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Cooper and Tyson's Story:
Luke and Taylor were delighted to find out they were having identical twin boys at 10 weeks gestation. However, their celebration was cut short when they were diagnosed with Twin-To-Twin Transfusion Syndrome shortly after. To save their lives, Taylor was flown to Tampa, Florida where Dr. Ruben Quintero performed laser surgery to fix their placenta at 18 weeks gestation.

Taylor was on modified bedrest for the majority of the pregnancy because of the very high risk of preterm labor. At 20 weeks, she started having contractions causing her doctors to keep a very close eye on the progression. Strict bedrest was ordered at 21 weeks only allowing potty breaks to get out of bed. At 27 weeks, Taylor experienced a weight gain of 9lbs in 12 hours due to fluid retention from high blood pressure and was rushed to the hospital with severe pre-eclampsia.

Cooper and Tyson were born at 27 weeks 5 days gestation (12 weeks 2 days too early) by c-section. Cooper was 3 lb even and 14 inches long. Tyson, however, had stopped growing at 25 weeks due to the TTTS and was a mere 1 lb 6.8 oz and 11 inches in length. Both boys were intubated and placed on ventilators for breathing assistance and wisked off to the NICU before Taylor could even see them.

Cooper was able to come home after 54 days in the hospital and is now doing great. He has a PDA and an ASD--two holes in his heart(heart murmur)-- but they are not effecting him currently. His heart is checked once a year by his cardiologist, and as long as they dont get any larger, nothing will be done. He's happy and healthy and normal in all other respects!

Tyson on the other hand has gone through many trials and tribulations in his short life. After being hospitalized for 141 days Tyson was able to come home! Unfortunately, after being home for 13.5 hours, he had a fever and went back to a children's hospital. He wasn't breathing too well so more tests were done to assess the extent of the damage on his lungs created by the ventilator on his too tiny lungs at birth.

On his 165th day of life, he came home again! He was home for 4 days and then developed a cold that quickly turned into pneumonia and went back into the hospital on day 170 of life.

The decision was made to give Tyson a tracheostomy (a tube placed through his neck into his trachea to allow him to breathe) and give him ventilator assistance for the time being to allow his lungs to grow and hopefully heal themselves. He will be on a mechanical ventilator at home for 6-18 months, and then will get his trach out a year after he is off the ventilator. He also underwent surgery to have a g-tube placed to assist in feeding.

Tyson is currently thriving at home and has even been weaning considerably off his breathing machines. He spends 12 hours a day on just oxygen without the ventilator now and is undergoing a sleep study soon to see if he can go off the vent at night as well!

Links to blogs with more information:
*Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome
*Why the boys were early
*The boys first pictures, birth weights and lengths, birth time, etc.
*Pictures of boys from birth to one month
*What happened to Ty's lungs to make them so damaged (BPD)

If you have other questions, please feel free to ask. Please be discreet in your choice of questions regarding his care.  Ask yourself if your inquiry is something you would answer if you were in our position.  Thank you for understanding.

Also feel free to pass on my updates or direct people to my myspace page where I blog everything.  www.myspace.com/hunnybunny22  We like to hear from those who are touched by Tyson and who offer up their prayers.  Its encouraging.  Also, Tyson loves hearing your messages, as I read them to him as they come in.