My husband Andrew and I will have a very special Christmas this year. We found out in April that we were pregnant with our first child, after trying for about 5 months or so. At the second ultrasound, about 8 weeks into the pregnancy, we found out that we were pregnant with identical twins! My husband was not with me at the visit, but I remember his reaction when I called him on his lunch break to tell him the news. I think he about dropped the phone. :) Twins do run in our family, but this was still a shock to us. We never thought it would happen to us. I always wished for twins, but if I would have known the journey this pregnancy would take us on, then I would wish differently. The due date for our twins is January 1, 2011. We were hoping they would be born in December, for tax purposes of course. :) Twins are full-term at 37 weeks, so our 37-week due date was set for December 13th.
We found out in late June that our babies would be boys. We were excited!! We had just seen a story on the news about identical twin baseball players at Heritage Christian who had "twin ESP" on the baseball field. We dreamed of the same ESP for our boys too.
The first 4 months of the pregnancy went well. I didn't gain much weight at all during this time. In July and August I gained my weight gain increased rapidly. I had gained about 25 pounds or so by the end of August. Again, my OB was not alarmed since I was pregnant with twins as more weight gain is normal. However, at my ultrasound on August 26th, the ultrasound tech could not find the membrane that separates our boys in the placenta. Also, one twin had a lot of amniotic fluid while the other twin did not have hardly any at all. I was immediately sent next door to Maternal Fetal Medicine at Community North Hospital. I met with Dr. Lauren Dungy-Poythress (Dr. DP) for another ultrasound. She calmly told me that our twins have Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS). This is a rare occurrence in identical twins that are in one sac, happening in about 10-20% of identical twin births, where the blood supply is shared between the two twins instead of the twins relying solely on the placenta. As a result, one twin is pumping more blood through his heart (the recipient) and there is more amniotic fluid as opposed to the other twin (the donor) who does not have as much blood and fluid. There is a chance of mortality for one or both twins with this condition. I remember seeing this condition in Twin Books that I had read prior to the visit, but quickly overlooked the section on TTTS in these books, thinking it could never happen to us. Our options were to help rectify this problem were to go to Cincinnati to have a laser procedure performed (the procedure is not done in Indianapolis) and/or try amniocentesis reduction. My husband was at work at this time and I was overwhelmed. I called him and waited for him to get to the doctor before we made a decision. That night Dr. DP performed the amnio reduction and drained about 2 liters of fluid from my stomach. We also scheduled an appointment with the Cincinnati Children's Hospital and headed there on Monday morning. Our journey was just about to begin.
We arrived in Cincinnati early on Monday morning for two days of ultrasounds, MRIs and consults with the team there. By the end of the day Tuesday, we scheduled the laser procedure for early Wednesday morning, September 1st. The surgery went well. The doctor and surgeon and doctor drained 3 more liters of fluid and lasered about 24 blood vessel connections between the twins. They hoped this would fix the TTTS. I stayed in the hospital one night and was then discharged to a hotel in Cincinnati. On Friday, September 3rd, we went back for more ultrasounds before going back to Indianapolis. I was released to go home, but was told that I would be on bed rest the remainder of my pregnancy and that there was a good chance the boys would be delivered prematurely due to the procedure. We would not know until delivery if the procedure really worked and fixed the TTTS between the twins. Even though the staff and everyone we worked with at Cincinnati was wonderful, we were still nervous. We asked everyone we could think of to pray for our boys.
The following week, I went back to Cincinnati for more ultrasounds. I had one more appointment scheduled in Cincinnati. However, when I went to my weekly appointment at Community North with Dr. Dungy-Poythress, my cervical length was short or thin, which could result in pre-term labor. I was admitted to Community North Hospital for 3 days and put on Magnesium Sulfate. I did not make my last appointment in Cincinnati. The remainder of my appointments would be at Community North with Dr. DP.
I was on bed rest at home for 4 weeks after being discharged from Community North, still going weekly to see Dr. DP for ultrasounds. In late September, the fluid for our donor baby was low again, so I was admitted to the hospital. I was there for 4 weeks. It was very difficult at first, but after getting to know some of the nurses and attending a support group for bed-ridden mothers at the hospital, I came to terms that this would be my home until delivery. Visits, encouragement and prayers from friends and family during this time were a huge help. Our babies' hearts were monitored daily and I had daily ultrasounds while in the hospital. We have quite a collection of ultrasound pictures for our boys!
The fluid levels stabilized for the boys and I was able to go home after being in the hospital for 4 weeks. I was so thankful to go home and sleep in my own bed!
Currently, I am still at home on bed rest , with a C-section delivery date scheduled for December 17th for our boys. I go to see my OB and Dr. DP weekly for ultrasounds to make sure the boys are doing well. I have to monitor the boys daily at home also and have a nurse come 3 times a week to check my vitals and to monitor. It is a miracle that the boys have not been delivered yet and that they are looking good. Two weeks ago, the boys were about 5 pounds 5 oz each.
This will be a special Christmas as we get to bring the boys home for Christmas. What a blessing and miracle these babies are!!
