Last Summer I posted on Facebook that I was going to become a Grandmother for the first time. I never posted anything further. I couldn't.
My daughter and son-in-law have been married for twelve years and were vacationing in Hawaii with our son-in-law's family at the time my daughter took the first pregnancy test. After they got back home she had a blood test taken, was examination by her doctor to verify the pregnancy, and had her first ultrasound scheduled. They had been trying to conceive for years.
On September 14th, although too soon to tell gender, the two came home from the doctor's office ecstatic, with an ultrasound picture of the baby. After scanning it for her, my daughter posted the picture and the wonderful news on her Facebook page to share with family and friends who hadn't yet heard. We all found ourselves looking at baby things for the first time and couldn't resist a little stuffed animal or adorable bib. We were all so excited! There were even names picked out.
A couple of weeks later, Mom and Dad-to-be went off to their second ultrasound where the doctor told them they would be able to see the baby's heartbeat for the first time. They were so excited! Instead, the doctor performed his examination and found no heartbeat, the baby had died. Worse, she had to wait several days before they could schedule the procedure to remove the baby from her womb because she did not miscarry per se.
As you can well imagine, it was an extremely difficult time for our family, but certainly most difficult for my daughter and son-in-law. They were heartbroken and devastated as we all were.
The holidays quietly passed with a hole in them. Hope and joy were very hard to keep sight of. Eventually, the household returned to a regular routine and the hopes and dreams for this precious life we would never know and the sadness of it began slowly to fade.
In early-January, our daughter called us into her room to show us a home pregnancy test result - Positive. What a flood of emotions! Joy, fear, anticipation, and shock flowed through all of us. They scheduled the soonest appointment they could with her doctor in mid-January.
Then, a couple of weeks later, she and her husband came rushing out of their room one evening, throwing their coats on. She was bleeding and was sure she lost the baby. They spent the night in the emergency room while the bleeding subsided and stopped, having tests run. The conclusion was that the resident doctor did not have the equipment or expertise to definitively say the baby was gone and she needed to see her regular doctor.
The next day they visited their regular doctor. Although it was too soon for an ultrasound and he could not pinpoint the exact cause of the bleeding the night before, he did confirm that our daughter was carrying three live fetuses. He explained to them that it was very early and that they might not all survive. Triplets!
On January 25th, she and her husband went to the doctor for her first ultrasound. One of the babies did not make it but she is now carrying twins. They got to see them on the ultrasound and got to see their heartbeats on the monitor screen. The doctor assured them that the babies looked like they were developing normally and both had good heartbeats.
Four days later she began spotting and was taken to the emergency room again. Because of her high-risk pregnancy, they performed an ultrasound to check the babies. Both babies had stronger heartbeats than they did four days prior and by all indications are developing normally. The doctor assured her that spotting can be normal when carrying multiple babies although they are not sure why.
The next ultrasound is scheduled for February 22nd. As anxious as we all are to hear how the babies are developing, we are at the same time nervous and cautious in our anticipation. My daughter has had terrible nightmares about seeing the doctor and hearing terrible news. We all try to comfort and assure her as much as we can.
In the meantime, morning sickness is a regular routine and for now we are taking one craving at a time - rice with soy sauce and a yogurt chaser, chinese pot stickers and Fettucini Alfredo? The other night our son-in-law, half asleep in the kitchen, was making an English muffin with raspberry jam for our little Mama.
It is no doubt going to be a roller coaster ride until the twins' September 14th due date. In the meantime, we are all doing everything we can to help ensure the stork delivers two beautifully healthy babies. We are cautiously optimistic but for now will take it one day at a time. Life is so fragile... and so precious.
