Author: Renae Foggiato
Finding out I was pregnant with twins
It was the last day of our first family holiday with our almost 1 year old boy when I found out that I was pregnant again. Right from the start everything felt different with this pregnancy, I was feeling very nauseous and extremely tired, however I just thought to myself, every pregnancy is different.
We had a dating scan at 7 weeks, and the sonographer quickly found the first baby and then he said to us ‘and there is the 2nd one’. I remember asking him again what he said, and his reply was ‘twins’. My husband and I just kind of stared at each other. We were going to be parents of 3 kids under 2. We saw our Obstetrician at about 10 weeks and she confirmed that we were having MCDA twins.
33 weeks pregnant with twins
My pregnancy continued to progress relatively smoothly. I had an appointment with my Dr when I was 32+6 weeks. The Dr mentioned to me that my blood pressure was up a little bit but nothing to be concerned about at this stage. She just advised that if I started to feel light headed etc to go and get my blood pressure checked and then give her a call.
5 days later (33+4), I woke up not feeling the best. I took my son to a regular play group that we attended and on my way home I was talking to my husband and saying that I think I will go and get my blood pressure checked after Lucas woke up as I was feeling a bit light headed. Also I had a slight twitch in my left eye, but I didn’t think much of it, just one of my nerves being a bit funny.
I had a call from my Dr’s office advising me that were putting me on antibiotics as I had a developed a UTI. I mentioned to the midwife that I was feeling a bit funny and that I would get my blood pressure checked and advise them if it was high.
That afternoon I went in to pick up my script and have my blood pressure checked. It was about the same as when I had seen my Dr so I didn’t worry too much.
My eye was twitching and I felt like I was losing control of my face
I went to have a coffee with my mum and I mentioned to her that I had the funny twitch in my eye and now that I was starting to feel like I didn’t have much control of my face. Later that night when we were getting our son ready for bed, my husband looked at me and said that the whole left side of my face had dropped. By this time, I also couldn’t close my left eye.
I rang the hospital and spoke to one of the midwives about what was happening. They then rang my Dr to advise her. She said straight away that it sounded like ‘Bell’s Palsy’ and to go see my GP tomorrow to start on a steroid called Prednisolone.
Twin Pregnancy and Bell’s Palsy
I went to bed that night, however I started to get quite bad pain down through my left ear. I woke my husband up about 5am and by this time the whole left side of my face was paralysed. We decided instead of going to my GP, to go over to our hospital (2 hours away) for me and the babies to have a check.
We arrived at the hospital and the midwives did a check of the babies and everything was fine. My Dr then came to see me and confirmed that I had Bell’s Palsy and prescribed me Prednisolone.
My whole left side of my face was basically paralysed and had dropped. I couldn’t talk, smile, eat or drink properly. I couldn’t close my eye properly and it was very irritable. I also had bad pain in my left ear and was very sensitive to loud sounds. I felt so self-conscious going out anywhere because of how my face looked.
8 days later I had another scheduled check-up. My Dr looked and me and straight away said that she felt I should have improved more than I had since starting the medication. She referred me onto an ENT firstly to check that it wasn’t an infection in my ear causing this. I was given the all clear from him. I then got referred onto a Neurologist to check that it wasn’t anything neurological. Again, I was given the all clear and he confirmed that that it was Bell’s Palsy.
The struggle of twin pregnancy and Bell’s Palsy
The remainder of my pregnancy was very much a struggle, between emotionally dealing with the Bell’s Palsy and physically dealing with a twin pregnancy.
I had many days where I felt like I couldn’t go any further. However, I somehow made it to my scheduled c-section date at 37+2 weeks.
I delivered 2 healthy boys, Jonah (3.38kgs) and Mason (3.03kgs). Within a couple of days after delivery my face started to slowly improve.
Post-partum life after Bell’s Palsy
I am now 14 weeks postpartum and can still feel the effects on the left side of my face and cannot completely close my eye. However, my Dr advised that I should continue to see improvement over the months ahead, although may not be 100% but shouldn’t be too noticeable to others.
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