Zoe and Kaitlyn's Story

We found out we were pregnant with twins in July 2006, with a due date of March 11^th, 2007.  YES we were very surprised, but not too surprised due to the fact that this would have been the 4^th set of twins on my husband’s side of the family.  We really had not worried with this pregnancy, considering it was twins and no one else in the family had complications with their twin pregnancies.

I did have the usual morning sickness and it actually continued 24/7 for 4 months.  Because we were having twins, we had monthly visit to the doctors for monitoring via ultra sound.  We weren’t told much by the doctors during these appointments; just that both twins were looking healthy even though one was getting bigger than the other.  The doctors didn’t seem too concerned.  We were both worried,but not to worried.  We read up on what seemed to be a rare syndrome called Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS), but the percentage indicated was so low (5-15%) it didn’t really catch us of much concern.

Into our 24^th week of pregnancy we had our usual monthly visit for an ultra sound.  After the ultra sound our Doctor wanted to see us right away in her office.  This didn’t seem well.  She told us that one of the twins had started to develop fluid in the stomach.  She was very upfront that she didn’t know what was going on and that we had to go to the hospital right away for more information.  So we did. With another ultra sound the doctors at the hospital made a phone call to the Woman and Infants Hospital in Providence, RI where they specialize in fetal issues.  Initially the doctors at UMASS medical didn’t know what was going on and only told us there was “no hope, to give up and that he doctors in RI do very experimental things and not to trust that.”  We were both beside ourselves and didn’t know what to do but to call upon our family and friends and pray.

We went to Woman and Infants Hospital and met with Dr. Stephen Carr and Dr. Francois Luks.  After some intense ultra sounds, it was determined that the twins were at stage 4 of TTTS.  There are 4 stages and stage 4 is the most critical stage prior to demise.  TTTS is when identical twins share the same placenta, but one twin is receiving more blood then the other through shared blood vessels.

The next day I was going in for laser surgery to try to correct the blood flow between the twins.  The Surgery went well, but we weren’t out of the woods yet.  At a follow up appointment a week later, we were told that one twin was doing very well, but as for the other twin we had lost her. I had to continue to carry until our surviving daughter was ready to be born.

From that day on We decided to continue to see the doctors in RI, considering all the problems we had with the original doctors, this was the best choice that we could have made.

During carrying two, but one not with me, it was very hard.  I was on bed rest until my delivery date.  Going out shopping over the holidays was sad.  I was getting big enough for people to say, “Christmas Baby”?  I would reply, “No not due until March.”  Everyone would say, “Oh, you’re having twins?”  Sadly I would say, “No.” in return they would say, “Don’t worry they’ll find two in there.”  I would just leave holding my tears in.

Another hard thing to do was picking out the name.  We had already picked out names before all this happened, the question was which one would get which name?

How we did this was we looked up what the names mean.  Kaitlyn means Pure, and Zoe means Life.  Well it was obvious.  Our little girl who had been through so much and will be with us for ever will be named Zoe Margaret Evans.  Our other little one who tried so hard to make it will be named Kaitlyn Ann Evans.

February 1, 2007, while I was at my usually Doctors appointment for a stress test, the nurses realized that I was having contractions (in which I thought it was gas pain) and my placenta was getting squeezed which caused the heart rate of our baby to lower.  After doctors tried to induce for a regular delivery, they decided to do a c-section.

I delivered our baby girl, Zoe, at 11:56 pm.  Zoe weighed 3.6 and was 16 inches long.  To everyone’s surprise, Zoe was doing great and didn’t require any life support systems.  She still went to NICU, where she stayed there 19 days for weight.

It was very hard to stay in the hospital to recover from a c-section and see other mom’s have there baby right there in their rooms, but I had to go down stairs to see mine, and I couldn’t bring her back.  When I left the hospital it was very hard.  Having to leave your child “behind” especially when I was on my way to my baby shower.  It would have been so neat to have our daughter come and be “shown off” to all family and friends.  Opening gifts that people bought for your little one, and not able to use them right away because your daughter is still in the hospital was hard.

Granted I always look on the bright positive side.  This gave me more time to recoup, rest, and getting everything ready for when Zoe comes home.  It was hard to go and to the hospital every day and night to see her.  We even went in the middle of an awful ice storm.  My husband wanted to go but didn’t because of the storm, we still went because I had an awful fear that if we didn’t go the nurses would think we didn’t love our daughter and call DSS on us.  So we risked our lives to see her every day we got the chance. 

We were relieved when they day came when  we came to see our little Zoe and the nurse asked, “ do you have the car seat?   If Zoe passes the car seat test you can bring her home.”  Well we were only 30 min’s away so we drove home and got it and came back.  Feb 19^th she was discharged at 4.9 lbs and drinking 4 oz of simulac NeoSure every two hours.  She was constantly hungry.  By the time she was three months we had to put cereal in her milk just to fill her up, and keep her content for more than two hours.

Another stressful thing with having a “preemie” is the aftermath.  We had to take Zoe every three to six months for what they called, “NICU Follow up”.  This simply is because if your child was born before their due date then they have a great chance of being delayed.  Yes we had to travel back to RI for these appointments.  Luckily with me having a degree in early child education, I started Zoe’s development before she was born.  I read to her, and put soothing music on my belly with head phone.  Then the minute we were able to bring her home, I started “tummy time”, read to her, rolled balls to her, had her feel different things, take her “baby Yoga” and “baby message” classes.  By the time of her first appointment with NICU Follow up she was two months above her age.  Of course the thing I hated about going is that the doctor would talk to my husband and I like we were dumb and born yesterday.  I had to just deal and put it in one ear and out the other.  Just remember you’re the mother and you know what’s best.  The doctors were always very surprised that she was doing so well.  When she was 18 months old we got discharged from the program.  She was already using the potty at this time, and speaking sentences using two to three words.  They couldn’t believe it.