Hi! I'm Amanda, stay at home mom to Ashley (4 1/2) and identical twin boys Mason and Logan (8 months old).
With Ashley, I was induced 2 weeks early due to pregnancy complications and stress on her. At the time, I thought two weeks early was too early to be having her -- then my boys came along and taught me what to really worry about! I started going into labor at 28 weeks with boys and it was controlled with medication until 33 weeks, when my water broke. Mason weighed in at 4 pounds 4 oz and 18-inches long and Logan was 5 pounds 1 oz and 17-inches long.
Although the boys were 7 weeks early, it was actually a blessing that they were born when they were. They were suffering from twin to twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). They were delivered in our local hospital and then transferred to a hospital about 50 miles away for NICU care. I got to see each of them briefly before they left the hospital.
In the NICU, Mason needed help breathing, eating, and keeping his temperature up. He was also slightly anemic, but turns out he didn't require any treatment for it. Logan was on a ventilator for a short time and also needed help eating and maintaining body temperature. He had to have a blood exchange done through his umbilical lines -- a procedure where they used lines through the umbilical cord to remove blood and replace it with equal amount of a saline solution. Due to the TTTS, his blood counts were more than double what they should have been so he required a great deal of testing to make sure they were coming back down. Thankfully now he looks great (before his complexion was very red and his little feet were almost black) and no one would ever know what all he went through.
After 18 days in the NICU, I got to bring Logan and Mason home. Thankfully, they came home on the same day. Both boys had to come home on apnea monitors -- hated those things! We had both monitors for about six weeks. Now my boys seem to be doing great! There are a few things that seem a little delayed though, so I'm thankful to have found this forum to discuss issues with others familiar with prematurity.
Amanda, I’m so glad you shared your story with us! I’m glad that Mason and Logan were able to get the care that they need. Since it sounds like the TTTS was a surprise, it is definitely a blessing that they were born when they were! It must have been terrible to be so far away from them for the first weeks of their life, though.
Do you have a story to share? Please send it via email to preemies@aboutguide.com, or post it to the forum!
