Sandy Springs Twin Preemies Reunite With Northside NICU Nurses

SANDY SPRINGS, GA -- Hundreds of families packed into Zoo Atlanta after hours on June 3 to celebrate their little ones.

Miracle Babies Party at Zoo Atlanta presented by the Northside Hospital Foundation is held annually, with admission free to anyone born at the hospital. The celebration also includes a reunion of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) nurses and the babies — now thriving toddlers — they once cared for.

Among the sea of strollers this year were 8-month-old twin boys, Jack and Jesse Schaudies. Their parents, Jenny and Jesse Sr. of Sandy Springs, used the opportunity to reflect on Jack and Jesse’s premature birth and subsequent journey through Northside Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

In the final months of Jenny’s pregnancy, doctors at Northside Hospital Atlanta discovered that baby Jack was absorbing too much blood in the placenta, while Jesse was absorbing too little.

The condition, known as twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), occurs when the placenta contains abnormal blood vessels that connect the umbilical cords and the circulations of the twins. These vessels can cause an uneven distribution of blood flow, causing one twin to receive too little blood, leading too slower-than-normal growth in the womb. The other twin, however, receives too much blood, resulting in strain on the heart and the possibility of heart failure. TTTS affects about 15 percent of identical twin pregnancies, and severe TTTS has a 60 to 100 percent mortality rate.

TTTS can result in death for one or both of the babies, so Northside doctors acted quickly to perform an emergency C-section six weeks before the twins’ original due date. Parents Jenny and Jesse Sr. spent the next eight days in the Northside NICU as doctors worked to safely transfuse blood to a malnourished baby Jesse while attempting to thin the blood in baby Jack’s overloaded system.

After nearly one month of treatment and monitoring the Schaudies parents were nearly ready to leave the hospital with their boys when they received another troubling diagnosis.

A routine CT scan revealed that baby Jack had a massive cyst forming in his brain. Over the course of four months, Jack underwent three additional surgeries at Northside to safely remove the growth from his brain.

Jack underwent his final surgery in April of this year, and he and his brother have since been given a clean bill of health. After their journey, the twins now spend their days as normal, healthy babies, eating all the mashed sweet potatoes they can get their little hands on.

Their parents were grateful for the opportunity at the Miracle Babies Party to enjoy the zoo with the twins and reconnect with the nurses at Northside Hospital’s NICU unit who devoted months of care to their baby boys.

Northside Hospital Foundation raises money to provide financial assistance and support for families with newborns in the hospital’s NICU. Proceeds from the sale of refreshments and souvenirs during the Miracle Babies Party at Zoo Atlanta benefit this cause. For more information about giving to Northside’s Miracle Babies program, visit the Northside Hospital Foundation page.

Photo: Jenny and Jesse Schaudies with their twin boys, Jack and Jesse, Jr. Credit: Northside Hospital