Last night I ordered dinner, and then we went to bed. The
nurses woke me up a couple times throughout the night to check my vitals, give
me pills for inflammation & contraction control (even though I still wasn’t
having any contractions). They asked me to wear these leg bands that are
attached to a machine that slowly inflates and deflates the bands at different
times. This is supposed to help with circulation & reduce the chance of
blood clots after surgery or while you are on bed rest. Noisy little things and
it wasn’t long before the long cords really started to get on my nerves. I was
trying as hard as I could to find a comfortable position but I had a pain in my
right side that just would not chill out. Around midnight, I’d had enough with
those stupid leg squeezing things so I called the nurse and asked her to take
them off. Unfortunately their removal didn’t help me find a comfortable
position but I think most of my problem was from aches & the large reduction
of fluid. So yeah, didn’t sleep very well but it was really nice to finally get
a chance to sleep without having an IV in or being hooked up to anything else.
This morning we were up around 6:15am and we took showers,
got dressed and waited to hear from the ultrasound department that they were
ready to get my appointments started. I had two appointments:
1) an ultrasound to check fluid levels, bladders, kidneys,
membrane between the twins, the port placement incision from surgery, my
placenta & cervix length
2) an echocardiogram to check the hearts of both twins &
blood flow to their brains
Although the ultrasound department opened at 7am, they
weren’t ready to bring us down until 11:00am so Mom and I watched Big Hero 6.
She had never seen it and I was in the mood for a beautiful, funny, action
filled movie. One of the doctors from the surgery came in at one point to check
on me and see how I was feeling. I felt pretty good this morning! I still had
that pain in my side but no cramps, contractions or pain at the port site.
Really remarkable when you think about it.
They came upstairs to get us and the wheeled me down in a
wheelchair (which I thought was pretty silly). I was so tired of sitting that I
was looking forward to moving around a bit but oh well, that time would come
later. The ultrasound lasted about 1 ¾ hours. During the ultrasound, it seemed
to me that the twins looked a whole lot happier. Twin A had less fluid (about
8cm where before it was +10cm) and Twin B had a visible bladder and enough
fluid to move his legs around! HUGE improvement. We didn’t get any results from
the doctors during that appointment but when they were done I got wheeled up to
the Fetal Treatment Center for the echocardiogram.
The echo is all about the hearts and blood flow of the
twins. They take more than 150 pictures of their little hearts and record the
sound of the blood flow from more than a dozen places on each twin. Twin A
decided that he wanted to audition for America Ninja Warrior today so the tech
was having a tricky time getting all the pictures she needed but eventually she
got enough to answer their questions. During the appointment the surgeon from the
day before came in to check on me and let us know that as soon as this
appointment was over & we had our discharge papers we were free to go. Yay!
Good thing Mom had not only booked our tickets for that afternoon but had also
lined up the same taxi driver that delivered us to the hospital on the first
day to meet us downstairs at 3:00pm. At the end of the echo, the doctor came in
and let us know the outcome of the ultrasound & echocardiogram:
The ultrasound showed that both twins were looking good
despite there not being a lot of evidence of improvement from the day before.
This is typical considering that it had been less than 24 hours since the
procedure. We would be able to see better results at our next appointment
(which is next Thursday back at Westside Medical Center). My cervix length was
4.5cm which is great, anything above 3 is acceptable. The port site looked good
as well and it on it’s way to healing up. I have only a single stitch at the
port site that is covered by what I can only imagine is the tiniest band-aid
they make, I am sure of it. I have to keep it on until my appointment next week
but I am still allowed to shower and do all the normal things.
The echocardiogram showed that Twin B’s heart looked good
but Twin A’s heart was leaking on the right side and the wall of the heart was
a little thick for what it should be. This is because of the extra stress that
the TTTS caused on that twin. Although it sounds scary the doctor said that
this is typical for the recipient twin (the one getting all the nutrients) and
that he would most likely grow out of it by the time he is born.
HURRAY! Not only did the surgery go well with no major side
effects for me but BOTH twins survived and are showing signs that improvement
is on the way! This was the best possible outcome and after spending days
listening to scary statistics from a myriad of doctors, it was music to my ears
to hear that we are on the right track and that for now the twins are doing
well.
We were brought back up to our room to await our discharge.
It was now 1:30pm and we had an hour and a half to get wrapped up in time to
make our taxi to the airport. All the nurses knew that we were trying as hard
as possible to make that flight and they worked some serious magic to get it to
happen. We got our discharge papers at 2:45pm and we headed downstairs, got in
the taxi, drove to the airport, got through security and made it to our gate by
3:40 (the flight boarded at 4:10pm). We sat down and had a quick dinner,
boarded the plane and now here we are. 35,000 feet above the ground on our way
home.
I am still feeling great considering what I’ve been through
the past couple days. Standing feels better than sitting and I am looking
forward to being in my own bed tonight so I can get a good night’s sleep. My
side still hurts but I think it may be residual pain from all that pressure the
extra fluid pushing my ribs out and up for weeks before the surgery. It will
pass or I will find a way to deal with it. Time will tell. My stomach is
noticeably smaller and I can see my feet again (although probably not for long).
Now that all 36 ounces of extra fluid is gone I am feel pretty nimble for a
pregnant lady, I’m gonna try to start up prenatal yoga again. Should be easier
this time now that most of my chest and back pain is gone.
This was an incredible adventure that pushed me to the
limits in so many ways. I couldn’t have done this without my Mom at my side
helping me along each day. The doctors and nurses were absolutely fantastic.
They rearranged their schedules to fit me in last minute and then got us out as
quickly as possible too. So much of this experience feels like a dream sequence
because it happened so fast. Thank you to everyone who has followed along,
offering words of hope, love, comfort & support. You all really came out of
the woodwork on this one and I want you to know my heart is overflowing. I am
sending it all right back to you.
In a little while the plane will land and we will meet my
Dad in the terminal (his flight from Denver lands a couple minutes after ours).
We will all drive home together in the car that Mom and I dropped off at the airport
on Wednesday morning at the ungodly hour of “who cares it’s over”!
Thank you for bringing so much sunshine into my life the
past 3 days.
With love,
Whitney