Monday, January 23, 2012

Two Peas in a Pod

Our long-awaited twin granddaughters arrived last week, beautiful and healthy.

They are identical, and were born with a rare condition called Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome. TTTS occurs in approximately 5-20% of identical-twin pregnancies. When it occurs early in pregnancy, it can be between 80-90% fatal.

What happens in TTTS is the twins share their blood supply through their single placenta. One twin gets too much blood, and the other twin doesn't get enough. The condition is very dangerous for both babies. The over-supply and under-supply of blood can cause a myriad of problems, including organ damage, and often death in both babies.

TTTS is why one of the twins was born over a pound larger than her sister. Normally, identical twins are much closer in size. Fortunately, regular fetal monitoring, their mama's excellent health and strong maternal instincts, the fact that the babies didn't develop TTTS until late in pregnancy, and good medical care helped minimize the problems. We don't anticipate any lasting issues with their health, growth, or development.

Our entire family feels very relieved, joyful, grateful, and blessed welcoming our precious new additions into our lives.

20 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:59 AM

    I have a friend whose twin daughters were also born with TTTS. They are two lovely young women now, healthy and happy, and will both graduate with honors from college this spring.

    Congratulations on your adorable granddaughters!

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    1. Thanks for visiting, and for your comment, Karen! Your friend's daughters' experience is reassuring. We're confident the girls are, and will continue to be fine. It's moving to know of other families' triumphs over such a serious condition. My heart goes out to those families whose babies die or suffer life-long challenges from TTTS.

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  2. Glad to read they will be ok. It must be wonderful to be a twin. It must be wonderful (and challenging!) to have twins in the family. Congratulations to you all. (Which includes the health teams.)

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    1. Thank you Esther!

      It will be such a joy having them in our family. We're a close-knit, loving family, and we welcome the challenge. :)

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  3. How lovely! I wish both of them a wonderful, blessed and happy life. Well with such a granny like you they will sure have a wonderful childhood.
    Take care
    Alex

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    1. Thank you for your lovely wishes and blessing, Alex!

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  4. They are beautiful! I'd never heard of TTTS before. So happy to hear that they've already defeated their first life challenge, and can't wait to see them grow up!

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    1. Thank you Diane! It will be great fun watching them grow up with their toddler sister and their cousins!

      I'd never heard of TTTS either. So much to learn when a baby's on the way, and so much more to learn when there are multiples!

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  5. Sp glad to hear they are both fine--I hadn't known about TTTS. And despite the pound difference, even the smaller one seems pretty big for a twin. Congrats!

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    1. I'm glad their mama and her doctors knew about it Monica! It was reassuring receiving her periodic updates after ultrasounds and dr. appointments.

      They were both very good size even if they were singlets, and especially impressive for twins. Their mom had an excellent diet of organic and pasture-raised fresh, unprocessed food. There's no doubt in my mind her fantastic, unadulterated diet and general good health helped insure full-term, natural births with excellent weights and an excellent prognosis in spite of TTTS.

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  6. Congratulations, Linda, on your new grand daughters. I knew nothing about TTTS until I read this post.Thanks for the information. That smaller one will catch up before you know it. How precious the pictures are.
    Balisha

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    1. Thank you Balisha! It's probably a good thing we aren't aware of the many potential challenges of carrying, and raising children. If we were, many of us might never have been born. :)

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  7. Congratulations and best wishes to the babies!!

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  8. Aw, how sweet! Congratulations to the entire family. Glad to her their TTTS will not have any lasting effect.

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  9. Thank you Holley! We're relieved they're doing so well.

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  10. I can only imagine how concerned you must have been about their arrival, Linda. I'd never heard of TTTS before, but so glad to hear that they are doing well and shouldn't have any lasting effects. They are so precious--best wishes to the whole family!

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    1. It was concerning, Rose. Still, our concern was well-tempered with confidence in the way everything was looked after. It was reassuring, and the girls responded very well to their good care.

      Thank you for your warm wishes!

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  11. Ohmigosh how adorable! Glad they have triumphed over the TTTS. Enjoy this precious time!

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    1. Thank you JGH! They seem to get more adorable every day. We are definitely enjoying them. I got to see them today, and held one while their mom was holding the other one and their big sister was napping on the sofa - babies everywhere!

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  12. I have never heard of that problem. I'm glad to hear they were not affected too badly by it. Yes, I'm sure it feels like babies everywhere. We are doing a juggling act with our 4 year and 10 month old grandsons, trying to give them sort of equal attention.

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