Twin to Twin: From High-Risk Pregnancy to Happy Family
359
Twin to Twin: From High-Risk Pregnancy to Happy Family
359eBook
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Overview
One minute Crystal was sitting at a candlelight dinner in Paris with her husband. The next she was back home in Houston, sitting in her OB-GYN’s office concerned that she was having a second miscarriage. But she was actually pregnant with twins! Since Crystal and her husband Ed already had a two-year-old daughter, Abigail, she couldn’t imagine why mothering twins would be all that different. That is until she learns her twins have a life-threatening condition called Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, meaning Baby B is transfusing blood (disproportionately) to Baby A.
Crystal is declared too high risk, so her OB sends her to the 5th floor of the Houston Medical Center for the duration of her pregnancy. Sitting alone in her hospital bed, Crystal wonders how she’ll pass the next few weeks, away from her husband and daughter. Soon she embarks on an emotional rollercoaster—from late night emergency ultrasounds to hospital baby blessings, sprinkled with comic relief from nurses and hospital staff.
Twin to Twin is a raw and inspirational story filled with tenderness, vulnerability, and humor. It chronicles the wildest, most terrifying and challenging year of Crystal’s life, which is also the most beautiful and eye-opening. Her hope is that it will bring strength to other women dealing with their own personal trials and tragedies, so they can also triumph.
Praise for Twin to Twin
“An “orphan” disease, expectant mothers with Twin to Twin (and their support systems) should adopt . . . Twin to Twin. An intimate account, told with flagging and unflagging optimism, Duffy’s story ensures that others need not ride alone through this rollercoaster experience.” —Suzy Becker, author of One Good Egg
“Duffy’s wit and self-deprecating humor helped her survive the realities and (sometimes devastating) physical and emotional truths of her high-stakes twin pregnancy. Twin to Twin is engaging, compelling, and yes, entertaining read.” —Susan Krawitz, author of Viva Rose
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781633538344 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Mango Media |
| Publication date: | 07/22/2022 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 359 |
| File size: | 4 MB |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Praise for Twin to Twin 4
Author's Note 17
Foreword 18
Part 1 The Beginning 21
Chapter 1 The Ultrasound 23
Chapter 2 The Wait 33
Chapter 3 The Longest Day 43
Chapter 4 Laser Ablation 57
Chapter 5 What Do We Do Now? 65
Chapter 6 The List 71
Chapter 7 Leaving One Child to Save Others 77
Part 2 The Hospital 83
Chapter 8 Move-In Day 85
Chapter 9 The Dorm Room 91
Chapter 10 My Antepartum Family 99
Chapter 11 Keeping the Faith 109
Chapter 12 Routine Job 119
Chapter 13 We're All in This Together 131
Chapter 14 Together Again 143
Chapter 15 Everyday Heroes 157
Chapter 16 Deepening Tensions 167
Chapter 17 For Better or Worse 175
Chapter 18 Blessingway 187
Chapter 19 I'm Never Going Back 193
Part 3 The Delivery 207
Chapter 20 A Mothers Intuition 209
Chapter 21 The Prep 225
Chapter 22 The Birth 233
Chapter 23 Placental Abruption 243
Part 4 The NICU 251
Chapter 24 The Updates 253
Chapter 25 Waiting 265
Chapter 26 The NICU 269
Chapter 27 The Long Goodbye 275
Chapter 28 Home Bittersweet Home 287
Chapter 29 In My Arms 291
Chapter 30 Five Weeks 297
Chapter 31 Their Arrival 303
Epilogue 2016 313
Acknowledgements 321
High Risk Pregnancy and Twins/Multiples Resources 323
About the Author 333
What People are Saying About This
“An inspirational and heart-wrenching book.” —Cea Sunrise Person, Author of North of Normal
“An “orphan” disease, expectant mothers with Twin to Twin (and their support systems) should adopt Crystal Duffy’s new memoir TWIN TO TWIN. An intimate account, told with flagging and unflagging optimism, Duffy’s story ensures that others need not ride alone through this rollercoaster experience.” —Suzy Becker, Author of One Good Egg
“Crystal Duffy’s wit and self-deprecating humor helped her survive the realities and (sometimes devastating) physical and emotional truths of her high-stakes twin pregnancy. Twin to Twin is engaging, compelling, and yes, entertaining read.” —Susan Krawitz, Author of Viva Rose
“Your story is so moving and dramatic—the things that you and Ed and Abby and your twins went through! You make it all come alive, with emotion and humor and honesty and pain, and I felt like I was right there with you.” —Jane Roper, Author of Double Time
“Imagine the worst day of your life so far, then multiply that by infinity. We imagine that is how Crystal Duffy must have felt the day she's told her twin pregnancy is threatened by Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS). A potentially fatal disease that can take away one or both babies, TTTS is one of the least discussed issues in books about multiples - because it IS scary. Duffy dives bravely into her new frightening reality and emerges on the other side with a message of hope and optimism. Her must-read story is one of courage, honesty, family, and above all else, love.” —Megan Woolsey and Alison Lee, Editors of Multiples Illuminated: A Collection of Stories and Advice from Parents of Twins, Triplets and More and Multiples Illuminated: Life with Twins and Triplets, the Toddler to Tween Years
“An exciting ride through a delightful and surprising diagnosis that quickly turned terrifying. You’ll empathize with Crystal, cheer for her, and draw strength for your own struggles.” —Margaret Welwood, Author of Mother of Twins
“Twin to Twin is Crystal Duffy’s journey through her high-risk, high-stakes twin pregnancy. Both beautiful and painful, the book, with glorious details and pacing, shows the power of one mother’s love and resilience against all odds. —Marcelle Soviero, Editor-in-Chief Brain Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers
"Crystal did great after such a complicated pregnancy. Twin to Twin is both an exciting and dramatic read that brings to life the fears and challenges of a high-risk pregnancy. This memoir is a fabulous resource for parents, family members and friends, but also for professionals, including physicians, nurses, therapists and genetic counselors.” —Dr. Paul Cook, M.D., with The OB/GYN Center of Houston affiliated with Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital
“Anyone in the field of fetal medicine, or any field of medicine for that matter, should consider reading Crystal’s book. It is an uninhibited disclosure of a mother’s experience with a life-threatening pregnancy complication. Not only does it show the sometimes yawning chasm between what doctors counsel and what patients hear, but Crystal reveals it with clarity, wit and empathy. Her story displays the extraordinary courage of a pregnant mother and the enduring compassion, talent and wisdom of her team of providers. It is an uplifting example of what humans do best: care from each other. This book is Crystals way of caring by sharing her experience so that others can benefit.” —Stephen P. Emery, MD. Director, Center for Innovative Fetal Intervention, Magee-Womens Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC)
Interviews
The Story Behind the Book
About five years ago my husband Ed and I were on a family vacation in Maui. It’s one of my favorite places in the world—with lush vegetation, expansive beaches and rolling white-capped waves. We considered it a baby moon—and were ecstatic since we had just found out I was six weeks pregnant. We were going to be parents, we announced, sharing the news with everyone we met.
Ed and I were walking along Kaanapali beach when my back began to throb; heavy cramps pounded inside me like an earthquake, burning like an inferno. I hunched over in pain, and then Ed picked me up and carried me into the hotel room.
I had a miscarriage in the midst of paradise.
Devastated, we spent hours waiting by the phone for my OB in Houston to call us back, answer our questions and advise us on next steps. We spent a day and a half in the Maui ER contemplating going through with the dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure—which vacuums the fetal tissue out of the uterus. I ultimately decided that it would be too painful, both emotionally and physically to do it, and opted to let the fetus pass out of my body naturally. The morning before we left for home, as the last of the fetal tissue trickled out of my body, I silently said goodbye to my baby.
When we returned from Hawaii, I was so overcome with the loss that I stayed in bed for days reading up on pregnancy procedures. I was determined to get pregnant and try again until we succeeded. Exactly a year later, I gave birth to our daughter Abigail. She was our little miracle; the baby we had prayed for. It was worth every moment of pain, we had endured just to hold her in our arms.
***
Two years later, I’m lying exhausted on the couch in the living room suffering from sleep deprivation, trying to process the last three years of my life—from the miscarriage in Hawaii to my imprisonment (aka bed rest in the hospital) to feeling co-opted as mother by a monitoring machine, and helping my twins fight for their lives.
That’s the moment I realized that I wanted to share my story—not just for the women that have had high risk or even twin pregnancies but for all women that journey through the mysterious and (sometimes dangerous) path of pregnancy into motherhood. This story is for all of us: for the obstacles we overcome, for the decisions we make, for the hope that we each find our strength when faced with what seems like untenable adversity.