Ultrasound appointment

We had a really great doctor’s appointment this morning. The growth ultrasound showed the babies doing well. Baby A measured at 2lbs 15oz and Baby B is 3lbs 4oz. Surprisingly, the girl weighs more even though, initially, her brother was bigger. Btw, there’s no doubt that Baby A is a boy. We were given a pic with his wee-wee in plain view. Needless to say, Mike’s quite the proud papa.

My cervix hadn’t changed either which was a relief. Last weekend, I had round ligament pains all day. Normally I have a couple of them here and there, but this was all day. Since there weren’t any other symptoms with the pains, I didn’t call the doctor. Sure enough, the pains hadn’t affected my cervix.

As usual, I had a whole host of questions for the peri and was reassured on all of them. Since it looks like we’re out of the woods (for the most part), the reality of bringing home the babies is settling in. Apart from a mild panic, we’re very, very happy. Too bad my request to go nursery shopping was shot down. Maybe in about 3-4 weeks in a wheelchair is what I was told. A small price to pay to bring home healthy babies with hopefully a short stay in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit).

Last night we attended the Le Leche League meeting I wrote about. It was informative, but not what I expected. I thought there would be more instructions on how to breastfeed, but instead it was a Q&A on whatever we felt like asking. There was only one other couple in attendance and they’re having twins too. Basically it sounds like most everyone can breastfeed. If you’re having a hard time, it maybe because you’re not doing it right. You just need to seek help with someone who’s educated/accredited. My challenge is to tandem feed (both at the same time). The EZ-2 Nurse pillow I mentioned yesterday was brought up again last night. I kind of wish I could try it out before getting it. And is the foam pillow better than the inflatable one?

There was some new-agey vibe to the meeting. They didn’t totally frown upon my c-section birth plan, but it didn’t sound like it met with complete approval either. It’s not my fault due to a previous surgery, my uterine walls are weak and I won’t be able to push for a vaginal delivery. I almost wanted to ask if it was preferable for my uterus to burst and have the babies’ mother die on the table? (Hormones talking now, not me.) I also know it’s important for the babies to bond with the mother soon after birth, but what if the babies are early and have to be whisked off to the NICU? The LLL leader kept saying I can insist on having things my way, but I’m not the medically trained professional here. How do I know if my insistence isn’t at the risk of the babies’ health? So much to think about. I’ve been so focused on keeping the babies inside me that I haven’t given much thought to what happens when they come out. Oh my gosh, we're having babies!?!?!?!

LLL

I’m going out tonight and I’m looking forward to it! If only it was an exciting outing, but at this rate I’ll take anything. I’m going to a La Leche League meeting. La Leche League is an international nonprofit, organization providing education, information, support, and encouragement to women who want to breastfeed. It’s a pretty huge organization and they’ve been around for a long time.

I decided to seek help in advance because I’ve heard horror stories about trying to breastfeed and I really want to give it a try. My sisters and I were all formula fed because 1) my mom didn’t have anyone to help her or give her support and 2) she went back to work straightaway. My sister had a really tough time breastfeeding, so she pumped and then fed my niece (which sounds like it took twice as long as opposed to feeding her directly). Also, my MIL (mother-in-law) Sharon, said the only assistance she had breastfeeding Mike was a La Leche handbook given to her. It worked for her; at one point her doctor said she was overfeeding him!

I'll probably get the EZ-2 Nurse pillow. Does anyone have any personal experience with this pillow? Foam sounds better than the inflatable. I've heard suggestions to get 2 of them especially if you have a 2 story house. Unfortunately, with this pillow and tandem nursing 2 babies, I probably won't be able to get the much desired glider rocker. Oh, those rockers felt so nice but I doubt we'll all be able to fit :-(

My only concern about tonight is being comfortable. My contractions usually happen in the evenings when the uterus is tired and the babies are more active. Plus, I may be sitting on a hard folding chair as opposed to lying down on the couch surrounded by pillows. I’ll let you know how it goes. And in the meantime, if you have any stories to share or wisdom to impart on a newbie like me, please send me an email, leave a comment or call. Since the babies are most likely going to be a bit (or a lot) premature, breast milk will really help their development and growth. Plus, formula is expensive! And remember, I have to double up on many items. Yes, I’m notoriously frugal but in this case breastfeeding would be a win/win situation.

Fur Baby

I couldn’t go much longer without mentioning another very important member of our family, Oliver. O-dog is pretty great. If you’ve met him, you know he’s super affectionate and friendly. He’s a licker, not a fighter. He can tame the scariest Pit Bulls or hang out with the biggest Great Danes. He goes right up to them and says, “Hi, I’m Oliver. Wanna play? Wanna play?”

Oliver came into our lives when we were pretty fragile. He’s a rescue dog from the animal shelter, although I’m not sure who rescued who. We were lucky he had been brought in within the past hour. If you’re not familiar with pound procedure, you put your name on a waiting list. There’s a one week waiting period for the owner to claim the dog if he’s a runaway. You have to show up promptly on the day they become available. If you’re not there, the opportunity to adopt the dog goes to the next person on the list. Fortunately, we were the first ones on the list. Fortunately for Oliver, there were 5 other people that showed up hoping to get Oliver as well. Oliver came home with us on November 4, 2005. One day after the original due date of Matthew & Isabel.

We estimate Oliver was born July 05. We still call him ‘puppy’ due to his size. He’s definitely a mutt. If we had to guess, he’s got some Dachshund (he’s long like a hot dog), maybe some American Staffordshire Terrier (broad shoulders and a white chest), possibly Pug (he’s got an impossibly cute wrinkly face and semi curled tail) and most likely some Chihuahua (his smallness). Initially I wanted a Pug or a Puggle (Pug and Beagle mix), but I’m so glad we went to the pound. There are so many dogs and cats in need of a home, it broke my heart not to be able to take them all.

The move has been an adjustment for Oliver. In Sac, he had lot of friends and was taken to the park almost every night (it was literally at the end of the cul de sac from where lived). We met good friends through Oliver. Here’s one of my favorite pictures of Oliver and his best friend, Poquita. Her parents, Monica & Alvarro, had some amazing bbq’s. Mmmmm, I could go for Alvarro’s short ribs right now.

But in O.C., it’s a different story. No one walks their dogs at night. There's not even any sidewalks! The dog park isn’t all that, there’s hardly any grass. And sadly, we’ve (or Mike has) been so busy Oliver hasn’t been able to go out very much. Hopefully soon once all the boxes are unpacked, we’ll be able to give him more attention, especially before the babies arrive.

Lastly, here’s a picture of my belly from this weekend. Every Saturday, we take pictures. It’s really cool to see how much my belly has grown. I remember thinking I was initially out of shape, but compared to now I was positively fit back then!

Preventative measure

So how did I make it to 28 weeks? There are a number of factors which we contribute it to. Whether or not they were (all) needed, we’ll never know. Our tragic loss last year will never be determined. You can’t imagine how frustrating that is.

We’ve been proactive since Day 1. In fact, our initial Perinatologist group was a nightmare because they wanted to adopt a ‘wait and see’ approach for the pregnancy. Our thought was, ‘wait for something to go wrong, and then it’s too late?’ That was not acceptable, especially since this was the same group we saw last year. They’re horrible and cold. I suppose you have to be given their line of work. They weren’t proactive last year and I can’t help but wonder if our outcome would’ve been different had we had another doctor.

Some of our preventative measures have included the aforementioned cerclage. We saw the best doctor for cerclages - Dr K in San Francisco. He spent 3 hours with us at our initial consultation. He wasn’t trying to convince us one way or the other, but just presented the facts. Many OBs perform 3 or 4 cerclages during their entire career. Most Peris will perform 3-4 a year. Dr K does between 80-100 a year! He has said, it’s his thing. In fact, he’s modified the standard McDonald cerclage to his own. Since his office is 2 hours from where we used to live, I couldn’t see him on a regular basis. I’ve seen 4 other Peris since and every one of them have been very impressed with Dr K’s cerclage because of its uniqueness. Seeing Dr K was one of the best decisions we made for our babies.

Dr K also prescribed Acid Jelly which has been helpful. For guys reading this blog, this will be TMI. But, you guys can appreciate what we have to go through. Acid Jelly keeps the Ph balance in the vagina. When pregnant, the hormones are all over the place making the vagina susceptible to infections, most commonly yeast infections. Not only am I one of these lucky ones, but last year’s lab results showed I had a high presence of Group B Strep (GBS). Simply put, GBS is kind of like E Coli. It’s bad, but you have it in your system. If you have too much, then that’s really bad. But it’s a part of you and not harmful if kept in check. GBS is only harmful when you are delivering vaginally and then it could be fatal to the baby if they’re exposed to it in the birth canal. Nonetheless, GBS is an infection and we don’t know if GBS contributed to the rupture of Matthew’s placenta. There are different opinions on what to do with GBS. Some doctors think it should be treated with antibiotics. Other doctors (including Dr K) believe it should be left alone and by administering antibiotics it could do more harm in the long run (i.e. developing a tolerance which may make treatment of other infections more difficult). All this to say, the Acid Jelly has kept me free of infections (both yeast and GBS) during this pregnancy.

I also get weekly injections of 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone caproate (known as 17P or P17). It’s been shown to reduce the risk of preterm delivery and controlling an irritable uterus (which I seem to have). I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been pricked and poked for this pregnancy. Just last week alone, I had the 3 hour glucose test where they drew blood 4 times in 3 hours! I have a huge bruise on my arm from the IV they inserted last week in addition to the shot of terbutaline to stop the contractions. You’d think I’d be used to it by now, but I still get squeamish and can’t look when they’re inserting the needle.

To top it off, I have a yogurt smoothie every morning and a whey protein shake every evening, for the past 197 days. Whew, that’s most of it. There are a few more items I haven’t included but you get the gist of it. I hope this doesn’t put anyone off from trying to have a baby. Most people I know have sailed through their pregnancies. I don’t know why we had to lose Matthew and Isabel, but I know we’re extremely blessed to be pregnant again.

28 weeks!

Another milestone accomplished! 28 weeks a/k/a 7 months a/k/a 3rd trimester! It eases my mind a bit to have it made this far. 32 weeks is still where I’d like to be, but one of my nurses told me that at 28 weeks the babies have a 90% survivability. Although, a doctor told me last week that babies over 2 lbs have the same statistics. No matter, I’m just glad for each additional day I’m gestating. My next goal is to make it to the 30’s, then 32 weeks. (It’s easier to have the goals more attainable i.e. 2 weeks, than 4 weeks.)

The babies are kicking a lot. It’s not painful, just feels like a lot of stomach rumbling. They’re also sticking out a lot in the front. I wonder if it’s because I have an anterior placenta as opposed to posterior. This indicates where the fertilized eggs first embedded itself into the wall of the uterus. The front wall of the uterus is called the anterior wall; the back wall is the posterior wall. As far as I know, having an anterior placenta isn’t harmful to me or the babies. Last I checked, my waist measured at 45”. I hope I get to 50” or more. I tease Mike and tell him I’m about to catch up to him!

Speaking of my wonderful husband, he walked to the store late last night to get me some ice cream and cookies. Its ok he didn’t get me the right flavor ice cream as I was more into the cookies. It was my first ‘sweet’ since passing the glucose test and I was really looking forward to it. We normally get Nestle Tollhouse refrigerated cookie dough. It comes as one big square but you can break off little squares, stick it on the cookie sheet and bake. When it’s baking, the cookies flatten out and become a nice round gooey chocolately delight. However, last night it never flattened out. Instead, it remained a square and the bottom burned. Since it had been so long, I was glad to have anything that was warm and chocolatey but it was kind of a disappointment (sorry, babe). I wish I could’ve had Tom’s cookies which my friend, Kelly, turned me onto but they don’t carry it at our local market. Geez, do I sound like an ingrate or what?