Selective Reduction for Triplets

Discussion in 'General' started by swak50, Jul 6, 2009.

  1. swak50

    swak50 Member

    I know that this is a touchie subject and I am not interested in judgements or opinions from people who haven't been in this situation.

    Having said that, is there anyone who is willing to talk to me about selective reduction? Why they did or didn't do it? I am 8 weeks pregnant with triplets and have the opportunity to reduce.

    Or, does anyone know of someone with triplets that is willing to share their story? I am interested in hearing about all stories (successful and not so successful).

    I would appreciate any feedback you have. My email is [email protected]
     
  2. tiff12080

    tiff12080 Well-Known Member

    :hug: I know you are faced with some difficult decisions. I know a women from another board with trips and I sent her a link to you r post. Hopefully she will email you.

    ETA-Kellie just sent me a message and said she has been talking to you. I hope she can help you with your decision.
     
  3. sullivanre

    sullivanre Well-Known Member

    I know we have women on the board who have had selective reduction although I don't think it was with triplets. I hope you can get some help and some good advice with your decision.

    Best of luck and congrats on your pregnancy!
     
  4. tamaras

    tamaras Well-Known Member

    Congratulations on your pregnancy!

    I hope you get some good advice from others :hug: Good luck with everything :hug:
     
  5. dfaut

    dfaut 30,000-Post Club

    I have a friend with Trips. They are all healthy, with minor delays and two of them wear glasses. That's about all I can tell you about that.

    :hug: Good luck with your decision! :hug:
     
  6. TwinLove

    TwinLove Well-Known Member

    No advice, just wanted to wish you lots of luck with your decision. :hug: :hug: :hug:
     
  7. swak50

    swak50 Member

    TandC -> I found Kellie a couple of days ago and she has been extremely helpful and informative. Thanks for contacting her.

    After almost 4 days to think, I believe (after having time to calm down and hearing the experiences of Kellie and others) that I can raise triplets, I'm just really concerned about the serious risks (death, cerebral palsy, deafness, blindness) with premature birth. They're real and last a lifetime. If I was carrying a singleton, I don't think that I would be worried about these issues. Even given my age (37) I wasn't going to have Down's Syndrome testing, however, 3 disabled children is a different story.

    I'm looking forward to speaking with the Specialists and finding out the statistics. Why do some women carry to 34 weeks and others 24, 28...?

    dfaut -> Hearing about minor delays (my brother is minorly challenged and works/lives on his own) and having glasses (my husband and I both do) is definitely a success story, thanks for sharing! Do you know how many weeks she carried them for? How tall she was? If she had any complications? How much weight she gained and when? How healthy she was (specifically blood pressure/heart and gestational diabetes) and if they were 3 singletons or 1 and twins (as I'm sure you are all well aware, twins can be a risk within themselves). All these factors (and of course many more) have an impact on how long one can carry. I would be really interested to know if she's willing to share.

    With respect to twins, can you guys tell me a bit about the risks of carrying twins with separate sacs but the same placenta, specifically twin to twin syndrome. I'm not sure but I think that I'm carrying mono/di because they split more than 2 days after fertilization, otherwise wouldn't the embryologist have noticed that the extra cells (my eggs were Day 3)? Regardless, when did you find out whether yours were mono/di, di/di or fraternal? Anyone have any information on the risks (with respect to miscarriage) to one twin if the other dies?

    Thanks a lot to all that have responded it really makes a difference!
     
  8. lianyla

    lianyla Well-Known Member

    Do you have an ultrasound pic? Are they THREE separate black blobs or 2??

    That's how you can tell if they're mono di or not.

    Congrats and I know many women who have triplets and they are doing great.

    Good luck!!
     
  9. tiff12080

    tiff12080 Well-Known Member

    My boys were Mono DI and did develop ttts. There is surgery however we never needed it. I found out mono di at 7 weeks. I was told with identical that share a placenta, if one dies often the other will too. Although there are many women on the ttts site that lost one and went on to deliver a healthy twin. ttts only occurs in about 15-20% of mono di pregnancies. You have a much better chance of that not happening.


    ETA if you check out the ttts site there are a couple women on there that had trips, mono-di/frat
     
  10. Kyrstyn

    Kyrstyn Well-Known Member

    I have no advice as far as SR goes, but good luck with your decision! :hug: I hope the women that have had to make that decision can be of help to you. :hug:

    Twin pregnancies are not without risks, that is for sure. My Dr's informed me that they were mono/di twins, but we never had any problems with TTTS. I delivered my girls at 28 weeks 1 day, and they are both perfectly healthy with no problems from their prematurity to speak of. I think you would get the most accurate statistics by speaking with a specialist, hopefully they can give you more insight.

    Best of Luck to you!!
     
  11. swak50

    swak50 Member

    Thanks TandC.

    What is the "ttts site"? Could you send it to me. On my ultrasound, one can clearly see the division between all the eggs. The one between the fraternal and identicals is much thicker. We are positive that they are identical as I only had two eggs put in. I am new to this site (and all forums for that matter), how can I post/send a picture?

    Thanks swak50
     
  12. Donita

    Donita Well-Known Member

    I have triplets. You could PM me, I'd be willing to talk with you. Congratulations!
     
  13. MichelleL

    MichelleL Well-Known Member

    Good luck with your decision. :hug:

    I wanted to address the how to post a picture question. You can upload your pictures to a website such as photobucket and then post a link in here. When you are in the "add reply" screen you will see some small boxes above where you are typing. There is one next to the smiley face with a green + sign in it. Click on that and add your link to the picture. Let us know if you need further help from there.
     
    1 person likes this.
  14. tiff12080

    tiff12080 Well-Known Member


    Here's the site http://www.tttsfoundation.org/
    to post a pic upload it to photobucket and then paste the link in your post.

    The ttts site is great and the women are super supportive. They will give you lots of info on what to look for in your pregnancy and questions to ask the doctor.
     
  15. DATJMom

    DATJMom Well-Known Member

    :hug: I have no experience with trips, but I know all about the "worry/what if" aspect of a multiples pregnancy. You are not alone with that at all. :hug:
     
  16. snowmom

    snowmom Well-Known Member

    I have heard of a couple of cases of trips where there was one set of twins and a singleton. Unfortuanetly, she went into early labour when one of the twins membrames ruptured, and at 17w( I think) and lost the pregnancy. That being said, I ALSO know a woman with fraternal trips where she carried them to 37w and they are healthy beautiful children. My twins were born at 31w, and they are fraternal, but the placenta fused and we had some concerns about IUGR for DS and TTTS, which while extreamly rare in fraternal twins, can occur. Because mine were more than 25% different in weight, they were considering the option of early induction because of the risk of TTTS. However, mother nature took care of it, and they are now 17m and healthy. No complications from an ealry birth.

    Pregnancy has inherent risks no matter what, carrying multiples even more. That being said, trips are being born more and more often with no adverse effects, and modern medicine is a wonder. So congrats on the pregnancy, and look after yourself
     
  17. maybell

    maybell Well-Known Member

    I am a member of a local Twin/Triplet mom's group... you might see if you have one in your area so you could talk with some women and see them. In our group there are many, many triplet moms! They really are awesome women and their children are just lovely! Like the other posters said any multiples pregnancy is more risky... and a triplet one just has more to go wrong...

    one friend did IVF - put back 2 embryos, and she's got an identical set + a fraternal triplet... b/c one embryo split.

    One of the ladies in my local group just started her own blog w/a friend
    http://www.multiplesandmore.blogspot.com/
    one of the moms is a triplet mom, Lani. She may be of help to you.

    I hope you are able to make your decision, I was scared too... I was 37 when I got pregnant... and was sure with my 3 embryos I'd end up with 3 or 4 if one split... its hard to know what you'd do until you get in the situation.

    Again, you may see if you have a local multiples club nearby you... ours is awesome. www.gomott.org
    and here's a link to the national club. http://www.nomotc.org/ where you can search for nearby resources.

    with all that said, I know one of our local club's members was pregnant w/trips, but lost one after birth... they were born quite early. We have many moms in our group that had their multiples early, we even have one twin mom with 23 weekers! yes, 23!!! They are in occupational therapy, but I believe they are doing great. She just beams when she talks about them.
     
  18. swak50

    swak50 Member

    A big thanks to everyone that has responded. I really appreciate all your comments and want you to know that they really make a difference. It's so nice to know that you're not alone. I've had 10 days to digest the triplet news, had 2 ultrasounds, and 1 midwife appointment. Tomorrow I meet with the High-Risk Specialists and have my 59 questions all ready (won't they love me, smile).

    There is still a lot ahead of us but I feel better informed to make the right decision(s) for us.

    Keep the comments coming, swak50
     
  19. JessiePlus2

    JessiePlus2 Well-Known Member

    No personal experience with triplets here, but I wanted to share a blog that I've been reading lately. The mom is pg with triplets and will be induced in a few days at 35 weeks! She's carried them longer than I carried my twins and without any complications. It's an amazing story for sure. http://blantonbaby.blogspot.com/
     
  20. swak50

    swak50 Member

    Thanks for the link JessiePlus.
    Question, were your twins identical? If so, what kind? I'm carrying mono/di's (and a fraternal) and would love to hear about what people experienced/are experiencing (medically).
     
  21. JessiePlus2

    JessiePlus2 Well-Known Member

    Mine were fraternal, boy/girl. I had some preterm labor around 30 weeks that was stopped after 3 days in the hospital. I went on bed rest at that point. Got a PE and DVT (blood clots in the lung and groin) about a week after that. (Because of the clots, I found out I have a blood clotting disorder which makes me more likely than the average person to get a blood clot.) Spent a few more days in the hospital, then released. About a week later back to the hospital for monitoring as they thought the twins had growth discordance with my DS much smaller than my DD. They were born a week into that hospital stay and it turned out they were within 4 oz of each other! They were born at 34 weeks and spent 2 weeks in the NICU getting the eating thing down.

    I don't remember if the triplets from that blog are fraternal or ID. They're all boys so I guess they could be ID?
     
  22. KellyJ

    KellyJ Well-Known Member

    One of my old friends had ID boys and girl (triplets). She had some fairly high-risk pregnancy issues and was on hospital bedrest for a bit toward the end, but she went as long as I did with twins and had no NICU time. Every single pregnancy has risks, even the singleton ones. My singleton pregnancy was way worse and full of issues than my twin pregnancy. I have never been pregnant past 35 weeks.

    I hope you receieved the answers you needed at the specialists office. Congratulations on your pregnancy. I hope all goes well for you.

    Kelly
     
  23. MrsBQ02

    MrsBQ02 Well-Known Member

    A good girlfriend of mine has triplets and while she was in the hospital for PTL for I think close to 2 months, the triplets are PERFECT. They were in EI for just few short months but have all graduated. They were born at 30 weeks exactly, the smallest one weighing about a pound and a half, but if you saw them now, I promise you would have no stinkin' clue they were preemies. It was scary while on bedrest for sure, and they were in the NICU a good long while, but it CAN be done! I'm proud of you for keeping them-- I think it's important to remember to take GOOD GOOD care of yourself and take things as easy as possible. There are quite a few moms on here w/ triplets and we've all dealt with multiples and all the issues that come with it. You'll find great support here, I'm certain! Best of luck to you!!! :hug:
     
  24. talivstouwe

    talivstouwe Well-Known Member

    :hug: Congratulations on your pregnancy, and welcome!

    I have mono/di boys. They developed TTTS by 14 weeks, had laser ablation surgery at 18 weeks, found out they were both int he same sac at 19 weeks, and their cords were already tangled. I went inpatient at 24 weeks and delivered them at 32 weeks. They are now 2 and happy, extremely healthy, their only delay is a minor speech delay and are doing really well with speech therapy.

    I didn't have a good experience at the TTTS site and stopped visiting it very early, but I know others have had a good experience. Just remember that some people don't always express their opinions in a polite way. :)

    Good luck with your decision and I hope we see you around here in the future!
     
  25. Danibell

    Danibell Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    Congrats on your triplets!! :wub: I just wanted to mention that there is a small chance they are all fraternal still! My cousin had trips through IVF, they put 3 embryo's in but one died, then suddenly she had 3 sacs in there! They assumed one had split, and went through the whole pregnancy thinking they had two identical's and one fraternal.

    Once they were born they found out that none were identical! The only explanation is that she somehow ovulated one of the smaller eggs they didn't take out, and it fertilized on it's own! They have 3 very different kids who are now 4.5 yrs old! They are doing fabulously and as far as I know, no delays. I know she spent a good big of time on bedrest in the hospital for incompetant cervix, and they were born about 2 months early (31-32 wks) but otherwise they are doing great!
     
  26. tiggerlm26

    tiggerlm26 Active Member

    My SIL has triplets, I have twins. The triplets were born at 33 weeks, the twins a 32 weeks. All 5 had NICU time but none of the 5 have any long term issues at all. So health of the kids is all fine.

    What I will say, is seeing them raise triplets and us raise twins - we do not have it twice as hard having two but they have it three times as hard having three.

    I love my neices and nephew and could imagine life with out them - I am just trying to give you beyond the health issue perspective. People raise mutiples all the time and everyone turns out just fine - only you know what you and your family and marriage can handle.

    Good Luck
     
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