One year later...

... we are blessed to have two healthy, beautiful, sweet baby girls!  One year ago, we had no idea if we were going to be blessed with the opportunity to be parents to our twins and see them grow up.  Our girls were very sick and were losing their lives quickly.  I will write a small recap, but would encourage your to read our posts "Our Story" and "Cincinnati" written a year ago in September.  These posts were our first and they explain what we were going through.  Last year around this time, our girls were diagnosed with Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome, a very serious condition that happens when identical twins share a placenta.  One twin (the recipient) receives all of the blood and nutrients and the other (the donor) is deprived and very malnourished.  Both girls were very sick.  Ella (recipient), because of all of the blood that was going through her body, had an enlarged heart and fluid in her body.  Eva (donor), was 40% smaller than Ella and had no amniotic fluid.  She was what they called the "stuck" baby, as she looked like she was stuck to the uterus/placenta.

We were sent to Cincinnati, OH to have emergency surgery on my placenta.  One year ago, today, I had that surgery.  With many complications, including serious contractions and cholestasis, my girls survived and have grown into beautiful and healthy little girls.  We are so thankful for them and the blessings they are to our family.  When you look at how sick they were, none of our doctors would have guessed they would be happy, healthy 9 month olds.  We were prepared for a lifetime of heart problems and other medical issues, if they survived.  Well, they did survive and they are a testament to God's grace and the miracles He is still doing!

The reality is though, that TTTS is a horrible disease that is still taking the lives of MANY babies.  We hope to spread awareness to women that are pregnant with identical twins and their doctors. Ours was diagnosed VERY late because our doctor did not inform us that it was a possibility.   It is important to have it detected early and get the right treatment quickly.  Please pray for all of the families that are affected by this.  If you are interested in more information, please check out the Twin to Twin Transfusion Foundation Site!

From this....

a very sick Ella 

 our peanut Eva, 40% smaller than her sister

To this...

our beautiful little girls!  GOD IS GOOD!