First off thank you for the prayers love and support you have sent to the 5 of us. We appreciate it more than any of you will ever know.
As some of you may know it was a long journey to get where we are now but we still have a long journey to go with the girls. We went to our 9 week ultrasound where Gregg and I found out that we were going to be having twins! We were very shocked but excited and ready for the new adventure! Morning sickness hit me really hard and soon I was going in for iv fluids twice a week to try and help. Until a weight check and doctor visit landed me in the hospital for for 3 days which started to turn things around! I was starting to eat a little more each and was staying hydrated. Our doctor had us go to the St.Cloud Hospital for our 16 week ultrasound. Normally in Melrose when you are having twins you will get sent to St.Cloud because they have a NICU if needed being twins will normally come early and some women are high risk with twins. At our 16 week appointment we found out that the twins were going to be identical and found out their gender. We also found out the weren't sharing very well which is called twin to twin syndrome and we were referred to the cities to get another look at the twins. The next day I went down to the cities where the doctor there explained what twin to twin syndrome(TTTS) was. From that day we were going to be seen 2 times a week to watch how things were going. TTTS is where one twin is the donor baby and is giving fluid/blood/nutrients to the other twin and the other twin in the recipient baby and that baby isn't giving back. I was border line stage 1 & 2. The doctor explained everything that could happen and all the different stages. Once you hit stage 2 you are endangering the babies and this is where a procedure would come into place to try and help both babies out and give them as much time in me as possible. Being we were only 16 week as the time and only border line the doctor had us come back the following week to check fluid in both of the sacs and we would continue this until it either got better or got to a point where we needed to have the procedure done. Well we got lucky and made it to 22 week and 5 days which was a surprise to our doctor in the cities because at first he thought we would need it sooner. So on March 7th, 2022 I had the procedure and they said everything went really well. I spent the night in the cities and was sent home the next day and was told to come back Monday for one last follow up and then I could start doing regular follow ups in St.Cloud! Such amazing news that things were starting to look up! Well Monday March 14th, 2022 rolled around and I headed to the cities for my last appointment only to find out that I was dilated 3cm and one of the our baby A that was the recipient before the procedure was now showing signs of possibly having anemia (TAPS is what this is called after the procedure I had is done). So I was again admitted to the hospital and was wanting on what the next step was. We were told that they were looking at possibly doing another procedure and get baby A some blood and try and seeing if they missed anything. But when it came down to it I was having contractions here and there and was still dilated. They weren't sure when the babies were going to come but knew that when they decided to come it was going to happen really fast. So our plan had changed we were going to buy ourselves a couple days get the babies a steroid to help the out, not do the procedure because it may send me in to labor early anyway and decided on a c-section for Thursday March 17th, 2022. I had to stay down there to be monitored and if anything changed they were going to do the c-section early.
Now onto the girls! They were born at 24 weeks in The Mother Baby Center in Minneapolis. Amelia Arlene Rademacher was born at 9:19am and was 1lb 7oz and 12 1/8". Olivia Marie Rademacher was born at 9:20am and was 1lb 4oz and 12". They were handed off to the NICU team to get cleaned up. Gregg stayed with the girls while I went to recovery and when I was able to they brought me down to see the girls. Amelia and Olivia are at the NICU in The Children's Hospital in Minneapolis. They are strong little girls and will fight their way through this and be home with Gregg, Macey and I soon!
It’s crazy to think that it’s been a little over 2 years now since the twins were born and they made childrens hospital in Minneapolis their temporary home! Today the girls had their 2 year NICU follow up appointment. They did the bayley testing again with both girls, checked weight and height and asked a lot of questions :) I always get nervous for these appointments or well child’s because the girls are tiny and “behind” but then I think about where they started…tiny little fighters!
Amelia is 19lbs 8oz, in the 1st percentile and 2ft 7.89in, 7th percentile
Olivia is 19lbs 7oz, in the 1st percentile and 2ft 7.10in, 2nd percentile
The provider was overall pleased with how they are doing and said we don’t have to do a 3 year visit but would like us to come for a 4.5 year visit!! She also told us we have a good care team for the girls and she couldn’t be more spot on! Our doctors, nurses and therapists are truly amazing and want these girls to succeed and go places in life!
Next up for big appointments will be Olivia’s eye appointment at northwest in maple grove…hoping they say no eye surgery but we will see! Olivia will also have another MRI coming up soon and then Amelia has a sedated MRI and Botox down at Gillette.
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