5/9/2012

Thank you all for your continued love, prayers and support! Here is our most recent update:

Our appointment went well on Wednesday. During the ultrasound both girls looked like they were doing well. They both appear to be growing on track and there was no indication of Twin-to-Twin transfusion, which they are always checking for in pregnancies where twins are sharing one placenta. We also received our final test results back from our amniocentesis and they looked pretty much the same as the preliminary results: Baby A (Isla) was confirmed to have Trisomy 13 and in Baby B (Ava), they didn't find any cells with Trisomy 13 or any other chromosomal abnormalities that are screened for. So this is the best news that we could ask for, YEA! The doctors still want us to be cautious with our expectations as they cannot guarantee that all of the cells in Ava are free of Trisomy 13. They are bothered most by the fact that Ava also has a cleft lip and that the findings are completely unexpected from a medical standpoint, since Ava and Isla appear in all ways to be identical twins. They are waiting for test results (in the next week or so) that can determine whether or not the girls are identical twins or fraternal. They said that they would be very surprised if it came back that they are not indeed identical, but that they have been surprised by so many things so far, that they wouldn't count out the possibility. The findings wouldn't change the way that they are managing my care (because of the shared placenta ect.), but if it turned out that they are not identical, they would expect that Ava's cleft lip was due to environmental factors and not chromosomal. If indeed they are identical twins and Ava doesn't have Trisomy 13, it really is amazing. When you look at the genetic side they only way this could happen is through something called a Triosomy Rescue which is practically unheard of (<1% chance, though it is hard to say because they just haven't seen it occur many times). In essence I look at it as Baby A, giving Baby B a chance at life! It all makes much more sense in illustrations, just know it is amazing. When we had asked Cam what we should name his sister if we had a baby girl, he said Ava and Jeff and I really liked it. When I looked up the meaning and it was "life," it somehow seemed even more beautiful and full of hope. There is still a long journey ahead, thank you all so much for your continued prayers and support. We can't thank you enough.

22 weeks