The twins are asleep and I should be sleeping too, but instead I decide to start a blog? On top of having three little ones under 3, attending graduate school to become a principal, and working as a teacher this just puts another something on my plate. But, I find that I thrive on being busy, and the more on my plate the better sometimes. Who would have thought that when I took that picture of my tummy at 36 weeks with the twins that night I would have gone into labor. I had been on bed rest since February 1st, 2012, and now it was April 13th. We went into the hospital because I had major pains and contractions and decided not to wait them out like I had usually done. When we arrived at Harris Southwest, we were quickly told that I had dilated to a three and my doctor wasn't going to let me leave until she saw me. That night she came in and gave me three options: first, go home and labor some more at home, second, wait until the next afternoon and re-evaluate, or third, have a c-section at 9am the next morning. Being that this was the longest pregnancy known to man (well to me anyways) bed rest was horrible on me! We decided to go with the third option to deliver in the morning. Thank the Lord we did. I went into the OR and got prepped for surgery, I absolutely hate anesthesia and when the spinal block set in--my body seemed to go into panic. I always think...."What if something happened and I need to get off this table and run!?" I did the same thing when I had my epidural with Charli and even when I go to the dentist I say NO to the gas. I was nauseas the whole time, and shook like a mad women. I could barely see, and I think that is a good thing because of what happened next... Josi Mae was delivered first at 10:40am weighing 4lbs 10oz and 18.5 inches. Libbi Sue born at 10:41 weighing 5lbs 13oz and 19.5 inches. The Neonatal Intensive Care charge nurse was called because of the girls colors. Josi extremely pale and Libbi extremely red, almost purple. They were whisked off to the NICU. We had just become parents of twins, and no idea what was happening with our babies. Thank God for pain medication and any woman who has gone through a c-section twice! I had Charli normally and the pain is much worse with a c-section. Anyhow, I think me being on meds helped to sedate me from what was going on in the NICU. At first we didn't know what exactly happened and my placenta was sent off to pathology, and meanwhile Josi was severely anemic and Libbi looked like a giant swollen tomato. Both girls were breathing on their own without help, but their blood was the problem. Josi had almost no blood, and the nurse explained it was as "thin as KoolAid" and Libbi had thick blood she referred to as "barbecue sauce." They were going to need to give Josi blood and pull blood out of Libbi. SCARY! and still being on the pain meds thankful I wasn't fully mentally stable. We agreed to do whatever would help our babies and trusted these doctors and nurses with our new-found loves. The transfusion took, and the blood-pull went through successfully. I began to make trips to the NICU and watch them get better. A few days later my doctor came to me in the NICU and said that I had ONE placenta and that the specialist must have missed this. I didn't know if I should be mad or just happy the girls were alive, but I can say I was upset that the whole time I was told I had the safest form of twins and now they had missed something. Our girls were identical twin girls who had what is called "Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome" or TTTS-- google it and you'll get the picture, I will try to post the link to the website.
From TTTS.org: Twin to twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) is a disease of the placenta (or afterbirth) that affects identical twin pregnancies. TTTS affects identical twins (or higher multiple gestations), who share a common monochorionic placenta. The shared placenta contains abnormal blood vessels, which connect the umbilical cords and circulations of the twins. The common placenta may also be shared unequally by the twins, and one twin may have a share too small to provide the necessary nutrients to grow normally or even survive. The events in pregnancy that lead to TTTS - the timing of the twinning event, the number and type of connecting vessels, and the way the placenta is shared by the twins are all random events that have no primary prevention (see section on The Monochorionic Placenta), is not hereditary or genetic, nor is it caused by anything the parents did or did not do. TTTS can happen to anyone. The placenta is the only biologic structure that can cause the death or injury of more than one person at the same time. Depending on the number, type and direction of the connecting vessels, blood can be transfused disproportionately from one twin (the donor) to the other twin (the recipient). The transfusion causes the donor twin to have decreased blood volume. This in turn leads to slower than normal growth than its co-twin, and poor urinary output causing little to no amniotic fluid or oligohydramnios (the source of most of the amniotic fluid is urine from the baby). The recipient twin becomes overloaded with blood. This excess blood puts a strain on this baby’s heart to the point that it may develop heart failure, and also causes this baby to have too much amniotic fluid (polyhydramnios) from a greater than normal production of urine. TTTS can occur at any time during pregnancy, even while a mother is in labor at term. The placental abnormalities determine when and to what degree a transfusion occurs between the twins. Chronic TTTS describes those cases that appear early in pregnancy (12-26 weeks’ gestation). These cases are the most serious because the babies are immature and cannot be delivered. In addition, the twins will have a longer time during their development in the womb to be affected by the TTTS abnormalities. Without treatment, most of these babies would not survive and of the survivors, most would have handicaps or birth defects. Acute TTTS describes those cases that occur suddenly, whenever there is a major difference in the blood pressures between the twins. This may occur in labor at term, or during the last third of pregnancy whenever one twin becomes gravely ill or even passes away as a result of the abnormalities in their shared placenta. Acute TTTS twins may have a better chance to survive based on their gestational age, but may have a greater chance of surviving with handicaps. I believe we had acute TTTS, and it occurred about week 32-34 when the girls weights were getting further apart.
This is a picture of them and you can clearly see that Libbi is the receiver twin she got the majority of the blood, and Josi is the donor who was transfusing all her blood to Libbi. The NICU doctor said if we had waited 24-48 hours we could have lost one or both girls. Thinking about this always makes my heart stop for a beat or two, I get nauseas in my stomach, and I thank God for keeping my little miracles safe and healthy. When I was pregnant with all my girls my daily prayer was for God to keep them safe and healthy in their minds, bodies, and souls. With prayers from family, friends, and co-workers we got through the toughest five days of our lives. Here is a picture of the girls when we brought them home from the hospital:
At one month:
Today at ten weeks: I feel so blessed that God has given us our three little angels, and am so excited to watch them grow in love together!
The twins are asleep and I should be sleeping too, but instead I decide to start a blog? On top of having three little ones under 3, attending graduate school to become a principal, and working as a teacher this just puts another something on my plate. But, I find that I thrive on being busy, and the more on my plate the better sometimes. Who would have thought that when I took that picture of my tummy at 36 weeks with the twins that night I would have gone into labor. I had been on bed rest since February 1st, 2012, and now it was April 13th. We went into the hospital because I had major pains and contractions and decided not to wait them out like I had usually done. When we arrived at Harris Southwest, we were quickly told that I had dilated to a three and my doctor wasn't going to let me leave until she saw me. That night she came in and gave me three options: first, go home and labor some more at home, second, wait until the next afternoon and re-evaluate, or third, have a c-section at 9am the next morning. Being that this was the longest pregnancy known to man (well to me anyways) bed rest was horrible on me! We decided to go with the third option to deliver in the morning. Thank the Lord we did. I went into the OR and got prepped for surgery, I absolutely hate anesthesia and when the spinal block set in--my body seemed to go into panic. I always think...."What if something happened and I need to get off this table and run!?" I did the same thing when I had my epidural with Charli and even when I go to the dentist I say NO to the gas. I was nauseas the whole time, and shook like a mad women. I could barely see, and I think that is a good thing because of what happened next... Josi Mae was delivered first at 10:40am weighing 4lbs 10oz and 18.5 inches. Libbi Sue born at 10:41 weighing 5lbs 13oz and 19.5 inches. The Neonatal Intensive Care charge nurse was called because of the girls colors. Josi extremely pale and Libbi extremely red, almost purple. They were whisked off to the NICU. We had just become parents of twins, and no idea what was happening with our babies. Thank God for pain medication and any woman who has gone through a c-section twice! I had Charli normally and the pain is much worse with a c-section. Anyhow, I think me being on meds helped to sedate me from what was going on in the NICU. At first we didn't know what exactly happened and my placenta was sent off to pathology, and meanwhile Josi was severely anemic and Libbi looked like a giant swollen tomato. Both girls were breathing on their own without help, but their blood was the problem. Josi had almost no blood, and the nurse explained it was as "thin as KoolAid" and Libbi had thick blood she referred to as "barbecue sauce." They were going to need to give Josi blood and pull blood out of Libbi. SCARY! and still being on the pain meds thankful I wasn't fully mentally stable. We agreed to do whatever would help our babies and trusted these doctors and nurses with our new-found loves. The transfusion took, and the blood-pull went through successfully. I began to make trips to the NICU and watch them get better. A few days later my doctor came to me in the NICU and said that I had ONE placenta and that the specialist must have missed this. I didn't know if I should be mad or just happy the girls were alive, but I can say I was upset that the whole time I was told I had the safest form of twins and now they had missed something. Our girls were identical twin girls who had what is called "Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome" or TTTS-- google it and you'll get the picture, I will try to post the link to the website. From TTTS.org: Twin to twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) is a disease of the placenta (or afterbirth) that affects identical twin pregnancies. TTTS affects identical twins (or higher multiple gestations), who share a common monochorionic placenta. The shared placenta contains abnormal blood vessels, which connect the umbilical cords and circulations of the twins. The common placenta may also be shared unequally by the twins, and one twin may have a share too small to provide the necessary nutrients to grow normally or even survive. The events in pregnancy that lead to TTTS - the timing of the twinning event, the number and type of connecting vessels, and the way the placenta is shared by the twins are all random events that have no primary prevention (see section on The Monochorionic Placenta), is not hereditary or genetic, nor is it caused by anything the parents did or did not do. TTTS can happen to anyone. The placenta is the only biologic structure that can cause the death or injury of more than one person at the same time. Depending on the number, type and direction of the connecting vessels, blood can be transfused disproportionately from one twin (the donor) to the other twin (the recipient). The transfusion causes the donor twin to have decreased blood volume. This in turn leads to slower than normal growth than its co-twin, and poor urinary output causing little to no amniotic fluid or oligohydramnios (the source of most of the amniotic fluid is urine from the baby). The recipient twin becomes overloaded with blood. This excess blood puts a strain on this baby’s heart to the point that it may develop heart failure, and also causes this baby to have too much amniotic fluid (polyhydramnios) from a greater than normal production of urine. TTTS can occur at any time during pregnancy, even while a mother is in labor at term. The placental abnormalities determine when and to what degree a transfusion occurs between the twins. Chronic TTTS describes those cases that appear early in pregnancy (12-26 weeks’ gestation). These cases are the most serious because the babies are immature and cannot be delivered. In addition, the twins will have a longer time during their development in the womb to be affected by the TTTS abnormalities. Without treatment, most of these babies would not survive and of the survivors, most would have handicaps or birth defects. Acute TTTS describes those cases that occur suddenly, whenever there is a major difference in the blood pressures between the twins. This may occur in labor at term, or during the last third of pregnancy whenever one twin becomes gravely ill or even passes away as a result of the abnormalities in their shared placenta. Acute TTTS twins may have a better chance to survive based on their gestational age, but may have a greater chance of surviving with handicaps. I believe we had acute TTTS, and it occurred about week 32-34 when the girls weights were getting further apart. 
This is a picture of them and you can clearly see that Libbi is the receiver twin she got the majority of the blood, and Josi is the donor who was transfusing all her blood to Libbi. The NICU doctor said if we had waited 24-48 hours we could have lost one or both girls. Thinking about this always makes my heart stop for a beat or two, I get nauseas in my stomach, and I thank God for keeping my little miracles safe and healthy. When I was pregnant with all my girls my daily prayer was for God to keep them safe and healthy in their minds, bodies, and souls. With prayers from family, friends, and co-workers we got through the toughest five days of our lives. Here is a picture of the girls when we brought them home from the hospital: 
At one month: 
Today at ten weeks: I feel so blessed that God has given us our three little angels, and am so excited to watch them grow in love together!
I love this! I love all of those girls, you and Troy! So glad that we have you as friends and that everyone is safe and sound.
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