Our Journey with Conjoined Twins
Abby & Erin
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
Romans 8:28
Well this past month has been a whirlwind. Lots of traveling and lots of appointments. Lots of ups and lots of downs. It seems like in life when it rains it likes to pour, am I right? Not only is this a huge thing going on in my life and my families life, my family has had many things happen in the past month that has set them back and brought everyone's stress levels up about as high as they will go. Between job losses, changing jobs, getting new jobs, little health scares, big health scares (both unrelated to my pregnancy) and the list goes on. Everyone has so much going on and it has just been on of those months. As I have said before I have been traveling every other week to visit the Doctors at CHOP for different appointments. I have met with lots of doctors, social workers, psychologists, midwives, surgeons, and the list goes on. Each person we have met has been exceptional. They make me feel almost normal. Like I am a normal expectant mother expecting two exciting little bundles. And that is a huge deal for me. To feel like this is normal. This is my first pregnancy and to have so many crazy complications is such a huge, crazy, amount of stress for me. So to have a place that makes me feel like I'm doing a good job is wonderful. Each day is scary. Every time I am not feeling them, I worry. Every little thing that hurts or feels funny make me nervous. And each time they calm my fears and let me know that they are there for me. This past appointment was a little different than the rest of them unfortunately. Not in the way of how they made me feel, but what they found. After the ultrasound I meet with a Doctor just to go over how everything is going, along with a midwife who does all my prenatal updates and such. When she came in she began to talk about the babies cords again. Abby is having a few issues going on with hers that weren't really an issue before but unfortunately it has gotten a little worse every time that they have scanned. She has what they call, absent blood flow during diastole. Fetal.com explains it much better than I can, it says This is when blood flow is absent during diastole. Fetuses with this type of finding should be monitored closely in a hospital setting. The following ultrasound picture illustrates this type of Doppler waveform.This illustrates absent diastolic flow during diastole. When this occurs there is abnormal resistance in the placenta which results in a marked decrease in blood flow from the fetus to the placenta. Now mind you this isn't happening all the time, hence the not being monitored closely in a hospital setting. But it is enough that they decided they are not comfortable waiting two weeks to see me again. When they do this scan during the ultrasound there are periods of normal diastolic flow and periods of absent diastolic flow. They told me that if this becomes any worse meaning it becomes reverse diastolic flow which is...."When the resistance in the placenta increases further, absent diastolic flow becomes reverse diastolic flow in which the Doppler waveform is observed to be below the baseline. When the fetus develops this type of abnormality, intense surveillance is required if the fetus is less than 32 to 34 weeks and delivery if it is greater than 32 to 34 weeks. (Although this is a little different with twins) The following illustrates reverse diastolic flow during diastole (blue circle). When this occurs there is abnormal resistance in the placenta which results in a marked decrease in blood flow from the fetus to the placenta." If this ends up happening they will deliver me immediately because whatever happens to one of my babies effects the other one. So if one were to not make it because of the blood flow issue than the other one would not make it as well. So it is scary. They want me to contact them if there is any change in the girls movements. Which that is tough for me because of all the traveling and different things going on my schedule is crazy. So I don't notice if they are more active in the morning or the evening or not because I sleep till different times everyday and eat at different times every day. So if I am not feeling them I get very nervous and it is just a tough thing. I just keep telling myself we just need to make it to Friday and see how they are doing then. And we can do that. They just need to stop making their mama worry so much (lol). They are talking about delivering me as early as this coming Friday if necessary and that to me is terrifying. I haven't been in the delivery mind set as of yet. I haven't even met with the anesthesiologist yet to discuss anything. So the thought of an emergency C-section is just scary to me, especially since I have never done any of this before, and because there is a possibility of my have a classical c-section which is a little different and a little harder to heal from. Now not only is the delivery part scary, but the thought of my babies who are just about 27 weeks gestation delivered and living in the world is so scary. To me that seems like they are only half baked, which is basically true. I know that twins a lot of times will come early, but even so it is just scary to not only have conjoined twins, but premature conjoined twins. I just want their odds to be as good as they can be, and I know God has a plan in all of this and that his ways are greater than ours, it's just really hard to see what that plan is when everything is going so crazy in the process. Ok, so delivering early and being seen every week, that was news, and then found out that I had to move up my relocate date to this week. So believe it or not I am relocating on Wednesday. Now I know that isn't far off of my July 6th date that they had planned. But there was so much I was planning on doing that I am not going to be able to do now. My husband took off of work on the 4th so that would could spend the holiday together and have a full last day together doing some fun stuff, but now that isn't happening. And trust me there really not any part of me that is looking forward to not being able to live with him for and unknown amount of time. I was planning on organizing my house and cleaning and packing some things since when I come back we will be in a new house since our little one bedroom trailer will not be suitable for twins with special needs. So it's been a huge whirlwind. Things have changed in so many ways and things have been moved up and nerves have been rattled and our lives are changing but our God is one who is never changing and He is always there and that is what needs to be held on to at times like these. I am just trusting him that his will is better than mine and He knew that all this was going to happen before I even had any thought of it. Prayer Requests: -Abby's blood flow to normalize or at least not get worse -Smooth easy delivery if necessary -Nerves to be calmed about relocating -To get into the Ronald McDonald house quickly (I am on a waiting list) -For Riley in the midst of all this transition as he is becoming a dad and everything is new as well Again we so appreciate each and every one of you. Your donations have helped tremendously with our travel expenses. And are still helping since we are having to rent cars and fly Riley back and forth. Your prayers and encouragement have been one of the things that keep us going. Thank you so much for all the kind words and for following the story of our precious girls and they journey.
3 Comments
Kenna hutton
6/27/2016 03:22:24 pm
Hello my name is Kenna I am a mom of eight so way different then your situation but I do have twins. I was forced to go to 39 weeks with them and had to have an emergency c-section. I was so scared my other five deliveries were natural I was so so scared and I talked with the doctors about meds for my nerves and it helped alot. One of our twins was five min after the other which is not normal for twins c-section but she was stuck up in my ribs and it took them a long time to get her out. The surgery will be OK i will be praying for younger the girls along with family. It's scary god is with you and all the angels will be there with the girls to help them. And you! I can't wait to see pictures of the girls. Good luck take one day at a time!
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6/29/2016 01:02:40 pm
Heather, Please know you and Riley and you precious girls are in our thoughts and prayers. IWe are also the parents of twin girls as well as a son and a younger daughter (she is 35) so they are my best friends. Our twins weighed 15lbs together and were full term, however a major health crisis affected one of them at three months. Babies and kids do not come with an instruction booklet, so catastrophic illness can be around the corner. Our prayers and positive thoughts are with your family and I am hoping life gets easier for all of you especially those precious babies.
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Isabella Lucas
11/10/2022 05:18:29 am
My ex-husband and I had always managed to stay friendly after our divorce in February 2017. But I always wanted to get back together with him, All it took was a visit to this spell casters website last December, because my dream was to start a new year with my husband, and live happily with him.. This spell caster requested a specific love spell for me and my husband, and I accepted it. And this powerful spell caster began to work his magic. And 48 hours after this spell caster worked for me, my husband called me back for us to be together again, and he was remorseful for all his wrong deeds. My spell is working because guess what: My “husband” is back and we are making preparations on how to go to court and withdraw our divorce papers ASAP. This is nothing short of a miracle. Thank you Dr Emu for your powerful spells. Words are not enough.
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AuthorMy name is Heather Delaney. I married the love of my life Riley on 10/02/15 and we now have two beautiful girls Abby & Erin, who are conjoined twins, that were born 07/24/16. We are trusting that God is going to work all this out for his good! Archives
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