Sarah's Story

To tell you about our daughter Sarah Ann, I will have to tell you about our whole family. My husband and I met in 1995, and I had two children from a previous marriage, one who is medically fragile. We decided to have a child. March 17,1997 our son Dylan was born. We had thought we were done, but to our surprise we found out in June 1999 that we were expecting again. I went to the doctor on June 30th, and was told he didn't think I was as far along as I thought I was, so he scheduled an ultrasound for the next day. On July 1, 1999, My husband and I went to the ultrasound and were told at that point we were having twins. We were very shocked. They then told us we were having identical twins. At first we were a little afraid of having two babies, then we just got used to the idea. We went to the doctor every month for the first 6 months and had ultra sounds at every visit. We got to see our babies grow. We got video tapes and pictures of every ultra sound. We were told about twin to twin transfusion at our very first doctor's appointment, but was told it usually happens between 19-26 weeks of gestations. We had made it past the 26th week. We had never had any problems with either twin or the pregnancy until we were in our 29th week, on November 11,1999 we were told one baby was a lot larger than the other and would have to go see a specialist. They sent us to a perinatologist the next day, who told us we were having what they called twin to twin transfusion syndrome. They would do everything they could, but was going to try to save the larger of the two twins. We were then scheduled for another appointment on November 16, 1999 and were told things had gotten worse. The bigger twin we called baby B was getting larger and baby A had no amniotic fluid and baby B had way to much. They were hoping I could hold out until 32 weeks, to give the bigger twin a much better chance at survival. But on November 19, 1999 at our next doctors appointment, we went into the room for our ultra sound and the nurse doing the scan told us she was going to get the doctor. At that point we knew something was wrong. The doctor came in, started the scan again and told us there was only one heart beat, and that we would have to deliver today. It was very hard but I needed to stay calm for the safety of the other twin.
My husband and I had already decided on names, they would be Sarah Ann and Brittany Lynn. We then headed for the hospital. While at the hospital my husband had gone down to the gift shop and found cards with the names Sarah and Brittany on them, and brought them back to me to see.
They scheduled to deliver the twins at 12.00pm on November 19,1999. While waiting for the doctors in the operating room, my husband decided to name the twin who had died Sarah because it means "PRINCESS" and the other twin Brittany because it means "STRONG". Sarah Ann was born at 1:06pm and Brittany was born at 1:07pm.
Sarah weighed in at 2lbs 4ozs and 14 1/2 inches long and Brittany was 3lbs 12 ozs and 16 inches long. Brittany went to the neonatal unit. We then got to hold Sarah for about 2 hours before they took her away. She was very pretty. I feel Sarah gave up when she did to save her sister, because the doctors said if we had waited even one more day, we may have very well lost both of our babies. We then made arrangements for Sarah, and buried her on November 24,1999, in a little outfit that said" PRECIOUS ANGEL". Brittany spent 5 weeks in the hospital, and came home 2 days before Christmas. Our family really misses Sarah Ann but know we will see her again someday. We now celebrate their birthdays by going to the cemetery with flowers and balloons for Sarah and then have a party for Brittany. We also have other children. Matthew is 15, Nicole is 12, and Dylan is 4. We now know there is a treatment for twin to twin syndrome so maybe someone else will not have to suffer the way we have.
TO OUR BABY SARAH ANN, WE MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU VERY MUCH.

LOVE YOU
MOM, DAD, MATTHEW, NICOLE,DYLAN AND BRITTANY