Support Nicole’s Medical Journey with TTTS

Hi, my name is Nadine, ( better know by my kids friends as Mrs. Harvey or Emmas/Ethans Mom ) I have known Nicole and her family for over 11 years now. I got to know Nicole through my daughter. Emma came home from school one day ( grade 5, her first year in Provost) she told me there was a new girl, who was also from Nova Scotia, her name was Nicole. Since that day Emma & Nicole have been best friends. I got to know her family over the years as well. You could not meet a better family, they are the type of people who would be there for you in a heartbeat if needed & have been there for other families many times.

I wanted to help raise money for Nicole, Caleb & Nicoles mom Stacy while they travel to Toronto to see the only Dr. In Canada who specializes in Evolving Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome, this is just one of the issues Nicole has faced during her pregnancy. I reached out to Stacy to offer help, and asked if Nicole would mind me starting a fundraiser to help with cost of living and the cost of travel. We all know asking for help is something we never want to do. However, at times like this, we need to come together to offer what we can.

I have set this fundraiser at $5,000 to start off. We don’t know how long Nicole will be in Toronto, there are a lot of unknowns at this time, not being able to work & her mother also taking a leave to be by her side will take a toll financially. Caleb will be joining Nicole, we’re just not sure when that will be. He has to stay and work, make sure bills are paid & the pets are taken care of.

No one deserves to have this type of financial burden while doing what’s best for their health & the health of their twin babies.

Most of you now know, Nicole’s pregnancy journey has been anything but normal.

At just 6 weeks Pregnant Nicole & Caleb found out they were expecting Twins, when we all found out about the Twins we were ecstatic.

The love Nicole, Caleb & all of us have for the twin’s is boundless and unwavering.

I want to share Nicole’s message in her own words, on her struggles with her pregnancy.

Nicole Wrote:

I was three weeks pregnant when I found out Caleb and I were expecting.

I was six weeks pregnant when I ended up in the hospital for the first time, and after a very long traumatic night we found out that it was twins.

I was seven weeks pregnant when I was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum. This started a cycle of trial and error, medication after medication.

I was twelve weeks pregnant when suddenly nothing would stay down. Not meds, not food, not fluids. I couldn't swallow my own spit.

I was thirteen weeks pregnant when I ended up in the hospital for the second time. Six days later at fourteen weeks pregnant I ended up in the hospital again via ambulance.

I was fifteen weeks pregnant when community paramedics started coming to our house three times a week to give me fluids and meds.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.

I was sixteen weeks pregnant when I was admitted to the hospital on a continuous IV drip of fluids and medications and steroids to try to recover enough to go home. "Recovered enough" was determined by only vomiting 10 times a day- this was a big win for me.

I was seventeen weeks pregnant when I was told that I had lost 34% of my pre pregnancy body weight.

I was eighteen weeks pregnant when I was diagnosed with vasa previa and told I would have to deliver via c section, 8 weeks before my due date.

I was nineteen weeks pregnant when I ended up in the hospital again. I was diagnosed with ICP and put on a medication that undid any progress I had made on the nausea and vomiting.

I was twenty weeks pregnant when I was admitted to the hospital for pre term labour and received steroid injections to stop it.

I was twenty one weeks pregnant when I was put back on daily steroids to try to combat the symptoms brought on by the other medications and told that I had only four weeks to gain back my pre pregnancy weight, or the only other option would be a feeding tube.

I was twenty two weeks pregnant when I was diagnosed with evolving twin to twin transfusion syndrome, the scariest thing that can happen in a twin pregnancy. I was told to pack a suitcase and go into every follow up appointment expecting to be sent to Toronto for surgery.

Now, I am twenty three weeks pregnant. Twenty weeks of excitement, terror, pain, and sickness. More pills and IV pricks than I can count. My veins are scarred and bruised, my stomach has shrank from months of little to no food intake, my throat is constantly sore from the wretching and the acid, and my body is weak and tired. I've had more doctors appointments and hospital visits in the last 20 weeks than in my other 22 years combined. My due date changes with every appointment and with it, changes the day I will have to be hospitalized for constant monitoring beforehand.

Next week, at twenty four weeks, I will travel to Toronto to be seen by a specialty clinic and evaluated for surgery.

I get asked often how I'm feeling and how my pregnancy is going. Truthfully, I never know how to respond. It's hard to talk about. It's hard to see the way people change how they talk and act around you when they know that you're not doing well. It's hard to uproot your entire life to make time for multiple doctors appointments and paramedic visits weekly. It's hard to discern when someone is asking because they genuinely care, or when they are asking because that's what you do when someone is sick. It's hard to hear "wow, you don't look pregnant with twins!" Because I know how much I've lost and how hard my body has been fighting. It's a good day if I make it from the bed to the couch. I haven't taken bump pictures because I can't stand up for long enough to snap one without getting dizzy and sick.

To say that this pregnancy has been the hardest thing I have ever gone through mentally, physically, and emotionally is an understatement. I did more to "prepare" in the first three weeks that I knew I was pregnant than I've been able to in the last twenty. It is difficult to let myself be excited about the big changes to come in our lives when everything has been so turbulent and uncertain.

And yet I am. I am thrilled. I have always wanted to be a mother and to know that I am weeks away from meeting our two precious babies is both exciting and terrifying.

Twenty weeks ago when I saw those two pink lines I had no idea what to expect. Sitting here now thinking about the next few weeks I feel like I know even less. All I know is how loved these two little babies are, and how excited we are to finally be able to celebrate their arrival and with that, to be able to celebrate me getting to have my life and my body back.

Nicole

We know not everyone can afford to donate & help, for those of you who can’t donate, please share our fundraiser with others and Thank you so much for every donation and every share.

If you can donate $5, $10, $25, $50 please donate. We appreciate every donation no matter how much. We all know every dollar helps.

With all our love, we thank you.

Nadine, Emma, Nicole, Caleb & Stacy.