Ever heard of TTTS?

We had, but honestly, had never done much research on it.  Why spend any time on all of things that could possibly go wrong with a triplet pregnancy, because there are quite a few, if you don't need to.  Well, now we need to.  For those that haven't heard of TTTS (probably the majority of you) it stands for Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome.  The net of it is, Baby A is already stealing from Baby B.  Naughty girl!  Of course, she doesn't know she's actually doing it.  It all has to do with how the blood vessels develop in their shared placenta.

Let me take a step back for anyone who may be just now joining us on this journey.  Two of our triplets--Baby A and Baby B--are identical and Baby C is fraternal.  Identical twins can have their own placenta, which can sometime fuse, but ours definitely do not.  They share one placenta.

I'm not going to bore you and attempt to educate you on TTTS.  If you're really interested, you can check out the Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome Foundation website.  Tons of great information there, organized and shared by Mary.

What I will do is promise to share more information as we receive it about our specific situation.  Right now, all three girls are growing at the same rate as they have through the entire pregnancy.  All of their heartbeats are strong.  The only real telltale sign that we need to be concerned is that it doesn't look like Baby B has anywhere near as much amniotic fluid surrounding her as Baby A.  This fact, alone, doesn't necessarily mean that Meg will need surgery, it just means that she needs to go see a TTTS specialist to determine if surgery is required at this point, or if she can manage the effects of TTTS through rest and proper nutrition, which can actually be done based on what I've read, in certain circumstances.

If she does end up needing surgery, it'll most likely be a laser surgery.  At this point, I'm not exactly sure what would be done, but we'll find out soon enough.  Meghan has an appointment with a specialist in Philly next Thursday, so we'll know a lot more after that.

Meg is actually very calm about all of this.  I, on the other hand, am no where near calm, at least on the inside.  I'm actually pretty worried about our girls, whether I should be or not.  All I know is that, at 18 weeks, I love these girls more than I could have ever imagined just a few months ago.  It's kind of strange how it happens actually.  It kinda just creeps up on you where, one day, WHAM, you feel this overwhelming sense of love for these little people you've only seen on a video screen.  I'm sure everyone with kids knows exactly what I'm talking about.  But for the rest of you who might be scratching your heads a little, all I can say is, "just wait."  Well, that is if you actually want to have kids one day.

I think I'm starting to sound like my mom and dad, so I'll end it here until we know more and I'll leave you with the most recent pics of our girls.

Lastly, Meg and I have pretty much decided on names for our girls, which I'll be share in a subsequent post.  I need to have something else to write about in a couple of days.  Can't spill the beans all at once :)

Baby A (aka "The Resource Hog")



Baby B (aka "The Giver")



Baby C - How crazy is it that you can see all of the organs and bones developing? Look at the spine and brain!