Mazel Toy!

rag wilourne

Max and Alex
kept their par-
ents and the
doctors busy.

The
Winkelman twins
took some
di cult turns
on their way to
"happily ever after"

The four Winkelmans

CARI WALDMAN
Special to the Jewish News

T

he ultrasound technician
turned to an ecstatic Larry
and Julie Winkelman and
said, "You've hit the jack-
pot!": two tiny heart beats.
A miracle, these West Bloomfield
residents figured, since twins were
not in either of their family histo-
ries.
But in the 20th week of the preg-
nancy, after a routine ultrasound,
Larry returned home from work to
hear a dreaded message from their
doctor: "Please call the office in the
morning."
The doctor told them the ultra-
sound had detected a discrepancy in
the size of the babies. The condi-
tion, known as twin-to-twin transfu-

sion, results from disproportionate
blood flow between one baby and
the other through connecting blood
vessels in their shared placenta.
Specialists at Oakwood Hospital
found that the larger baby was get-
ting too much blood and the smaller
twin was not getting enough nutri-
ents due to the unequal exchange.
They described the smaller baby as
"shrink-wrapped against the side of
Julie's uterus because the amniotic
fluid around it was so low," Larry
said. "They call this stuck-twin."
The doctors were able to stabilize
the situation, but "at that point they
were discouraging," said Julie. We
were told there was a 50 percent
chance that one or both may die."
Julie, a 28-year-old social worker
for Gilda's Club of Metro Detroit,
was advised to stop working imme-

diately. Larry, a 28-year-old engineer
for Nissan Research and
Development, was a strong source of
support for his wife of four years.
For Julie, the pregnancy contin-
ued uneventfully until week 32,
when she woke up one night at 3
a.m. with contractions. A five-day
hospital stay stopped the contractions
and Julie was given steroid shots to
help the smaller baby develop.
Doctors were waiting for the smaller
twin to reach two pounds to be con-
sidered viable. The Winkelmans went
back home to wait.
At rhe beginning of her 34th
week, Julie woke up in the night and
noticed the twins were not moving
around as much. An ultrasound
determined there was even less fluid
around the babies.
"Enough is enough," were the

doctors' words, and on June 5 Julie
was prepped in an operating room
to give birth. "There was a doctor
and two nurses for each baby," said
Larry, "plus Julie's team — 15 peo-
ple in all."
Alex Saul, 2 pounds 4 ounces,
was delivered four minutes ahead of
big brother Max Isaac, 3 pounds 8
ounces. Julie stayed one day in the
hospital; Max stayed for two weeks
and Alex was in the hospital for
three weeks.
Today, this grand family of four is
safely home. "Max weighs over 6
pounds and Alex weighs over 5
pounds," Julie reported. "Nobody is
sleeping much, but I never complain
about it.
"From having a 50-50 chance of
survival to where we are now — we
are so fortunate," said Julie.

8/6
199'

Detroit Jewish News

