We had never heard of Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome until it impacted the lives of our precious baby girls.
We found out we were expecting in October 2015 and excitedly went for our first ultrasound in November. That was when we found out we were having identical twin girls.
Twin To Twin Transfusion Syndrome can occur anytime throughout an identical twin pregnancy. The babies were monitored very closely by a specialist and had bi-weekly ultrasounds from that point on.
Our pregnancy was going well until week 29 when the specialist realized baby A's fluid levels were getting higher and baby B's levels were extremely low.
Twin To Twin Transfusion Syndrome occurs when two babies in the womb share a placenta relying on the same blood vessels for their nutrients. One baby is called the recipient and the other is called the donor. The donor gives their blood and nutrients away to the recipient, making the donor dehydrated and malnourished. The recipient has too much fluid and nutrients, causing their heart to work much harder than it should. The complications can be fatal to both twins.
During week 30 our specialist recommended getting a steroid shot to help with the girls lung development in case they had to be delivered in the next week.
We then went to the hospital for an amnio fluid reduction to remove some of baby A's fluid as it was dangerously high. During this procedure they removed 2.5 liters of amniotic fluid and kept us there for close monitoring.
They started to notice baby B's heart rate was higher and she was not really moving enough. The decision was made to deliver the twins and 30 minutes later we had two beautiful girls.
Kora Elizabeth and Kyleigh Rose were born via emergency C-section at 31 weeks.
Kora spent 41 days in the NICU and was released. Kyleigh fought very hard but sadly passed away at 42 days old.
We cannot thank the staff at Crouse Hospital NICU and CNY Ronald McDonald House in Syracuse NY enough for their enormous support of our family during the girls NICU stay.
This led to the creation of Twin To Twin Butterfly Fund in Kyleigh's memory.