Week 28 update

It is the first time I have done one of these. At first I felt these were only for regular pregnant people...not the formerly infertile ones!

How far along? 28 weeks

How big is baby? Some weird fruit that I am too lazy to look up.

Total weight gain/loss:  Up 20 lbs.  I am happy with that! Even if I gain 2 lbs every week here on out like suggested for twins it will end up being roughly 36-38 lbs.

Maternity clothes? Uh, duh.  I am wearing regular tights and sweat pants ( no need for anything else) because I do not like anything over my stomach, but I definitely need maternity shirts to cover this big ol belly.

Sleep: Ambien anyone?  It is difficult to sleep in a hospital so the nurses practically push Ambien.  At first I resisted, but when I gave in I realized what a difference it makes.  When I get a good night's sleep I can deal with a full day of doing nothing.

Best moment this week: Signing my discharge papers to go home!

Movement: Yes.  Baby A kicks in my pelvic region and along my pant line. Some times she runs her hand or foot along my stomach which feels so strange.  I feel Baby B very seldom.  Either that or I cannot distinguish between the two.  Both are facing towards my spine so I probably only feel a small portion of their movements.  

Food cravings: Not a craving, I would just like a Starbucks when I feel like getting one.  J brings them to me on the weekend when I ask, but there is a Starbucks in the cafeteria down stairs just teasing me!  I can't get to it unless someone wheels me down there and they keep really weird hours.

Food Aversions: Um not that I can think of!

Gender: My two little ladies

Labor Signs: Braxton Hicks, uterine tightness, contractions, short cervix, irritable uterus. My uterus is very angry with me

Pregnancy Symptoms:  Hurts to lay on my right side, achy legs at times, leaking boobs (already??)

Belly Button in or out? In a state of limbo.  Not flat, but definitely not like it used to be

What I miss:  Being in the real world, doing things for myself, sleeping without being medicated

What I am looking forward to: Going home to this place

This pic was taken two years ago...the last time we had a real snow

Upcoming appointments/events:  I do not have any appointments for a week! After seeing the doctors every day and having an ultrasound once or twice a week this seems like an eternity.

Weekly Wisdom: Compression stockings...I hear a lot of people talking about swelling in their legs and feet.  I have not had any issues and I think it is from wearing these stockings.  Not the most stylish things but I am not trying to impress anyone right now lol.

Milestones: Goodness gracious I cannot think of any baby milestones that I am looking forward to.  That's sad. Things I was looking forward to: 3d/4d, baby classes, maternity photos are now things I won't be able to do.  Boo hoo.  From here on out it was just be baby checkup and growth scans which I always look forward to!

Bed Rest Musings

I really thought I would write more on the blog while I was on bed rest but I have just been sooooo busy….not!

My typical day here starts with a 6 am medication and a blood pressure check.  The medicine that I am on (Procardia) requires that my blood pressure is above 100/50 to take.  I usually try to go back to sleep until 730 when a technician bursts through my door to take my blood pressure and temperature (vitals).  From there it is just a barrage of people coming through my door!  People think bed rest must be great for rest, but when you are in a hospital it can be anything but.  From 730 on I see 2 doctors, 1 nurse, 1 technician, 1 house cleaner, and food service deliverers depending how many times I get room service.  I see the nurse a lot less now because my other medication (Indocin) was stopped at 27 weeks.  Some people knock on the door, some people don’t.  Those who DO knock usually don’t wait for a reply!  The other day a doctor knocked on my door and when I replied that I was getting dressed, he just walked in and had a conversation with me while I had one leg in my pants, underwear hanging out and all.  Not awkward.

I get a Non-Stress Test (NST) twice a day for 20 minutes each time, but it usually takes longer because the babies will fall off the monitors.  

Bottom pink strap= Baby A (so low it has to be put in my pants!), middle pink= contraction monitor, top blue= Baby B

The top blue line is Baby A's heartbeat and the pink line interlacing with it is Baby B's.  The Bottom line is my contraction monitor.  I was having a very low irritability day so the line is really flat for me!

The NST monitors how reactive the babies are (how much they are moving around and if their heartbeats go up and down at the appropriate times) and also if I am having any contractions.     It has really helped me to know exactly the difference between uterine tightening, Braxton Hicks and contractions.  I have really only felt two contractions since I have been here, but initially I was brought into the hospital for preterm labor and the doctor told me I was having contractions every 30 sec-1 minute.  That was scary because I didn’t feel it at all!  That night I was put on Dilaudid which in an IV medicine.  It helped to relax my uterus and made me feel warm and fuzzy before it knocked me out.

The babies were looking awesome at the last ultrasound on Friday.  Baby A weighed 2.5 and Baby B weighed 2.4.  Those are very average weights for a singleton, so pretty good for twins.  It is also reassuring that they are close in weight and one baby is not getting more nutrients than the other.  No one is checking my cervix any more because they do not want to irritate it any further.  If my water does not break I am allowed to go home and continue strict bed rest on Thursday!  Just in time for my mom to visit for a few weeks.  My dad and one of my brothers are also going to come down next week for a few days.  I am so happy that I will be able to get out of the hospital in time for Christmas and I am able to spend it with my family!  I am so grateful that my body’s status has not changed in the 6 weeks I have been here and these babies get to bake a little longer. Bed rest really does make all the difference in a high-risk pregnancy.

Omg what a funny 3 week comparison! Look how much we've grown.  The babies (and my belly) went through a serious growth spurt from 24-27 weeks.

30 days of thanks, Nashville Shower, & 1 year of blogging!

Too much excitement for one post!

Start off with catching up on my thanks-giving
Day 11- Thankful for all of my friends and family who put together such a lovely shower even with a change of venue!
Day 12- Thankful for all of the beautiful clothing, blankets, books and other gifts we received for our girls.  I loved having it all in my room to stare at for a few days and take photo ops with!
Day 13- Thankful for online shopping.  I am able to buy what I need without sending J to the store to get himself in a tizzy.
Day 14- Week 24! My beautiful girls are holding on a received their first steroid shot at exactly 12am last night and will be receiving their final shot at 12 tonight.  This shot helps to mature their lungs should they be born early.
Day 15- So thankful for an invitation to the NICU support group.  I really didn't care what the support group was for, I just wanted to get out of my room for an hour!
Day 16- Thankful for the nurse who calmed me down after having a miserable day.  My body was aching from laying on my sides and whenever I lay on my back I become short of breath.  She suggested an Ambien & Tylenol cocktail and I slept like a baby and the next day my soreness had gone away.
Day 17- Thankful for my 1 year of blogging!  I am grateful to have this outlet that has seen my through endometriosis, infertility, fertility drugs, IVF and now pregnancy.  It allowed me to connect with people that are in my life in a totally different way.

I wanted to share pictures from the shower last Sunday. We had the shower planned for the 11th and even though I was in the hospital I still wanted to have it because we have no way of predicting what is going to happen in the upcoming months with the babies arrivals and I knew that everyone had worked really hard to make the shower special.  Here are some of the pictures from that day!

Ready for the day!

Fruit carriage

Diaper stroller 

Car Seats!

Grateful to have so many people come to the shower!

Swag!

30 days of thanks giving

I am way late on the uptake here, but I saw this on another blog and felt it was important for me to put out into the universe the things I am thankful for.  I will try to do one every day here out!

Day 1- More than words can ever say, I am thankful for my husband.  He has been staying with me every night, right by my side.  This means he gets up extra early in the morning to workout, go to the house and take care of things there, pack stuff for me that I need, pack things that he needs for the next day, all before going to work at 830.

Day 2- Thankful for all of my family and friends who call, text and visit if possible. I really don't like to talk on the phone, but I love a text message and it boosts my spirits to know we have so many great people thinking and praying for us.

Day 3- Thankful that our little ladies are each weighing in at 1 pound.  They are both right in the 50% percentile for singletons.  Rock on chicas

Day 4- Thankful for the sweet view of downtown Nashville from my room.  The nurses moved me from a smaller room with a courtyard view to this huge room the second it was available.  

Day 5- Thankful for the internet....what did people on bed rest do before it?? I almost go crazy if I cannot connect for a morning.

Day 6- Thankful for a nurse that makes J and I laugh soooo much.  She is seriously inappropriate, has told me to "Shut the F--- up" and has boundary issues but that is what I like about her :)

Day 7- Thankful for a husband who brings me soft toilet paper and a former patient who left her shower curtain.  Things are feeling more homey around here!

Day 8- Thankful to have in-laws that we can rely on and who are willing to do so much for us!

Day 9- Thankful for a husband that left work early so that he could be here before the sun went down, all to take me for a ride in a wheel chair.  He knew it would make my day to go to the serenity garden outside, if only for 5 minutes.  Love that man.

Day 10 (Today!)- Thankful to have a nurse that will calm my fears that now that both babies are head down and Baby A is sitting on my cervix, she is not going to just fall out. Lol.  I spent a good portion of the night awake, worrying that this may happen, but she assured me...I will have to go into active labor before anyone comes out.

Day 10 of Hospital Bed Rest

So, I am still in the hospital.  I had really gotten my hopes up last week that when my doctor came in on Monday he would say I was released to go on bed rest at home.  My OB seemed to be skeptical of my release and when the Maternal Fetal specialist came in, she laid the law down.  Hospital bed rest until at least 28 weeks (6 weeks total).  We were both surprised and overwhelmed by this news and it took us a few hours to gain perspective on the situation.

My cervix is literally paper thin and they were afraid if they sent me home that I would do more there than I would at the hospital.  That I would be inclined to get up more often to get food or clean things up or just grab something that I wanted, whereas in the hospital I do not have to do any of those things for myself.  After some time we realized that although it is not the ideal situation for us, it is probably the best place for our babies to be staying.  I see two doctors a day and my nurses come in at least 10 times a day with medications and to check up on me.  I can let them know about any ache or pain that I am worried about, and if they feel it is a serious concern I will have an ultrasound to check things out.

J and I have both adjusted throughout this week.  We both just want to do what is best for our little girls and to give them the best chance of becoming healthy babies.  We are really focusing on milestones right now.  24 weeks is a big one.  At 24 weeks the doctors will give me two rounds of steroids to help develop their lungs.  A baby born at 24 weeks has a 50% chance of survival with a 90% chance of long term side effects.  24 weeks may be viability, but it is not a goal. At 26 weeks there is a 90% chance of survival and at 28 weeks 95%.  I would love, love, LOVE to make it to 37 weeks, but after 28 weeks I will breathe a little easier.  If I am not dilated at 28 weeks I will be able to go home to be on bed rest.  At 32 weeks I would even have some of my restrictions lifted!

As for right now, I have established a daily routine.  Obviously it is made up on BS things to do such as: tv, reading, internet, crafts, shower, brush teeth, meals and stretching, but it gives me things to look forward to and a specific time to do them.  This prevents my whole day being swallowed up by tv or the internet alone.  Thankfully, I have bathroom privileges and I am allowed to take a short shower sitting down. I have been keeping entertained so far and it really helps that soon it will be winter (although it's a high of 70 today!) and the holidays are right around the corner, giving me something other than the milestones to look forward to.

21 weeks

Hopefully not my last pictures in real clothes!!

Worst case scenario: Hospital Bed rest

It happened a lot sooner than I ever anticipated and with barely any warning so here I am on hospital bed rest. I have been sailing through pregnancy ever since about 10 weeks with no symptoms.  Around 18 weeks I started having Braxton Hicks contractions and I let both of my doctors know (the OB and the Maternal Fetal Specialist).  They both said while it can be a sign of preterm labor, everyone has contractions throughout their pregnancy as a way to prepare the body for labor.

Yesterday morning I worked out with J and then went to work.  My job is not strenuous and it varies from sitting at a desk to active playing.  I felt a lot of pressure deep down in my uterus and then a very sharp pain that made me double over.  I finished working and called the doctor.  Of course my OB is out for the week so I saw the on-call doctor.  At first they were not going to have an ultrasound but I guess they changed their minds.  The ultrasound tech took a look at my cervix for all of 3 seconds and said, “This is not good.  Your cervix is supposed to be 40mm and its 6mm. You are going to have to be put on bed rest.  In fact I am going to get a wheel chair because you are not even going to be allowed to walk out of this room.”

So within those 3 seconds I saw everything come crashing down.  I had prepared myself for having to go on bed rest at 28 weeks at the very earliest.  Before the tech even looked at the girls she asked me to call someone so that they would be able to help me home.  I called J just sobbing.  I couldn’t get out a word and since he knew I was at the doctor I am sure he was thinking the worst.  Anyhow he was able to make it to ultrasound before we even finished.  I am sure a few laws were broken on the way!  The good news was that the girls were healthy and active, weighing it at 1 lb each.

We went back to my doctor’s office to discuss a plan.  At this point we were both very anxious about the thought of going on bedrest, then the nurse mentioned that they would be taking me to the hospital!  That raised our anxiety level another few thousand notches.  Luckily my doctors office is attached to the hospital I will be delivering at so they were able to wheel me right over and into the Antepatrum floor, which is a high-risk area of labor and delivery. 

We had another ultrasound to see if the cervix had changed and it remained at 6mm.  We spoke with the MFM this morning and he said that for now I will remain on bed rest at the hospital with bathroom and shower privileges (woo).  When my OB gets back on Monday they will do another ultrasound to check on the cervix and at that point I can either be released for bed rest at home or remain at the hospital.  While I find comfort in being at the hospital and close to the doctor if I need anything I would really prefer to be at home. 

The craziest part of this whole experience is that I only had one warning sign! One sharp pain, pressure and that was it!  I honestly thought I may have been over reacting but I sure am glad that I went to the doctor immediately.  Who knows what would have happened if I just ignored it and went on working out and working.  Now we are really praying to make it to 24 weeks (I am 22 weeks today).  No baby has ever survived before 24 weeks, which is such a scary thought. Of course 24 weeks is not the ultimate goal but the next milestone we have to look forward to.

Shower #1 & 20 week ultrasound

I'm super exhausted from my weekend at home so most of this post will be in pictures.  I wanted to say thank you to everyone who came to my shower and to my mom putting it together!  I know it was super early, but my doc said this was my last opportunity to fly so it was the only time to have a shower at home.  The girls are so loved by everyone already and now have many, many cute outfits to wear along with a lot of useful gear.

During the trip we got to spend an entire day with my nephew and parents, hung out with my brother and soon to be sis in law, had the baby shower, ate breakfast with an old friend, went shopping at KOP with my momma and pops, caught up with my two good girlfriends and went to the Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State Penitentiary. Phew!  It was a very successful and busy trip home.  Oh yah, and I turned 30!

At the ultrasound this morning the girls looked perfect and are measuring 11 and 12 ounces which is good even by singleton standards.  

Cutie pie

First Phillies outfits!

My beautiful diaper cake! Thanks Mom and Colby!

Mamacita and I

I always wanted to be pregnant and here's the proof

Annie and I 

What a sweet girl!

I may be biased but he is the cutest

Hanging with J and Katie

Baby Swag!

18w3d I'm definitely getting bigger...no comments from complete strangers yet, but I can see people looking at my belly!

Week 19: Maternity clothes and weight gain

Maternity clothes.  Up until week 15-16 I was getting away with wearing my regular jeans and using a hair tie to keep it closed with a belly band over it. Then I found a pair of full panel (I think?) maternity jeans.  Heaven.  At that moment, I gave in to the comfort of maternity clothing.

I was lucky enough to have a good friend loan me her maternity clothes and I hit the jackpot at a local consignment store.  While I was checking out the cribs, the store manager let me know she had just priced some higher end (pea in the pod, pickles and ice cream) almost brand-new clothing that would fit me.  At that point I became hooked on the deals and have been scoring big time at the consignment shop, Target and Maternity Motherhood. So far I have gotten 10 shirts, 3 pair of work pants, 1 pair jeans, 1 pair cords and 5 dresses for about $150.  Not a bad deal, especially knowing that the jeans and one of the shirts from the consignment store would have costed $150 if I got it brand new.  I just cannot see spending all kinds of money on clothing that I will only be wearing a few months and possibly never again!

My weight gain has been pretty steady throughout. From my pre-pregnancy weight I have gained 8lbs.  In the beginning of my pregnancy I read the book When You Are Expecting Multiples, because I heard that it had the best info for multiple pregnancies.  
It really freaked me out reading their weight gain suggestions.  It recommended gaining 24 lbs by 20 weeks and then an average of 1.5 lbs each week until delivery.  Oh, and they say to add 5 lbs if you had fertility treatments and 5 more for first time moms on top of all that.  For anyone doing the math...that's a total of 60lbs.  In the mean time my ob told me to gain about 35 lbs.  Little bit of a disparity there?  I am not freaked out by actually gaining whatever weight I need to gain for the twins to be healthy, but the doctor who wrote the book was very adamant about needing to hit weight milestones to decrease the chance of having underweight babies.  For now I will just keep eating as healthy as I can and whenever I feel hungry.

 I was not able to work out AT ALL from week 7 until week 14.  It felt so good to get my clearance and get back to the gym!  I have been going with J in the mornings about 4-5 times a week and doing the stair stepper for about 30 minutes each time.  I think it is helping me to keep my weight gain steady, but it also makes me crazy hungry.  2 hours does not go by without my stomach growling.  I also love spending that extra time in the morning with my hubs.  Once the girls get here we will not be able to do that :(

My stomach has realllly popped out this week!  No comments from strangers yet, but my client's grandmother who hasn't seen me in a few months asked if I am expecting.  I have this feeling that since I wasn't really showing at week 17-18 and then boom! popped out, that my stomach is going to start growing exponentially.  Woohoo!

Gender reveal...

We had a doctor's appointment at 15 weeks and were really hoping that the ultrasound tech would be able to tell us the genders.  We were so disappointed to find out that we didn't even have an ultrasound scheduled that day!  We begged the doctor to let us have an ultrasound to try to find out.  The tech agreed to do it because she said I am pretty small still and that would give her a good chance to check things out.  Well...she told us for sure the gender of Baby B, but couldn't see the other baby because its legs were crossed.  She tried for a good 40 minutes but our little baby was not letting us see the goods!  She did however, tell us what she would say the genders are if there was a gun to her head...

Well seeing as how we have zero patience we immediately made an appointment for that afternoon for an elective 3d/4d ultrasound.  Again, we had to beg them to check because they said it was too early, but we knew that the other ultrasound tech would have been able to see the gender if only the legs weren't crossed.  After a good 30 minutes this technician came to the same conclusion...

TWO GIRLS!! Holy cow, were we surprised!  J and I both had a feeling that it was a girl and a boy.  I guess we were wrong!  Although, my biggest fear right now is that we will go to our next ultrasound at 20 weeks and find out that one "girl" had turned into a boy haha.  I always said that I wanted 5 boys...so it's only fate that I would end up with twin girls!  We are so happy to have healthy, growing babies that it doesn't matter what gender they are.

We decided to do a small gender reveal with Jason's family and our good friends.  We baked cupcakes and cake ball cookies and filled the centers with pink.  We had everyone make their guess for the genders.  Blue= two boys. Yellow= one boy, one girl.  Pink= two girls.  It was fun to watch everyone's reaction when they saw pink inside!

Since my parents live in PA I had a local flower shop fill a box with a bunch of pink Mylar balloons and two Pink balloons that said "It's a girl".  My mom called me when she received the box and her reaction was priceless.  It sounded like this, "Hold on...there's pink....pink....more pink!  It's all pink!!!"

We already picked out their names, so everything is starting to feel very real.  We already got their cribs and nursery furniture and my wonderful in-laws will be painting the nursery one weekend while we are away (so I don't have to take in the painting fumes).  Pretty soon my one-day-someday-maybe-baby-room will be an actual nursery.  I still cannot believe it.  We have been so incredibly blessed throughout this process and I honestly feel so special that I have been chosen to carry two little girls at one time.

I have been going through a pretty serious nesting phase the past few weeks.  I have been going through the clothes we have stuffed away in closets around the house and have already donated 3 full bags of clothes to Goodwill.  I have been going through drawers in the kitchen and our bathroom and just throwing away crap with no abandon!  It feels great to make space and get rid of things we do not use.

Here is my 8 week, 12 week and 16 week comparison.  I will be 18 weeks on Thursday and I think there will be a big difference in the next picture!  I go home in a few weeks and I am really hoping not to disappoint with my belly :)

It's all good in (and under) the hood

 I have been doing a lot of blog and message board reading, but I have not been doing a good job of posting on my own blog.  Partly, because I am too lazy and partly because nothing too interesting has been happening.  We just had a 14 week appointment with a maternal fetal medicine (MFM) specialist.  I was referred to the MFM only because I am pregnant with twins.  The babies looked great and measured 4-5 days ahead of their fetal age.  Their side angles are cute.

Their front angles however, look like they are wearing a Lucha Libre mask. Not a good look kids.

My nausea started fading out around week 9.  I get bouts of it now and then, but it is just so much better than it was in the beginning.  I haven't experienced the fatigue like I hear other people talk about (not yet anyway).  I attribute it to a great work schedule, no children to take care of and a wonderful hubby to make his own dinner :)  Don't get me wrong I enjoy a nap here and then, but I am not feeling run down like I hear have been other's experiences.

I have been taking weekly pics of my stomach so far the biggest difference was week 4 to week 8.  My stomach was huge at week 4 from OHSS and then back to normal at week 8. At week 14 some days I have a bump and others I don't!  I am suspecting that I will have a definite bump for my week 15 pic, but I just finished a weekend of eating nachos, pizza, and hot dogs so I may just have a food baby in addition to the other two babies right now.

WARNING:  I'm gonna show bare belly pics.  Don't worry I have a shirt on.  I suspect that I may have been grossed out by bare belly pics the first time I saw them, so I won't be offended if you want to X out of the blog now, but I love looking at these pics now and making comparisons in myself and others.

J likes my 8 Week pic.  He says I look like a female fighter....didn't realize my hubs was into that

14 Weeks