Chance & Chad by Jen Hill - USA

TTTS Parent Stories: Chance & Chad by Jen Hill

When I was 8 weeks pregnant I went to the hopsital for an ultrasound because I was expierencing a lot of cramping. The sonographer looked at my husband and I and said "I see two babies", my husband and I almost fainted. We could not believe that we were having twins. I was so shocked yet I was speechless.

My next ultrasound appt. was at 17 weeks, I couldn't wait, I was going to find out the sex of my twins. We found out that we were having twin boys. Once the ultrasound was over the lady told me that she needed the doctor to explain something to me about the ultrasound. I couldn't have been more scared in my entire life, I was just told that I was having boys and now there is something wrong. I had an appt. the next day to talk to the doctor, and the OB-GYN had told me that it looks like you have TTTS (Twin To Twin Transfusion Syndrome). I had no idea what it was or the long journey ahead of me. She had told me there are really only two options, either laser surgery in Florida or therapeutic amnios. I was then transferred to a special risk doctor who had more experience with TTTS. I had 4 to 5 ultrasounds before they finally decided to take fluid out of twin a. From there I was starting to be a regular at the doctors office, I was there at least twice a week. Having amnios after amnios and it just wasn't helping. My cervix was starting to shorten and that meant for me only time until I am hopitalized for bed rest. A week went by and I was admitted into the hospital because I was 1 centimeter dilated and my cervix was even shorter. I was expecting to be in the hospital for a long time as my due date wasn’t until June 6, 2003 and it was only February. I was on bed rest where I continued to get amnios to reduce the fluid.

After having 8-9 amnios I went into labor ,On February 14, 2003. I was exactly 24 weeks pregnant and I was having a lot of contractions, the doctor came in to see if I was dialating and he looked up at me and said you are 4 centimeters. All I could do was cry, I thought I have gone through so much to keep my babies alive and I felt like it was all going to be all over. I was rushed to Labor and deliver to try to stop the labor but nothing was working.

The next day I was told that baby b isn't looking good and if we don't take them we could lose them. I was so devastated, I couldn't comprehend what was even going to happen. I was about to have a schedule c-section in 3 hours, and then a Neonatologist came in and explained the NICU to me and said that because baby b isn't looking so well, the chances of him making it out of the operating room was very slim. I was in the operating room and was praying to god that I would see both of them in the NICU and sure enough they both made it.

Chance

Baby A which is Chance weighed 1lb 7oz and Chad followed a minute later weighing 1lb 2oz. I was so relieved yet still scared, I knew from nurses and doctors were telling me that the next two weeks would be very critical. After 4 ½ months of being a NICU mom, where I got to see my twins grow we were finally getting to take them home.

Today they are very healthy, Chance is 15lbs and Chad is 13lbs. Chad unfortunately became blind from all of this, but they are "My Miracle Babies".