Today is the 25th of October. Just another autumn day for most people.
4 years ago, at around 10am, this day took on another meaning for me.
I went to my regular checkup, and found that baby A had barely any fluid, whilst baby B was swimming in her fluid. We had suspected, then confirmed later, TTTS. This day was horrible – I had so many ultrasounds, talked to many doctors, including one that told us we should make funeral plans for our babies. The next few days were spent in shock and tears, as we came to grips with what was happening.
Today is our D-Day. Today it’s 4 years since we got the diagnosis that changed our lives, and makes us count our blessings.
I look back at everything we went through with uncertainty, and the ongoing fear of the worst, and I can’t believe that we came through with our sanity and sense of humour intact.
The constant travel to and from Leiden, the endless appointments, the sometimes brutal honesty of the situation really did take its toll on us. Then the weeks in the NICU, followed by months of therapies, as well as getting used to having 2 babies in the house… I seriously don’t know how we did it.
I know I make light of the situation at times, but please don’t ever think I don’t take what happened to us seriously. I wake up each day and am so grateful that I am in this country, that I had access to the best doctors and the researchers. I’m acutely aware of how lucky we are. Every day I see new cases and I see stories that are so similar to mine, and yet so many different and sometimes sad outcomes.
4 years has taught me patience. It’s taught me that my writing is important. It’s taught me that it’s important to share my story.
I’ve met some awesome people and met some amazing friends on this journey. I hope I’ll meet some more. I love using my voice and my writing to help people understand my journey.
So here’s to another 4 years of memories, and facing each October 25th and staring it in the eye 😉
Wow. I had no idea you went through something so heavy. It must have taken a lot of strength.
It’s taken me a long time to actually talk freely about it. I’ve been doing a lot of stuff behind the scenes with researchers and stuff and actively talking about the condition, but there’s also a lot of stuff that’s still hard to talk about 🙂
I can understand that.