The Roland Twins

Please feel free to follow The Roland Twins journey on Facebook- https://m.facebook.com/Strength-for-Sawyer-Sutton-100743925410851/ 

When we first found out we were expecting we were told that there were 2 babies, 2 sacs & 2 placentas. This is known as DiDi twins and are the safest twin pregnancy you can have. There was never a concern with my pregnancy, I went in once a month since I found out at 6 weeks and every time the babies were measuring only 1 day apart (completely normal in twins). With each passing doctors appointment I became more confident that I would be a twin mom and I became so excited to welcome our two girls into the world. 

Wednesday I went into my doctors appointment for my anatomy scan, nervous but excited to see the babies. All my blood tests up until this point had been normal and no abnormalities detected. My doctor was stuck in Colorado due to the snow storm so I saw the NP. Based on measurements I was measuring 6 weeks early, and had gained significant weight the last month. I went to my ultrasound and that’s when we noticed the problem. Baby A (Sawyer) had a ton of excess amniotic fluid in her sac, and baby B (Sutton) looked to have little to none. They sent a referral to a specialist at USA in mobile and I was put on bed rest until I was seen. We were under the impression they would see me immediately Thursday, but they did not get me in until Friday morning. This was the longest time gap I’ve ever experienced. I cried, I prayed, I sat in the girls room begging God that the twins would be ok and I would become a twin mom.

Friday, I get to the specialist & was diagnosed with Twin to twin syndrome or TTTS. This happens to between 10-15 % of identical twin pregnancies. (Again; up until this point we had no idea the girls were identical) they each have their own sacs, but share a placenta. The girls were connected by blood vessels and what was happening was Sutton (baby b) had become the donor twin with Sawyer(baby a) becoming the recipient. This means that Sutton was giving her nutrients, blood etc to sawyer at such a high pace that she was becoming anemic and had no amniotic fluid of her own. How it was explained was that she was holding onto every last drop of urine she created and was not peeing (which causes amniotic fluid at this stage) and sawyer was creating too much as her body could not withhold all the excess she was getting.

The specialist immediately called children’s of Texas who specialize in this, and was our best chance of bringing both girls home. Due to the storm in Houston they were closed Friday but our doctor had personal cell numbers of doctors there who agreed to look at my case and they accepted me almost immediately. The original plan was to wait over the weekend be rescanned Monday and then plan a date for us to travel to Houston. We went home from mobile scared of the unknown but continued to pray. Not even 2 hours after we left mobile I got a phone call that the chief of surgery wanted me in Houston that night to be evaluated as TTTS can move at a rapid pace. (5 levels) I was diagnosed stage 1 Friday morning. Brett & I packed as quickly as possible and hit the roads not knowing how the road conditions would be or what the future held. We were unable to say goodbye to Carter as he was at daycare, and everything went so quickly.

We arrived around 8:30 pm Friday night and was immediately met by 2 fetal surgeons who were expecting us. We had to bring our suitcases & everything into the ultrasound room (again everything moved so fast). They confirmed I had TTTS but diagnosed it as stage 2. Sutton no longer had a visible bladder and was not producing fluid. We discussed all our options. We could do nothing and I had a 90-95% chance of losing them both, or we could have surgery which again risky could potentially save them both or at least save one. Giving up was never an option for me. We immediately decided we would fight for both their lives. I was not admitted into a room until close to midnight after getting my IV, and Covid tested. When I finally got to sleep around 1 am I was awaken at 3 letting me know I had to get up and shower as surgery was soon. The hospital has zero hot water so I took a quick shower, an hour later used the special wipes and shortly after was wheeled off to surgery.

A surgery that should have taken 1 hour tops turned to two. I have an anterior placenta and they had to go in from the left side which is not commonly done but they had no other option as Sutton was stuck right under my placenta and it wasn’t safe. They tried entering my stomach in two separate spots to get the best view possible, but there was a piece they were unable to see/get to with the scope. The surgeons are 90% confident that they were able to laser all the blood vessels combining the girls. The girls left surgery with strong heartbeats, but the first 24 hours are the riskiest. They drained 1 liter of fluid from sawyers sac which was causing the tightness in my stomach, and the uncomfortable feeling I’ve been experiencing (plus the unexplainable weight gain). I prayed that God would surround the twins and keep them fighting. Please help us support this sweet family during this time and pray pray pray.