So what have I been up to since I came home from the hospital at 29.5 weeks? Besides praising and thanking God for each day with these babies not having to be in the NICU, I basically have done the exact same thing although I get to see my husband a lot more, sleep in my own bed, lay on the couch sometimes, breathe fresh air and see outside, have regular visits with my dog (who is staying at my parents house), and be free of all monitors and cords! I have also had 3 baby showers which were a lot of fun (two at my house and one that I traveled to). My only weekly outing that is allowed is my trip to the doctor for a check-up and occasionally we will sneak in a drive through Starbucks on the way home. It is weird to think that we have gone from summer to fall and I have not stepped foot in any restaurant or store since before August 9th!
I can't say thanks enough to my wonderful husband who has become my personal nurse since I have been home. Aside from working all day at his job (since I abruptly had to quit working), he takes care of me and the house! He is the best and I can't thank him enough for all he has done for me and our babies. Not to mention he drove back and forth from the hospital every day for 8 weeks and has provided endless encouragement when I didn't think I could do this one more day!
So what exactly do I do all day?? Not a whole lot! I have watched TV, movies, read/listened to podcasts/books/magazines/music, took up knitting for a short stint, written thank-you notes, read through an awesome devotional, worked on Bible study, worked on puzzle books, played on the computer, shopped online, talked on the phone, and took many naps!
And finally, the latest report on the babies is that they are looking great as always and measured 4#5 ounces and 4# two weeks ago. We are now looking forward to our next weigh in which will be on Monday at 34.2 weeks.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Weeks 21-29
So here goes the explanation of where I have been since August 9, 2012. I will try not to make this too lengthy! To begin with, I went to my doctor when I was 20.6 weeks along for a routine ultrasound where they measure the length of your cervix because a common complication with twin pregnancies is that it can shorten too quickly. We were looking for 3-4cm and mine was measuring 2.6cm. The cut off to be alarmed is 2.5cm but my doctor wanted to watch and see what happened in a week because maybe this was a more normal measurement for me. Well, we went back at 21.5 weeks and the measurement was now 0.8cm and I was told to head straight to St. John Medical center to be admitted to labor and delivery and so that I could meet with the only perinatologist in town and to expect possible surgery to place a cerclage (basically stitches that hold the cervix closed).
When we arrived there, we were concerned about what the next steps would be as I was already contracting due to dehydration in anticipation of surgery. Once my contractions were under control, surgery was scheduled the next day which went pretty well. Then it was a waiting game of seeing what would happen over the next couple of weeks and if the cerclage would do its job. This was a scary time but we were so thankful to have so many wonderful nurses who often shared positive success stories in light of the dreary statistics of chances of survival and long term complications that the specialist loved to share. At this point I was on strict bed rest (only able to raise my head 30 degrees) with permission to get up to go to the bathroom and take a 5 minute shower only. My vanity quickly went out the window! Our first big goal was 24 weeks which is considered viability for most babies with a good NICU.
At 23.4 weeks, my cervix was measuring 1.1-1.5 and I was sent over to the antepartum unit at St. Francis hospital for continued hospital bed rest since my OB rounds there and they had a new perinatologist starting October 1st in case we needed him. Over the course of 8 weeks total I had several steroid shots to help the twins lungs if they came early and the doctors basically prepared us that they would be more than happy if we could just make it to 28 weeks which is a huge milestone in the world of preemies.
I will say, it is difficult to be a nurse who is now a patient! I luckily had so many friends and family that would bring us wonderful meals, but did on occasion have to order from the hospital menu (Yuck! I used to hand these trays out to my own patients and was so thankful I wasn't the one having to eat it). I had so many wonderful nurses that I got to know very well during my 6 week stay which was such a blessing. They were more than encouraging on days when I was totally discouraged and became true friends by the time I left. I can't wait to show off the babies to all of them after they get here! We were also blessed to get to meet a few other couples who were also having multiples that were in the same predicament as us. It's just nice to know you are not going through this alone!
When I finally made it to 29.5 weeks, my doctor decided that since I was so compliant, I could finally go home after 8 long weeks in the hospital to finish my bed rest there. I was anxious but so excited to get out of there!
I did make a short list of all the things I wouldn't miss about the hospital after I was gone:
Don't I look lovely in my 2 week home (LDR #4) at St John Medical Center
Not a great picture, but my second room at St Francis (I had 3 total!) had a great view of the construction which was actually entertaining to watch at times.
We even had a panini making party one night in my room. Thanks Brenda! You're the best!
My wonderful nurse Meagan brought me a cookie cake at 26 weeks and then awesome brownies at 28 weeks to celebrate!
We had a day of celebration at the 28 week milestone complete with balloons and trophies (Thanks Bridget and Matt!), donuts for our nurses and other friends on the floor, and a visit from my therapy dog :)
When we arrived there, we were concerned about what the next steps would be as I was already contracting due to dehydration in anticipation of surgery. Once my contractions were under control, surgery was scheduled the next day which went pretty well. Then it was a waiting game of seeing what would happen over the next couple of weeks and if the cerclage would do its job. This was a scary time but we were so thankful to have so many wonderful nurses who often shared positive success stories in light of the dreary statistics of chances of survival and long term complications that the specialist loved to share. At this point I was on strict bed rest (only able to raise my head 30 degrees) with permission to get up to go to the bathroom and take a 5 minute shower only. My vanity quickly went out the window! Our first big goal was 24 weeks which is considered viability for most babies with a good NICU.
At 23.4 weeks, my cervix was measuring 1.1-1.5 and I was sent over to the antepartum unit at St. Francis hospital for continued hospital bed rest since my OB rounds there and they had a new perinatologist starting October 1st in case we needed him. Over the course of 8 weeks total I had several steroid shots to help the twins lungs if they came early and the doctors basically prepared us that they would be more than happy if we could just make it to 28 weeks which is a huge milestone in the world of preemies.
I will say, it is difficult to be a nurse who is now a patient! I luckily had so many friends and family that would bring us wonderful meals, but did on occasion have to order from the hospital menu (Yuck! I used to hand these trays out to my own patients and was so thankful I wasn't the one having to eat it). I had so many wonderful nurses that I got to know very well during my 6 week stay which was such a blessing. They were more than encouraging on days when I was totally discouraged and became true friends by the time I left. I can't wait to show off the babies to all of them after they get here! We were also blessed to get to meet a few other couples who were also having multiples that were in the same predicament as us. It's just nice to know you are not going through this alone!
When I finally made it to 29.5 weeks, my doctor decided that since I was so compliant, I could finally go home after 8 long weeks in the hospital to finish my bed rest there. I was anxious but so excited to get out of there!
I did make a short list of all the things I wouldn't miss about the hospital after I was gone:
- the terrible 1/2 ply toilet paper
- vital signs being taken 3 times daily (my BP was always low so this would occasionally be repeated 2-3 times until a respectable number was obtained :))
- answering the same assessment questions twice daily (necessary, but I could recite the list of questions without any problem now)
- Waiting an hour for every hospital meal to arrive and then being asked after EVERY meal if I ate 100% of it (what pregnant woman doesn't like to eat?)
- Being asked daily if I plan to shower or have my sheets changed
- Having to sit down in a tiny shower stall to take showers (no fun!)
- Using a 19$ electric razor
- Having to wear SCD's daily to prevent blood clots in my legs (also no fun!)
We even had a panini making party one night in my room. Thanks Brenda! You're the best!
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Gender Reveal Party
When we found out we were having twins, we decided that for planning purposes, it would be good to find out the gender of the babies. As the time approached when we would find out for sure, we decided to make it fun and include our families as well. We went in for our 14 week appointment and with some convincing from Justin, we decided to have our doctor write down the gender of each baby and seal it in an envelope for us to take to the bakery. We would then have two cakes made and the color of the frosting would determine what each baby was. This took some convincing by Justin because I just wanted to know really bad, so an impromptu party was scheduled for 24 hours later! The party was a lot of fun as we made our guests guess what they thought the genders would be and then we had each grandmother cut into the cakes. I was surprisingly nervous during the whole cake cutting process!
Could it really be TWINS?????
When my first HCG blood test came back the numbers seemed sort of high for barely being pregnant. Then when my repeat lab was drawn several days later and the numbers were more than doubling every 48-72 hours, several nurses and doctor friends told me that they were pretty sure that it was TWINS. We knew that this could be a possibility from the medications (and part of me thought, Oh how fun!) but I really thought we would just be having one baby. We couldn't contain our excitement by telling a few very close family members and friends very early on. A few weeks later, we were back at the fertility specialist's office who confirmed with ultrasound that indeed there were two babies in there but quickly gave us all the yucky medical statistics about how there is often a first trimester loss of one of the babies known as the "vanishing twin syndrome". We didn't let this discourage us as we then knew how to pray specifically for these babies. I also thought it was odd that our specialist was somewhat apologetic that we ended up with twins because her goal is always one baby at a time and not two. We told her we were thrilled but would soon understand how valid these concerns were!
The beginning of my pregnancy was awesome and things seemed to be smooth sailing. My specialist released me back to my OB at around 11 weeks for continued care. As far as twin pregnancies go, I really couldn't complain because other than some pretty good fatigue and ongoing nausea, I was fortunate to not ever throw up and things were really pretty smooth weeks 1-20. I hardly had much of a baby bump and I remember many people telling me how fortunate I was because I was so tall and carrying twins. I soon learned that height has nothing to do with it!
The beginning of my pregnancy was awesome and things seemed to be smooth sailing. My specialist released me back to my OB at around 11 weeks for continued care. As far as twin pregnancies go, I really couldn't complain because other than some pretty good fatigue and ongoing nausea, I was fortunate to not ever throw up and things were really pretty smooth weeks 1-20. I hardly had much of a baby bump and I remember many people telling me how fortunate I was because I was so tall and carrying twins. I soon learned that height has nothing to do with it!
The Beginning of 2012
Well, 2012 started out like any other year where I found myself overcommitting my time but enjoying the activities I was involved in. I was finishing up leading a wonderful group of ladies for the second half of the BSF Acts of the Apostles study, volunteering at the St. Francis children's library through the Junior League of Tulsa, working on my nursing clinical doctorate, working full time in the clinic, and staying involved with the most wonderful life group at First Baptist church in Tulsa. Needless to say, most every minute of my week was well planned out.
So this is the point where I can briefly summarize the journey that Justin and I began with our desire to have a family someday. To back up a little, we began to pray for our future children while we were engaged and have prayed for them most every day of our marriage since. We always knew we wanted to have children and even if we weren't able to have any of our own, we both felt strongly about the possibility of adoption as well in our future.
We were married 12-26-09 in the blizzard of 09' if anyone in Tulsa remembers. We were quite a few guests short but the wedding was amazing and we wouldn't change a thing! About 6 months after we were married we decided to start trying to have a child. I was pregnant immediately which took us a bit by surprise but then lost the baby shortly there after. We soon tried again and again became pregnant immediately and lost the baby around 9-10 weeks. This was very frustrating and difficult to grasp but we never let ourselves become discouraged because we knew God had the perfect plan for our family no matter how our family would take shape. We then discovered that I would need a very minor surgery to hopefully correct the problem that was likely the cause which took place in March 2011. We were told the problem is fixed and there should be no problem with having children now which was encouraging.
Well, unfortunately it wasn't that simple as things weren't cooperating like we felt they should. I ended up back at my wonderful OB's office who now felt like I had PCOS which was why I still wasn't getting pregnant and recommended some oral medications that would hopefully help to control ovulation. After several months of trying two different oral medications and one round of injectables it was concluded that I was a "nonresponder." At this point I'm thinking "good grief what is next?" Well my OB then advised me to consult his partner who deals with the more "complicated" patients :) Soon I began taking various medication combinations paired with injectable medications. This went on for many months and finally we decided to go back to the fertility specialist who performed my surgery who suggested 1-2 more tries with the same meds and if no luck, we would begin the discussion of IVF if this was something we were comfortable with.
The good news is, after 2 years of trying, were were pregnant the first month after switching back to the specialist. We were so thankful that the Lord was blessing us with a child but still cautious because of our previous losses. I had checked a home pregnancy test a couple of days before the blood test was done to confirm a positive pregnancy so was pretty excited but also knew that the meds I had taken could cause a false positive. My husband and I are also crazy bird people (yes we enjoy watching the birds at our bird feeders) and the morning of my blood test, God sent me the most beautiful golden finch to our feeder and since then we have seen several others on big days that we know is God's reassurance to us to not be anxious in any situation because He is always in control. After all if "His eye is on the sparrow" then His eye is also on me!
So this is the point where I can briefly summarize the journey that Justin and I began with our desire to have a family someday. To back up a little, we began to pray for our future children while we were engaged and have prayed for them most every day of our marriage since. We always knew we wanted to have children and even if we weren't able to have any of our own, we both felt strongly about the possibility of adoption as well in our future.
We were married 12-26-09 in the blizzard of 09' if anyone in Tulsa remembers. We were quite a few guests short but the wedding was amazing and we wouldn't change a thing! About 6 months after we were married we decided to start trying to have a child. I was pregnant immediately which took us a bit by surprise but then lost the baby shortly there after. We soon tried again and again became pregnant immediately and lost the baby around 9-10 weeks. This was very frustrating and difficult to grasp but we never let ourselves become discouraged because we knew God had the perfect plan for our family no matter how our family would take shape. We then discovered that I would need a very minor surgery to hopefully correct the problem that was likely the cause which took place in March 2011. We were told the problem is fixed and there should be no problem with having children now which was encouraging.
Well, unfortunately it wasn't that simple as things weren't cooperating like we felt they should. I ended up back at my wonderful OB's office who now felt like I had PCOS which was why I still wasn't getting pregnant and recommended some oral medications that would hopefully help to control ovulation. After several months of trying two different oral medications and one round of injectables it was concluded that I was a "nonresponder." At this point I'm thinking "good grief what is next?" Well my OB then advised me to consult his partner who deals with the more "complicated" patients :) Soon I began taking various medication combinations paired with injectable medications. This went on for many months and finally we decided to go back to the fertility specialist who performed my surgery who suggested 1-2 more tries with the same meds and if no luck, we would begin the discussion of IVF if this was something we were comfortable with.
The good news is, after 2 years of trying, were were pregnant the first month after switching back to the specialist. We were so thankful that the Lord was blessing us with a child but still cautious because of our previous losses. I had checked a home pregnancy test a couple of days before the blood test was done to confirm a positive pregnancy so was pretty excited but also knew that the meds I had taken could cause a false positive. My husband and I are also crazy bird people (yes we enjoy watching the birds at our bird feeders) and the morning of my blood test, God sent me the most beautiful golden finch to our feeder and since then we have seen several others on big days that we know is God's reassurance to us to not be anxious in any situation because He is always in control. After all if "His eye is on the sparrow" then His eye is also on me!
My first ever blog post.......
Well, I'm not brilliant a writer but I thought I would attempt this whole blog thing so that I can keep up with all of the wonderful things (good and bad) that have recently happened in my life. I will start at the beginning of 2012 so that I can record all the crazy things that took place this year! I will try to keep this exciting and I hope to be able to keep up with the blog at least on occasion but with twins on the way, we will see how I do!
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