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Emily’s Story

February 16, 2024 By Emily Rubel

Emily’s Story

In January of 2022, I found out that I was expecting monochorionic diamniotic twins. When I got the news I immediately went to google to start reading about this type of twin pregnancy. There are many risks involved that I needed to go to the MFM for. My twin B was diagnosed with SIUGR type 2, which is the most severe. We were given the option of watching and waiting or termination. We watched and waited. At 29 weeks, I was admitted to the hospital for constant contractions. At this point I was extremely swollen and my 24 hour urine protein levels were extremely high. The doctors didn’t think anything of it because my blood pressure was fine but it was actually high for me. A couple weeks go by still in the hospital and my nurse decided it would be a good idea to get a CBC done to check my platelets. They had dropped from the last time I had a blood draw a couple weeks prior. I had to get a blood draw for the next 3 days to see how they were. Each day they continued dropping to the point where it was becoming dangerous, my liver enzymes were high but my blood pressure was still “fine”. They ended up diagnosing me with an atypical presentation of HELLP syndrome because the highest my blood pressure had been was 126/82. I had a C-section on July 5, 2022 at 32 weeks and 1 day to deliver my twin girls. They spent 45 & 77 days in the NICU. I felt like it was my fault for delivering my girls early. I started therapy to help with these feelings and it is something I definitely recommend doing so mothers know they didn’t do anything wrong.