In March of 2008 my wife and I found out that we were unexpectedly pregnant and a week later we found that we were pregnant with twins.  The ultrasound showed that we had identical twins and that they were diamniotic monochorionic.  Our OB told us that she would send us to the Maternal Fetal Medicine Doctor in town since it was twins.  We saw him a few weeks later at about 12 weeks. 

He confirmed the twins and that they were that type, he told us about this rare condition called Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome that could occur with this type of identical twins, but we should not worry about it because there was nothing we could do to cause it or prevent it. So we would be coming once a month to him to be checked and make sure we did not develop it.

We had another ultrasound at 16 weeks and they told us that we were doing fine and that we were going to have girls. We were so excited to have more girls to add to the two we had – a 4 year old and a 1 year old.

Four weeks later (20 weeks) on a Thursday (June 13, 2008) is when everything changed.  We went back to our Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor for our once a month visit and at the end of the ultrasound he looked at us and said, “I don’t have good news for you today. Do you remember that rare condition that I told you about called twin to twin transfusion syndrome? Well you have it.” 

My wife and I were both devastated, but I immediately asked,”what do we do about it?”  He said that we would go to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and that Greer would have to have surgery to try and correct the problem.  He called Dr. Bebbington at CHOP and discussed our condition. That afternoon we received a call from CHOP and they told us all our options and our chances of survival. 

They told us to be there on the following Wednesday (June 19, 2008) to be evaluated and discuss the possibilities of treatment.  We spent the weekend making travel arrangements, deciding what to do with our older daughters and researching TTTS and CHOP.  On Monday, June 17, we went back to the doctor to check the babies and to make sure Greer was okay to fly (no contractions, high BP or dilated cervix).  Dr. Rosemond was alarmed that the babies’ condition seemed to be worse and wanted to know if we could go right away.  He immediately called Dr. Bebbington at CHOP and explained the situation.  CHOP felt that it would be okay for us to wait and come on Tuesday.

At this point they felt that we were between stage 2 and 3, Greer had ~ 13 cm of amniotic fluid around the recipient and almost no fluid in the donor sac.

We arrived in Philly on Tuesday night and were scheduled for tests all day on Wednesday. After all the tests and scans on Wednesday, we were presented with our options.  The laser surgery was the only “choice” for us.  We were determined to do whatever possible to save our babies. 

We had the surgery on Friday morning and Dr. Bebbington and his team found and “disconnected” 10 blood vessels and drained 2 liters of amniotic fluid.  Greer spent a week on bed rest at a hotel in Philly and then we went back to CHOP for follow-up.  The results looked good. The donor’s fluid level was up and the heart echoes looked good. 

We returned home with Greer on strict bed rest.  This was pretty difficult with a 4 year old and 1 year old.  The recipient’s fluid levels stayed high for about two months but then slowly came down.  The donor’s fluid levels stayed normal.  Every visit, the doctor was amazed at how well the babies were doing. 

After 4 months of almost total bed rest, the babies were born by C-section at 38 weeks 1 day.  Kourtney Summerlin arrived first at 6 pounds 4 ounces and Kamryn Dailey arrived next at 7 pounds 6 ounces.  They were normal, healthy babies who never had to see the NICU. 

They defied all odds, so for everyone reading this story please know this, we were told that if we did not do anything that we had only a 15% chance of them surviving and with the laser surgery we had a 75% chance of one baby surviving and a 60% chance of both babies surviving, and if they did survive that the average gestation age at birth would be 29-31 weeks. With the great Doctors in Athens and Philly, along with Prayer we defied all the odds. 

Greer’s Blog site that also tells the whole story week by week can be found at www.thewells4kgirls.blogspot.com.

Ken, Greer, Karlee(4), Kendall(18 months), Kourtney and Kamryn Wells

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