An unexpected side effect of birthing multiples – a surgery story

I’ll never forget the moment we found out we were unexpectedly expecting twins.

After many miscarriages and infertility, we finally were pregnant again! The midwife saw me to measure my uterus, and noted it was abnormally “large” for how far along I was. She recommended an ultrasound.

Fast forward a few days and I go to see the only place in town that provides ultrasounds – the doctor asks me if twins run in my family – and my face turns pale white (mind you, I’m already a super ginger so I must have been white as a piece of copy paper).

We were pregnant with mono-di twin boys, meaning they were identical with a shared placenta but separate sacks. This was considered the second highest risk of all the kinds of twins out there in the universe. Gracious did we have a difficult pregnancy.

One of the challenges we had to overcome was the abnormal amount of excessive amniotic fluid present. I gained 100 pounds onto my petite frame of previously 125 pounds.

Bed rest came at 32 weeks when at my weekly OBGYN appointment they discovered labor had started :0

After an easy breezy vaginal birth, the babies came earth side and I was so grateful they were healthy, beautiful baby boys.

(Future post on the full birth story coming soon!)

Fast forward 3 years

The twins are now 3 years old!

I’ve battled “female issues” for my entire adult life. Heavy cycles, severe cramping, anemia from losing so much blood, etc. So in October 2020 on top of the chaos COVID-19 has already wreaked havoc on the planet, I start to experience some weird symptoms:

-Lower Abdominal cramping

-Lower Back Pain

-Nausea 24/7, but no vomiting

-Protrusion of abdomen (I looked 3-4 months pregnant)

-Loss of appetite

I frantically took a pregnancy test, which was negative. My digestive system seemed to be working fine (no diarrhea or constipation).

WHY WAS I IN SO MUCH PAIN?

I called every OBGYN in my town, and the soonest a doctor could see me was one week away. So I waited.

Appointment comes and the doctor tells me my right ovary feels enlarged as does my uterus. Weird – ok so now what? A pelvic ultrasound is ordered.

This ultrasound showed…..

NOTHING.

Wait, what? There were no fibroids, cysts, ectopic pregnancy, anything abnormal noted on the ultrasounds.

Over that week my pain and discomfort grew worse by the day.

Friday, October 30th I make a trip to the ER

They run all the tests, and finally a CT scan shows that I have a hemorhagic ovarian cyst that has bled into my abdominal cavity, but no other abnormalities are found. They send me home on pain meds (insert eye roll).

I have a follow up with my OBGYN 3 days later. Upon seeing how large my stomach was, how much pain I was in – he ordered me for surgery. THE NEXT DAY. I was very much not prepared for this as I have never had surgery before.

The plan was to do a laparoscopic diagnostic procedure to see what on earth was going on in my abdomen, with possible ovarian torsion (twisted ovary) or appendix issue. I woke up to something that none of us expected.

My colon was shoved into the wrong place in my abdomen – and had adhered to my other internal organs like super glue. WHAT?????

My doctor (OBGYN) and the General Surgeon who ended up having to come in assisting him both agreed they had never seen this happen – ONLY in persons who had prior abdominal sugeries (which I have not ever had).

Their only conclusion?

This was caused by giving birth to twins. “Sigh”.

I love these little buggers, but they have wreaked total havoc on my body – even now at 3 years postpartum. It’s a good thing they are super cute 🙂

I write this story to help anyone who might have gone through something similar.

My best advice? You KNOW your body better than anyone else does.

If you feel unwell and sense something is wrong, do not be afraid to push for answers – push for the tests – especially when your symptoms worsen.

Fellow mothers of multiples, I’d love to hear in the comments below if you have had strange things happen to your body after birth!