Cincinnati

Wednesday, April 16, 2008. The day at Cincinnati Children's Hospital was packed full. We were scheduled for an MRI, ultrasound, Echo cardiogram, and a meeting with a team of doctor's. This day was probably one of the most stressful days of our lives. Kevin and I went from specialist to specialist having these procedures done. No information obtained was shared with us throughout the day, all of this would be explained to us during the team meeting at the conclusion of it all.


The entire day was full of worry, fear, and anxiety. We know that the specialists were quite detailed in everything they did. The MRI took 1 1/2 hours, the ultrasound took 2 hours, and the echo cardiogram took 1 1/2 hours. We were not rushed by anyone and we knew we were under good care.


We were supposed to meet with the doctors at 5:00 and it ended up being closer to 6:30 that evening. We came to Cincinatti hopeful for treatment that would help us to deliver two healthy babies, now we were unsure what would happen. We met with three doctors and a nurse to review our records and discuss the best forms of treatment for our situation.


The doctors told us that they were not convinced that we have TTTS and that could actually be a good thing. This worried me because I knew that if it wasn't TTTS our situation would not be treatable. The reason the doctor said this could be a good thing is because he felt that we could have one healthy baby from our pregnancy. The options that came with this news were horrifying. The doctor was concerned about Baby A's spine, the amount of fluid around the baby, and the possibility that our baby would not develop lung tissue. If our Baby A doesn't have room to develop lung tissue, it will not survive after birth. This news was devastating and it was only the beginning of the terrible news we would receive in that meeting.


We were told that if Baby A would die during our pregnancy, Baby B would have an 80% chance of dying or having severe neurological damage. The options we were given were unthinkable. The only decision we were comfortable with at this point was coming home and returning to Cincinnati Fetal Care Center in ten days.


Our next appointment was six days away at Aultman Hospital. I couldn't wait that long to discuss the news we had received in Cincinnati. I called Erin, the genetics counselor, to talk about the options that were given to us and all the details from our latest appointment. She is the most supportive person we have encountered during this experience. Erin has such a way of settling my nerves and explaining things so delicately. I don't know what we would do without her support as well as the support of the Aultman MFM staff. Erin called the doctors at Cincinnati to talk with them first hand and then returned a call to us. I felt very comfortable with our decision to wait ten days after talking to Erin.


Our hopes until our next appointment at Aultman were that Baby A would stay strong and Baby B's report would not change.