Our TTTS Surgery

Today we got to the hospital at 6am in order to be ready for our 8am surgery. After all the paperwork was done and I was in my fancy-smancy hospital gown, the anesthesiologist came in to give me my first dose of drugs. Basically, it was Benadryl and another drug to help calm me and the babies. It made me super sleepy at first and every 10 minutes she gave me another dose. By the time I was pushed back for surgery I could barely keep my eyes open but I was awake. 

Once in the OR, my heart started to race really fast. I was so nervous about how my babies would do and also scared to have the surgery. All of the team were fantastic and as nice and caring as could be. Dr. Chmait saw me crying and told me to think positive. Once I was positioned and linked up to what seems a billion wires, Dr. Chmait gave me a local anesthetic in the area of incision and that was the only thing I needed! It wasn't bad at all and I didn't have pain, just pressure. I was able to watch some of the surgery on the monitor next to me when I could keep my eyes open. Words can't describe how amazing it was to see my little babies in the flesh. They both were pretty sleepy and didn't move much, which was exactly what we needed. Baby A was cuddling with Baby B, and the nurse said in all her years of doing this surgery, she hasn't seen anything that cute. :)

The surgery lasted about an hour and after it was all done Dr. Chmait informed me it went great, better than he expected. The amniotic fluid was so clear and he had been worried it wouldn't because of the hematoma. It made the surgery so much easier and he is confident that he lasered all communicating vessels between the babies. He told me he cured the TTTS of my babies and he is optimistic about how everything turned out!! He feels the hematoma is so small that he doubts it will make for any complications at this point, but we will see more tomorrow morning. The relief I felt was like someone had taken a billion pounds off my shoulders and happy tears were shed. I could not thank everyone in the team enough for saving my babies.

Although we passed the first milestone, we still have other milestones to go. The next one is tomorrow morning when we do the ultrasound. If both babies have heartbeats and there are no signs of fluid leakage or preterm labor I will be released. In the meantime I feel like time is moving at ultra slow speed. Luckily I have been sleeping most of today because of the drugs so that has helped the time pass by faster.

I KNOW without a doubt Heavenly Father answers prayers, and heard all of the prayers of our loves ones, and even prayers of people we have never even met. As I sit here I can't hold back the tears of gratitude as I owe the success to all of you who have prayed with us or put our names on the temple prayer roll. Even if we don't know you, we love you and are so grateful for you!!!

Baby A kissing Baby B, letting him know it's gonna be alright!

Ear of Baby A

Top is Baby B's hand, clenching and wrapped by the membrane because of low fluids

Bottom is Baby A's hand, all free to move around