i had my ultrasound today was so excited to hopefully find out the sex to be told i'm being sent to melbourne as one twin is stuck cause the other one is hogging all the amniotic fluid. i'm really scared has anyone else been thru this? i have no idea what is going to happen we're just waiting to get a phonecall to say when we need to be there.
sorry i cant offer any advise but want to say im glad they are checking you out, are you booked under an OB or could you call the hospital you are booked. its really not fair when you feel left open ended
So sorry you are going through this. I notice you are in Victoria, the specialist at the Royal Women's hospital is one of the leading experts in the field of TTTS (twin to twin transfusion syndrome, which is what it sounds like you have described) so you could not be in safer hands than his. He also has an excellent website which I will try to find for you, it details all the phases of TTTS and the treatment options available. If it is not him you are seeing on Monday then your OB may refer you to Melbourne for treatment. I hope everything goes ok for you
thanks heaps for that!! the doctor we are seeing is Dr Andrew Edwards at the monash. We are about 3hrs north of melbourne and the lady who did the ultrasound made the arrangements for us. That would be great if you could find the website!!
I hope its nothing serious. What a stressful time it must be.
If you don't mind me asking is it the amniotic fluid that one bub has too much off and the other not enough or is it blood/nutrients from the placenta one is getting lots and the other not enough? There is a big difference between the two. Also are bubs identical or faternal?
Did you end up finding out what bubs are?
From what the other ladies have said it sounds like your in excellent hands and the fact your seeing them on Monday not today or tomorrow must be a good thing. If it was extremely serious I'd imagine they would want futher scans now not in the next few days.
TTTT is pretty common especially with ID twins although can affect faternal twins also. The amniotic fluid thing is not that common and many people wouldn't have alot of experience with this.
If you want me to write about the risks of bub having both not enough fluid and too much I can but will wait for you to reply first to make sure it is fluid we are talking about and not blood.
hi, yes its the fluid, one bub is taking too much and the other doesnt have enough. any info would be great thanks! she said the babies are identical also. we didnt find out the sex she stopped the scan once she realised there was a problem. The scan showed one bub was 4-5 days behind the other growth wise so it had only happened recently but she wasnt sure how rapidly the fluid was going. i hope that all makes sense!
I did just want to say that when my cousin had identical twins, they grew at different rates & their due dates were also 4 or 5 days apart. One was due April 28, the other May 2.
I'm not sure if that helps, but I hope its at least reassuring.
Do your twins have seperate sacs or placenta's or do they share? I'm guessing if you know they are identical they must share a placenta?
Yep, twins are the same as all babies & will grow at slightly different rates, just like they'll develop at different rates outside
They are only measurements & it might mean that one twin's legs are 2cm longer than the other & his/her head might be a cm bigger as well. No big deal.
I'm sure all will be fine don't stress!
Its a shame she didn't continue with the scan as although it does sound like some complications have been detected still she/he should have checked bubs out completely.
I assume little bub is the one with the limited fluid? At this stage I guess they will start monitoring for TTTT also as one is close to a week behind bigger bub. Too much fluid generally isn't a problem except if its excessive it can make your uterus too large and add the risk of preterm labour, ruptured membranes etc. But I'd say the extra fluid one bub has is the amount the other bub should have so all up you probably don't have more fluid in there then expected with 2bubs.
The biggest risk would be the bub without the fluid or little fluid. No fluid can be very serious at this stage as the bub needs fluid to grown adequately as it proects the limbs and aids in the tone, muscle development etc and also helps develop the lungs, kidneys, stomach etc. Basically they need the fluid for these organs to develop normally. Provided there is some fluid in there then this risk should be low of these complications. Even if its lower then it should be provided its not non existant bub should be ok.
I imagine what they will want to do is continue to monitor you very closely to check the growth levels of both babies and that the bub with limited fluid is either staying the same, getting better or fluid is dimishing as is the weight gain.
When was your last scan? Has the difference is size recently occured or was it noted in the previous scan? They will want to ensure both twins continue to grow accordingly and if the littler twin is not falling too far behind. You are nearly always going to see a difference between the two bubs in size wise when you start getting into the middle of the 2nd trimester onwards so it can be normal but they will want to make sure there isn't a huge variation between the two.
thanks, the last scan was 4 weeks ago (this was scan #3) and with both the first and second scan they were pretty much the same size. she said it had only recently occured judging by the size difference. also she mentioned they may try doing lazer surgery to 'fix' the problem. we already have 2 children so are trying to stay positive and im keeping myself busy til the appointment to get my mind off it. Hard when i can feel one of them moving.
Just thought I would add thats its very normal with twins (especially ID twins as the risk of TTTT is higher) to have regular scans every week or two to monitor twins growth and how fluid levels or the placenta is functioning. If you are in a rural area people tend to freak out and refer you elsewhere as any twin pregnancy is classed as high risk even if its not. Perhaps if you are from a smaller region they are referring you elsewhere unneccessarily which smaller places have a tendency to do. Just thought I'd add that maybe its where you live that are stressing you unneccessarily. If they ended the scan early how much evidence could they have gained?
I have heard about lazer surgery to treat TTTT and I guess perhaps to treat a difference in fluid levels but honestly have no idea what they do there and how it works. Praying thats not neccessary and they have just jumped to conclusions and bubs are both fine despite the difference in size and fluid levels. Which I might add is normal to a degree. And fluid levels are constantly changing and building up so there is a chance next scan the fluid levels are more even.
The cases I have seen where this has happened they have monitored bubs closely for a number of weeks or months to ensure both bubs are gaining weight even if its slow until a decision is made to deliver them at a gestation in which it is safer for them to be outside then in.
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19wks preg with twins and got problems :(
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