Cincinnati, DAY 2 &3

Day 2

Yesterday we had a little more testing to do. I met with a CNA/midwife at the Fetal Care Center to go over my medical history and do a quick physical. That was easy!

Then we were sent over to Cardiology where they did an ECHO. This is basically a ultrasound that uses high-resloution imaging to look at the hearts of the babies. This is a very important test because even if all the other tests look good, the TTTS diagnosis is really determined on the outcome of this test.

The concern with TTTS is that the baby who is receiving more blood flow will develop heart problems because she is having to pump so much extra blood.  If TTTS is left untreated, then the larger baby will go into heart failure because of all the extra stress on her heart.

Once both those tests were complete, we waited to see the doctors. We were in a team meeting with 2 doctors, one a Fetal Care Specialist and the other was a Fetal surgeon.  They showed us all the images from the MRI and ultrasounds and explained what was happening and gave us our options.

Because I'm still only 19 weeks along and the TTTS is still fairly mild we have the luxury of time in order to try a safer approach to correcting this problem. We opted to try the Amnio-Reduction procedure. This is basically and amniocentesis but they remove alot of fluid from around the larger baby. This poses the least amount of risk for both babies and in 30-40% of the time, this procedure alone can correct the problem. So we decided that before we jump right to surgery, we'll give this a try.

I was very pleased with all the doctors and nurses and technicians that have been working with us this week. Everyone is so nice and we are definitely in the best care possible.

Day 3

This morning we went in for the amnio-reduction. I was very nervous about having a needle in my belly. And there wasn't going to be an anesthesia either!

Once we were all set up and bout ready to start I covered my face with a towel cause I couldn't bare to watch them stick me. It wasn't extrememly painful, but it was uncomfortable. I wouldn't want to do this on a regular basis. It lasted about 30 minutes and they drained off 1300ml of fluid from baby A. This is about the same as 2/3 of a 2 liter bottle of soda! They told me I lost 3.5 pounds of fluid! I could definitely tell my belly was alot smaller when it was over.

They kept me for about 30 minutes after the procedure and then released me. I have to rest and take it easy. Dan's out looking for a REDBOX so we can watch a movie this afternoon.

We go back for an ultrasound tomorrow and then hopefully we get to go home for about 5 days before coming back here next week.