It is with broken hearts and great sadness that we update our blog today, but sadly the TTTS has gotten the better of us and taken the life of one of our little girls. Our little Madison's heart stopped beating last Wednesday, at 24 weeks 2 days gestation. Of course this was completed unexpected, as just 12 hours before we learned of her demise we were told she was doing great. The only explanation they can give us is that it was an "acute event", whereby somehow the blood flow to her heart just stopped. We spent the last 6 days in the hospital under observation for infection, and of course with continuous monitoring of Abigail. Luckily there are no signs of infection and Abigail does not appear to be in any distress (although they said that about Madison too), so we are hopeful that the worst is behind us and we can go on to deliver a healthy baby. I had a steriod shot today and will have one again tomorrow in order to help develop her lungs, just in case she needs to or wants to come early. Today, at exactly 25 weeks, she weighed 1 pound 11 ounces. The odds are in our favor that Abigail will be fine. It is sad but true that often the demise of one twin helps the other to thrive. And what we believe is that Madison had to let go in order for her sister have a fighting chance. We can sleep at night knowing that the surgery was the right thing to do and that we have done all that we possibly could in our power to keep our girls safe (the Ambien they gave me in the hospital helps too). Thank you all for the phone calls, flowers and prayers. The support is much needed and appreciated. Please continue to pray for our surviving twin Abigail, as well as for our TTTS Angel, Madison.

Public Service Announcement

In case anyone is interested, tomorrow at noon (you may have to check your local listings for the time) the Discovery Health channel will be airing a one hour show called Twins in Peril: Twin to Twin Transfusion. It follows 4 families and their journeys to save their babies from TTTS. It also shows video of the fetal surgery performed to cure the disease (which happens to be the surgery I underwent as well). Anyhow, our miracle doctor, Dr. Chmait, is on the show as well. I happened to catch the show the other night when I was flipping channels and found it quite interesting (although I guess I would considering I lived it!). Just thought I would share in case anyone is interested in learning more about TTTS or what we have been through to save our babies.

It's harder than it looks!

As you can see, my little "computer project" was redesigning our blog. Holy cow is it harder than it looks! I've seen all these professionally done blogs and after seeing ML's new look, I was inspired to do a makeover on ours too (thanks ML). With nothing but time on my hands, what the heck, right? Well you can see where that thinking got me. Something tells me Madison and Abigail will be off to college before I get a handle on it.

Oh, who am I kidding?

Well, I guess I was getting a little too over confident. I had hopes this week of the bedrest being modified...at least a little. No such luck. Madison and Abigail are still holding up their end of the bargain and doing well, but my cervix has started to shorten again. Nothing to be concerned about yet, but this darn bedrest will have to continue. Unfortunately I'm past the point of a cerclage if the cervix shortened too much, so if it gets worse, our only option would be hospital bedrest. I'll do just about anything to avoid that, so I promised I would stay put here on the sofa.

In other news, Brian is away at the firefighter olympics. Wish I could have gone but, well...you know. So far they are undefeated, so maybe we have hopes of a gold medal this year?!?! I was able to go stay at my sister's house for a couple of days so I didn't have to be home alone for a week. It was fun to hang out with her and Hannah and Nick, and of course it was a nice change of scenery for a day or two (if you can call a different TV a change of scenery).

I think we're finally going to get started on the nursery! We've had the furniture for a while now, but my superstitious-ness (is that a word?) has kept me from wanting to do too much purchasing or decorating quite yet. I'm just about to the point where I feel comfortable enough to get it started. We'll have to spend a couple of weeks just cleaning out the room and closet and organizing and such, so it'll probably be August before any cribs actually get assembled. But, we're getting there!

Ok, I have a little computer project I think I want to undertake, so I'm off for now! Here's Madison (A) and Abigail's (B) 23 week pictures. Hard to tell them apart in these pics!

By request...

My BFF in Houston requested a belly pic, so here I am at 22 weeks. But, more important than pictures...the babies are doing awesome! I had my 22 week appointment and it was a big milestone as we are finally 4 weeks post surgery. We have passed the most critical time and can't be more pleased with their progress. Although I seem to be having trouble gaining weight (I lost 4 lbs between last visits), the babies are gaining well. Madison and Abigail each weighed in today at exactly 1 pound, which is right on target for 22 weeks. I guess they are taking this whole "identical" thing very seriously! Organs, bloodflows, amniotic fluid levels...it's all good! Even the doctors are amazed at their progress. These little ones are quite the over-achievers and as their parents, we just couldn't be more pleased.

Next appointment is a week from today, so in the meantime I remain on bedrest. I've been keeping myself busy selling stuff on eBay (gotta get our closets cleaned out to make room for babies) and researching all the latest and greatest baby stuff, as I'll have to do a registry over the internet instead of having the luxury of going to the store. Speaking of that, if any of you mommies out there have any words of wisdom...items you love to love or things that were a big 'ole waste of money, I'll take all the advice I can get!

Happy days are here to stay!

We had our 21 week ultrasound today. Once again, all good news! The babies are still doing great. Friday was a big day, as I finally felt them kicking, and this time there was no mistaking it for gas! Let me tell you what a sense of relief those little kicks can bring in between appointments! Daddy has even been able to feel them from the outside. Oh, and the results of the amnio (done during surgery) came in and also cleared us of Down Syndrome, Trisomy 18, and a host of other devastating illnesses. A very good week indeed!

I must say we are overwhelmed by the love and support we have received through our blog and via email. Hearing from friends and family near and far was quite a treat...not to mention those few who we may not know directly but who have touched us with their well wishes and prayers. We just can't thank you all enough. If only our daughters knew how many people are pulling for them and anxiously awaiting their healthy arrival (although I do tell them often).

Speaking of arrivals, we have the week of September 29th on the radar. That will be the 34 week mark and the doctor said today that he will be pleased if we get there. If the girls are still thriving at that point, they may let us go longer, but they say it will be a treat just to get to that point.

Well, that's all from here on a Monday night. I have to say a big Happy 60th Birthday to Mom (her big day is Wednesday), and here's wishing you all a happy and SAFE July 4th weekend!

More good news...Yay!

Meet Abigail. She was a movin' and a shakin' at today's appointment. Hmmm...maybe it was a little sugar high from that yummy cupcake I had for breakfast (Thanks Jeff and Susan)! Anyhow, after moving all over the place, she finally decided to settle in with a big stretch with her little arm over her head.


This is Madison. She happens to be looking right at us. That black hole in her belly is actually her stomach. She was also very active, but I think she was just having too much fun swimming around in her new little pool. And speaking of her little pool, I am referring to her amniotic sac...remember she was the one that was shrink-wrapped, and now she has more than 4cm of fluid to swim around in! Yay! That was just some of the good news. Abigail's former olympic sized pool (or so I like to call it) has leveled out at a perfect 4.3cm. She had almost 10cm of fluid around her right before the surgery, so this is a huge improvement as well. We just couldn't have been more pleased with the news we got today. So now we just sit tight and wait until our next appointment one week from today. It seems so far away...