Busy Mom Soapbox

Posts Tagged ‘TCH’

Wednesday, July 23rd I had my routine checkup.  This would have been my third appointment with a midwife, but because of twins, it’s considered high-risk and so I switched over to my regular ob doctor.  The report was clipped to my file, and the doctor sat down looking over it quietly.  He said a little, "Hmmm." Immediately I knew something was wrong.  As the doctor explained what the results of the ultrasound were, my husband and my face went from happy, to horrified.  We found out that the babies were in danger and if nothing was done, there  was a 90% chance that they would die.  What a roller coaster we were on.  As the doctor explained, Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome, or TTTS is the Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) and other complications of monochorionic (shared placenta) twin pregnancies like unequal sharing of the placenta and generally diagnosed by ultrasound.

So with research, family help, and strength, we made our way to Texas Children’s Hospital.  After a week and a half of ultrasounds every other day, I was finally able to get the surgery we came for.  Initially  I was only at a Stage I.  This is the stage where the amniotic fluid was too little in the donor baby, and too much fluid for the recipient baby.  Stage II, is when the bladder of the donor baby is no longer seen on the ultrasounds.  But because I was quickly progressing, and very uncomfortable, the Dr. set me up to have the procedure done the next day.   The surgery went great, almost 2 liters of fluid was slowly removed from the recipient baby’s sac.  I had an ultrasound the very next day to see how things looked before I was discharged and ready to fly home soon.  We passed a big milestone in seeing 2 strong heartbeats.

Tomorrow, I have my "7" day after surgery ultrasound.  I pray that things will look great and that the fluid in each sac is beginning to level out.  I’ve was given a diary to record my initial 7 days post surgery temperature.  This would let the dr’s know if I ever got too close to having an infection.  This is one of the risks of having the laser surgery.