Pre term birth prevention & TTTs awareness

Hello,

After losing twins to twin twin transfer syndrome last year we realized how many babies are lost pre term and how special a full term baby becomes.

There are many causes of pre term birth and pre term loss and TTTS is another, more rare due to the complications of twins.

Todds way to raise money and awareness of these issues is by not cutting any hair for 1 year, from March 15th 2016, ending March 15 2017, after the birth of our first full term and smiling baby, due January 2017. (Or earlier if we hit the target).

Today, Elizabeth has gone in for her 6th surgery in 18 months, a preventative one at KEMH and should walk out tomorrow (a little sore) on her birthday. This follows multiple IVF rounds, in uetro surgery on the twins, follow up surgeries and removal of cervical cancer late last year.

This is for all the bereaved mothers, those who have had multiple fertility attempts and those couples who have been less fortunate than ourselves. We were able to briefly meet our boys; many never get that chance.

We wanted to thank all those who are apart of our journey and are apart of the preterm loss prevention team. And thanks to KEMH.

Sincere thanks to our family. To the nurses at KEMH, esp Ward 6!
Prof. Jan Dickinson (in utero surgeon) Dr A. Gubbay (Obstetrician) Pivot Medical Centre, esp Dr. Rowlands (IVF), Dr Salfinger (Oncologist) and the whole team at KEMH pre term prevention unit esp Dr. White (High Risk Obstetrician - Pre term birth prevention).

WHAT IS TWIN TO TWIN TRANSFUSION SYNDROME?

Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome, often referred to as TTTS, only occurs with identical twins (whether in a twin pregnancy, or as part of a higher order multiple pregnancy). It is essentially an abnormality of the placenta where blood passes from one twin to the other through blood vessels in the shared placenta. The problem is that the blood is effectively transfused from one twin to the other, leaving the donor twin anaemic and often very small, while the larger recipient twin has too much blood circulating putting excessive strain on the heart.

The recipient twin often has extra amniotic fluid surrounding it, the donor twin very little. One of the early signs of TTTS in the middle trimester can be a sudden increase in size of the mother due to the large amounts of amniotic fluid surrounding one twin. Ultrasounds are important in leading to a diagnosis, the key factors being significant differences in size of the babies, size of their bladders, and the amount of fluid surrounding each baby.

TTTS can occur at any time during the pregnancy. At it's most severe, it occurs before 20 weeks, usually resulting in a high mortality rate for one or both twins. TTTS can occur as late as during delivery of the babies, or even between the birth of the first and second baby. Where TTTS has been present for some time, it is often the larger twin who struggles more after the birth, having been working so hard pumping the extra blood.

Depending on when the diagnosis of TTTS occurs, and the extent to which it is affecting the babies, the treatment varies. It is possible to stop the transfusion of blood via laser treatment to seal off the blood vessels, however this treatment is relatively new in Australia (performed for the first time in Brisbane in early 2002). Other treatments treat the symptoms rather than the cause, such as reducing the excess amniotic fluid from the recipient twin.