The Blanco Twins
Donation protected
My name is Vanessa Blanco Alvarado. My husband and I, Julian Blanco, are expecting twins with my first pregnancy. I am currently 21 weeks pregnant, on Tuesday we were told our twins developed Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS). It is a disorder that affects identical twin pregnancies where the two fetuses share a placenta.
The twins’ blood vessels from their umbilical cords have connections on the placenta which cause unequal sharing of blood and fluid volume between them. With TTTS, one twin acts as the “donor” for the “recipient” twin. The “donor” twin has signs of low blood volume and little amniotic fluid with difficulty seeing the bladder due to lack of urine production. The “recipient” twin has signs of excessive blood volume and has high amniotic fluid levels and a large bladder.
Because our twins were developing and changing drastically within days, they immediately flew us to the Colorado Fetal Care Center at the Children's hospital in Denver Colorado.
The treatment we revived this morning was a laser treatment. This procedure is a small scope with a camera inserted into the uterus in order to see the abnormal vessel connections between the babies. A laser fiber is then inserted alongside the camera and used to stop the blood flow between the babies. They've also done an amnioreduction, a small needle is introduced into the amniotic sac with the extra fluid under ultrasound guidance. Amniotic fluid is then removed until the amount of fluid is back to normal. This gives the benefit of decreasing abdominal pressure for the mom and may also slow the progression of the disease.
They removed two liters of fluid from the larger baby sac this morning. I am currently on a 24 hour stay at the Children's Hospital for risks or complications. They monitor to make sure my water doesn't break risking an early delivery. They are also monitoring the babies to make sure they survive the next 24 hours since their blood vessels aren't connected to each other anymore.
We would like to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts that have been praying for us and the twins, and have been keeping us in their thoughts. The support has been incredible, we can't thank everyone enough for all your kind words!! If anyone is willing to make a donation we would be truly grateful for anything! Glory be to God, our twins are in His hands.
The twins’ blood vessels from their umbilical cords have connections on the placenta which cause unequal sharing of blood and fluid volume between them. With TTTS, one twin acts as the “donor” for the “recipient” twin. The “donor” twin has signs of low blood volume and little amniotic fluid with difficulty seeing the bladder due to lack of urine production. The “recipient” twin has signs of excessive blood volume and has high amniotic fluid levels and a large bladder.
Because our twins were developing and changing drastically within days, they immediately flew us to the Colorado Fetal Care Center at the Children's hospital in Denver Colorado.
The treatment we revived this morning was a laser treatment. This procedure is a small scope with a camera inserted into the uterus in order to see the abnormal vessel connections between the babies. A laser fiber is then inserted alongside the camera and used to stop the blood flow between the babies. They've also done an amnioreduction, a small needle is introduced into the amniotic sac with the extra fluid under ultrasound guidance. Amniotic fluid is then removed until the amount of fluid is back to normal. This gives the benefit of decreasing abdominal pressure for the mom and may also slow the progression of the disease.
They removed two liters of fluid from the larger baby sac this morning. I am currently on a 24 hour stay at the Children's Hospital for risks or complications. They monitor to make sure my water doesn't break risking an early delivery. They are also monitoring the babies to make sure they survive the next 24 hours since their blood vessels aren't connected to each other anymore.
We would like to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts that have been praying for us and the twins, and have been keeping us in their thoughts. The support has been incredible, we can't thank everyone enough for all your kind words!! If anyone is willing to make a donation we would be truly grateful for anything! Glory be to God, our twins are in His hands.
Organiser and beneficiary
Vanessa E Blanco
Organiser
Worthington, MN
Julian Blanco
Beneficiary
