Drama about premature twin babies - "I cried like a castle dog"
Created: 01/14/2022 05:33
From: Ulrike Osman
Cuddling with mom: For premature babies like Heidi and Lilli, physical contact with mother Heike O. is extremely important.
The two had to be brought by caesarean section well before the due date.
© Instagram / heike.os
Somehow Heike O. had a bad feeling about her second pregnancy from the start.
The vague premonition became true.
Dramatic months followed.
Gernlinden –
After their first daughter, who was born in 2019, Heike O. and her husband quickly wanted a second child. At the beginning of 2021, the dental assistant was pregnant again – with identical twins. It soon turned out that a rare phenomenon was present. The two unborn babies shared the same placenta. Heike O. saw it herself on the ultrasound screen. Even before the doctor started to explain, she knew something was wrong. "It was the jackpot you don't want," says the mother of three.
Towards the end of the fourth month, the Gernlinden woman suddenly felt bad.
She gains almost four kilos in a weekend.
Your stomach tightens and presses.
The next check-up shows something bad: Heike O. suffers from the very rare twin transfusion syndrome (fetofetal transfusion syndrome / FFTS).
Vascular connections are formed between the unborn babies via the common placenta.
Due to uneven blood flow, one of the two is oversupplied and the other undersupplied.
There is a risk of massive damage for both children.
The twin girls had to stay in hospital for several weeks after their birth.
© Instagram / heike.os
Twins are born prematurely - they stay in the hospital for weeks
When she finds out about it, Heike O. hardly has time to think.
After a sleepless night, she was already lying on the operating table in the Munich Klinikum on the right hand side of the Isar the next morning.
Because only immediate intervention can save their babies.
The doctors have to use a laser to destroy the vascular connections within the placenta.
The operation is risky – there is a 60 percent chance that both children will survive.
"When I heard that, I cried like a lock dog," says the 30-year-old.
"At the same time it was clear to me that it had to be done." The operation went smoothly and it was all over after 45 minutes.
The doctors speak of a textbook intervention.
Heike O. is relieved.
But she can't really breathe a sigh of relief in the following weeks either.
Every routine check raises new questions.
There are always complications.
Each time it is only further examinations that bring the all-clear.
Risky premature baby surgery: Doctors bring babies by caesarean section
The mother-to-be has to endure the whole war of nerves on her own.
Her husband is working in his native Egypt.
While Heike O. has to lie down as much as possible at home, her mother helps look after Maria, who was then one and a half years old.
The difficult pregnancy ends with an extremely premature birth.
On June 24th, three months before the expected date, Heidi and Lilli have to be brought into the world by caesarean section.
Four paediatricians are ready to receive the babies weighing 990 and 1120 grams.
The two are only allowed to lie on mom's stomach for a short time before they are taken away for examinations.
Heike O. doesn't see her daughters again until hours later in the neonatal intensive care unit.
In the meantime her husband has also arrived.
Heidi and Lilli will spend many more weeks in the clinic before the proud mother can take home two healthy, lively babies at the end of August.
Who is who?
As identical twins, Heidi and Lilli can hardly be told apart.
"They have developed great," says Heike O. .
© Instagram / heike.os
Nursing shortage in Munich clinics: emergency surgery almost relocated to Austria
"Both of them have developed great," says the dental assistant happily. She herself is far from over the experience of the extreme premature birth. "As soon as I talk about it or think about it, I cry. It will probably take me years to process this trauma.” It's an experience few people can relate to. "You feel very alone." She finds help and understanding above all in the exchange with other premature mothers.
Heike O. has also experienced the nursing shortage firsthand.
She almost had to be flown to Austria by helicopter for her caesarean section because the capacities in the neonatal intensive care units in Munich were tight.
Beds would have been there, but there were no nurses.
For three days, the two premature babies even had to be cared for in different hospitals.
But this chapter is closed.
Meanwhile, Heidi and Lilli don't let boredom arise at home.
Soon the two of them will be going on their first travels with their big sister and mom - to their dad in Egypt.
You can read more news from Maisach here.
