Above is a picture of the girl's heads just 2 short days ago, still no separating membrane in site. I have had approx 8 or 9 ultrasounds so far. With confirmation from an ultrasound tech, an OB/GYN, and a maternal fetal specialist that I was indeed carrying the ever so rare "Mono-Mono" twins. And as we prepared to actually meet the maternal fetal specialist yesterday, some plans in place... most not. There was a peace that followed us knowing that God was going to help us respond to our circumstances and not react. I had my bags packed and ready to take to St.Lukes in Boise for what would be a minimum of 8 weeks of strict bed rest with around the clock monitoring and a premature c-section delivery of the girls at 32 weeks. Inviting at least a 4 week stay in the NICU. All this to increase our chances of avoiding cord entanglement and delivering two breathing girls regardless of their age. The alternative, refuse hospitalization at this time and go home with the understanding there would be a 50% chance we would loose both twins to cord entanglement. Neither option an easy decision to choose, but hospitalization a comfortable yes compared to the alternative. So if you haven't heard I imagine you're wondering if I am typing this from an uncomfortable hospital bed or if I am at home on our cozy couch. The answer: At home on our comfy couch minus the 50% mortality rate we were originally going to be sent home with!
As you can clearly see in the above picture yesterday they found a separating membrane between the girls! (It's the smiley face shaped line across the middle of the screen separating the letters A and B! What does this mean... that the girls are at absolutely NO risk (not even 0.00001% risk) for cord entanglement! And I did not have to enter the hospital at 24w 4d! The tech found it almost immediately and questioned why we were even there as only extremely high risk patients enter this clinic. I explained the whole story and how my bags were packed and that we were here today to meet the doctor and learn of the plan to help give our girls the greatest chance to survive. Since she was the tech she couldn't give us any definitive answers but as the three of us stared at the screen watching the membrane shake and bounce with every movement of the girls we knew something special was taking place. I smiled and relaxed back while we watched an hour+ ultrasound of the girls. And listened as I heard John begin to pray and thank God for what he had done. We still had yet to meet with the doctor, but I wasn't concerned about the news he would give. I was actually feeling silly for having my bags packed complete with 8+ week supply of shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, etc... prepared I know, but silly now that I will have the biggest toiletry bag ever when we do go deliver the twins at 38 weeks! :) (I say 38 weeks because that's when I want to deliver them!)
This is my favorite picture of Baby A from yesterday... She is clearly puzzled wondering where in the heck that membrane came from! (It's a picture of her pointing to her chin saying "Hmmmm?")
Just another picture of the membrane. It's the line from her forehead to the bridge of her nose. When the doctor entered our room he immediately asked if he could do another ultrasound. I agreed unsure of his request. To which he explained that "I trust my ultrasound tech... it's just that I was the doctor who confirmed 3weeks ago that there was absolutely no membrane and I want to see it for myself." I smiled and layed back down on the ultrasound table. As he placed the transducer on my belly, immediately on the screen we all clearly saw the membrane. No searching involved at all. It was all he needed to see.... and all I needed to see to giddily smile all over again.
Above is a picture of Baby B relaxing with her little hand on her belly. The girls are currently 1.78lbs and 1.85lbs. Well within normal range of each other. There are still multiple concerns since the girls are still sharing a placenta, but the largest risk is gone! (They are still confirmed identical twins as well.. just the more common type of identical twin!) So as I was cleared to return to my doctor and encouraged that there is no reason I cannot naturally deliver the girls here in Nampa we wondered if anyone actually believed what was taking place. I received a call from my doctor shortly after returning home as he was as excited as we were to the findings. As the call came to a close he ended with... "I don't know Christina, 5....6....7.... mistake diagnoses, or a miracle?" To which I easily responded "Dr.Gregerson John and I have no doubt this is a miracle!" We are fortunate to have a doctor who agrees. It's rare to see one medical professional agree to a miracle, as they have seen medicine interventions work wonders, but it was no secret yesterday that everyone involved believed that what we were experiencing was a miracle.
These are all of the images we were given yesterday if you'd like to see them. Most are labeled with what you are looking at! Now if only we could come up with some names! :) (For some reason the slide show isn't working, so click on "*View All Images" and it will take you to another window where you can see them all!)
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