Yahoo Lifestyle One of my babies wasn’t alive
'Miracle' baby Taylor at just one day old
I was just 12 weeks along, when I was told the heartbreaking news that I’d been pregnant with twins, but one of my babies hadn’t made it. What I thought was my perfect pregnancy had just been turned upside down. Little did I know that this was only the start of things to come.
At my week-20 scan my husband, Adam, and I were over the moon to learn that we were expecting a girl, but our excitement was cut short when we were told that her twin hadn’t been ‘flushed out’ as expected and was also older than previously thought when he or she passed away.
I was then sent for another scan to see what was going on. I still remember the look on the radiologist’s face - total and utter shock, followed by silence. Finally, he explained that what he was looking at he’d never actually seen in real life, but had only read about. It was called ‘twin reversed arterial perfusion sequence’ or ‘TRAP sequence’ and it was very rare.
He explained how the deceased twin was still growing, still had blood flowing through the veins, and was receiving enough nutrition and blood to grow a torso, limbs and even little feet. This was happening because my baby girl was pumping her heart twice as fast to maintain both herself and her twin, even though hertwin was technically not alive. We left with orders to contact my doctor first thing on Monday morning.
Weighing up the risks
I was sent to a Canberra hospital three hours away, where they said I’d need a risky but crucial procedure to cut the umbilical cord of the deceased twin so my baby girl would no longer be at risk. She was losing nutrition to her twin and her heart couldn’t keep up its frantic pace. Sent to Sydney for the procedure, I was soon after told that it was in fact too risky. Instead they would try to reduce the strain on my baby’s heart by reducing the excess of amniotic fluid I had from her frequent urination. But the chance of losing my baby was still very high, as she continued to pump blood for herself and her twin.
A deflating experience
The next day I had an ‘amnio reduction’ - a thick, 20cm long needle was inserted into my stomach. Litres of amniotic fluid were removed, leaving me partially deflated. I was told I’d need to have this done again at some point and would need to be monitored weekly throughout my pregnancy. At 29 weeks I had another 2.5 litres of fluid taken out.
At 34 weeks I was 3cm dilated and my fluid levels had risen significantly. Doctors explained we couldn’t push our luck any further and that I’d need to be induced at 36 weeks, which is considered ‘term’ for twins.
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The birth
Two days before my induction, I started trickling fluid and went to hospital. I was 4cm dilated and quickly rushed to Canberra. During the trip I still felt constant contractions, my waters broke and I threw up several times!
When we finally arrived at Canberra Hospital I was having inconsistent contractions and they said I was probably in for a very long wait.
The next morning, when it finally came time, the room filled up quickly – I had two doctors coming in, numerous midwives, students, and of course Adam. After two hours of pushing, at 11:15am, my beautiful baby girl was born with the help of vacuum suction. She was 2.6kg and 48cm. She was also very quiet and after Adam cut the cord she was taken away almost immediately. I started praying that my little girl who struggled so much to get here would be okay.
At that point I realised I’d now have to deliver my other baby, the twin who had been growing inside me for nine months but was in no way living. Because this baby couldn’t make its way down the birth canal, the doctor had to manually pull the baby down (the alternative was a caesarean, which we didn’t want). The twin was born and taken away as we requested, then the placenta followed.
Our miracle baby
I’d been asking if my baby girl was okay and she was then wrapped up and brought to me, before she was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit to be monitored.
Adam took me there once I was cleaned up. My little miracle was laying peacefully in her humidicrib. She had cords stuck on her chest and monitors surrounding her, but she was perfect. Our wait and worry was over. We named her Taylor.
After an extraordinarily rare and complicated pregnancy, Taylor had only suffered from some shock, jaundice and a heart murmur that completely cleared up within two weeks. She’s now 20 months old and though she’ll need to be monitored for the next few years of her life, she’s a happy, healthy little girl who’s full of energy. We’re so blessed to have her.
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