The abnormalities of my pregnancy

So I've been reflecting a lot about the pregnancy and just how abnormal it really was. It obviously wasn't your normal run-of-the-mill pregnancy, but I think it was a lot more abnormal than people know.

The order in which they occurred:
1) twins
2) SPD
3) bedrest
4) velamentous cord insertion
5) PUPPP

So a little explanation of each:
1) The odds of having spontaneously conceived twins is about 1 in 89. So a little greater than 1% of all pregnancies that occur without the aid of medical assistance results in twins.

2) SPD is short for Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction. It is a very painful condition of the pelvic bones which only occurs in 2-3% of the pregnant population! Keep in mind that I used to play basketball despite having stress fractures in my legs. So I have a fairly high tolerance for skeletal pain. But this condition sometimes dropped me to my knees and had me in tears.

3) Then there's the bedrest. Although not uncommon, it's not a routine thing. I wish I could find statistics on how often bedrest occurs but I can't.

4) Velamentous cord insertion. Bottom line = scary. I'm not going to post a link because all of the good resources out there also include pictures. And well, not everyone will be up to seeing such pictures!! So I will do the best I can to explain. This is an abnormal condition of the umbilical cord. It only occurs in 1% of all pregnancies (1 in 100). It's where the umbilical cord doesn't insert itself properly to the placenta. When the baby's water breaks, it can rupture the veins and arteries providing nutrients, oxygen, and blood to the baby. The baby will ultimately bleed to death before an emergency C-section can be performed. The mother also faces high risks due to the amount of blood loss. Adalyn was fine. It was Alivia who had the condition. We didn't know about the cord problem until after the placenta was delivered. The doctor actually proclaimed "Oh my God, this could have been disastrous!" Then he explained to us what he saw.

The condition can sometimes be identified via ultrasound. And had it been identified, they wouldn't have let me deliver naturally. Instead, I would've had a C-section because they wouldn't have wanted to risk Alivia's water breaking in the wrong spot that would've led to both of us hemorrhaging. Scary, huh? Here we fought so hard to get the girls to a healthy gestation and thought we were in the clear. But we could've lost Alivia just minutes before she was born when the doctor broke her water! Obviously, everything turned out just fine, and we thank God every day for letting the girls arrive safely. But YIKES!!!

5) Lastly, I ended up with PUPPP (Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy - don't ask me how to say it!) when the girls were 5 days old. This condition only happens in 0.5% of all pregnanies - on average, every 1 in 200 pregnancies is affected. Yes, you read that right...it happens in less than 1%. I can't even describe the itchiness I had! I remember telling Nate that I would rather endure another 9+ weeks of bedrest than deal with that rash for even one day! And we all know how much I despised bedrest! I could barely feed the girls, I couldn't sleep, all I wanted to do was crawl out of my skin. It was terrible!

I started in Urgent Care that morning. They gave me some meds that were about as effective as drinking water. Later that afternoon (it was the weekend), I put a call out to the OB on call. He said my only option was to go to the Emergency Room because I needed some IV steroids to get it under control. It took another couple weeks until it finally went away. Oh and to top it off, getting the rash AFTER the pregnancy has ended is an uncommon presentation. Only 15% of cases occur after the baby's been born.

Yeah, isn't pregnancy fun?!