I am excited to share a Preeclampsia with Twins story. Clara is a preeclampsia survivor who had preeclampsia with twins born at 34 weeks. Preeclampsia survivors are amazing and strong women who have faced some of the worst things you can face during pregnancy and postpartum.
In the past, I have interviewed a preeclampsia survivor from the UK and her husband as well as a postpartum preeclampsia survivor. I also interviewed a preeclampsia survivor who started her own Instagram page to bring awareness to NICU babies. I am in awe of these strong women who have taken something so traumatic and horrible into something that helps others.
I am a preeclampsia survivor myself, and if you would like to read my premature birth story and journey with preeclampsia, click here
Table of Contents
Clara’s Story: Preeclampsia with Twins
After infertility, I was finally pregnant with twins. My pregnancy went perfectly up until 33+3 days (other than low platelets). Before this, I had swollen ankles and pain in my right upper quadrant (but it had been in the left before so I figured it was just the twins running out of space). I told the doctor about the ankles, but they were unfazed by it.
On July 4th, I was at my aunt’s house with a headache, upper quadrant pain, and very large ankles (when my husband rubbed them the indent remained). I also would get out of breath very easily. I didn’t think anything of it and knew I had an appointment the next afternoon. The next day came and I still had a headache, but I’m headache-prone and didn’t think it was bad enough to be concerning. I threw up everything I ate that day, which was odd this late in pregnancy but again, I had an appointment soon. I took a nap and I could hear my heart pounding very hard.
I went to my routine nonstress test (because of twins). The nurse asked as I walked back how my day was and I said I wasn’t feeling well. She assured me a rest should help. The nonstress test went well and she was sending me out the door and she realized she hadn’t taken my vitals. After sitting for an hour, my blood pressure was 140/88.
They had me do a urine test and tested again- 143/101 and protein too high for the dipstick to quantify. They sent me straight to the hospital and said “We don’t mean stop by your house and target, you need to get straight there. We are calling ahead and they are expecting you in 10 minutes.”
I remember thinking this was odd they were making me go to the hospital where I was planning to deliver and not just across the road, I was still at least a month away from delivering. I thought they’d just give me some medicine and put me on bed rest at home. Thankfully, between not realizing the severity of the situation and knowing the babies had passed the NST I drove myself to the hospital. Of course, this was the first appointment my husband had missed through all the infertility and OB appointments! Like at least 100 appointments!
Preeclampsia with Twins: At the Hospital
Once at the hospital, I said my ob sent me and they said they were waiting for a twin mom, not realizing it was me since I carried very small. The ob on call saw me and said they’d do lab work, but I didn’t look sick enough for anything to be too concerning. The lab work came back telling a different story- protein off the charts, liver/kidneys struggling, and rising blood pressure. He told us “You won’t be leaving until the babies are born and they will be here in 2-3 days.”
In my head, I thought of all the things I needed to do still: maternity pictures (I was waiting for my belly to “pop” and never did- please never comment how small someone is, this was so hard on me), packing my hospital bag, preparing the last things in our home, freezer meals, installing the car seats and finally getting to relax (I had just stopped working 4 days before). I’m still so sad not to have maternity pictures or any pictures of my belly.
They got me settled in my room and got the first steroid for lung development and a magnesium drip. I would not wish the mag drip on my worst enemy. Between Tuesday and Saturday I threw up over 45 times and didn’t keep a single thing down (this caused stomach ulcers I would deal with for the next several months). I threw up as I was touring the NICU. This was Tuesday evening, but Wednesday evening they broke my water and started the Pitocin.
I also got an epidural which helped throughout the night but somehow got disconnected the next morning (so I unknowingly was laboring naturally and feeling like the biggest wimp since I “had” an epidural and was still in so much pain). It never worked correctly after the disconnect. Wednesday I felt sicker than I ever had, my head now was pounding and my reflexes were very brisk. My kidneys were shutting down. The call was made to rush the 2 steroids and get me induced. Both twins were head down so the goal still was a vaginal delivery.
Preeclampsia with Twins: Labor
I was in labor for 24 hours by the time the twins were both born. As they wheeled me into the OR to deliver (standard with twins), I thought the complications were done. Little did I know in a couple hours 2/3 of our lives would be close to ending. The first twin came after 40 minutes of pushing and other than significant tearing and the NICU not quite being there (she literally shot out), all was well. She was 4lbs 8oz, so smaller than expected for a 34+0 weeker. She needed some cpap and went to the NICU, but we had been prepared for all this.
The next twin took 90 minutes to come. Turns out mag and pit work against each other so my contractions were never closer than 4 minutes. I was scared the whole time they’d have to switch to a c-section, but my ob was so patient and believed this was what was best for all of us. Baby B finally came and the doctor said “She’s so tiny” (3lbs 7oz). I held her for a second, she made a squeak like a mouse and went limp. I wanted someone to take her as I knew she needed help right away. I didn’t know until after, but she had to be intubated.
Now the placentas should have been coming, but they weren’t. My pit was already up as high as allowable. Then the cord snapped and she said she manually had to remove them. This is when I passed out from pain and everything else until the next day was foggy. I hemorrhaged over half my blood volume.
A device called the JADA and my well-educated ob saved my uterus and ultimately my life. Also, blood donors, I got many units of blood. A nurse told my mom “I have seen so much strength required to get through a birth.” My ob said if we had done a c-section I would have lost more blood and very likely not have made it.
Preeclampsia with Twins: NICU
Luckily my girls had a fairly uneventful 33-day nicu stay. Other than being small and having some gross motor and speech delays, they are doing great at almost 2 years old. Given time I recovered and have been blessed to exclusively pump so they can have breastmilk until approximately 26 months. This story could have ended very differently. My husband said as I was bleeding out and he had no idea if baby B was alive, he wondered how he would tell our families. This wasn’t how the girl’s birthday was supposed to be.
Unfortunately, birth is always risk and things go wrong so extremely fast. I know without my medical staff and the nicu staff, all 3 of us would not be here. I likely had HELLP syndrome but due to having chronically low platelets, we can’t be sure.
The moral of all this is, preeclampsia is not something that always makes you feel awful. I was expecting way worse symptoms, so I didn’t share these “minor” symptoms with my doctors. I thought it was just normal being pregnant with twins. I feel like the narratives I heard were not a little headache and few other things that could be passed as normal.
I had no idea how sick I was and I am so grateful that the nurse at my NST remembered to check my blood pressure at the last minute. I don’t know if I will ever have another chance (the reality of birth trauma) but if I do I will make sure the ob staff hears everyone of my “mild” symptoms and not try to “tough” it out.
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