April 24th - Level 2 Ultrasound
Things had been going so well up to this point. Even at this appointment the babies looked great, except for the amount of amniotic fluid around each of the babies. Steve and I could tell something was a little bit different about Baby B; it seemed more scrunched up, and the tech got much quieter while she was scanning Baby B. After she got all of her measurements, the doctor came in and told us it looked like our babies were showing signs of Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome. What??
Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome is a rare condition that only affects identical twins who share a placenta. What happens is that there are vessels in the placenta that are being directly shared by the babies, and this causes one baby to get too much blood, and the other to get too little. One baby ends up getting bigger, generating much more amniotic fluid, and having heart trouble due to the extra blood. The other baby suffers from lack of nutrients which results in too little amniotic fluid, and too little growth. The smaller baby can also suffer from heart trouble.
The first thing we read about the condition was that if left untreated, especially when diagnosed as early as our babies were, that the condition is just about 100% fatal. We were terrified. On the other hand, there was a way to correct the condition, through laser surgery, but we would have to travel to Cincinnati or Philadelphia for treatment. Wow - a lot to process. We told the doctor we had a vacation planned for the following week, and he said it was OK to go, but to come back Monday when we returned.
So, we left our appointment with a million questions, and nothing to do but wait until the following Monday to see if there were any changes with the babies. We had hope that the fluid levels would stabilize, and we would not have to go thorough surgery.
Things had been going so well up to this point. Even at this appointment the babies looked great, except for the amount of amniotic fluid around each of the babies. Steve and I could tell something was a little bit different about Baby B; it seemed more scrunched up, and the tech got much quieter while she was scanning Baby B. After she got all of her measurements, the doctor came in and told us it looked like our babies were showing signs of Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome. What??
Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome is a rare condition that only affects identical twins who share a placenta. What happens is that there are vessels in the placenta that are being directly shared by the babies, and this causes one baby to get too much blood, and the other to get too little. One baby ends up getting bigger, generating much more amniotic fluid, and having heart trouble due to the extra blood. The other baby suffers from lack of nutrients which results in too little amniotic fluid, and too little growth. The smaller baby can also suffer from heart trouble.
The first thing we read about the condition was that if left untreated, especially when diagnosed as early as our babies were, that the condition is just about 100% fatal. We were terrified. On the other hand, there was a way to correct the condition, through laser surgery, but we would have to travel to Cincinnati or Philadelphia for treatment. Wow - a lot to process. We told the doctor we had a vacation planned for the following week, and he said it was OK to go, but to come back Monday when we returned.
So, we left our appointment with a million questions, and nothing to do but wait until the following Monday to see if there were any changes with the babies. We had hope that the fluid levels would stabilize, and we would not have to go thorough surgery.
April 25th
We had a routine appointment scheduled with the OB, and tried to ask him some questions about the syndrome. He really didn't know too much, and put it in perspective for us. We go to a pretty big office that delivers about 1000 babies a year. Of those, maybe 2 women have identical twins, and of those maybe 1 every couple of years has this syndrome. So, there are not a lot of people who deal with our situation - great. He also measured my belly, and at 17 1/2 weeks, my belly was the size of a belly 7 months along with one baby. I was huge! I also had a lot of swelling, especially in my left foot and ankle. This Doc attributed the swelling to the twins, and being so big. To me it still seemed a bit early to have so much swelling.
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