Surgery day

May 9th
Another early start. We were at the hospital at 6:00 am to check in and surgery was scheduled for 7:30. I was scared to death (I think Steve was too). It seemed like there was a team of nurses to take care of me, and they were all wonderful. They did another ultrasound to get another look at the babies, and got me prepped.

The nurses rolled me downstairs to the pre-op area, with Steve beside me the whole time. Dr. Crombleholme and Dr. Lim came to check on us to see if we had any more questions, and to get the final OKs. The anesthesiologist came and prepped me for the epidural, and the chaplain from the Fetal Care Program said a prayer with us. I took something to make me groggy and off we were. I was hoping to be very groggy for the surgery so I would not hear the doctors talking, but again, things did not go according to my plan! I was in and out during the procedure and did hear a lot of talking, but what I heard were all good things. I did ask for more "groggy" drugs, and she said she gave them to me, but I must have been immune! The best thing I heard them say was that the placental share was 70/30. This meant, as best as they could tell, Baby A had 70% of the placenta and Baby B had 30% of the placenta -enough to live. This was one of our biggest concerns going into the surgery. Before getting inside they could not tell how much of the placenta Baby B had, and if it was not enough, the baby would not be able to live on its own. The point of concern is 80/20, so we felt really good with a share of 70/30.

The surgery went really well. They did not have to do the c-section procedure, in fact the incision is only about 1/2 an inch on my left side. They use a long, hollow, metal shaft to go through everything and then put a camera and a laser through this to look at the placenta. Using the camera, they found 11 vessels being shared by the babies, and used the laser to cut them. An echocardiogram in a couple of days will indicate whether or not all the vessels were found and cut. They also used the laser to put 5 holes in the sacs between the babies so the fluid would even out more quickly, and provide more instant relief for both babies. The third part of the procedure was the amniotic reduction. They removed a gallon (yes, a gallon - think about carrying around a milk jug in your belly, in addition to everything else!) of fluid from around Baby A. The procedure took about an hour, which was another unknown going in. It could have lasted anywhere from 45 minutes to 3 or 4 hours. The doctors were pleased, and we were thrilled.

I think it was only a few minutes later when I saw Steve, and the first thing I told him was, "it's 70/30," with a big smile. He asked if I would remember saying this to him, I do. The doctors talked to him, and told him how well everything went, and that we would know a lot more in the next 24 hours or so - more waiting.

Back up to my room where I had the undivided attention of two nurses for my entire stay. Rock star treatment! I was very thirsty, but couldn't drink or eat until they were sure I wasn't going to go into labor. After the epidural wore off I did have some cramping, but nothing more than what they call irritation contractions. My uterus was not happy with being messed with so it was contracting pretty regularly, but minorly. About 7 pm I got the OK to eat! The contractions had subsided, and they felt I was out of danger. Another risk of this procedure is going into labor and losing both babies, but thankfully we got through that part with not too much trouble.

The only negative part of our stay was that Steve did not get to eat for free. He had to go to the cafeteria to get dinner because the "room service" person was not very nice, or cooperative. Steve spent the night with me in a very uncomfortable bed/chair - what a trooper. It was a good thing because Dr. Livingston came in at 7:30 to check on the babies.