Alicia and Jesse's Rare Twin Girls!
Donation protected
Jesse and Alicia Caron are expecting a rare set of identical twin girls causing Alicia to be off of work and admitted to the hospital in Green Bay, four hours from home for two months until the babies are born. After the babies are born they’ll spend some time in the NICU there for a time frame anywhere from a few weeks to a few months depending on many factors. Some people have been asking about what they can do to help out, so if you feel so inclined you can donate to the family here! We are hoping to help them offset some of the medical, travel, and lodging expenses. All funds raised will be sent directly to Alicia and Jesse Caron as the beneficiaries of this campaign. Please continue to pray for Alicia, Jesse, Kailey, and their precious baby girls that will soon be here!
Below you can find a link to their TV6 news story and a little background from Alicia explaining their situation.
http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.uppermichiganssource.com%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2FCalumet-couple-expecting-rare-set-of-twins-484885071.html&h=AT0KYhqMqX3YPOt9r2gonNHPHonr9GkZcvG1Sr2KhQ46nVJ2mvF8Ps1t6fKWUyM8wc4X1_0QHuoY-poCzoNknMI3s8ycJDmGZaEDYFwrdNaxyUEMAsoWkx6-UD8t3RsJ5X_ij3t-EOc&s=1
Alicia's Story:
We found out we were pregnant as soon as we possibly could! 3 weeks and 4 days along on January 17, 2018. We were so excited! Because I am healthy and my dates were solid we did not need an early ultrasound, we saw our provider and planned for a scan at about 20 weeks, a standard anatomy scan. We heard a heartbeat at 10 weeks, Music to our ears!
Fast forward to about 20 weeks as we showed up to our ultrasound excited to see that heartbeat flicker on the screen. We were completely shocked when the sonographer excitedly asked “did you guys know you were having twins?!” We laughed and laughed... we were happy, excited and ready to tackle the challenges that caring for two babies would bring us.
The next day we learned they were monochorionic monoamniotic twins, AKA mono mono twins. Which means our babies share a placenta (like all identical twins do) and they share an amniotic sac (which is where the rare part comes in). Basically our fertilized egg split into two, but they split a bit later than they normally do so only one amniotic sac was formed and they both would live and grow inside of that for the duration of the pregnancy. Mono mono twins occur in one of every 35,000 to 60,000 pregnancies!
Because the twins live in the same little sac, they are quite high risk. Their proximity of each other’s cords cause risk of the twins becoming entangled in one another’s cords or to compress each other’s cords which cuts off their nutrient and oxygen supply. Even though the twins are healthy and doing well now, it just takes a split second for them to become comprised and potentially pass away. Some statistics say that mono mono twins only have a 50% survival rate from the beginning of pregnancy through 24 weeks.
Once the babies reach 24 weeks gestation, or about 6 months, they are considered viable. This means that prior to 24 weeks, generally if something goes wrong the doctors aren’t able to do anything to save them and they won’t try. So once we reached 24 weeks, our babies stood a chance and we were admitted to the hospital in Green Bay for close monitoring and if something goes bad we will go for emergency c section right down the hall from my room and the babies will be admitted to the level 3 NICU right down the hall from us. Standard practice is to deliver these babies by c section anywhere from 32-34 weeks, so about 6-8 weeks early. My maternal fetal medicine specialist plans to deliver us by c section at 32 weeks and 5 days. I am monitored 6 times daily for an hour (at a minimum) to watch for fetal distress, have daily ultrasounds, and weekly size measurements. If any of those show any signs of distress we will deliver at that time.
Our sweet girls have a long road ahead and will spend time in the NICU, that time frame is to be determined. Some preemies do really well and require short stays and others require more long term NICU care. While the girls are in the NICU, daddy will be driving back and forth from home for work and Mommy will need long term lodging to be close to the girls and hopefully work on feeding them! It’s all a one day at a time situation currently, daddy is home working and trying to keep the home front running and making trips to visit when he can! We’re completely winging it because there’s no telling what direction things will go. If I end up requiring an early section it is unlikely that Jesse will be able to make it for the delivery... we call them our million dollar babies! But we love them to pieces and keep thinking someday they’ll take good care of us!
Below you can find a link to their TV6 news story and a little background from Alicia explaining their situation.
http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.uppermichiganssource.com%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2FCalumet-couple-expecting-rare-set-of-twins-484885071.html&h=AT0KYhqMqX3YPOt9r2gonNHPHonr9GkZcvG1Sr2KhQ46nVJ2mvF8Ps1t6fKWUyM8wc4X1_0QHuoY-poCzoNknMI3s8ycJDmGZaEDYFwrdNaxyUEMAsoWkx6-UD8t3RsJ5X_ij3t-EOc&s=1
Alicia's Story:
We found out we were pregnant as soon as we possibly could! 3 weeks and 4 days along on January 17, 2018. We were so excited! Because I am healthy and my dates were solid we did not need an early ultrasound, we saw our provider and planned for a scan at about 20 weeks, a standard anatomy scan. We heard a heartbeat at 10 weeks, Music to our ears!
Fast forward to about 20 weeks as we showed up to our ultrasound excited to see that heartbeat flicker on the screen. We were completely shocked when the sonographer excitedly asked “did you guys know you were having twins?!” We laughed and laughed... we were happy, excited and ready to tackle the challenges that caring for two babies would bring us.
The next day we learned they were monochorionic monoamniotic twins, AKA mono mono twins. Which means our babies share a placenta (like all identical twins do) and they share an amniotic sac (which is where the rare part comes in). Basically our fertilized egg split into two, but they split a bit later than they normally do so only one amniotic sac was formed and they both would live and grow inside of that for the duration of the pregnancy. Mono mono twins occur in one of every 35,000 to 60,000 pregnancies!
Because the twins live in the same little sac, they are quite high risk. Their proximity of each other’s cords cause risk of the twins becoming entangled in one another’s cords or to compress each other’s cords which cuts off their nutrient and oxygen supply. Even though the twins are healthy and doing well now, it just takes a split second for them to become comprised and potentially pass away. Some statistics say that mono mono twins only have a 50% survival rate from the beginning of pregnancy through 24 weeks.
Once the babies reach 24 weeks gestation, or about 6 months, they are considered viable. This means that prior to 24 weeks, generally if something goes wrong the doctors aren’t able to do anything to save them and they won’t try. So once we reached 24 weeks, our babies stood a chance and we were admitted to the hospital in Green Bay for close monitoring and if something goes bad we will go for emergency c section right down the hall from my room and the babies will be admitted to the level 3 NICU right down the hall from us. Standard practice is to deliver these babies by c section anywhere from 32-34 weeks, so about 6-8 weeks early. My maternal fetal medicine specialist plans to deliver us by c section at 32 weeks and 5 days. I am monitored 6 times daily for an hour (at a minimum) to watch for fetal distress, have daily ultrasounds, and weekly size measurements. If any of those show any signs of distress we will deliver at that time.
Our sweet girls have a long road ahead and will spend time in the NICU, that time frame is to be determined. Some preemies do really well and require short stays and others require more long term NICU care. While the girls are in the NICU, daddy will be driving back and forth from home for work and Mommy will need long term lodging to be close to the girls and hopefully work on feeding them! It’s all a one day at a time situation currently, daddy is home working and trying to keep the home front running and making trips to visit when he can! We’re completely winging it because there’s no telling what direction things will go. If I end up requiring an early section it is unlikely that Jesse will be able to make it for the delivery... we call them our million dollar babies! But we love them to pieces and keep thinking someday they’ll take good care of us!
Organizer and beneficiary
Jen Fitch
Organizer
Osceola, MI
Alicia Caron
Beneficiary