Hearing the word “twins” at my first ultrasound would have been a huge surprise, but finding out at my second appointment that I was carrying two babies was even more shocking. At twelve weeks, we discovered a second little heartbeat, and I instantly knew I would be a proud twin mama.
Although I had an excellent OBGYN experienced in multiple pregnancies, I wasn’t seeing a maternal-fetal medicine specialist. We quickly learned the babies were identical twins, but I don’t think the risks of a monochorionic-diamniotic pregnancy were ever fully explained to us.
At twenty-one weeks, I went for an anatomy scan and was told to see my OB the next morning. Less than 24 hours later, I was diagnosed with stage 3 Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, or TTTS, a dangerous condition where one twin donates nutrients to the other. Without immediate intervention, neither baby would survive.
We were fortunate to live close to some of Houston’s top hospitals.
At Texas Children’s, the doctor was cold and matter-of-fact, suggesting we terminate baby B to give baby A a better chance. I couldn’t even hear the rest of what he said. We refused to choose one over the other and asked about other options. Surgery was an option, but baby B faced only about a thirty percent chance of survival.
During that chaotic morning, I had been texting my boss, who had been like family for years. She immediately connected us with a trusted doctor, and we decided to leave and seek a second opinion at Memorial Hermann. The new team, led by Dr. Pappana and Dr. Burke, treated us with kindness and hope. They explained our options thoroughly and reassured us that we could rest before surgery.
That night was long and anxious. I spent hours praying, worrying, and even picking out the girls’ names, trying to feel some control over the situation. Surgery came early the next morning. I had to sign papers in case baby B’s heart stopped, allowing the doctors to focus only on baby A, a truly terrifying thing to agree to.
The procedure involved severing the blood vessels causing the TTTS imbalance. I was awake and could hear the team call out baby B’s heart rate, which stayed strong. Two liters of excess fluid were drained from baby A’s sac. By the end, both girls were stable, yet I knew the real struggle was just beginning. Our next milestone was to reach twenty-eight weeks.
I was sent home on bedrest and monitored closely. The babies remained mostly stable, though baby B, the donor twin, could never catch up in size. At twenty-seven weeks and six days, my water suddenly broke.
I was admitted and given steroids to help their lungs. I stayed in the hospital for nearly five weeks, monitored around the clock.
Finally, at thirty-one weeks and five days, baby B’s heart rate began to drop, forcing an emergency delivery. Baby B, the smaller twin, arrived at 1 pound 11 ounces, healthy and surprisingly strong. But baby A, whose water had broken weeks earlier, had underdeveloped lungs. She was rushed away, and the doctors initially said there was nothing more they could do.
Against the odds, a last-ditch effort on an unapproved ventilator treatment worked. Baby A survived, and the doctors later told us that Baby B’s remarkable resilience might have been what saved her sister’s life.
Had we followed the first doctor’s suggestion to terminate, neither girl might have made it.
The girls continued to grow stronger. Baby A, named Winnie, needed surgery for fluid on her brain but eventually recovered without further operations. Baby B, who we named Poppy, grew strong and thrived despite being so tiny at birth.
On day twenty-seven, the girls were reunited, and soon after, they came home.
Today, they are thriving and recently celebrated their third birthday. The only lasting effect from TTTS is a slight difference in height. Strangers sometimes doubt they are twins, but to us, their survival is a daily miracle. We saw God’s hand throughout this journey, guiding doctors, protecting our girls, and giving us hope when we needed it most. We are forever grateful.
A special thank you to Dr. Pappana and the Fetal Center at Memorial Hermann, the Women’s Hospital team who refused to give up, and Dr. Sandberg and his neuro team at UT Physicians. Their care made all the difference.
