We have been aware for a long time that Amy and I aren’t quite as "made for each other" as we otherwise would have thought. Our blood doesn't mix well. This means that if I pass along my blood type to any of our babies and during pregnancy the baby's blood mixes with Amy's blood she could begin to produce antibodies that fight against the baby's blood. And just our luck, all four of our kids got enough from me to cause trouble.
Normally there is a simple solution. Many times during pregnancy and even after birth amother in this situation is given a shot that prevents her body from producing these antibodies. They often draw blood and check the status of these particular antibodies. Amy received all of these shots during previous pregnancies and everything was fine with Blake and Derek.
This time we learned early on that, for some unexplained reason, Amy had become “sensitized”. Her body had begun creating the antibodies. Because of this situation we understood that our new set of developing twins would be at risk. We begun a regiment of weekly visits to the doctor where ultrasounds where used to determine how anemic the babies had become. Using ultrasound the doctors can’t get a completely accurate picture of how anemic the babies have become. They could however watch the speed of the flow of the blood in the brain. The idea is that the thinner the blood the faster it moves. They also watched for other signs.
Brandon and Katelyn began to develop signs of anemia early on. The measure of the flow of blood in the brain (MCA Dopplers) began to increase. Even more alarmingly Brandon began to show signs of extra fluids collecting around his heart and in his stomach. This extra fluid is a sign of heart failure. The doctors determined that the best thing to do was to give the babies a blood transfusion in utero. We'd been told early on that this was a very likely scenario but everyone had hoped that we could wait much longer. At less than 23 weeks it was possible to complete a blood transfusion but it was very difficult because everything was so small.
Over the next month we completed three of these blood transfusions. Each had varying amounts of success. They were long and difficult procedures but each time there seemed to be improvement. The doctors where often able to sample the babies blood before and after the transfusions and know exactly what each baby's hematacrit was. We became quite familar with the procedure. At one point during the third procedure, Brandon's heart rate dropped. I was asked to make a serious decisions. If the heart rate remeained low they could deliver the babies but it was early enought in the pregnancy that the survival rate for both babies was rather low. Luckily his heart rate increased and the docters were able to complete the tansfusion.
On July 10th, we once again went in for a transufsion. Amy was always sedated but consious during these procedures. After a couple of hours of stuggling (most of the transfusions lasted over 4 hours) again Brandon's heart rate dropped. The doctors stopped and it slowly returned. They continued as before but every time the needle was inserted into his umbilical cord his heart rate dropped. We were aware that he had a particularly small umbilical cord ant thathe had a single artery when most babies have two. Because of the problems with the heart rate the doctor told evreyone in the room to prepare for an emergancy c-section. As the doctor feared Brandon's heart rate dropped and didn't show signs of returning to normal. The doctor made the decision to deliver the babies. Amy was immeadiatly put under general anesthesia and as I watched the room buzed with activity and within 5 minutes we had delievered two very small and premature babies.
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