I only add this to laugh at later as I am completely aware of how huge I am. Please avert your eyes if this offends you or small children who may be in the room with you.
I am 29 weeks 6 days pregnant
Saturday, May 26, 2012
The Start of Something Special
Friday, May 25, 2012
30 Weeks down and 6 to go!!!!
We hit the 30 week mark which is fan freakin tactic! We had our supposedly last appt yesterday at our safe haven UCSF with Dr. Rand. We had our ultrasound and then we hung around for a few hours at Burgermeister while we waited for Dr. Rand to arrive and review our case. We really wanted to talk to him so we could wrap up any lingering questions, get the placenta box, and decide our course for the next 6 weeks. Since we have been a little unhappy with our treatment in Sac we wantd to go over that with him and get his views and see what he could do to push our Sacramento office to get us the care we need. UCSF seems to be miracle workers and they make a call to Sacramento and amazingly things get done. Funny how that works. BTW, burgermeister on Carl St in S.F. is sooooo good and if you are ever in the area check it out.
For the results of our appt we are doing phenomenally well. My inner goddess is doing arabesques (haha if you are reading 50 shades of grey you will get that.) If not, it means Im over the moon sort of :) The bladders on both babes look great as do the kidneys, brain, gallbladders, stomachs, dopplers, cerebral blood flow, and fluid levels. I feel so blessed to be at this point. The fluids have normalized about 6 cm for baby A and 5 cm for baby B. The sonographer tried to get 3D images of the girls and the best we could do was a mouth and nose of baby B. The amount of room for twins at this point I think is running out and we may have missed the window for a good 3D pic. Luckily, we got one back at about 16 weeks that was really good of both girls faces. (see pics below). The weights for the babies are A a whole lotta nearly 4 lbs at 3lb 15oz, and baby B at nearly 3lbs at 2lbs 15ozs. So, they are 1 lb difference and that makes then still holding steady at 24-25% difference. It is good that this size discordance has not worsened. Like I have said before that even though 25% is a lot, in our case it isn't disconcerting because baby A is in the 90th percentile and baby B is right on track at 50th percentile. It would be more alarming if A was normal and B was behind her at the same difference in percentage (clear as mud.) Sorry if it is confusing but bottom line is things are good!
After a long discussion about how my treatment and the girls health should be monitored in the next six weeks we came to a few conclusion that I am happy with and they are as follows:
1. We need to have growth checks every 2 weeks from here until delivery. UCSF told me if I go to Sac in 2 weeks and I am still not confident in their assessment that I can come back to see them at the next 2 week appt. This works for me. They are also going to write up an extensive treatment plan to send to Sac telling them I need to be seen every 2 weeks and not 3 like Dr. Chyu had tried to do.
2. I originally thought weekly fluid checks were necessary as well but Dr. Rand feels that it is over the top and not necessary in my situation. I feel that coming from him I respect that and will abide by that recommendation.
3. I need to start having non-stress tests 2x per week starting at 32 weeks. This will help to determine if the babies are getting stressed in utero and might do better out than in. They will monitor HR at the hospital for a period of time 2x per week.
4. They do want to have my placenta and we will give Dr. Juhn the box and will get all kinds of data regarding inter-utero life for the girls. It will help for future people in this situation and give us insight as to why our pregnancy took the course it did. A win-win.
5. I will get steroid shots to help develop the girls lungs closer to the date when they think I will deliver if time permits. It takes I believe 48hrs for full effect and lasts 7 days so about a week before delivery I should get those but if i look like I might deliver early I may get them early and hopefully 48 hrs prior to delivery.
So lots of appts are in my near future which is relieving for me because I know we will be monitored closely because since we are at a good viability I don't want anything to be missed that we could have caught early. I feel much better having gone to UCSF and they will always have a special place in my heart and I appreciate everything they do!! They have it down over there.
The only thing that I am now on the fence about is C section vs. vaginal delivery. I had discussed this with my OB and we had decided that a c section would be best because Baby B has such a smaller share of the placenta that labor might be hard on her. I really don't want to vaginally deliver A and then have to have a c section for B. However, after talking to Dr. Rand he HIGHLY recommends that I give a vaginal delivery a try for a few reasons- it is safer for babies and mom, it will be better healing, and I won't really know if baby b will have a hard time with labor unless I try. He said if I were delivering at UCSF he would really push me to try to deliver vaginally if both babies are head down. At this point A is head down and B is breech. Things could change but he would deliver A and if b remained breech would do a breech extraction because the cervix has already opened enough for A that delivering B feet first is appropriate only in this type of situation. He also said this is something they do but not all regular Obs might be comfortable with this type of delivery. I don't think Dr. Juhn would be open to this and quite frankly it worries me. So, I may continue to think about this and if either baby is breech at delivery I think I will opt for the C section. If they are both head down I may try to deliver naturally. Time will tell. I want to do whatever will have an end result of 2 healthy babies and a healthy mom.
All in all we are trucking along and I am thrilled with how things are going. Im hoping Baby B will continue to gain weight and we can make it to 36 weeks. Happy Memorial Day Weekend!!
For the results of our appt we are doing phenomenally well. My inner goddess is doing arabesques (haha if you are reading 50 shades of grey you will get that.) If not, it means Im over the moon sort of :) The bladders on both babes look great as do the kidneys, brain, gallbladders, stomachs, dopplers, cerebral blood flow, and fluid levels. I feel so blessed to be at this point. The fluids have normalized about 6 cm for baby A and 5 cm for baby B. The sonographer tried to get 3D images of the girls and the best we could do was a mouth and nose of baby B. The amount of room for twins at this point I think is running out and we may have missed the window for a good 3D pic. Luckily, we got one back at about 16 weeks that was really good of both girls faces. (see pics below). The weights for the babies are A a whole lotta nearly 4 lbs at 3lb 15oz, and baby B at nearly 3lbs at 2lbs 15ozs. So, they are 1 lb difference and that makes then still holding steady at 24-25% difference. It is good that this size discordance has not worsened. Like I have said before that even though 25% is a lot, in our case it isn't disconcerting because baby A is in the 90th percentile and baby B is right on track at 50th percentile. It would be more alarming if A was normal and B was behind her at the same difference in percentage (clear as mud.) Sorry if it is confusing but bottom line is things are good!
After a long discussion about how my treatment and the girls health should be monitored in the next six weeks we came to a few conclusion that I am happy with and they are as follows:
1. We need to have growth checks every 2 weeks from here until delivery. UCSF told me if I go to Sac in 2 weeks and I am still not confident in their assessment that I can come back to see them at the next 2 week appt. This works for me. They are also going to write up an extensive treatment plan to send to Sac telling them I need to be seen every 2 weeks and not 3 like Dr. Chyu had tried to do.
2. I originally thought weekly fluid checks were necessary as well but Dr. Rand feels that it is over the top and not necessary in my situation. I feel that coming from him I respect that and will abide by that recommendation.
3. I need to start having non-stress tests 2x per week starting at 32 weeks. This will help to determine if the babies are getting stressed in utero and might do better out than in. They will monitor HR at the hospital for a period of time 2x per week.
4. They do want to have my placenta and we will give Dr. Juhn the box and will get all kinds of data regarding inter-utero life for the girls. It will help for future people in this situation and give us insight as to why our pregnancy took the course it did. A win-win.
5. I will get steroid shots to help develop the girls lungs closer to the date when they think I will deliver if time permits. It takes I believe 48hrs for full effect and lasts 7 days so about a week before delivery I should get those but if i look like I might deliver early I may get them early and hopefully 48 hrs prior to delivery.
So lots of appts are in my near future which is relieving for me because I know we will be monitored closely because since we are at a good viability I don't want anything to be missed that we could have caught early. I feel much better having gone to UCSF and they will always have a special place in my heart and I appreciate everything they do!! They have it down over there.
The only thing that I am now on the fence about is C section vs. vaginal delivery. I had discussed this with my OB and we had decided that a c section would be best because Baby B has such a smaller share of the placenta that labor might be hard on her. I really don't want to vaginally deliver A and then have to have a c section for B. However, after talking to Dr. Rand he HIGHLY recommends that I give a vaginal delivery a try for a few reasons- it is safer for babies and mom, it will be better healing, and I won't really know if baby b will have a hard time with labor unless I try. He said if I were delivering at UCSF he would really push me to try to deliver vaginally if both babies are head down. At this point A is head down and B is breech. Things could change but he would deliver A and if b remained breech would do a breech extraction because the cervix has already opened enough for A that delivering B feet first is appropriate only in this type of situation. He also said this is something they do but not all regular Obs might be comfortable with this type of delivery. I don't think Dr. Juhn would be open to this and quite frankly it worries me. So, I may continue to think about this and if either baby is breech at delivery I think I will opt for the C section. If they are both head down I may try to deliver naturally. Time will tell. I want to do whatever will have an end result of 2 healthy babies and a healthy mom.
All in all we are trucking along and I am thrilled with how things are going. Im hoping Baby B will continue to gain weight and we can make it to 36 weeks. Happy Memorial Day Weekend!!
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Top- Baby B nose and Mouth 3D Middle- Baby B profile Bottom-Baby A profile
Sunday, May 20, 2012
29 weeks 2 days/ 7 1/4 months/ 205 days/ 73.8%
Can you tell by my title for this post that Im a little crazy about counting the days that have passed? Each day that goes by is 3 less days in the NICU. So, Im a little anal about counting. Which in turn makes time go by pretty slowly. Haha!
I wanted to do a second update this week because we have had some news that may affect things in the near future but I hope not. I went and saw my regular OB on Friday to do our normal check up. Things with me are going well which is fantastic. I have been worried about my blood pressure since it got high with Cole around this time. It was not low but not high either. I passed my glucose test which was a big sigh of relief. Im not anemic and my platelet count looks great. Big thumbs up for me!
Scott and I discussed our concerns we have with how our appt went on Monday with Dr. Chyu and she agreed that our concerns were reasonable and that she would call Dr. Chyu and discuss trying to get growth checks every 2 weeks and fluid/bladder/ and dopplers every week. Especially since the fluid does look lower in the baby who had polyhydramnios it would be good to check it weekly. We felt a little rushed out of Dr. Chyus appt and we never really got a good answer as to why if UCSF suggests bi weekly growth checks why she wanted to to it every three weeks. This gets so convoluted because you have 3 different doctors, 3 different opinions, and 1 crazy mom who seems to never get the right answer in a timely fashion.
After our long winded discussion (good thing Dr. Juhn likes to talk) we had a quick ultrasound just to check heart beats with our reg ob. This is on a very low resolution portable ultrasound machine they typically use on non complicated pregnancies. Dr. Juhn was a little concerned that the fluid in Baby A's sac looks a little lower than what we got on Monday which was 5cm. She also thinks that our placenta is already in the beginning stages of calcifying which means it is starting to go kaput. It may be working at capacity to the point we might not make it to 36 weeks. However, since this is such a low resolution ultrasound and I like to think Dr. Juhn is very conservative. So I hope when we go to our next appt they will find that we are in better shape than it looks. I also, must prepare for the possibility that we might not make it to 36 weeks either. Kind of Scary. NICU time almost seems inevitable. Dr Juhn wanted to me to get in contact with UCSF and see if I could move my appt that is this Thursday up to Monday or Tuesday.
I left Dr Juhns office and called UCSF right away. They seem a bit skeptical about all the finding and asked me some questions I was able to answer but some I thought Dr. Juhn should answer herself. UCSF said they were all booked next week but that they would talk to my Dr. and figure something out. This was Friday at 2pm. I thought for sure I would not hear back by then end of the day. Much to my surprise I got a call form UCSF who always seems to come through. They said that they were unable to squeeze me in but talked to the MFM and want me to go in to the office in Sac Monday to re-check things to be sure they are stable enough to make it to my UCSF appt on Thursday. This puts me at ease a little because my concerns are legitimate and Im a little worried about my placenta because nobody has mentioned this to me before. The more appts I have I feel a little more at ease because I know we are more apt to catch something earlier than waiting 3 weeks. I just feel that at this point wouldn't it be smarter to check things more often because I am at a point where viability is so high? Meaning if something was going awry we could deliver rather than extend my appts to 3-4 weeks and miss something that could have been remedied by delivery that we missed because you all thought things were going to be ok. I may be totally over reacting and hope that everything will go ok. But if there is even a slight chance for acute TTTS or something similar I want to be checked weekly.
Ive also been having a lot of contractions lately as well and Dr. Juhn is threatening hospital Bed rest too. We will re-evaluate this after we go to UCSF and determine our status. Im really looking forward to going to UCSF and very nervous as well. When we get there we will not have had a growth check in 3 weeks and I'm on pins and needles to make sure they are both growing and getting plenty of blood flow through the umbilical doppler.
If all goes well we did discuss delivery at 36 weeks and are probably doing an elective C-section. I could do a vaginal delivery but my Dr. thinks that since Baby B is smaller and most likey has a thinner umbilical cord that she won't tolerate labor very well. So after Baby A is born (which she would come out first being closer to my cervix) that baby B will possibly turn and not be head down and show signs of distress and I would need a c section anyway. I DO NOT want to do both so Im electing to do a C section. July 5th looked like a good day so if all goes well we will have the girls On Thursday July 5th. I pray we get walk into the hospital on the 5th and deliver big beautiful healthy girls. :)
I wanted to do a second update this week because we have had some news that may affect things in the near future but I hope not. I went and saw my regular OB on Friday to do our normal check up. Things with me are going well which is fantastic. I have been worried about my blood pressure since it got high with Cole around this time. It was not low but not high either. I passed my glucose test which was a big sigh of relief. Im not anemic and my platelet count looks great. Big thumbs up for me!
Scott and I discussed our concerns we have with how our appt went on Monday with Dr. Chyu and she agreed that our concerns were reasonable and that she would call Dr. Chyu and discuss trying to get growth checks every 2 weeks and fluid/bladder/ and dopplers every week. Especially since the fluid does look lower in the baby who had polyhydramnios it would be good to check it weekly. We felt a little rushed out of Dr. Chyus appt and we never really got a good answer as to why if UCSF suggests bi weekly growth checks why she wanted to to it every three weeks. This gets so convoluted because you have 3 different doctors, 3 different opinions, and 1 crazy mom who seems to never get the right answer in a timely fashion.
After our long winded discussion (good thing Dr. Juhn likes to talk) we had a quick ultrasound just to check heart beats with our reg ob. This is on a very low resolution portable ultrasound machine they typically use on non complicated pregnancies. Dr. Juhn was a little concerned that the fluid in Baby A's sac looks a little lower than what we got on Monday which was 5cm. She also thinks that our placenta is already in the beginning stages of calcifying which means it is starting to go kaput. It may be working at capacity to the point we might not make it to 36 weeks. However, since this is such a low resolution ultrasound and I like to think Dr. Juhn is very conservative. So I hope when we go to our next appt they will find that we are in better shape than it looks. I also, must prepare for the possibility that we might not make it to 36 weeks either. Kind of Scary. NICU time almost seems inevitable. Dr Juhn wanted to me to get in contact with UCSF and see if I could move my appt that is this Thursday up to Monday or Tuesday.
I left Dr Juhns office and called UCSF right away. They seem a bit skeptical about all the finding and asked me some questions I was able to answer but some I thought Dr. Juhn should answer herself. UCSF said they were all booked next week but that they would talk to my Dr. and figure something out. This was Friday at 2pm. I thought for sure I would not hear back by then end of the day. Much to my surprise I got a call form UCSF who always seems to come through. They said that they were unable to squeeze me in but talked to the MFM and want me to go in to the office in Sac Monday to re-check things to be sure they are stable enough to make it to my UCSF appt on Thursday. This puts me at ease a little because my concerns are legitimate and Im a little worried about my placenta because nobody has mentioned this to me before. The more appts I have I feel a little more at ease because I know we are more apt to catch something earlier than waiting 3 weeks. I just feel that at this point wouldn't it be smarter to check things more often because I am at a point where viability is so high? Meaning if something was going awry we could deliver rather than extend my appts to 3-4 weeks and miss something that could have been remedied by delivery that we missed because you all thought things were going to be ok. I may be totally over reacting and hope that everything will go ok. But if there is even a slight chance for acute TTTS or something similar I want to be checked weekly.
Ive also been having a lot of contractions lately as well and Dr. Juhn is threatening hospital Bed rest too. We will re-evaluate this after we go to UCSF and determine our status. Im really looking forward to going to UCSF and very nervous as well. When we get there we will not have had a growth check in 3 weeks and I'm on pins and needles to make sure they are both growing and getting plenty of blood flow through the umbilical doppler.
If all goes well we did discuss delivery at 36 weeks and are probably doing an elective C-section. I could do a vaginal delivery but my Dr. thinks that since Baby B is smaller and most likey has a thinner umbilical cord that she won't tolerate labor very well. So after Baby A is born (which she would come out first being closer to my cervix) that baby B will possibly turn and not be head down and show signs of distress and I would need a c section anyway. I DO NOT want to do both so Im electing to do a C section. July 5th looked like a good day so if all goes well we will have the girls On Thursday July 5th. I pray we get walk into the hospital on the 5th and deliver big beautiful healthy girls. :)
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
28 weeks 5 Days
I had my weekly appt today with Dr. Chyu here is Sacramento. This was my appt where I thought they were going to do growth checks and dopplers since we have been doing them bi weekly since week 16. However, to my dismay she decided we would do this every 3 weeks instead of 2?????? Why? Not sure. I left my appt today with a lot of questions actually. Although I think Dr. Chyu is very knowledgeable I do feel rushed in her presence and feel she is in hurry and doesn't explain things as well as I would like. She is definitely more thorough than Dr Veille but I just can't help that nobody can compare to the care I get in San Francisco. They just seem to be so much more thorough on their ultrasounds, they sit and explain all findings in detail and let you ask a multitude of questions. They also seem soooo consistent when it comes to the values we have been getting every week. When I go to Sacramento or Roseville we get such drastically different values week to week that I am skeptical about the accuracy of the findings. I understand there can be error due to different sonographers and such but Baby A went from having 8 cm of fluid last week to about 5 this week. Now this was explained to us by Dr. Chyu that it can be normal and isn't cause for concern. She did however, see the drastic difference in numbers from a screen outside my room and came in to check for herself when she saw the numbers. So it must have shocked her to some degree to come in right after that measurement was taken to check for herself. In fact, she even said I couldn't believe what I saw so I wanted to check as well. They were able to re measure a pocket that was measured originally at 4 and got a little over 5. All of these numbers are normal but since it is so different than last week I was a little skeptical because the last 6 weeks we have been hovering around 10cm. Im just worried that if it can go from -10 in one week down to 4-5 the next week that it can be seriously lower next week?????? It is possible things are just improving and that is great but when they say "oh we don't need to see you for another month" Im like HELL NO. I may be over analytical and a debbie downer but I really need to feel that I am doing everything I can to ensure that weekly we check this. I know I am not a Dr. but sometimes I feel brushed off when this was so extremely dangerous and possibly life threatening such a short time ago and now I feel like they are assuming everything will be hunky dory. Good God I hope this is the case but one can never be to careful. Better safe than sorry right?
So, the babies look good and each have a DVP of about 5cm. This is fantastic and the bladders look great. But now I have to wait another week to check the growth to determine if Baby B is still growing well and thriving. I continue to be blessed and breath a little sigh of relief after hearing strong heartbeats and seeing fluid in the bladders.
Dr Chyu told us that the extra fluid that is now not there gets absorbed by me and by the baby. I asked if this was something we should be concerned with and she said no. I didn't think to ask until we left about where it gets absorbed and at what point it is a problem? I guess since she said it wasn't something to be worried about that I didn't think much else about it. But after I left I started to wonder if it could be a problem for the girls if absorbed in and cause pulmonary edema or CHF etc. Sometimes a medical background is not a blessing because you know just enough to stress yourself out but not enough to answer your own questions. Ignorance is bliss....
I did stew over the appointment while on the car ride home and decided it could not hurt to call Dr. Rand in San Francisco and discuss my concerns over the fluid differences and hear what he thought about it. They are so great and even though he was in with another pt. the nurse talked to him about my situation and got a instant response. He feels that it could be completely normal but that he would be skeptical at such a difference in one weeks time. There really is no course of treatment about such a difference since it is in the normal range but is glad that I have an appt down there next week to check for himself. Me Too!!!! The what ifs are just getting to me and I try so hard not to dwell on the well this could happen and that could happen but I can't help it. I know we are in a fantastic place and the girls are looking great. I NEED to focus on that and I tell myself all the time. This is just very stressful when you don't have a see through belly and I cannot do anything to help. The next 6 weeks will definitely go by so slow. I will do my best to enjoy the quiet and rest.
I think the babies are getting bigger just from the way they move and how they are now positioned. I feel punching and kicking very hard all the time and I am loving it. I know they are doing good if they are kicking me awake at night. :) They also have been next to each other throughout the pregnancy but today we learned the Baby A on the left has pushed Baby B up on top and breech transverse. So Baby Bs head is on the Left as well and her body comes across the top of my belly and down my right side. Hmmmm wonder if she will stay in this position or turn head down? We shall see.
Ive been feeling ok. Im having a hard time sleeping now and the fact that it is getting hot out does not help. I try to go organize the spare bedroom and I have about 20 minutes of standing and bending before I need a break. Its pretty crazy. My back just starts to ache and I start to have some contractions and I feel it best to throw in the towel and rest. I know the organizing can wait. It may wait until the twins are 5 but it will still be there. haha.
I see my regular OB on Friday and I had my glucose tolerance test last Monday. I assume I passed since it has been over a week with no phone call. Im so glad because I was worried about that as well.
Next week we go to S.F. and this may be our last appt down there. I am very grateful for the team down there and it is bittersweet to leave them. I must trust that the Docotrs here have my girls and my best interest at heart. I will keep fighting for them and I know they will keep fighting for me, Dad and big brother Cole. Cole was excited to see the "baby beds" up in the girls rooms and then he comes over and pats my belly and say "hi sissys" "bye sissy's" and kisses them. I look forward to him holding them and giving them love if even for 2 seconds before he smacks them with a toy. :)
So, the babies look good and each have a DVP of about 5cm. This is fantastic and the bladders look great. But now I have to wait another week to check the growth to determine if Baby B is still growing well and thriving. I continue to be blessed and breath a little sigh of relief after hearing strong heartbeats and seeing fluid in the bladders.
Dr Chyu told us that the extra fluid that is now not there gets absorbed by me and by the baby. I asked if this was something we should be concerned with and she said no. I didn't think to ask until we left about where it gets absorbed and at what point it is a problem? I guess since she said it wasn't something to be worried about that I didn't think much else about it. But after I left I started to wonder if it could be a problem for the girls if absorbed in and cause pulmonary edema or CHF etc. Sometimes a medical background is not a blessing because you know just enough to stress yourself out but not enough to answer your own questions. Ignorance is bliss....
I did stew over the appointment while on the car ride home and decided it could not hurt to call Dr. Rand in San Francisco and discuss my concerns over the fluid differences and hear what he thought about it. They are so great and even though he was in with another pt. the nurse talked to him about my situation and got a instant response. He feels that it could be completely normal but that he would be skeptical at such a difference in one weeks time. There really is no course of treatment about such a difference since it is in the normal range but is glad that I have an appt down there next week to check for himself. Me Too!!!! The what ifs are just getting to me and I try so hard not to dwell on the well this could happen and that could happen but I can't help it. I know we are in a fantastic place and the girls are looking great. I NEED to focus on that and I tell myself all the time. This is just very stressful when you don't have a see through belly and I cannot do anything to help. The next 6 weeks will definitely go by so slow. I will do my best to enjoy the quiet and rest.
I think the babies are getting bigger just from the way they move and how they are now positioned. I feel punching and kicking very hard all the time and I am loving it. I know they are doing good if they are kicking me awake at night. :) They also have been next to each other throughout the pregnancy but today we learned the Baby A on the left has pushed Baby B up on top and breech transverse. So Baby Bs head is on the Left as well and her body comes across the top of my belly and down my right side. Hmmmm wonder if she will stay in this position or turn head down? We shall see.
Ive been feeling ok. Im having a hard time sleeping now and the fact that it is getting hot out does not help. I try to go organize the spare bedroom and I have about 20 minutes of standing and bending before I need a break. Its pretty crazy. My back just starts to ache and I start to have some contractions and I feel it best to throw in the towel and rest. I know the organizing can wait. It may wait until the twins are 5 but it will still be there. haha.
I see my regular OB on Friday and I had my glucose tolerance test last Monday. I assume I passed since it has been over a week with no phone call. Im so glad because I was worried about that as well.
Next week we go to S.F. and this may be our last appt down there. I am very grateful for the team down there and it is bittersweet to leave them. I must trust that the Docotrs here have my girls and my best interest at heart. I will keep fighting for them and I know they will keep fighting for me, Dad and big brother Cole. Cole was excited to see the "baby beds" up in the girls rooms and then he comes over and pats my belly and say "hi sissys" "bye sissy's" and kisses them. I look forward to him holding them and giving them love if even for 2 seconds before he smacks them with a toy. :)
Saturday, May 5, 2012
27 weeks 1 day
The survival rate for babies born at this gestation is 85%!! That is pretty good odds. I would obviously like to push this out to 35 weeks but everyday that passes with healthy babies is better and better odds.
I went to my first doctor appt with High Risk Maternal Fetal medicine Dr. Chyu since about 9 weeks ago. I have been lucky enough to be seen with great care in San Francisco and have now graduated to be able to be seen in Sacramento. I also had my monthly appt with my regular OB yesterday as well. We got great news with respect to the girls. They are still about 25 % difference in size but both gaining weight steadily and are even above the curve for weight. Baby A was 2 lbs 11 ounces and Baby B was 2 lbs 1ounce. The fluid for each baby was pretty similar and even slightly better at about 8cm and 5cm respectively. These are great numbers. The dopplers "couldn't be better" according to Dr. Chyu. This is so relieving.
I obviously left this appt feeling optimistic and in good spirits. It also seems a little bittersweet because although I have been extremely blessed, I have been following and chatting with fellow women in somewhat similar situations who have not been so lucky. I have been corresponding with a mom in Canada who is the exact same gestation as myself with Mono/Di twin boys. She also had an ultrasound for her boys the day I had mine. She had been doing well and had some pretty good ultrasounds but at her appt was given the devastating news that her recipient twin no longer had a heartbeat. This crushed me. Mostly because I can understand a little bit what she must be feeling. I obviously cannot really understand but having followed her story and knowing the risks I just feel terrible for her. She has a great outlook and is staying strong for her survivor. Please say a little prayer for her angel and her survivor that they are able to get some peace and bring a healthy baby into the world soon.
These type of stories are so hard to hear about but definitely help me to advocate for my girls and to push my doctors to see me VERY often to hopefully prevent something like this from happening. Acute TTTS is always a possibility and something I want to avoid. Dr.Chyu at first said I did not need to come back for a month???? A MONTH??? Are you crazy? Im not going from weekly to monthly? I responded that UCSF recommended at least bi weekly for growth but that I would like to be seen weekly to check Fluid levels. I didn't think that was too much to ask and she agreed pretty easily that it was something i could do. Phew!!! Im usually not one to question the doctors too much but after hearing stories like the one above and others where healthy 5/6 lb twins didn't make it from acute TTTS I want to be on the safe side.
I think I have a few things on my side and the doctors feel optimistic that acute TTTS won't be something I will encounter. Mainly because I have never been in stage 1 TTTS or had an treatment. BUT, it doesn't mean it cannot happen. So, for my peace of mind I will be in there weekly to make sure I do all in my power to prevent it or get the girls delivered if things are not going well. If I have any abnormal dopplers I will be delivered right away so as far as I am concerned it is something to check weekly.
My regular OB is great and she is definitely open to my concerns and isn't too proud to take the advice of the experts when it comes to what needs to be done for me. She will deliver me at 35-36 weeks as UCSF recommends at the latest because the placenta is likely to deteriorate after this point and the girls are safer out than in. She also is going to start Non-stress tests weekly or twice weekly] at 32 weeks to make sure the girls are not in distress.
I feel the more I am at the Dr. the less stress I feel and the more at ease I am. Scott was pretty happy I said something about not waiting a month to be seen because he knows how much of a basket case I would be if I had to wait that long to make sure everything is ok.
I feel very blessed and thank god everyday that I am still in a good place and that I can feel two little girls growing and kicking everyday. I have never been happier to be this uncomfortable and I will do it as long as it takes. So, now I just continue to make appts and go to the Dr. It is weird to think I will have these girls in less than 2 months from now. I have one more appt in San Francisco mainly for my piece of mind and they have been gracious enough to let me come back even though they don't think it is necessary if all is going well here. But I think I need it for my sanity more than anything. Also, I need to pick up the placenta box so I can send it to them and get results as to what the share looked like between the girls.
That's pretty much how things have been going in the last week and I continue to try to rest and relax as much as possible. It is definitely hard for me to do more than about 1 errand a day which is fine because it gives me plenty to do during the week because I cannot get it all done in one day. Thanks to all for the continued prayers. Please say an extra prayer for those who are in worse situations that myself or are just starting this rough journey. One can never have too many positive thoughts and prayers. Have a Happy Mothers day next week. Spoil all those wonderful Moms who sacrifice everyday for the health and safety of their beautiful children.
I went to my first doctor appt with High Risk Maternal Fetal medicine Dr. Chyu since about 9 weeks ago. I have been lucky enough to be seen with great care in San Francisco and have now graduated to be able to be seen in Sacramento. I also had my monthly appt with my regular OB yesterday as well. We got great news with respect to the girls. They are still about 25 % difference in size but both gaining weight steadily and are even above the curve for weight. Baby A was 2 lbs 11 ounces and Baby B was 2 lbs 1ounce. The fluid for each baby was pretty similar and even slightly better at about 8cm and 5cm respectively. These are great numbers. The dopplers "couldn't be better" according to Dr. Chyu. This is so relieving.
I obviously left this appt feeling optimistic and in good spirits. It also seems a little bittersweet because although I have been extremely blessed, I have been following and chatting with fellow women in somewhat similar situations who have not been so lucky. I have been corresponding with a mom in Canada who is the exact same gestation as myself with Mono/Di twin boys. She also had an ultrasound for her boys the day I had mine. She had been doing well and had some pretty good ultrasounds but at her appt was given the devastating news that her recipient twin no longer had a heartbeat. This crushed me. Mostly because I can understand a little bit what she must be feeling. I obviously cannot really understand but having followed her story and knowing the risks I just feel terrible for her. She has a great outlook and is staying strong for her survivor. Please say a little prayer for her angel and her survivor that they are able to get some peace and bring a healthy baby into the world soon.
These type of stories are so hard to hear about but definitely help me to advocate for my girls and to push my doctors to see me VERY often to hopefully prevent something like this from happening. Acute TTTS is always a possibility and something I want to avoid. Dr.Chyu at first said I did not need to come back for a month???? A MONTH??? Are you crazy? Im not going from weekly to monthly? I responded that UCSF recommended at least bi weekly for growth but that I would like to be seen weekly to check Fluid levels. I didn't think that was too much to ask and she agreed pretty easily that it was something i could do. Phew!!! Im usually not one to question the doctors too much but after hearing stories like the one above and others where healthy 5/6 lb twins didn't make it from acute TTTS I want to be on the safe side.
I think I have a few things on my side and the doctors feel optimistic that acute TTTS won't be something I will encounter. Mainly because I have never been in stage 1 TTTS or had an treatment. BUT, it doesn't mean it cannot happen. So, for my peace of mind I will be in there weekly to make sure I do all in my power to prevent it or get the girls delivered if things are not going well. If I have any abnormal dopplers I will be delivered right away so as far as I am concerned it is something to check weekly.
My regular OB is great and she is definitely open to my concerns and isn't too proud to take the advice of the experts when it comes to what needs to be done for me. She will deliver me at 35-36 weeks as UCSF recommends at the latest because the placenta is likely to deteriorate after this point and the girls are safer out than in. She also is going to start Non-stress tests weekly or twice weekly] at 32 weeks to make sure the girls are not in distress.
I feel the more I am at the Dr. the less stress I feel and the more at ease I am. Scott was pretty happy I said something about not waiting a month to be seen because he knows how much of a basket case I would be if I had to wait that long to make sure everything is ok.
I feel very blessed and thank god everyday that I am still in a good place and that I can feel two little girls growing and kicking everyday. I have never been happier to be this uncomfortable and I will do it as long as it takes. So, now I just continue to make appts and go to the Dr. It is weird to think I will have these girls in less than 2 months from now. I have one more appt in San Francisco mainly for my piece of mind and they have been gracious enough to let me come back even though they don't think it is necessary if all is going well here. But I think I need it for my sanity more than anything. Also, I need to pick up the placenta box so I can send it to them and get results as to what the share looked like between the girls.
That's pretty much how things have been going in the last week and I continue to try to rest and relax as much as possible. It is definitely hard for me to do more than about 1 errand a day which is fine because it gives me plenty to do during the week because I cannot get it all done in one day. Thanks to all for the continued prayers. Please say an extra prayer for those who are in worse situations that myself or are just starting this rough journey. One can never have too many positive thoughts and prayers. Have a Happy Mothers day next week. Spoil all those wonderful Moms who sacrifice everyday for the health and safety of their beautiful children.
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