Twin to Twin

A twenty-nine-year-old mother’s harrowing and inspiring adventure through a high-risk twin pregnancy.

One minute Crystal was sitting at a candlelight dinner in Paris with her husband. The next she was back home in Houston, sitting in her OB-GYN’s office concerned that she was having a second miscarriage. But she was actually pregnant with twins! Since Crystal and her husband Ed already had a two-year-old daughter, Abigail, she couldn’t imagine why mothering twins would be all that different. That is until she learns her twins have a life-threatening condition called Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, meaning Baby B is transfusing blood (disproportionately) to Baby A.

Crystal is declared too high risk, so her OB sends her to the 5th floor of the Houston Medical Center for the duration of her pregnancy. Sitting alone in her hospital bed, Crystal wonders how she’ll pass the next few weeks, away from her husband and daughter. Soon she embarks on an emotional rollercoaster—from late night emergency ultrasounds to hospital baby blessings, sprinkled with comic relief from nurses and hospital staff.

Twin to Twin is a raw and inspirational story filled with tenderness, vulnerability, and humor. It chronicles the wildest, most terrifying and challenging year of Crystal’s life, which is also the most beautiful and eye-opening. Her hope is that it will bring strength to other women dealing with their own personal trials and tragedies, so they can also triumph.

Praise for Twin to Twin

“An “orphan” disease, expectant mothers with Twin to Twin (and their support systems) should adopt . . . Twin to Twin. An intimate account, told with flagging and unflagging optimism, Duffy’s story ensures that others need not ride alone through this rollercoaster experience.” —Suzy Becker, author of One Good Egg

“Duffy’s wit and self-deprecating humor helped her survive the realities and (sometimes devastating) physical and emotional truths of her high-stakes twin pregnancy. Twin to Twin is engaging, compelling, and yes, entertaining read.” —Susan Krawitz, author of Viva Rose