Eventful Week

Sorry I've been such a bad blogger, but I've been SOOOO busy. Firstly, I've been helping the Jewish day school in my community with a project, and it's taken up SO much time this week. Secondly, my mom came to visit. So any time I wasn't working for Torah Academy, I was spending time with her. Thirdly, I've spent nearly the last 24 hours in the hospital. Urgh!

So here's what happened. Yesterday morning I had an OB appointment that went perfectly well. My belly measures 46cm (eeps), my blood pressure is great, I'm on antibiotics for another UTI and the babies have super heartbeats. She did another fetal fibronectin test as well as my group B strep test (no speculum). Later on in the day, I noticed that I was spotting! Not a lot and it was brown, but I called the doc to see if she thought it was from my appointment earlier or if it might be something else. She basically told me to get my tush down to labor and delivery. :-) So my mom and I came on over to the hospital. They did a speculum check and low and behold I'm dilated to 1cm! Whoops that's a change from being "tight as a drum" last week. As of last night my cerclage is still holding well and isn't pulling, but they wanted to keep me over night to make sure that 1cm doesn't turn into 2. I'm STILL waiting to be checked, and if it's fine I need to make it home before Shabbos. We also decided to go ahead and get the steroid shots, because now that my cervix is *really* not behaving, we want to be safer than sorry. So far so good! No weird side effects from the first shot.

Now, the reason I haven't been checked yet is because my doctor (actually a med student) came to see me this morning and he just so happened to be someone I went to Brandeis with. lol He's doing med school at Tufts and is doing his OB rotation here. In order to prevent the incredible awkwardness of having him check me, he transferred my care to another doc...but I still haven't seen her yet. She is supposedly going to come in about 10 mins to *finally* check me. I'll give an update then!

UPDATE: Still 1cm and will be going home in time for Shabbos! I just have to wait to get my second steroid shot and then I'm all set.

Honest Scrap

I've been tagged! Both Jenni & Wiseguy tagged me with the "Honest Scrap" award.



The Rules of the Award:

1) Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.
2) Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with "Honest Scrap." Well, there's no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.
3) List at least 10 honest things about yourself.

Blogs I Pick:

Rebecca @ The Binky Diaries
Lisa @ A Day in the Life of Preachman's Wife
A Few Good Sperm
Sherry @ Sherry's World
Marie @ Where is that Special Water?
Jewels @ Empty Nesting
Murgdan @ Conceive This!

10 Honest Things About Myself:

1) I have no clue how I'm going to handle two babies at once.
2) I am a cat lover.
3) I still keep in touch with my three best friends from college (and see one of them every few weeks).
4) I play nerdy computer games.
5) I enjoy bed rest because it gives me an excuse to be lazy.
6) I had very, very few friends going through school.
7) I'm incredibly short (4'11").
8) I like things that are organic, natural and/or environmentally friendly.
9) I have never smoked a cigarette, taken any illegal drugs or been drunk.
10) I spent the night after my wedding night in the hospital. :-)

Too Much Excitement

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been lazy the last few days. :-) On Friday evening I went to bed pretty early (like 9:30pm) and then woke up about 2 hours later. I got up and went to read for a while, and the whole time was having contractions (annoying and a teeny bit painful, but nothing I couldn't handle) about every 5 mins or so. Now I wasn't really worried that I was in labor, but with having frequent contractions, I was nervous that it might be affecting my cervix and therefore my cerclage. So, my hubby and I packed up and went to the hospital at 3AM. We got there, I was put on the monitor and checked. My cervix was closed and my cerclage holding steady, but we were watching the contractions on the monitor (and I had the pleasure of feeling them). They told me to try drinking more (even though I honestly had had a ton to drink the night before) and let me try to get some sleep. Shmuel (sort of) slept on two chairs that he made into a makeshift bed and I (sort of) slept on the bed. At 7AM we both woke up, so they checked my cervix again and it hadn't changed. YAY! My doctor came in and told me I was good to go, but she wanted me to get a steroid shot to help the babies' lungs just in case I went into labor. After much debate, my husband and I decided to forgo the shot because my fetal fibronectins were all negative (which means there's a very low chance of labor in the next 2 weeks) and because the shot really only makes a difference if the babies are born from 2-7 days after the shot is given. With my chances of delivering in the next week being so low, I didn't feel the shot was really necessary. Besides, after talking with the neonatologist from the NICU, it was obvious that if the babies were born at this point respiration is not the biggest issue. Their stay in the NICU would really be for other things, like temperature regulation, putting on weight and figuring out how to eat via mouth. For the first 24-48 hours they might have some trouble breathing, but after that it really shouldn't be an issue. We then went home, had lunch and then pooped out completely. I've had plenty of contractions since, but not with the same frequency. And THAT was my weekend. :-)

Grosgrain has another adorable skirt up for a giveaway. Check it out here: Blushing Buttercream Pettiskirt

Baby Pool Revisited

Here's another big link to my babies' pool just in time for IComLeavWe! Please put your guesses in now, because I'm locking the game on March 1!!! There are some bloggers out there who had pages and pages of guesses, so I'm hoping to have the same.



Make sure to leave guesses for both twins!!! Winner(s) will get some awesome prize (to be thought of at a later date...)

If you've already guessed and would like to change it, feel free. If you're having trouble changing it, email me (or comment to this post) and I can do it for you.

Ultrasound Update

The ultrasound went pretty well this morning. Babies are still cute. :-) My cervix is holding up, although I must've been having a contraction when she first measured because it was REAAAALLY short (like .65cm), and I couldn't see the cerclage knots. But after about a minute it went back up to 1.7cm and you could see the knots just fine. Neither the doctor nor the tech were worried, so I'm not worrying either. :-) I've also graduated! No more cervix checks! I'll still be going in to check the babies' growth, but that's it. Wooooo!!

I did get some decent pictures today, so I'll share them with you.

This is Baby A's profile


Here's a cute 3D of Baby A's face


And another cute 3D of Baby A's face


Here's Baby B's profile


And here's Baby B (and umbilical cord) in 3D


Enjoy!

Numb Belly

I discovered the other day that there are numb patches on my stomach (really just the area surrounding my belly button). I asked the doctor about it today and she says it's normal because my skin is sooooo stretched out. I wonder if I get my whole belly numb if I won't have to feel contractions? :-)

Speaking of contractions, the Braxton-Hicks are really annoying. They're still not painful (on my stomach), but I am feeling pain in my back and bladder. Oh man, every time I have a contraction it feels as if my bladder was 150% full. Now that's pain... Thank goodness it only lasts as long as the contraction and then my bladder goes back to feeling "normal" fullness. :-)

So, the doctor says all of my various symptoms are normal (and many are to be expected). On very good notes, my Braxton-Hicks contractions aren't affecting my cervix at all, my blood pressure is great and there are no warning signs of anything else (i.e. no protein or sugar in urine and my fetal fibronectin tests are all negative). The babies are in the same positions as always--Baby A head down, Baby B transverse. I've decided that they're making a T for Tamakwa. heh (Tamakwa deserves it's own post if you really want me to explain, and no, it's not a Yiddish or Hebrew word and has very little to do with Judaism.) I also only have about a week and a half left of the progesterone and then I'm done! My hubby got all freaked out when I said I was stopping it. He's like "but it's so early!" So I told him that just because I'm done with it, doesn't mean I'll go into labor the next day. Besides, I'll already be about 33 weeks. The only thing the progesterone is doing is helping to keep the cervix closed, but really the cerclage is doing the hard work. If the doctor is going to take out my cerclage at 34 or 35 weeks, I don't think stopping the progesterone a week or two beforehand is going to do any harm. My cervix isn't just going to suddenly open up...although that would be a pretty neat trick and make the whole labor and delivery thing much easier. :-)

Ultrasound tomorrow, and I posted a new belly pic this evening!

Sleeping

Sleeping has become rather difficult. First, I get tired at strange hours. I could stay up till 3am and still toss and turn for hours. But then once I'm asleep, I could go until noon (or later) with bathroom breaks every few hours. Secondly, I can't get comfortable no matter what I do. Left side, right side, back (propped up), nothing works... And changing positions is a whole other story. I don't know how my husband sleeps through that (he might not...) It's like an earthquake! *sigh* And once the babies arrive, I'm going to have no chance to sleep. Oh well.

I've decided that the underside of my belly is totally gross. I can't see it, of course, but it feels like cottage cheese (aka cellulite) gone wrong. It's all bumpy. :-( It might be stretch marks, but either way it's going to be ugly. The rest of my belly is FULL of stretch marks, but I'm pretty sure they'll fade nicely once I get back to normal size. Well, that's the price you pay!:-)

Dentist

Yesterday was much better than Wednesday. I had a checkup with the dentist on Tuesday, and he said that one of my fillings needed replacing. That replacing happened yesterday! (Talk about quick turnaround time...) Anyways, I'm the kind of person who goes without novocaine for all dental procedures (except the time I had a root canal). I mean really, if you've ever had a cavity filled without novocaine then you already know that it's not painful. Yeah, there's a weird twingy sensation that happens during drilling when the doc goes near a nerve, but it's not pain and totally dealable. I mean, I don't even flinch when it happens. So why the novocaine? Because people are terrified that it's going to hurt. I dislike the feeling of being numb, and going through the filling w/o novocaine is easy, so that's the way I go. Besides, it saves money. :-) I really hope my kids don't have a fear of doctors or the dentist...I love 'em all!!

On a side note, apparently a group of skunks decided to have a party at our shul, so my husband came home STINKING of skunk. Man, that smell lingers! I have no idea how we're going to get that smell out of his winter coat, but he threw his clothes in the wash and took a shower. At least HE doesn't smell, just his stuff. Anyone with an idea of how to salvage his coat & hat should leave me a comment! I wonder if the dry-cleaner could do something... *sigh* Poor Pookie.

Exciting Day

I had my OB appointment yesterday, and they started off with me on the tocometer (contraction monitor) for a while. I watched the screen & printout and noticed several little contractions...and even felt one or two (not painful, just annoying). The doc wasn't pleased with the frequency of the contractions and sent me to labor & delivery for fluids and monitoring. Now I've been REALLY good with drinking fluids, but yesterday I got up really late and only had time for a small glass of water. But, she thinks I was dehydrated (I probably was) and wanted me pumped with fluids. She also took another fetal fibronectin test, which came back negative. :-) Anyways, I then proceeded to spend the next 5 hours being monitored and pumped with fluids (3 bags, urgh). It was exceedingly boring! The doctor came in around 8pm and said she liked how the contractions had spaced out, so I could go home. She told me to expect Braxton-Hicks contractions because with my uterus already at full-term size and space at a premium, it's really just doing its job. For now it's not affecting my cervix, so she's not worried about it. She was only worried when they were coming like every 3-5 mins, regardless of whether or not I could feel them. :-)

As for my cervix, it's still closed and beautiful. :-) The doctor's scale says I only gained a half pound in the last week, but I think it's more because I didn't have time for a full breakfast before my appointment. When I got home (after the 3 bags of fluid), the scale showed I gained like 6 pounds from this morning. At first I was shocked and appalled, but then remembered the fluid intake. I asked my hubby and he said that sounded about right from the amount of fluid I had. It's slowly going back down to normal.

The doctor is SO pleased that I've made it to 30 weeks. She said that even though she's happy now, she'll be even happier at 32 weeks and then ridiculously happy at 34 weeks. She said she'll "shut up after [I] get to 34 weeks" (that's a direct quote). lol As for my cerclage, she said that if my contractions are starting to bother my cervix, she'll take out the cerclage around 32 or 33 weeks, but otherwise would leave it in until 35 weeks. She also said that after 36 weeks there's really no overwhelming reason to keep the twins in longer, because the space is so cramped and they probably wouldn't be growing as well as if they were on the outside. She said that they for sure would be here before Passover! :-)

Getting Bigger

I posted my 30 week belly pic! At my sister's request, I'll start posting new pics every week. :-)

Speaking of 30 weeks, here are the updated survival rates & complications statistics:

Survival: 93%
Respiratory Distress Syndrome: 55%
Intraventricular Hemorrhage: 2%
Sepsis: 11%
Necrotizing Enterocolitis: 15%
Intact, long-term survival: 90%

This was my OB's short term goal, so I'm pretty ecstatic to have made it this far. Now if we can just get to 37 weeks!

M*A*S*H

I don't have cable, so my TV programming is pretty limited. But since I got a vcr/dvd player with a digital tuner, I can watch all of the free digital channels! More choices, but not all great. Apparently, however, there's a channel called the "Ion" network which airs M*A*S*H sometimes, and tonight it was on for about 6 hours straight. Oh it was a beautiful thing to behold. I wish there was a 24 hour M*A*S*H channel... I'd never sleep! :-) Best.Show.Ever.

P.S. M*A*S*H went off the air 6 months before I was born, so I didn't see any of it the first time around.

P.P.S. I would rather watch M*A*S*H than do nearly anything else.

P.P.P.S. Everyone go send a BIG congrats to The Captain's Wife who had her baby girl today!!! (At 41 weeks...urgh)

Bathroom

When my father A"H was sick, he used to track on a piece of paper every time he went to the bathroom. He had bladder cancer along with kidney issues, so he used the bathroom quite frequently. Last night I woke up to use the bathroom at least 3 or 4 times, so it reminded me of this. And when I'm awake, with Baby A pressing on my bladder, I have to go every time I stand up. I guess my body is just prepping me for feeding every two hours once the babies arrive. Now I know how my mother felt searching for a bathroom at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier 30+ years ago. I think I'd freak out if I went somewhere and they didn't have a "public" bathroom. Good thing I'm on bed rest where there's always a bathroom nearby!

I think I forgot to update you all on my cervix check. It's actually looking better than it has since I got the cerclage in--measuring between 1.9 and 2 cm. And that's even after decreasing my progesterone supplement by half (on doctors orders, of course). Go me! If it wasn't so slippery outside, I'd ask the doctor for permission to go out and do something fun, but I'm not taking any chances with snow and ice. It's good to have an excuse not to brave the cold.

Big, Fat Babies!

Well, maybe they're not *so* big and fat, but it's good enough for me. Their measurements are a day or so behind (meaning they're measuring for 29w 1d and 29w 0d instead of 29w 2d), but that's totally fine. They are twins, after all. But their measurements are nearly equal, and they both are estimated to weigh 2lbs 15oz--which is actually more than I was expecting. The funny thing is that of all the parts of their body that were measured, the only ones that are measuring larger than average are their femurs (leg bones)...and for anyone that knows me, that's pretty shocking. Even better is that Baby A (the girl) has a slightly longer femur than Baby B (the boy). hehe Hopefully they'll take after their Daddy and not be ridiculously short!! Honestly, though, the best part is the fact that they are measuring so closely to one another. One of the big fears with twins is that one will grow much larger than the other (or even steal nutrients from the other). I am sooooooo lucky!

Sorry to Keep Bringing This Up

I know the octuplet mom is the only thing I've talked about in the last week, but I just have to tell you what I heard on the news this morning. Her publicist said something that made me go "you obviously have no idea what you're talking about". She basically said that with IVF you can't control how many babies you get. I was like "errr, IVF is the BEST way to control how many babies you get. Put in two embryos, and your chances of having more than two is slim to none." It made me so mad, because anyone who does not have experience with IVF might actually think the publicist knew what she was talking about and now thinks the risks of having crazy numbers of multiples with IVF is very high. *sigh* When will these people learn?

In other news, I have my next prenatal appointment and ultrasound tomorrow! They should do measurements, so we should be able to see how much the twins have grown and approximately how much they weigh. Should be close to 3lbs now! It feels like my belly weighs 20lbs, though. I'm also not worried about the weigh-in tomorrow, because so far I've been right on track this week. Woooo!

Octuplet Mom Needs Help

Thanks to my mom for finding this article. As it turns out, the mother of the octuplets needs some major psychiatric help. (And apparently, so does her doctor.) I honestly can't believe it. Here's the article: CLICK ME

1 Year

That's right, folks. It's been exactly one year since my miscarriage. Since I had about 4 days prior notice, by the time Feb 1 rolled around I was actually relieved to be bleeding. I was afraid it might not happen on its own and I'd need a D&C. B"H Everything happened on its own, and because I was so early (5w 5d) it really was just like a slightly heavier regular period...with small uterine contractions. Had I not known about the pregnancy, I could totally imagine not realizing it was a miscarriage.

I actually "got over" the fact that I had miscarried rather quickly. Although I was completely and utterly devastated, I eventually realized that it was not meant to be. I was also told varying things about Judaism's thoughts on miscarriage, and they were all so helpful. I was so glad that I had finally gotten pregnant, but then I worried that it was just a fluke...that I might not get pregnant again, or that I'd just keep miscarrying. B"H Neither of those thoughts were correct.

So, here I am. 1 year later. At this point last year, I never could have imagined I'd be in my 3rd trimester with twins. And had you told me, I would've laughed in your face. :-)