On July 4th, 2003, my husband and I found out that after trying for 6 months or so that we were finally pregnant!  We were so happy!  A few weeks later, after some spotting, Dr. Colon sent us for an ultrasound.  Imagine our surprise when two babies could clearly be seen on the monitor!  When we saw those tiny hearts beating away, we both broke down and cried.  I was speechless (probably for the first time in my life).

Through the earlier weeks of my pregnancy, I experienced pretty normal pregnancy symptoms.  It was the first time I had experienced morning sickness.  I was really glad when that was over!  Just about midway through the pregnancy, it was discovered that I had a shortened cervix and I had to go on modified bed rest.  The more my pregnancy advanced, the shorter my cervix became.  At nearly 24 weeks, I had a scary incident where I was feeling a lot of pressure.  I had to go Labor and Delivery to get it checked out.  Misti was there and she helped put me at ease.

At 31 weeks pregnant, it was discovered that my cervix had shortened even more than before, so I had to go into the hospital to get steroid shots for the babies' lungs.  While I in the hospital on the monitors, it was discovered I was contracting a bit as well.  I had to start taking Terbutaline.  I finally got to go home after about 4 days.  Despite a couple of hospital visits for contractions, I managed to stay pregnant until 34 weeks exactly.

I felt terrible the day I went into labor.  I was weepy and felt miserable.  I never associated those feelings with labor.  I was on strict bed rest and medication at the time, but was having contractions nonetheless.  In the evening around suppertime, I began to notice a pattern to my contractions.  I decided to take a bath.  It helped me feel better, but did not slow my contractions much.  I decided to drink a 32 oz bottle of water and take my Terbutaline an hour early to see if it would slow my then 4 minute contraction pattern.  Despite my efforts, they were not slowing down.  I talked with Rita Marie and she advised me to come to the hospital. 

Around 11:30 pm, Rita Marie checked me and found that I was indeed in labor and was 5 centimeters dilated.  I was really shocked, because any pain I was having with the contractions was relatively minor.  I had very short labors with my previous children and expected the same.  But, each labor is different and this one dragged on through the night much to my chagrin.  Dr. Adler was able to sleep a little that night, so I guess it was a good thing for him!  Finally around 6:30am I was ready to push.  The nurses wheeled me into the delivery room and a few minutes later, guided by the skilled hands of Rita Marie, Rachel Paige entered the world at 6:38am, weighing in at 5lbs 12 oz, 17 ½ long.  Her brother decided to take advantage of his newly found space accommodations and flipped from head down to feet down.  Dr. Adler was able to flip him back the right way in a blink of an eye though!  Hunter Jonathan arrived six pushes later at 6:44am, weighing 6lbs 6oz and 17 ½ long.

The babies were 6 weeks premature and had to be taken right to the NICU.  Rachel was off all supplemental oxygen within 4 hours and moved to the step-down unit in the NICU.  Hunter on the other hand developed pneumonia and Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension and later had to be flown to Children's Hospital in Washington, DC.  He was there for about a month.  It still amazes me how one baby did so well and the other was critically ill for several weeks.

Both babies are fine now and Hunter shows no ill effects of being so sick at the beginning.  He now is about 4 lbs bigger than his "big" sister!  I feel so lucky to have been under the care of Dr. Colon, the WONDERFUL midwives and Dr. Adler.  I can't help but wonder how long my pregnancy would have lasted without their in depth care!  Thanks for everything!

The DeLong Family