Good Housekeeping: "Our twins almost died twice, before they were born"

When Kimberly Petillo-Decossard was pregnant with twins in March 2016, the situation took a turn for the worse around 16 weeks when they were given the diagnosis of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), a disease of the placenta that affects identical twins. She was cared for by Dr. Russell Miller in the Center for Prenatal Pediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center, who managed her care throughout her high-risk pregnancy and performed the laser surgery to treat the twins' condition, which involved going through the uterus to sever and seal the blood vessels so that the blood flow returned to normal. The chances of both twins surviving were extremely low - Dr. Miller told Petillo-Decossard that there was a 70 to 90 percent change one or both could die and that if either or both survived, they were still at risk for high rates of neurologic issues and premature birth.

In order to save the twins, Dr. Miller performed laser surgery twice, the second time being even riskier, and helped her through other complications in her pregnancy. On July 2 at 32 weeks pregnant, Petillo-Decossard delivered two healthy twin girls. "These babies are our miracles," Petillo-Decossard said.

Read the full story of the Petillo-Decossard's remarkable journey through a rare high-risk condition in the January 2018 issue of Good Housekeeping, available on newsstands now!