I got to have weights and measures done on the girls today in addition to their BPP (where they scored an 8/8 again). According to the ultrasound Baby A weighs 5lbs 8oz and Baby B weighs 4lbs 13oz. Baby A's head measured in the 95th percentile so perhaps I should be happy that I must deliver by C-section.
I learned from my nurse that the closer you get to term, the more inaccurate the weights and measures are so she says that these measures should be close. My guess is that they will both be right around 5lbs and Baby A measured big and Baby B measured small. If only I was smart enough to figure out how to put a pool together in 48 hours.
Extra pictures and hearing that we have big babies in there was a nice birthday gift for sure.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Happy Birthday To Me
Today marks the last non-developmental milestone that has been in my head across the pregnancy - my birthday. I am a big nerd and as soon as I heard about the mono mono diagnosis, I built myself an Excel spreadsheet so that I would know the dates that I would hit each milestone. From there it was easy to see that I needed to be fixated on getting past my birthday.
Your birthday is not an easy day to sleep in at the hospital though... at 7:30am I had all of the night shift and day shift nurses come in to sing me happy birthday and give me a birthday brownie (no candle lighting allowed). My night nurse said it would be fine since I fall back asleep easily... she was right, I didn't mind. Sadly though the resident came to check on me at 8am and after two wake ups and breakfast that arrived just after 8, I decided it was time to get up.
We've been so fortunate to get this far... the "silver standard" of twin pregnancies as my nurse said last night. Now I can simply try to relax as much as possible in the next 48 hours and perhaps complete another milestone by watching the Sex & the City movie... I just finished all episodes of the show thanks to Liz lending me her library... I was too cheap/poor to have HBO when it was on TV.
Your birthday is not an easy day to sleep in at the hospital though... at 7:30am I had all of the night shift and day shift nurses come in to sing me happy birthday and give me a birthday brownie (no candle lighting allowed). My night nurse said it would be fine since I fall back asleep easily... she was right, I didn't mind. Sadly though the resident came to check on me at 8am and after two wake ups and breakfast that arrived just after 8, I decided it was time to get up.
We've been so fortunate to get this far... the "silver standard" of twin pregnancies as my nurse said last night. Now I can simply try to relax as much as possible in the next 48 hours and perhaps complete another milestone by watching the Sex & the City movie... I just finished all episodes of the show thanks to Liz lending me her library... I was too cheap/poor to have HBO when it was on TV.
Timeline Part II
I got lots of questions yesterday around what the babies' timeline will be. Unfortunately, this is a much harder question to answer because we can't truly assess their condition until they are out. We had a NICU consult with the fellow last night to get a sense of the condition of a "standard" 34 week baby (we'll be one day shy of 34 weeks).
- 1:15pm - babies delivered
- 1:45pm - we will get a report while still in the OR on how the babies are doing. My nurse today reminded me that no news is good news... we don't want a situation where the NICU is needing parental consent, which is the primary reason we see them before 30 minutes. At this point Bill will be invited back to the NICU to visit/take pictures and - if they are stable enough -the doctor wrote an order that they can come visit me in the OR.
- 3:45pm - I should be stable enough to visit them in the NICU
- Breathing - With two rounds of steroids, hopefully we'll be in a good place and they may just need a little help getting full, deep breaths. It won't be strange if they need a CPAP or a little bit of oxygen, but they should not need a ventilator. They will also be on an Apnea machine since preemies often simply forget to breathe and need to be stimulated to remember - it just takes time for their brains to mature enough to keep all of their body systems going without breaks.
- Temperature Control - They need to be able to regulate their own body temperature, which is correlated with body weight. Around 5lbs babies can regulate their own body temp. They will be in an incubator until they can do this.
- Eating - Preemies need to learn to suck, swallow and breathe all at the same time. We've been told that this is the often the last "skill" that they will develop. Across approximate the first 24 hours they will be fed by IV and then we'll transition to giving them nutrients via their stomachs with a combination of a gavage (feeding tube) and breast feeding. The feeding tube makes sure that we get them enough nutrition and the breast feeding is to help teach them eating skills so they can come home.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Laid Back
I always find it informative to see myself through someone else's eyes. I believe there is truth to their perception and will try to figure out how their view of me reconciles with my own. Typically, this experience comes through a professional setting with performance reviews and such, but across the past week I've had the experience at the hospital.
At least three nurses have commented on how laid back and/or chill I am. I have laughed out loud each time and tell them that I am quite certain if they described me this way to most people who know me in life, you all would be convinced that they had the wrong person. Laid back is not the predominant adjective I would use to describe myself. But, I have to admit that I have been relatively calm across the experience. I attribute my demeanor to the perspective I gained on mono mono twins when Bill and I spent 5 weeks unsure if they were conjoined. Difficult Pregnancy/Normal Life is such the better option than Complicated Pregnancy/Difficult Life. I truly feel fortunate to be in the position I'm in today and so I'm not fighting it as much as I might have.
Nonetheless, I think there's a whole lot of emotion bottled up inside right now that will come out once we get confirmation that the girls are OK. I warned the nurses that they will likely see an emotional mess and wonder what happened to the woman they got to know the past 10 weeks as they send me to postpartum... and some of my girlfriends joked last week that then Bill will also know his wife is really coming home :)
I wonder how I can take some of this more chill self with me... methinks it might be necessary to survive raising twins :)
At least three nurses have commented on how laid back and/or chill I am. I have laughed out loud each time and tell them that I am quite certain if they described me this way to most people who know me in life, you all would be convinced that they had the wrong person. Laid back is not the predominant adjective I would use to describe myself. But, I have to admit that I have been relatively calm across the experience. I attribute my demeanor to the perspective I gained on mono mono twins when Bill and I spent 5 weeks unsure if they were conjoined. Difficult Pregnancy/Normal Life is such the better option than Complicated Pregnancy/Difficult Life. I truly feel fortunate to be in the position I'm in today and so I'm not fighting it as much as I might have.
Nonetheless, I think there's a whole lot of emotion bottled up inside right now that will come out once we get confirmation that the girls are OK. I warned the nurses that they will likely see an emotional mess and wonder what happened to the woman they got to know the past 10 weeks as they send me to postpartum... and some of my girlfriends joked last week that then Bill will also know his wife is really coming home :)
I wonder how I can take some of this more chill self with me... methinks it might be necessary to survive raising twins :)
Vanilla Chai
With the chilly temperatures and snow this weekend, I was craving a vanilla chai... as a non-coffee drinker, it's my cozy warm drink of winter. However, I am been exceptionally faithful to the no caffeine rule across this pregnancy. I got in my head early on that since caffeine is a stimulant and we're trying to prevent cord entaglements and pulling, I should avoid any substances that might make the girls more active.
I realize that this is likely crazy thinking, but I got it in my head and couldn't get it out. I wasn't as faithful to the no alcohol rule and definitely had a few glasses of wine in the past 7 months... and if it didn't taste terrible to me while pregnant I'm sure I would have had a few more. It wasn't about the rule as much as what I had convinced myself the impact of a little caffeine could be.
As much as I wanted a vanilla chai this weekend, I decided I could hold out a few more days because my head is still stuck on not wanting to give the girls stimulants... even though there is relatively little in chai. Bill has agreed to get me one on Friday morning when I should be able to eat solids again and the outsized risks that a little bit of caffeine has become in my head will be over. Methinks it will taste better than ever then... especially with the first (solid) food I'll be able to eat in over 24 hours.
I realize that this is likely crazy thinking, but I got it in my head and couldn't get it out. I wasn't as faithful to the no alcohol rule and definitely had a few glasses of wine in the past 7 months... and if it didn't taste terrible to me while pregnant I'm sure I would have had a few more. It wasn't about the rule as much as what I had convinced myself the impact of a little caffeine could be.
As much as I wanted a vanilla chai this weekend, I decided I could hold out a few more days because my head is still stuck on not wanting to give the girls stimulants... even though there is relatively little in chai. Bill has agreed to get me one on Friday morning when I should be able to eat solids again and the outsized risks that a little bit of caffeine has become in my head will be over. Methinks it will taste better than ever then... especially with the first (solid) food I'll be able to eat in over 24 hours.
Timeline
Since there is little to no mystery (we hope) about the date and time of delivery, I thought I would at least pass along the timeline the nurses have given me a loose timeline for how things will happen on Thursday.
- 1pm - Surgery Begins
- 1:15ish - Girls will be born
- 3pm - Surgery Will be Finished
- 5pm - I'll get up for the first time
- 7pm - I'll be relocated to a postpartum room for the remainder of my stay
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Hips Don't Lie
I find that I've entered the state that is likely quite normal for pregnancy where I can't sleep soundly at night because no matter what position I choose, it's only a matter of time before I wake up with sore hips. My doctor offered me Tylenol to help, but I don't think it's going to mask the fact that I have two babies inside and a body that's trying to make room for them.
My remedy instead is to use "the stick" to massage my legs before I go to bed (which helps for the early part of the night) and then flip over often. I have yet to find the remedy for the thoughts that run through my head knowing it's t-minus four days until we get to meet the little ones.
My remedy instead is to use "the stick" to massage my legs before I go to bed (which helps for the early part of the night) and then flip over often. I have yet to find the remedy for the thoughts that run through my head knowing it's t-minus four days until we get to meet the little ones.
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