blah blah blah

okay we've had two appointments since i've last been on the blob.  last friday we went for an ultrasound and fluid check.  there was a slight change in the fluid level, so the dr said we would need to start thinking about an amnioreduction.  he also said that he would administer steroids for the girl's lungs to help them develop so if my waters are broken while doing the reduction they have a better chance of surviving.  we got the first shot on friday while we were still at the clinic.  it was really fun!!!  not!  we had to go back down to the hospital on saturday to get the second dose.  it was a pain in the butt literally.  we had to get registered, admitted, and check the heart rates of the girls, and test my blood pressure.  i was so aggravated by that time that my blood pressure was a little high.  they finally gave me the shot, and then made me stay for another hour to test my blood pressure.  it was bouncing all over the place, so the attending on duty had to come and see me.  he told me that we should do some blood work, and other things.  i was not thrilled and told him that i would rather go home instead.  he said he would allow that but made me do a 24 hour urine collection (i know tmi).  it was a lot of fun.  so here we are to today and we went to drop my stuff off at the lab, only to find out there were never orders written for my test, and that they couldn't take it.  so we said, "well you hold on to it, and we'll come back after our appointment."  so we went up for the ultrasound, and piper has 13 cm of fluid and eden has 1.65 cm of fluid.  it's pretty much the same, but they say i'm right on the brink of getting this amnioreduction.  dr haeri wants to wait until i'm showing some symptoms of too much fluid i.e.. not being able to breath, contractions, cramps, back pain, etc...  so we'll wait and be thankful that we haven't had to have any medial intervention yet.  we're all determined to get these little girls here safely and as healthy as possible.  we appreciate all the thoughts and help from friends and family.  we couldn't have a better ward family.  they are so eager to step in and help us.  they babysit the kids for us and it's been a life saver.  someday i will be able to help people in return, but am so thankful for wonderful people who love to serve others.  we'll keep you posted.  i go again on thursday for the same old same old (hopefully).

Meeting with Dr. Belfort

we met with the lead surgeon who is going to do any of the procedures that i may have done.  his name is dr. belfort.  he is from south africa and kind of reminds us of harrison ford.  he was very nice and scanned my belly for about 40 minutes so he could map out how he would do the procedure.  he used words like "incredible" and "unbelievable".  he looked at the girls cord insertion sites to see where he could go in and separate the blood vessels in the placenta.  he looked at the position of my placenta, which if you've watched the video i'm that person who has the anterior placenta which makes it extremely difficult to perform the operation.  he told us that it would be a very tricky procedure due to how eden's cord runs along the placenta and the position of my placenta.  he told me that we should be thankful that we haven't had to do the procedure.  he told us he would have to go in through eden's sac, which he doesn't want to do.  so we are going to hope that we don't have to have it done.  our last day to do it is pretty much tomorrow, so we're hoping for the best.  we then got talking about winter and how we are from utah.  he then tells us that he had lived in park city for the last 13 years and that utah is the greatest place to live in the world.  we tend to agree.  he and nick got talking about airplanes, seeing as how dr. belfort owns two planes.  nurse laura (whom i love) was like, "ok then lets have a texas children's retreat to utah."  after the appointment, dr. arigoti stayed in the room and said, "my best friends are from utah.  are you lds?"  we told him that we were and he says, "so am i!"  he's been a member for about two years and we were excited to have something in common with one of our team.  we really love all of our doctors and feel that we are so blessed to be among the best there is.  we kind of feel like celebrities when we go to the doctor.  not the best circumstances, but we have felt the personal care from each of the staff members.  we go again tomorrow, for an ultrasound and regular ob appointment.

the waiting continues

went to the fetal specialist in the Woodlands for an follow up ultrasound today.  we are still stage one, so that is encouraging news that the ttts hasn't progressed anymore to this point.  they measured fluid in each sac, and baby a has 11.5 cm of fluid (up three cm from thursday), and baby b has 1.5-2 cm of fluid in her sac.  baby b still has a functioning bladder, kidneys and all of the veins and arteries look good in both babies.  they sent me downtown again to do and amnioreduction to pull some fluid from baby a's sac to relieve some discomfort that i've been having (like the ability to walk), and to stop the threat of getting put into labor from all the pressure.  when we got downtown, it was determined that we would wait to do the reduction to get the girls further along in case while doing the reduction i am put into labor.  it's still a waiting game and i am now going to the doctor three times a week downtown to keep an eye on these girls.  it was discovered that baby b is anemic, but they don't know what is causing this and said it's more an annoying piece of information that they have to keep in the back of their minds as we assess our situation each appointment.  i'm not going to worry about it until they tell me too.  we have felt so much love and support from everyone and can't express our gratitude to everyone for all the love and prayers and fasting on our behalf.  we have felt comfort and peace from our Heavenly Father.  we have felt that the decisions that are being made are the best decisions for right now.  this doesn't mean things can't go bad, but leaving the girls undisturbed for as long as possible is the best scenario right now.  i'm 25 weeks, and am hoping to go at least 3 more before we have to make any decisions.  we are feeling as encouraged as we can from this appointment today.  we will wait and see what wednesday brings.  let the waiting continue.

ttts

Yesterday we went to our fetal specialist for what was hopefully a routine follow up.  while there it was determined that our girls have twin to twin transfusion syndrome.  this is a serious syndrome that puts one or both babies at risk depending on what stage you are.  we are currently a stage 1 where there is a large discrepancy in amniotic fluid in each of the babies sacs.  base line of normal is 8 cm of fluid in one sac to 2cm of fluid in the other sac.  our girls are at 8.5 and 1.4.  this causes baby b (eden) to become stuck because she doesn't have a lot of fluid to move around in.  it causes smaller growth size, potential bladder shut down, and urine production, and possibly death.  for baby a (piper) the excess fluid could become a problem too.  it can put too much strain on her heart and cause her heart to work super hard causing heart failure.  we were sent to a fetal surgeon who specializes in doing a laser surgery to disconnect the shared blood vessels between the babies hopefully stopping the problem.  it doesn't mean that eden would get more fluid, but it would stop piper from taking all the nutrients from eden.  after a three hour appointment with the fetal interventionist it was determined that we are not candidates for the surgery at this time.  but it things progress to more serious stages we would then be deciding to have the surgery or not.  problem is they only perform the surgery until 26 weeks gestation.  i am now 24.5 weeks.  so we have 1 week left to perform the surgery.  if things progress after 26 weeks and it becomes more serious we can do an amnioreduction to reduce piper's fluid.  that doesn't necessarily fix the problem either.  we were given several options for different scenarios.  after 25 weeks the babies have a 70% chance of surviving outside the womb, so our game now is to wait and see how long it is safer in the womb than trying the outside world.  the fetal surgeon said it would be a great success if we make it to 28 weeks.  i know this is a lot of information and in my muddled brain it's not even making much sense.  so i will be posting a link to a website that has a video of an educational video about ttts.  needless to say yesterday and today have been pretty trying for us emotionally.  it was a shock to find this out yesterday and not have all the answers that we want given to us.  so we are putting our trust in the Lord.  we know that whatever the outcome it will be the Lord's will.  I was given a blessing by Nick that i'll be comforted and have peace during this time.  i know things are going to be difficult for the next little while, but am putting my faith in the plan of salvation and pleading with the Lord for our righteous desires to be recognized.  we have felt so much love from family and are so thankful for our knowledge of the gospel.  we have some great friends down here who have already done so much to help us.  we know this is why we are in houston.  we are being treated by the worlds best doctors in this field.  we are thankful for modern medicine and the hope it gives among all the unknowns.  i am so thankful for a strong faithful husband who is an eternal optimist.  i am thankful for sydney and sawyer and they joy they bring into my life always.  i love being a mom.  i am so thankful for my divine nature and the opportunity i have to create life and raise choice spirits from heaven.  i am so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who doesn't leave me comfortless.  i have felt His love and know that whatever the outcome we will be blessed.  i am thankful for all the blessings in my life.  here is the link to the video.  it's about 30 minutes long, but very good information.

http://www.texaschildrens.org/CareCenters/FetalSurgery/ttts/index.html

just some random pictures

for those of you who don't know our computer was broken for about a month.  so we finally broke down and bought a new one (which i love!!!).  here are some pictures from the summer, and recent happenings.

twin pics

thought i'd throw up some pics of the twins.  they are doing great.  now everyone die of shock when i say we are so grateful to live in houston and have the great medical facilities readily available to us.  we are seeing a specialist ever two weeks, and our regular ob every two weeks.  we have come to love/loathe all the appointments that we get to have.  here they are in all their glory.  the first two are of the same baby.  the tech couldn't get a good face picture of baby a.