TTTS Awareness Day

Today is TTTS awareness day. TTTS, which stands for "Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome", is a rare condition which can develop anytime during an identical twin pregnancy when the two babies are sharing a single placenta. It can be quite dangerous, costing the life of one, if not both babies.

We did not know much about this condition until our twin girls were diagnosed with it during our 33rd week of pregnancy. Thankfully, our twins were far enough along so that they were able to be delivered early and did quite well after birth. TTTS is a condition where the shared placenta contains abnormal blood vessels connecting the umbilical cords and blood circulation of the twins. Also, the placenta could be unequally shared between the babies. This results in one twin being the donor, and the other twin becoming the receiver. Our little Heidi was the donor, which was made even clearer at birth when we discovered she weighed over one pound less than Hanna. Also, Hanna, the receiver twin, was a lot more red-colored (as she received more blood in the womb), and Heidi, the donor twin, was a lot paler (as can be seen in this picture).

We are so thankful that our doctors were aware of TTTS, and quickly discovered it once the condition had developed. (The doctors noticed that Heidi's doppler was not normal, and was continuing to get worse.) We are also SO thankful our babies were farther along in the pregnancy before this condition developed, so that they were able to be delivered and function well once born. He really took care of our little ones in the womb... and still does! We are very thankful!!!

I thought I'd just post a little something about TTTS since we experienced it, and since today is the awareness day for it. If you'd like to learn more about it, feel free to click here. So thankful for our twin baby girls!