Hydrops Fetalis

We went to our MFM appt at Week 10 for a followup appt from our previous week appt to confirm what kind of twins we will be having. 

During the scan, the ultrasound tech was extremely quiet and didn’t say a word. After when she was done with the scan, she left the room to talk to our doctor. The doctor came into the room after their discussion to do a few more scan shots of the twins and determined that indeed we were going to have mono mono twins since they can’t locate the membrane. As we were wrapping up our scan he mentioned that he was wanted to discuss something with us.

After I got dressed, Johnny and I met our doctor in an office. It took him awhile to get into the room - approx 15 mins. When he entered he sat down and I had a gut feeling that he was going to deliver us some bad news. 

When our MFM doctor came into the room, he sat down and told us that one of our twin babies had hydrops. 

What is hydrops fetalis?

Hydrops fetalis is a condition in the fetuscharacterized by an accumulation of fluid, or edema, in at least two fetal compartments.^[

When our doctor told us the news we were just shocked and speechless. He continued to talk about the future medical plans for the twins and the pro/cons on this pregnancy. There was sooo much information to process that i couldn’t express my feelings.

Here were the options our MFM doctor told us.

1. Maybe the twin with hydrops will demise in the next couple of weeks
2. Go to UCSF for an intervention procedure at 17 weeks
3. Go to Washington Hospital/UCSF clinic for a Chromosome testing to test the placenta for noonan syndrome.
4. Just terminate the pregnancy. 

When we left the doctor’s office, I broke down in the garage area. I felt so helpless and this journey we have been wanting to start a family is about to end due to the news we got about one of the twins and their hydrops conditions.

What????? Twins???

On January 9th, I had a followup appt with my fertility doctor. It was our last appointment together and he wanted to do the last scan at the Fremont Location so we can get some 3D images of our child.

At the beginning of our scan, he gave us some unexpecting news about our child. He told us that we were having twins. My husband was staying behind our doctor and he just look shocked. I questioned our doctor on how this could’ve happened since we only had one embryo. He said that there are cases like our where the embryo actually splits after implantation but that only happens less than 3%. 

With concerns, he quickly went to the MFM (maternal fetal medicine) to book us an appt so we can see if the twins are going to be mono mono twins (where the twins are sharing the same placenta and anomatic sac) or conjoined twins.

During the MFM appt, the ultrasound tech was able to do a stress test with the babies to see if they were conjoined. It was confirmed that they were not conjoined because one of the babies actually flipped. 

The mfm doctor wanted to see me the next following week. 

Let’s see what is cooking

I had my first couple of ultra with the fertility doctor prior to Christmas. It was very exciting time for my husband and I. We heard the first heartbeat at our first scan.

These pictures below is from the 2nd ultrasound.

(Temporary Backup) My Fertility Journey

My husband and I been married for over 11 years and we are currently expecting with our first pregnancy. We found out on late November that we were expecting. The journey was long especially with our fertility treatment process. It started 6 years ago with many failed attempts of IUI and this pass June we decided to do our first round of IVF. (Details below)

• We had our first consult with our fertility doctor (Dr. Dobson from Palo Alto Medical Foundation - highly recommended) in Jan 2018. 
• Had our medical records and exams for IVF preparation from Feb thru Apr 2018
• Was going to start IVF process in Jun 2018, but we had to postpone due to a family emergency (my father in law passed away)
• IVF resumes in July 2018 with an egg retrieval procedure scheduled in Aug 2018.
• Egg retrieval was a success in Aug 2018. We were able to harvest 22 follicles. They were able to fertilized 17 follicles and 12 survived the 24 hours process. At the end of the 5 day blastyst, we only had one embryo that survived. We sent the one embryo for PSG so we know the condition/quality of the embryo. 
• We got the results in Sept 2018 that our embryo was a normal embryo and it was a boy embryo. 
• On Nov 21st (same day as my mom’s passing date and my brother’s bday), our embryo was implanted. 
• On Nov 30th, I went into the fertility lab to do my blood test and it turned out it was positive.