Avalynn and Aurora: Surviving Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome

When Valarie and Dylan went to the 8-week ultrasound appointment for their fourth pregnancy, their then 5-year-old son, Atticus, tagged along. They told him only that they were “going to see if there’s a baby in mom’s stomach.”

While walking into the appointment, Atticus asked, “What if there’s two?”

There were, indeed, two.

Getting a twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) diagnosis

Valarie and Dylan were expecting identical twins, Avalynn and Aurora. Weeks later, experts in our Colorado Fetal Care Center diagnosed them with TTTS, which occurs when twins’ blood vessels form abnormal connections while in the womb. It creates blood flow and circulation imbalances and can cause life-threatening complications.

Valarie and Dylan received this diagnosis on December 7 — TTTS Awareness Day. The team at the Colorado Fetal Care Center explained what this diagnosis would mean for their girls, presented treatment options including fetal surgery, reviewed outcomes data together and answered their questions. Valarie and Dylan decided that they needed to move forward with surgery immediately because Aurora’s amniotic fluid was extremely low. Our team has performed more than 450 of these selective fetoscopic laser photocoagulation surgeries since 2012, and survival rates exceed national benchmarks.

TTTS surgery and preparing for birth

Our team then performed TTTS surgery in utero to close the abnormal connections and monitored Aurora, Avalynn and Valarie for the remainder of the pregnancy.

“I’ve never had such comforting care,” Valarie says.

After the surgery, Valarie had a scan with the care team the next day to see if the procedure was successful.

“I think everyone had tears in their eyes that both twins were still alive,” she recalls.

With a successful surgery behind them, Aurora and Avalynn needed time to grow and heal. The longer Valarie could remain pregnant, the better. She came to our center for routine scans to measure the twins’ progress and make sure they were doing well, which they were.

Then, the twins showed they were ready to meet the world on an interesting day.

“My water broke on April Fool’s Day and my mother didn’t believe me until I sent her a picture from the hospital,” Valarie says.

With the success of the surgery, Valarie was able to deliver the girls at her hometown hospital in Colorado Springs. Her doctors there had close communication with her doctors from the Colorado Fetal Care Center the entire time.

When they were born about a week later, Avalynn and Aurora were small, but healthy, thanks to the surgery before birth that prevented the worst effects of TTTS. They spent about a month in our neontal intensive care unit in Colorado Springs growing and learning to breathe and eat on their own. Since then, they’ve only needed some physical and speech therapy.

A TTTS success story

When asked about their personalities Dylan offers a chuckle and one word — devious.

They love to pull everything out of the cabinets and climb on things around the house where they perch and stare at their parents with a “look what I did” satisfaction. The twins have a secret language with their older brother, Artimus, and they find trouble together. And they get a lot of love and playtime with Atticus and their oldest sister, Aria.

“Our medical journey went so fast, and we had to take time later to realize how special this was,” Valarie says. “Our twins are a miracle.”