17 September 2021

Poppy and Rosie were diagnosed with stage two Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome at 16+5 weeks pregnant. A day later it had progressed to stage three, so we chose to have laser ablation surgery.

Within 10 minutes of surgery saw a difference in Twin A, our "stuck twin". A week later we went for a follow-up scan, both babies' bladders looked good and their fluid levels were improving. But we were introduced to a new word... TAPS, which is Twin Anemia and Polycythemia Sequence.

Three days later we were rescanned as one reading doesn't always mean TAPS, but sadly we found that the girls did have TAPS and it had gotten worse since the Friday.

We chose a second round of laser ablation surgery during which there was a bleed on the placenta, so the surgery had to be stopped. They were very concerned for Twin B after this bleed so monitored me for quite a while by ultrasound.

Very close monitoring the following few weeks showed an improvement in both girls and we went from talking about delivering at 24-25 weeks to possibly getting to 32 weeks! Amazing!

That was until we had a fetal cardiology scan where they found that Twin B, Rosie had quite a significant heart problem. It wasn't squeezing enough and there was a backflow of blood. They said if she made it to the weekend, she would be lucky.

The following week we went back for another cardio scan and even we could see that our poor Rosie’s heart was even worse. It was beating slower than it should and the backflow was worse. Rosie sadly passed away on 30 April 2021 at 16:10 at 23+6 gestation and one day before 'viability'.

After Rosie passed, our surviving daughter Poppy was monitored closely, and she came on leaps and bounds. t 27+2, my waters for Rosie ruptured and I was admitted to hospital for even closer monitoring.

On 25 May at 27+3, Poppy made her appearance at 11:25pm, followed by Rosie at 11:26pm. oppy was in neonatal care for 66 days before coming home; she is now a thriving baby.