Today was my first visit with the high risk specialist at Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) and everything is looking good! There are no signs of twin to twin transfusion (TTS syndome) and both girls are surrounded by great fluid levels and are equally sharing the placenta. My appointment today was super last minute and their next available appointment isn't until December 31st but because of my doctor's referral they were able to squeeze me in today.
Yesterday was my normal 24 week appointment and I saw Dr. Bennett who did just a quick heartbeat check. As we got to talking and she was answering some of my questions it became clear that she believed I was carrying fraternal twins because of the initial statement on my medical chart. Even though three other medical physicians have since then disputed it not one person changed the info on my chart. Dr. Bennett was confused and said that this was something that needed clarification quickly because the way they treat patients carrying fraternal twins vs identical twins is different as far as prenatal care goes. She said if these twins are in fact sharing one placenta then I should have been monitored way more frequent than I have so far in order to determine that TTS is not taking place as its very serious. Since I'm 24 weeks along this can be really bad because if TTS has developed then I can be a point of no return for these girls. It's also harder to determine the number of placentas because of the size of the babies at this point.
Since I was the last patient of the day she wasn't able to call the specialists for an appointment because their office had already closed. She told me to go home and to expect a call first thing in the morning but that she wanted me to be seen as soon as possible. Even though Dr. Bennett made everything seem so serious I felt calm about it. Danny and I both feel confident in the doctors that have said one placenta and we were glad at the thought that there would no longer be any confusion at the OB office and instead we would reach a definite answer. The timing of it could have been better though. This week is a very stressful week for Danny because his oral examination is this Friday and he's beyond stressed about it. As soon as I left the doctor's office yesterday I called him and apologized because I hate adding anything else to his plate and asking him to stay with the three kids so I can go to a possible appointment made me feel guilty. He assured me it's not my fault and that I didn't plan this but I can still see how overwhelmed he is this week.
I got the call at 10:40am this morning and they asked if I could come in at 11:30am. Danny had to rearrange his schedule last minute for the day but it worked out and he was able to work from home so I could go meet the high risk specialist. Their next appointment wouldn't be until New Year's Eve and they strongly emphasized that today was the best day especially since they were squeezing me in. What they wanted to officially determine today was what twin type I'm carrying and after seeing three people today everyone came to the same conclusion. There's one placenta. They are identical. I was first seen by two ultrasound techs and then I met the doctor who all saw the same thing. I'm lucky that even though the first doctor at nine weeks misdiagnosed the twin type there were no issues anyway. I can't even imagine if something was wrong and we all missed it because I hadn't been getting monitored. No worries though, everything is perfect. I go back on December 31st but if there's any cancellations before that in two weeks I'm first on the list. They want to do a more detailed intensive growth scan to get all the measurements they want. It looks like I'm going to be seeing these little babies even sooner than planned as well. The doctor said I'd likely be delivering a week sooner than first told because there comes a point where it's actually safer for the babies outside the womb than inside. We're shooting for 37 weeks max but we shall see. Right now Baby A is head down and Baby B is breeched as well as transversed. I'm hoping that baby A continues to be head down because I'd like to higher my chances of not having a cesarean delivery but of course if it comes to it then it will be fine. The end goal obviously is to safely deliver healthy babies and I'll do anything for that. Starting at 32 weeks I'll be having weekly visits at the hospital I'm delivering at for stress tests and closer monitoring. This end journey sure is a new experience for me but I'm so grateful for the medical team I'm seeing and can't wait to hold these little girls that will forever change our little family.
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| Baby A |
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| Baby B |
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