We're Home!

Well...we've been back since late Thursday night. Sheesh, what will it take for a girl to get a blog post in on time??

We had an ultrasound Wednesday morning at Mt. Sinai, and our surgery was deemed a success! We still had three heart beats and three very active boys. Things had not gotten worse from our last ultrasound, and at this point, no news is good news as it could take weeks to notice improvement, if at all. All together they found 9 connecting arteries between our recipient and donor twins - 7 were from donor to recipient, 2 from recipient to donor (so the imbalance is very clear now).

There was a small unintentional tear made in the separating membranes between the twin pair during surgery, so the fluid levels between the twins began to balance out almost immediately. We now won't be able to use a change in fluid levels as a sign of improvement, but if anything I think that it serves as a temporary therapeutic treatment to provide a bit of immediate relief for both boys - I'm not entirely sure if that's true or not, but I'd like to believe it. In any case, I am feeling our donor twin move WAY more than ever before, so I think it's safe to say that he's enjoying the space that his brother's fluid is creating for him! The danger now is if one of their cords floats its way into the others' sac, as there's a risk for cord entanglement because the tear essentially created a mono-amniotic environment. Though we'll be watched very closely just in case, Dr. Windrim felt that because of their cord placement and the fact that the tear is so small, that the risk isn't as great as a true mono-amniotic twin pair.

Things that we'll be watching for specifically are improvement in hydrops and heart function of our recipient twin, and bladder size of our donor twin (though I'm unclear of how the fluid situation will affect bladder size, or if it does at all). These things will tell us if our situation with TTTS has begun to resolve.

Following our Wednesday ultrasound, we were discharged and told to catch the next plane home to Calgary! Sounds quick, I know, except that really there is no recovery time necessary for me (there's just a small hole in my tummy and I can't even feel it) and at this point, time is of the essence. In so many words, we were basically told that if we wanted to deliver our babies in Calgary we'd better get back as soon as we could. Some of the risks associated with this type of surgery involve PPROM (preterm premature rupture of the membranes) and preterm labour. Obviously the benefits outweigh these risks, as we would have lost one or both twins had we not had the surgery. They gave me tocolytic (contraction stopping) meds - nifedipine and indomethicin - the day of and after the surgery to keep my uterus calm in hopes of preventing preterm labour while things settle out in there. I'd also received two rounds of IV antibiotics to help prevent any infections - especially after entering a sterile environment, such as a baby's amniotic sac!

We couldn't get a flight until Thursday evening, so they asked us to come in for another scan Thursday morning to check on the babes and my cervix to ensure that I was still fit to fly that day. My cervix is back down and measured at about 1.4 cm. Though it's short, they seemed much more casual about it in Toronto, saying that it's to be expected in multiple pregnancies, especially higher order multiple pregnancies. This doesn't mean that I can just continue on with daily activities (well..I can't anyway...I can barely roll over or get myself out of bed or sit on a toilet or put pants on without first making a plan of action), but at least they didn't put me in a state of panic about it. I will continue with bed rest because I feel like it's what my body wants for the most part anyway. It will also give me the peace of mind that even if I still happen to deliver these babies early, I did everything I could do keep them in. I can stretch and do yoga and mini-workouts all from bed, and though I'm physically weaker than before, I can still feel good.

Woah - cervix tangent! So back to Thursday's ultrasound...what we found from this ultrasound was better than anything we could have anticipated!! Though we are still very cautiously excited, our recipient twin was already showing signs of improvement in heart function. His enlarged, rock solid, barely pulsing heart was now moving a little more like a normal heart. It had an obvious 'squish' to it, though still has a long way to go. This is a great sign! He still has hydrops, but we were told that this will take some time for his body to sort through. We can only hope that things continue to progress this way until his dopplers are all normal. What a little fighter :)

The flight was uneventful. Lilah was the perfect flyer, my water didn't break, and I had minimal contractions. We sure got looks and comments from people who clearly thought I was 12 months pregnant and that perhaps I should have considered my decision to fly more carefully - mostly they were just innocently curious (it's already begun and the boys aren't even out yet!). We are safe and sound at home now and I'm back on hospital bed rest. Actually, I spent Thursday night at home in my own bed with Noel, and it was lovely :) I knew then, that it could really have been the last night I slept in our first home, and I savored it.

And...we're 26 weeks + 1 day!!! HOORAY! More on that to come :)