The countdown begins

Sorry, I’m behind in blogging. I will admit some of it is because I’m more tired now (and lazy). Some is because there is someone in my building who drains the internet feed each night so that I have a few hours (when I’m normally online) that I can’t connect. I’ll be calling the internet company soon, but then they have to put a trace on and it will take a while. Meantime, I’m just living with it.

All appears to be well, or at least as well as can be expected. Let’s see, updates from last time.

I’m taking 4 insulin shots a day now. 2 are slow acting and 2 are fast acting. The 'pens' make this so easy to administer and most of the time is totally painless. The doses for both have been increased. I see the diabetic Dr every 2 weeks. She suspects as the pregnancy progresses that we’ll have to continue to increase until it goes away. I had a blood test to confirm that I wasn’t an undiagnosed diabetic before the pregnancy (just in case). It came back negative. So I’ll be able to stop the shots, cold-turkey the day I give birth. Right after the doses are increased, I track my blood sugar at 7 key times during the day. Then I can track only 4 times a day in between. So far, it’s not overly high, just a bit higher than they like. It’s never been really low (but I carry the sugar and candies with me just in case). My blood pressure appears to have gone down the tiniest bit (still high). Since the GD insulin and monitoring is the only change, it may have contributed (it may be a coincidence). I’d like it to go down a tiny bit more.

As expected, the last scan confirmed the placenta isn’t just sitting over the cervix, it’s firmly attached and not going anywhere. It’s so centered that they have a hard time seeing the cervix in a trans-abdominal scan and need the dildo-cam wand. They’d need the wand anyway to measure the cervix so no big deal. Happily, it’s still very closed and quite long (4.5cm). And still no spotting. But it does mean the c-section is a total done deal. In fact, I now have a delivery date (don’t know the time yet, but I really hope for morning). The boys will arrive in the world on May 27th at 35w1d, 3 days after their mother’s 43rd birthday. The best birthday present I could ask for. I’m donating a pint or two of my own blood, just in case. That gets sucked out at the end of April (and I’ll have closer to normal blood pressure for a day or two). I am hoping the boys are at least 5lbs each at this time and I don’t think I need to be concerned. I know inter-uterine weight estimates can be quite off, but at best guess, as of Tuesday, they weigh 3lbs 2oz (A) and 2lbs 12oz (B), for a combined weight nearing 6 lbs. I weighed 5lbs 2oz at full term birth. They are a bit bigger than I was……..

B remains transverse, all the time it seems. His head is to my left. If my bladder is fuller, raising the uterus up, he’s behind my ribs. A either remains in a breech position with his butt slightly to my right, or he lies down in a transverse postion, with his butt around center. Both roll over when transverse and have been facing forward, backward, up and down. When A is sitting in the breech position, he leaves himself very exposed to being knee-ed in the face by B. When he’s lying down, he seems to get kicked in the face, a no win situation. But the way he stays, he doesn’t seem to go far enough over to kick B in the head. I can feel A move almost all the time. B still scares me lots because I feel him less. I don’t relax during a scan until they show me him moving and I can see his heartbeat. Next scan is the end of this month.

Weight gain is up to 19 lbs now. Still progressing nicely. I realized last week that I’m going to have to face the scale going over the 200lb mark for the first time ever sometime before the pregnancy is done. Now before anyone tells me not to worry etc, I know that I need to gain weight and will do anything and everything to get these boys safely delivered. But to anyone who has battled weight, 200 is a psychological milestone. My brain needs to get past it. Don’t worry, I won’t diet or try to avoid it. It will happen and I’ll drop back down once the boys come (I think the boys, their sacs and placentas alone will more than take care of it). But it is something I have to get my head around.

Still nothing major in the symptom world. I get heartburn once in a while. It’s usually at night, but sometimes during the day. It’s not as bad as most people get and I rarely have it while lying on my left. My hair is noticeably straighter and less oily. Actually, all my hair is straighter….all of it, everywhere, yes, I mean there. I’m not sure if this is a common symptom or not. Oh, my feet are often swollen, particularly at the end of the day. I try to keep them up as much as possible, but I can’t really lay claim to an A width foot right now. Shoes all still fit because most were laced as tight as possible before and are just laced looser now. I move quite slowly now. I just don’t have the energy for anything else. I’ve got a maternity band that makes walking even the few blocks that I do go easier. But then it pinches when I’m sitting so I take it off when I’m sticking around somewhere for a while.

There is a Baby Fair tomorrow that I’m going to. It has some good seminar/talks that I want to listen in on, including baby and toddler first aid. Of course I’d love to win some prizes too, but will be happy with samples. Sunday is the next Twin Club meeting.

I’m still organizing at home. I need someone to move two bookcases out of my bedroom (I sold a few hundred of my several hundred books) and there will be enough room for the crib. Really, that’s what would be needed to be done for the first 3-6 months. The rest can be done once the boys arrive, but I’d like to get a bit further into things before they arrive. I’ll just go by how much energy I have and when. I’m going to put my not-used-in-a-while 55 gallon aquarium on cr..list next week and that will quickly clear out a section of the living room too.

I met the 3 week old baby boy down the hall last week. They are in a much smaller 1 bedroom than I am, with 2 adults, 2 dogs and 3 cats. I can see how that can easily work until the baby is mobile. Oh, the floor of my building is/will be baby central, mostly boys. A couple doors down one way is a 4 month old baby girl. 3 doors down the other way, she is expecting a boy in early August (5 weeks later than my official due date). The baby boy mentioned above is just 3 weeks old and adorable. It’s going to be great having so many of us so close in dates so close together.

Although I constantly worry, I am so happy there appears to be no problems with the boys. I’ll take the high blood pressure, GD, limited activity and all over them having issues. There are some women out there in the online buddies groups who aren’t as lucky. Some are still struggling to get or stay pregnant. Some are dealing with issues and concerns with one or more of their little ones. I wish I could do something for them. Words of support seem so little comparison to their struggles. I so admire their strength and determination. And it makes me more grateful each day for the health of my boys.

I’ll see about loading some of the more recent scan pictures later. Depends on if the internet is up, and if I’m up.

5 Months and counting.....

Sorry I left the teaser up for so long, I was hoping to have some more info the next day but didn't and was following up on some other things.

So to put every one's mind at rest right away, the anatomy scan went incredibly well. There was nothing in the report to indicate an issue. Let's see if I can get you the details in a logical way (I suspect not).

At my Dr appointment on the Monday, my urine was fine, I've gained another 1.5 lbs (we'll round up and say I've gained 7 pounds total). My blood pressure, which has always been on the border (even when not pg) was up slightly. Nothing to panic about, but I'm now hovering on the border instead of just below it. It's something to watch. I'm now up to seeing her every 2 weeks instead of every 4. She also was going to try to move the appointment with the OB up (its now 10 days earlier and I'm on a cancellation list).

Then Wednesday was the scan. I'll start off on a really, really happy note for me. I no longer need a full bladder for scans. In fact, I'm to have a totally empty bladder!!!! But I'm sure you don't really want to know about me.

I was able to see both babies very clearly. They have 4 heart chambers each, 2 kidneys each etc. Baby A has a posterial placenta and Baby A has anterior placenta. This explains why I can feel Baby A moving lots and Baby B not so often. The heartbeats continue to be about 10 beats apart, with B being faster. Once again, B did not want to cooperate and took more time and belly poking to get the views needed.

Once we were done with the abdominal scan, it was onto every one's favorite wand. Yes folks, I'm back to needing the dildo-cam again. This was to check on the lower placenta. It was the one less happy note from the scan. At the moment, I have total placenta previa. For the few who don't know, this means the placenta is lying completely over the cervix. Since I haven't had even a drop of bleeding since mid-Dec (knock on wood), the only thing it means is that if it doesn't resolve itself, I'll need a c-section. As the uterus continues to grow, it can move with the growth and this could change. This will be checked at each scan from now on.

I did not get to find out the gender(s). I was one week too early to be told. He did say that if he could easily tell, that he'd put it on the report to my Doctor. This was the reason for the teaser, I was hoping to find out. But there was nothing about gender on the report. I tried to look and I think, maybe, that one is a girl, but I'm not sure. So, I managed to book a scan at a 3D/4D clinic for next week, (the 18th) so I can find out gender (and see them again). My next detailed scan isn't until Mar 5 and I just didn't want to wait. I'll be posting some of those pics for sure.

I asked about size, particularly with my slow weight gain (that I think is picking up a bit). He said that they are well into the top percentile for singletons and at the very top for twin growth. That explains the belly and makes me less concerned about my weight gain (I did put on 15 pounds between the previous DE attempt and this one so maybe some of that is being used).

I have more sonograms, but I need to do some minor cropping. I'll load them soon. But the one I loaded in the teaser is my favorite anyway.

Oh, I do have the Dr Luke book and have talked with my doctor about some specifics. So far, since nothing other than watching my BP is causing a concern, we'll keep going as is and hope there is a cancellation with the OBs office so I can get in sooner.

I also joined the local parents of multiples group. They were an amazing resource right away. One is even an OB herself. It does seem that care varies greatly from Dr to Dr and even twin pregnancy to twin pregnancy within a single doctor. It gave me some reassurance and some great local women who've been wonderful. There are a few other pregnant women in the group, although all are further along than I am. The first meet I went was happily a swap meet. Its one of the few times I wish I had a car. There was even a crib, free to good home that I had to pass on. Knowing genders would have been even better since I didn't want to take the very gender specific clothes. As it was, I'm loaded up on some more gender neutral clothes, every lamaze baby toy ever made, board books for babies and even a playmat with gym. Since I was in total baby mode after that, I took the bus all the way home and then all the way back to a consignment store that was nearby. I lucked out there and got a twin nursing pillow for less than 1/3 the cost of a new one (and there would have been shipping too).

A coworker is giving me a baby bath. So the smaller things are starting to come together. It's the stroller that is going to kill me. I've been researching and talking to people and unless I want to buy multiple strollers in the first couple of years, then I need to bite the bullet and get the one I really want right away. The Bob Duallie is a good choice, but its not recommended until the babies are at least 4 months. The valco is a good option that is usable from birth. One of the families at the local group had one and loves it. But apparently it wont fit in any car trunk so would be hard if going somewhere with friends. And at almost 700, that's a concern. I was 'test driving' some that I know local stores carry and I am totally in love with the Mountain Buggy double. Its usable from birth, has an adjustable push bar (for short people like me) and will turn into a great jogging stroller when the kids turn 1. Last years colors are on sale right now for 750(cdn), about 270 less than this years model(oh yeah, this years comes with a cup holder - big deal). There are only a few left at the lower price so I need to make a decision soon. There is only 1 orange one left and I love orange. I didn't want to buy anything big until 23 weeks. But I may have to. It steered so well and I've looked and looked but can't find a bad review on it anywhere (other than the price).

Anyway, off on a tangent there. My next Dr appointment is on Monday. The 4D scan (yippeee) is on Wednesday. The next full U/S is March 5 (with another one 4 weeks after that.

I'm starting to face the reality that I will likely have to stop working at the end of April. I really need the money but the safety of the kids comes first. They're giving me a key to the first aid room so I can go lay down whenever I want and I'll probably start doing at this every lunch as a preemptive measure. I'll likely start working from home 1-2 days a week by the end of this month. I've already starting busing to work every day (uphill) and busing home most days (even though its not a long walk).

Thanks for all the comments. I really appreciate them.