20(+) Weeks...

   Well, it's been an interesting and trying week for us... On the positive side, I was able to get one interview under my belt and enjoyed a beautiful baby shower with lots of friends and family over the past week. However, things turned all upside down on Wednesday when I went for my check up in Rochester on my way to another interview... 

   As it turns out, our identical twins were diagnosed as having twin-twin-transfer or twin-to-twin transfusion... boy how things changed in just one week! Although all the babies are healthy and growing at this point, Baby B is swimming around in a gigantic ocean while Baby C doesn't have much to swim in at all (they measure the deepest pockets of amniotic fluid). Also, when the sonographer first began the dividing membrane, which has always been very visible, was nowhere to be seen... we later found it very close to Baby C. While I won't get into specifics or too many details here, for those of you interested there are some very good sites where more information can be found: the TTS Foundation as well as the Fetal Care Center of Cincinnati, which is where I am headed today. Basically, what happens is with identical twins there is a transfer of blood between babies through (in our case) a dividing membrane. Usually one twin gives 50% and gets 50% back - keeping the fluid around the babies approximately equal. However, in our case, what is happening is that one twin is receiving X amount, while the other is receiving a lot less... this is not good for either baby. For Baby B (the one receiving extra), it means her heart is having to work much, much harder which in the long term can lead to a number of problems. For Baby C, she is not getting enough and while she's okay at the moment, what will eventually happen is that she'll focus on getting the most important parts her blood while other parts (such as her kidney's) shut down. In such a situation, if nothing is done, there is a great likelihood that both babies will die. However, there are several treatment options - which is why we are headed to Cincinnati (both the doctor I met with in Rochester and my own specialist referred us there). Because we're having triplets it complicates things (something we are already quite aware of)... Depending on how the tests go and what the doctors say, we're hoping to have a laser procedure done which will basically sever the shared vessels between Babies B & C - which gives both babies the best chance for survival. The statistics on this are varied and typically based on older data - to be honest; this is a somewhat rare occurrence, which makes it hard to gather data! 

   Anyway, that's where we are today... Travis and I will arrive in Cincinnati this afternoon and our tests begin tomorrow. While I still haven't received our full schedule of what all they'll be doing, I do know that tomorrow I get to do an EKG (which they told me will take about 3 hours) and an MRI, and on Tuesday we will have a thorough (3 hour) ultrasound done. A lot of this is done to determine the best option for all of us - whether or not I can withstand the surgery, and if the babies are in a position in which the doctors can perform the necessary procedure. That's all we know for now... 

   In the meantime, we appreciate any extra prayers or thoughts sent our way. While we were aware of this potential problem, we thought we had it beat when we got through our 16 week appointment and all was well... guess that teaches us for planning too far ahead with triplets on the way. Thanks to you all... With love, Travis and Erin and all the girls...