Support me in my quest to give twins (triplets and more) the best possible chance against Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome...

I hope our story will help to explain why I'm so utterly passionate about better standards of antenatal care for multiple pregnancy and why I'm running the LLHM in April to raise vital funds. 

In December 2021 we found out we were expecting our first baby. Or so we thought - it turned out to be our first TWO babies! We had been blessed with twins. We were simply over the moon. 

Our type of twin pregnancy meant that our twins were sharing a placenta (MCDA). This is a higher risk type of twin pregnancy and my research (via the Twins Trust) informed me that we needed specialist monitoring and antenatal care. One of the most serious risk factors was a complication called 'Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome' (TTTS). We switched hospitals due to this and our thorough and expert care began at Lancashire Womens and Newborn Centre (Burnley).

In March 2022, our greatest fears were confirmed. At just 17 weeks gestation, after a very subtle sign on our 16 week scan, we were diagnosed with Stage 2 TTTS by Burnley's fetal medicine team and we were referred the next day to another specialist hospital, Liverpool Womens. 

TTTS is where the blood vessels connect in the placenta - one baby gets too much blood/nutrients and is at risk of heart failure (the recipient) and the other baby gets too little and cannot develop (the donor). Both babies are at risk and due to our gestation there was no option to deliver - this is the safest course of action for later onset TTTS. If left untreated, there was a 90% chance they would both die. The remaining 10% chance of survival carried over a 90% chance of severe disability, for both babies. 

At Liverpool, we met Professor Asma Khalil, who agreed with the TTTS diagnosis and immediately started working on a plan to save our boys. The whole team looked after us so well and after lots of phonecalls and discussions we agreed to travel down to London to meet her at St George's the following morning. Luckily, we had a packed bag in the car so we set off straight away (I had a feeling that morning we wouldn't be returning home that day). 

On Thursday 10th March 2022, Professor Khalil and her phenomenal team conducted in-utero surgery on my placenta and saved our boys' lives. 

There was a huge audience in theatre - surgery like this is becoming more common and outcomes improving, but it is very risky. The odds were a 50% chance of saving both babies and a 75% chance of saving one. Based on the odds of doing nothing, we had to go ahead, and give our boys the very best chance. 

My husband, Jonny, watched the whole thing and we both talk in utter awe and admiration of what we witnessed that day. I was sent to the ward to rest and was re-scanned around 4 hours later. I don't think I breathed for a solid 2 minutes when the probe touched my belly, until I saw two flickering heartbeats. We were told everything that could be done had been done, and to go home and to rest - so we began the 5 hour drive back to Yorkshire. 

The following few weeks were exceptionally tough for us both, every single day was critical - our babies had come through the surgery but were far from out of the woods yet. We had also just moved house so our situation was far from ideal. Thankfully our '2 week' post-surgery scan came (tick) then the 3 week (tick) and 4 week (tick) and everyone, including our wonderful team at Burnley started to breathe a little easier. 

This carried on for the rest of the pregnancy, with weekly scans at Burnley, a few extra scares here and there (and another visit to see Professor Khalil in Liverpool), a fetal brain MRI scan on both babies at Alder Hey (due to the laser surgery in-utero and risk of brain damage due to that) but we made it to 34 weeks and 4 days. 

Jackson Xander Dunn and Jonah George Dunn were bor