Woman miscarries twins at 18 weeks over rare syndrome

A US woman has shared her story of losing her unborn twins to an unusual condition.

Vienna Girardi, who is well-known in the US as a former contestant on The Bachelor, miscarried at 18 weeks due to Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS). The condition, which affects identical twins, sees abnormal blood vessel growth in the placenta and causes uneven blood flow between the twins. Writing on Facebook, Vienna told of how her perinatologist spotted that one twin had more fluid than the other. https://www.instagram.com/p/BWNfDJCg00K/?taken-by=viennag Her waters broke on 3 August and she was rushed to hospital.

"The doctors had warned me that if I did not go into labor and deliver the babies, I was taking the chance of risking my own life and causing an infection in my uterus but they could not survive at only 18 weeks," she wrote. "They also said that there was a very slim chance under 5 per cent that the babies could survive and the fluids in their amniotic sacs replenish themselves so as any mother would do I did everything to save them but their hearts stopped beating on day two."

After losing the twins, Vienna went into septic shock and underwent emergency surgery.

"I don't know why this happened and I pray the Lord gives me strength to understand why he needed my little girls," she said.

 

A post shared by Vienna Girardi (@viennag) on Feb 6, 2017 at 6:27am PST

She also revealed that she made the decision to donate the babies' bodies to medical science. "A doctor asked me if I would consider donating my little girls to science so they can also understand why this happens and be able to save another women who has twins with TTTS. "This was the hardest decision I have ever had to make in my life but I knew my little girls were in Heaven already and the pain I feel I would never want any mother to ever feel." TTTS occurs in up to 15 per cent of identical twin pregnancies.