Greyson & Peyton by Jana - USA

TTTS Parent Stories: Greyson Cole and Peyton Reese

January 2003 … I was 5 months postpartum with our first son Hayden … I woke up one morning surrounded by bright red blood … I called my ob after I checked everything and made sure I wasn’t in pain and it wasn’t my cycle … she sent me for an ultrasound later that day … my husband had to work so I went by myself after work … during my ultrasound they found two heads! And that I was already 14 weeks along … I was in shock and didn’t know how I was going to tell my husband … we knew one was clearly a boy and the other one wasn’t moving very much so we thought “she” was shy … the radiologist called my ob and then let me tell her the news … everyone laughed at me because I was nursing and on a low dose birth control pill … as soon as I got in my car I balled not knowing how my husband would react … so I called and told him. He was thrilled that I was ok and totally shocked that we were pregnant already plus with twins … I told him one was a boy and he hoped that the other was a girl … we called everyone that night and they laughed at us as well and were excited … we laid in bed that night and laughed and cried thinking about how much our lives were going to change and how we were going to manage 3 babies at once …

The shock finally set in and we started thinking about the practicalities … how we need to get ready and buy more beds and move furniture around in the house etc. The beginning of February we went on our trip to London as planned the previous year … we were there for a week and trekked all over the city and I even climbed all 350 steps of St. Paul's Cathedral. I noticed that my belly grew huge over the week and I became nauseous and didn’t have much of an appetite. I didn’t think much of it though … the week we returned I was scheduled for another ultrasound. We were hoping that we could find out the sex of the baby B. so I got there and I noticed that it took a lot longer than the first one and they still couldn’t tell the sex of baby B because she kept her legs together … they left the room and came back in about 5 minutes and told me to go see my ob on the way out that she knew I was coming … the butterflies started in my stomach … I knew something was wrong … especially when I had to wait for her in her office … she told me the news Thursday February 13th I found out I my babies had TTTS. She made me an appointment with Peri for the next morning. As soon as I got home, we searched the Internet and read all of the horror stories and then found Dr. De Lia’s site and Dr. Quintero’s. This gave us hope. The next morning we both went to see the Peri …she did her own ultrasound to access the severity. I was stage I severe. She recommended the Serial Amniocentesis and pushed for the Amniotic Septostomy and told me that we had only a 10% chance of survival. I mentioned the surgery and said that she didn’t know much about it but still recommended the Amniotic Septostomy, even though that would rule out our chance for the surgery. I agreed to an amnio the next day in hopes that it would buy us some time so we could figure things out. Right after the appointment I called my ob and asked if there was someone else to send us to. I wasn’t happy with this doctor. I read the stories and I knew that we had some hope and needed a doctor that supported us. She called an old professor and referred us to her. We were so thankful. We got the paperwork going with the Tampa people and flew to Tampa within a week. Friday, February 21st we were scheduled for surgery. By the time we got there, less than a weeks time our babies had moved to stage 3. Recipient baby A had reverse flow on the dopplers. So it was a good thing that we did research on our own and made quick decisions. We were amazed at Dr. Quintero’s staff and our insurance company working so well together and quick. The surgery went well. 8 vessels were severed and 3 litres of fluid were removed. The next day we had 2 heartbeats and both babies were doing well. We were so thankful to everyone for saving our babies lives … it was truly a miracle … the first month after the surgery was scary … once we hit our month milestone we were so relieved. The babies and I were monitored every week and they were growing at a normal rate and continued to be healthy … I was lucky enough to work throughout the pregnancy

June 21 I was admitted to the hospital because of the onset of toxemia. I was almost 37 weeks and my blood pressure continued to rise so they started to induce on June 22nd … we were so excited but in my heart I still prayed for them to be healthy with no complications … our prayers were answered … Greyson Cole was born 4:21pm vaginally weighing 6lbs 9ozs and 19 inches long. Baby B was only delivering cord and the doctor couldn’t reach anything to pull out and his heart rate began to fall … within minutes they had knocked me out and delivered Peyton Reese by c-section at 4:30pm weighing 5lbs 14ozs and 18.5 inches long. They checked out ok and were even able to room in with us. No NICU time or anything! They were healthy and beautiful.

They are currently 2 months old and doing great. We are so blessed to have 3 wonderful baby boys. We pray that everyone could be so lucky.