy! Thank you for sharing your story too! I'm so glad that people on here are willing to share their stories and experiences! It really does make going through the ups & downs of pregnancy easier... Even the sad stories make you feel like you learned something and can maybe make a difference in your babies lives! So thank you ladies!

 

You are right, sharing stories/experiences (both happy and sad) is so important, someone can always benefit from them.

 

Just quickly chiming in. I went 38 weeks and 1 day with my twins, planned c-section and I am 5'4" with a very short torso. Patrick was wedged so far under my rib cage that he was an entire pound lighter than Kevin but they were both fine and I was too. I worked until 36 weeks too. You can do this, don't let these people get you down. :hug: :hug:

 

My doctors and nurses all expected me to deliver early - and there was even talk of inducing at 35-36 weeks because of an issue with their weight (too small, not too big) However, I fully expected pre-term labor and expected to have the babies by 35 or 36 weeks no matter what, because of all my "risks"... I expected the worst through my pregnancy. I wanted to have my baby showers early because I was afraid of being on bed rest at 26 weeks because of all the things I had read - I never even got put on bed rest. I expected to deliver or be induced by 36 weeks, and now I am almost 37 weeks. These babies just keep on trucking. Don't worry too much about it. Keep your feet up, and even if you're not on bed rest by doctor's orders, listen to your body and don't overdo it. I have spent a ton of time with my feet up and laying around. I do housework, but when I start to get tired or my back starts to get sore, I stop. I just don't do anything for a long time. I started about 2 weeks ago using wheelchairs or motor chairs in stores who have them if I planned to shop for longer than a few minutes.

Just take precautions to keep your body comfortable and don't stress out. All the time after finding out it was twins I expected to have a really crappy painful pregnancy and deliver early out of town and have my babies in NICU - and as it turns out, it looks like everything is going to be just fine!!

 

Thanks for all your support ladies! Turns out, when I asked my regular OB about it she said her nurse was just giving me statistics... I wish she would have told me that instead of making it sound like I won't make it to 30 weeks! It would have saved a TON of freaking out both on DH and my parts!!!

 

:headbang: Yes, that would have been very nice to know the nurse was just giving you statistics. I'm sorry you had to worry about it. :hug:

 

You can do it! I'm also 5' 2''. I have a very short torso and I carried all the way to my planned c-s at 38 weeks. Healthy babies, fine weights, etc etc. Think positively and take it easy!