21 Weeks - Surgery scheduled...

   Well, after two days of tests - which included a two-hour long MRI and a two-hour long ECHO for the babies yesterday as well as an almost 3-hour long ultrasound today - we have a plan... whether it's the "right" plan is anybody's guess - but we're praying that for once the odds are in our favor.
   We met with our team of doctors late this afternoon and they provided us with a lot of information as well as some different options. The identical twins definitely have twin-twin transfusion syndrome and - unexpectedly - we were diagnosed at stage 4 (the most severe level). This is mainly due to Baby B, whose heart has been severely affected, meaning it's enlarged, not pumping correctly, and leaking - basically close to failure. Despite this, she is otherwise 'healthy' as are the other two babies. To put it bluntly, if we do nothing, we will lose the identical twins, but that most likely wouldn't affect Baby A (who is in her own placenta). However, if we chose to do the procedure - there is a 2% chance that we could lose all the babies since my water could break, etc. On the positive side, if the surgery goes well there is a 90% chance that we'll bring 2 babies home with us and a 60% chance that we could bring 3 babies home when it's all said and done. These statistics are somewhat varied and because of Baby B's heart condition, they're not overly optimistic about her prognosis... nevertheless, we believe she's one strong girl and have decided to go ahead with the procedure. This was a big decision for us, but for us, doing "nothing" wasn't an option - though we can certainly understand that for some people this may be the "right" decision...
   Our surgery is scheduled for 9:00 Wednesday (October 20th) morning and should last about three hours. Luckily they were able to find a window/opening where they can insert the scope for the procedure. I will be staying in the hospital overnight and then if everything goes well, I'll be released Thursday morning. We will be in Cincinnati until next week, since they will do a follow-up ECHO and ultrasound to see if the babies conditions have either stabilized or begun to reverse. I will likely be on bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy since this surgery can trigger preterm labor (which we're already at risk for).
   We thank you all for your thoughts and prayers over the last few days and hope we continue to be in your thoughts... For now, having made our decision, we're staying positive and praying that things go as well as they can. Thank you all and God bless...