Vanishing Twin Syndrome

It is with deep heartache that I post this message. It is my hope that through this form of communication, it will be the least painful way to explain what we learned last week.

Through a routine ultrasound with Dr. Vaughn, we discovered that the twin on the right no longer had a heart beat while the twin on the left was doing very well with a strong heart beat. The pictures attached are of both babies.

Top Picture: Healthy baby with strong 174bpm.

Botton Picture: What remains of the other twin's fetus and amniotic sac

It has been very hard to speak about the loss of a baby that we had already begun to celebrate. I did not have any indication that there was anything wrong with the pregnancy and will not have a traditional miscarriage with this baby. As nature would have it, my body will absorb the remains of the baby on the right, while there are usually no further complications.

Facts:

*6.88% of 300 pregnancies experience vanishing twin syndrome. Thus it seems more likely that VTS occurs 19.68 pregnancies out of 300, or about six out of every hundred pregnancies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanishing_twin

Scott and I are grieving the loss of one child, while celebrating the continued healthy growth and development of another. We are grateful for your silent prayers and all of your support that has gotten us to this point.

“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” (Matt. 5:4)

Embryos Transfered

The pictures below are of the transfer.

Conception Story

As may of you know, Scott and I were unable to have children when Hanna (our miracle) came into our lives. A year later, I went back to a new fertility doctor to see if we could again have any more children on our own. The answer was that we should consider surgery or in vetro fertilization (IVF).

After many years of past unsuccessful fertility treatments, many prayers, studying and interviewing doctors, we interviewed the right one, Dr. Thomas Vaughn. He informed us that we would be good candidates for a pharmaceutical (progesterone) study that would pay a significant part of IVF. This was a great blessing.

We began our participation in the study with many tests and .... many many months of waiting. Our big day came on June 11th when I went into surgery to have 8 eggs removed for fertilization. All eggs were fertilized but only two were strong enough to continue to divide and develop into blastocysts.

I have posted pictures of our two embryos and a link to read more about technical aspects of the IVF procedure: http://www.txfertility.com/ivf-program/advanced-options.html.

Our due date with twins is between 2/4/09 & 3/4/09. We are very grateful for the path that God has led us down and for Dr. Vaughn and for his help in using his knowledge and compassion to help us receive God's greatest blessing of children.

Name Suggestions

There is a poll below, but it doesn't allow for you to add your own suggestions. Here you go.

Twins!! Left-baby and Right-baby

Actually, we're exptecting two babies! We saw and heard the heart bpm. on 7/11/08.