We have been going to the doctor twice a week in Boise to
have fluids, Doppler, and heart rates monitored for our babies, but especially
for the twins. We track growth on all three every two weeks and growth on our
littlest baby, Heston, once a week.
We do all of this on the advice of our specialist in
Seattle. We have had no further issues with TTTS, but the growth restriction
(IUGR) for our smallest little guy has been our primary concern. Because of the
intimate connection that Mono-Di twins share, what happens to one baby affects
the other. If Heston stops growing and passes away, so could his twin.
Over the last month or so, we have watched weight and
Doppler carefully. Heston is growing, but is in the 3% percentile. His cord
Doppler shifted about 3 weeks ago to persistent reverse flow. This means that
the blood is flowing backwards toward his heart in between beats. The placental
pressure is too much for his heart to push against. This week we noticed his
heart was enlarged and there was pericardial effusion (fluid around the heart).
There was so much fluid, I could see it right away. His little heart is working so heart against
all of these obstacles. While isolated pericardial effusion can be caused by a
number of factors, I am carrying triplets, and Heston already has IUGR. Our
doctors have confirmed that this is probably a sign of heart failure in our
baby.
We are going to Seattle again this week- this time to have
surgery. We are going to separate the connection between our twins in the hopes
that they both survive. There is a 10% risk of losing the whole pregnancy.
Needless to say, we are devastated. We traveled this road
before. While we feared the loss of our twins last time, it is almost certain
we will lose Heston sometime in the next few days.
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