A day with CHOP (and an ask for a prayer)

It's 8:50am ET on a Thursday morning and Meg and one of her moms, Jo Anne, have already been at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) for almost two hours.  Based on what Meg told me, as well as what some of the other triplet moms shared, who've had experience with CHOP, she'll basically be in appointments all day until around 3:30-4:00pm.  At that point, a doctor will come in and very informatively and bluntly (which is a good thing), give us a formal diagnosis of her TTTS and discuss the different treatment plans.

All in all, this is a very important day in our lives, and more specifically, the lives our girls.

Meghan went to her weekly "high-risk" doctor, Dr. Gallagher, yesterday and there have been some changes in measurements over the last two weeks.  Sophia (Baby A) and Isabelle (Baby B) have too much and too little amniotic fluid, respectively.  They measure the largest vertical pocket of fluid in each sac as a way to help diagnose which stage of TTTS Meg currently has.  The goal is to have between 3-8cm.  If you have more than 8cm, which Sophia has (8.8cm to be exact), that means that she's getting too much blood and producing too much urine.  Depending on the severity, it can lead to prenatal heart failure.  If you have less than 3cm, which Isabelle has (1.1cm to be exact), that means that she's not getting enough blood and resources.  When that happens, you typically have difficulty seeing the bladder on the ultrasound if the baby isn't producing enough urine.  Well, they can still see Isabelle's bladder, so that's a really good thing.  Also, for the first time, there is starting to be a larger discrepancy in the relative size of Sophia and Isabelle.  They've always been a few days apart the entire pregnancy, but it looks like that gap is widening.

Let's not forget about Madelyn here.  Her results were normal.  Having her own sac and umbilical cord means she doesn't have to worry about anything like TTTS.  Obviously, when there's something going on in the belly that's not right, it means everyone's at potential risk.  Specifically, for pre-term labor.  The good news on that is, Meg's cervix is still really long.  Around 20 weeks (Meg will be 19 weeks tomorrow), they really start actively monitoring the cervical length.  They checked hers out yesterday and she's showing no signs of shortening.

I'd be lying if I told you that I haven't been thinking about today's appointment almost every minute of the last week.  My days are packed at work.  So, I'm having no trouble keeping myself busy, but I definitely find my mind wandering during my meetings and thinking about my wife and our girls--all of the time.

I hope they have strength.  I hope they have fight in them.  I hope they realize that they have a huge web of family and friends that want nothing more than to see their cute baby faces.  I hope they know that they have two parents who are willing to do anything and everything to make sure they have best chance.  And, I hope they know that even though we've never met them that we love them more than anything else in life.

Now, I'll be the first to admit, it's been a while since I've prayed.  Honestly, I think the last time was when I prayed for my friend, Errick, who is battling cancer.  Meg reminded me this morning that you can't just pray when you want something.  Well, I prayed last night and maybe I need to take time each day to do so if I want them to be more effective.  So, just in case my prayers go unanswered because I don't pray everyday, if you're the praying type and you have a few extra prayers to spare, please send them our way.  I would definitely appreciate it.

With all that's been going on the last two weeks, there haven't been a lot of new pics.  Believe me, I'll make up for it when the girls get here.  So, I'm sharing one of my favorite pics of me and Meg.  I'll make sure to keep you all updated as we find out more.