This is my first layout for Amanda's spotlight this week. This one is for the cropping challenge.

I have been needing to do this layout for awhile. It has been on my mind but I couldn't get the journaling right. This template was perfect.

Supplies:

Template: Bring It In Template by TaylorMade Designs
Paper: Blending in Paper by TaylorMade Designs
Brush: Swirls and Seeds brushes by Melemel/Mel Rodicq
Fonts: Title - Impact; Journaling: Perpetua

Journaling: To tell the story of your survival, I have to start at the beginning. We found out you were sick on March 12, 2007. I was 14 weeks pregnant. Dr. Boyle looked at the ultrasound screen, looked at your daddy and I, and we knew immediately that something was wrong. Dr. Boyle said that you were suffering from TTTS, or Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome. TTTS is present in identical twins that share a placenta when the twins also share blood vessels in that placenta. One baby (the Recipient) is getting the bulk of the essential blood and nutrients from the placenta. Jacob, you were our little Baby A and therefore hogging the good stuff from your brother. The other baby (the Donor) doesnt get enough nutrients. Jacobs heart was enlarged due to processing all that extra blood. He also had an overabuncance of fluid in his sac due to his kidneys and bladder processing such a huge amount of blood. That processing is what makes the fluid in the sac. Boden was our little stuck baby because he had so little fluid in his sac. We also couldnt see his bladder on ultrasounds. And, there was little blood flowing through his cord. All of these things add up to trouble. We were so worried that we would lose one or both of you. From thta point on we went back for weekly ultrasounds, each time I could hardly look at the screen, afraid that we would be told we had lost you. More babies die from TTTS each year than SIDS, yet many people have never heard of it. I see the awful stories of parents losing their babies to this disease. I see the photos of the one little surviving baby, growing up in this world without her twin, and it breaks my heart. We were so lucky. We had good doctors that caught this disease early, and took such good care of us. We flew to Cincinnati in April 2007, when I was 19 weeks pregnant, and we had a surgery to separate the blood vessels you shared with a laser. At that point, Boden had no fluid left, and Jacobs heart was suffering from cardiomyopathy. We knew if we didnt do it, we would lose one or both of you. You made it through the surgery with flying colors, and look at you now. You are our survivors.