Family Story Assets (Word Document, Photos)
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Background: Based on family story questionnaire and YouTube video from 9 Family Focus featuring Jackie and Matthew Queen of Indian Land, SC, and the birth of their identical twins (male), Micah and Jace. The twins were born prematurely via c-section at 36 weeks, 1 day. The pregnancy was high-risk and Jackie was diagnosed with twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) at 17 weeks and underwent corrective TTTS surgery at 18 weeks gestation.
Vitals: Micah weighed 5 pounds, 12 ounces and Jace weighed 5 pounds, 15 ounces. Micah was in the NICU for 5 days. Jace was in the NICU for 19 days.
Interventions: Jace and Micah had trouble breathing, had jaundice and were on c-pap. Jace had jejunal surgery day one to correct his bowel blockage and had a minor heart condition from TTTS that has since resolved. Jace had follow-ups with a gastroenterologist and cardiologist.
Queen family story
My husband and I were excited when we found out that we were going to have identical twins. But our health care provider told us that it was a high-risk pregnancy. The pregnancy was the scary part. With identical twins, there’s a risk of twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). And at 17 weeks, I was diagnosed with TTTS. It was a really scary time because we didn’t know if the boys would survive. The first victory came after the in utero corrective ablation surgery at 18 weeks.
Micah and Jace were born at 36 weeks, 1 day, via a planned c-section. Most likely neither of the boys would have survived a full-term pregnancy, so the day they entered the world was our second, and biggest, victory.
After they were born, they both went straight to the NICU because they had trouble breathing. And they both had jaundice and were on c-pap. Micah weighed 5 pounds, 12 ounces, and Jace weighed 5 pounds, 15 ounces. Jace had jejunal surgery to correct a bowel blockage and he also had a minor heart condition from TTTS that has since resolved.
The third victory was that each boy was discharged from the NICU. After 5 days, Micah went home. It’s sad because we had to leave a baby in the NICU. Your heart’s so full with a baby at home, but you’re missing a piece of your heart because one is still in the NICU. After 19 days, Jace came home, and the boys were reunited.
March of Dimes played a huge role. And every year, we support the mission. We do the walk [March for Babies] to show that there are so many families affected by babies that are premature.
March of Dimes has been an incredible community for us. We get to be surrounded by other beautiful families who received care from an incredible organization and hear stories of those impacted by the funding and help from March of Dimes.
