Hailey and Cassidy's Story

I’m a grandmother of TTTS survivors. Hailey and Cassidy are 20 months old now and are rapidly passing their own age group in development and dexterity skills. Their last well-check was so positive none of us could believe it. They are doing things 2 and 3 year olds are doing!!

Their story began on April Fool’s Day, 2002. I was washing dishes when my 16-year-old daughter came up to me and said she thought she was pregnant. My first reaction was shock, rubber knees, and soap suds on my shirt. My second, after realizing what day it was, was “Oh shutup. Ha Ha Ha. Suuuuure you are.” She spent the next 10 minutes trying to convince me and finally brought out nine [count ‘em, NINE] home pregnancy kit testing sticks – all blue. She kept hoping for just ONE negative one. Deep breath. Ok. I take things pretty well on the surface, but didn’t sleep a wink that night. I decided the next day to bring a kit of my own and be present during the test, to be sure. Within 10 minutes, I was sure. Somehow that 10th one kicked in the other nine! Haha! I immediately called our doctor who scheduled her for later in the week.

No parent wants to hear their 16-year-old CHILD is pregnant. It truly is a mixture of emotions, you see grandchildren, your child’s child, all those “motherly instinky” things, then you see a diploma with wings, the prom dress still hanging in the store, the short walk to the maternity racks. Once we got past the absolute shock of the pregnancy, we get to the doctor and lo and behold, the sonogram shows TWO! Once we deal with the shock of TWO, we’re told there’s a problem, which is the gist of this story… the news about TTTFS.

We had never heard of such a syndrome. The specialist here in Atlanta, told us in no uncertain terms that this was an extremely high-risk pregnancy. He shot from the hip. First of all my daughter’s age was a big factor. Her young body was ill-prepared for a twin pregnancy, he basically put her on limited activity immediately. The odds were not good that the babies would survive and if they made it to 28 weeks, it was likely they would have do amniocentesis daily until they were born. If THAT didn’t work, it was a trip to Pittsburgh or Tampa for the special laser surgery they perform on the diseased placenta. Hailey was the recipient, Cassidy the donor. You could clearly see the difference in the sonograms. We had to go to this specialist three times a week for the duration to get sonograms in order to keep up with the fluid in Cassidy’s sac. Needless to say, each and every visit we held our breath until the doctor gave us the results. Also needless to say, we were already in love with two little girls we had the privilege to watch grow from the fourth month on.

Cassidy is a fighter, always has been. In the fifth month, we noticed an improved level of amniotic fluid in her sac and from then on it improved steadily. Dr. Allen told us each week “so far, so good”, but that as soon as they were viable, he’d need to get them out of that atmosphere – it was not their friend. So, they were delivered six weeks early and that, to this day, was the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen. Those two perfectly formed [one big, one tiny] baby girls. Hailey weighed in at 5.5 lbs [I know! Big for a twin, especially a preemie] and Cassidy weighed in at 3.8, then dropped to just under 3. They spent two weeks in the ICU, hooked up to what seemed like 100 wires each, then came home on heart monitors for about 2 months.

I know the feelings of dread, panic, agony of the waiting period. The just NOT knowing from day to day, month to month how things will turn out. I was worried for my daughter AND granddaughters. But today? They are healthy, happy, SMART, active, beautiful little girls who will be two years old in October and who have a special bond and a special place in our hearts. Keep the faith.