We had our MFS appointment today and it was one of the better ones. We may have solved the mystery of why the babies seem to get the hiccups so much. They are practicing breathing now. It was really cute watching their little bellies go in and out. I bet their sensitive diaphragms are getting triggered from that.
Baby A was all about the breathing and squirming, but initially Baby B seemed to be asleep. The ultrasound tech spent about 15 minutes trying to wake him up. It was funny because everything she did just made Baby A squirm around more. The breakthrough was when I turned on my side so Baby A was on top of Baby B. Apparently that was the last straw and he finally woke up. A few seconds later he showed us his breathing skills.
Our normal MFS doctor had the day off but his fill-in seemed really good. I asked him a number of questions. The long and short of it is that from here on out they're going to monitor the babies twice a week. They're looking for the babies to be moving, kicking, and practice breathing. These are indicators that the placenta is working properly and they're still getting the nutrients they need. If a check-up shows lethargic babies that don't get spunky after some prodding, it'll be time to get them born.
The immediate milestone is getting to 32 weeks. At that point they shouldn't need a level III NICU if they're born. We can have them at St. Francis. After that our goal is 34 weeks, when the doctors will most likely stop trying to stop the contractions if I start having a lot of them. Week 36 is when they'll be done cooking. If we make it to 37 weeks, I'll probably be scheduled to have them. So the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.
4.28.2009
0
Week 30
Even though I'm late, I wanted to recap week 30 before delving into the current one.
An unexpected baby milestone this week was they both learned to hiccup. Baby A started them first on Thursday and they lasted about 5 minutes. A couple of days later, Baby B joined in on the fun. They both seem to get them at least once a day. I feel kind of bad since they've probably gotten their sensitive diaphragms from me. I tend to get the hiccups a lot and any little thing sets them off. Poor babies.
On Saturday we met up with some of J's family at a fish restaurant. It had been about a week since my last visit to the hospital, and predictably my contraction count that night was high. I took a turbutaline and that helped. The next night was the same thing but by Monday, the pills stopped working. I was sent to the hospital.
The upside of having turbutaline pills is that they kept me at home for 2 more days. The downside is that eliminates the shot from the list of things they will try once I get to the hospital. So, they put me on magnesium sulfate by IV. They also started the first round of steroids for the babies' lung development. This sealed my fate for at least a 3 day stay. By this time I was contracting about every 2 minutes.
The first time I had the magnesium, that week in March, I just felt lethargic. This time it made me sick. I spent the night failing at keeping anything in my tummy, even though I was really hungry and thirsty. The last thing I had successfully kept down was breakfast on Monday.
By Tuesday morning I must have looked pretty bad since the first thing the doctor did was turn the magnesium down. He also prescribed me an anti-nausea medication. That seemed to help a lot and I ate lunch. It's unfortunate that they didn't think to give me anything during the night before, but I don't think they expected me to react that way. The contractions still hadn't slowed down as much as they liked. I was still having them every 5 to 10 minutes.
By Wednesday they had dropped to 1 or 2 per hour. They took me off the mag and IV but kept me overnight for observation. Thursday morning I did my monitoring strip and waited for the doctor to take a look at it. This was around 9:30am. Unfortunately my normal OB was stuck in a surgery. My MFS was also out of contact. Finally around 5pm, the nurse got ahold of him. He wanted me to do another strip. It didn't turn out very well because I'd missed lunch, thinking I'd be going home. Luckily the doctor let it slide and released me.
Even though I've been taking it easy for months now, J and I decided it was time for me to do a more strict bedrest program. My little trips to anywhere but the doctor are over. No more making myself a snack or climbing the stairs more than once a day. I pretty much just sit on the couch or lay in bed now. Hopefully this will work and I won't need to go back to the hospital until it's baby time.
An unexpected baby milestone this week was they both learned to hiccup. Baby A started them first on Thursday and they lasted about 5 minutes. A couple of days later, Baby B joined in on the fun. They both seem to get them at least once a day. I feel kind of bad since they've probably gotten their sensitive diaphragms from me. I tend to get the hiccups a lot and any little thing sets them off. Poor babies.
On Saturday we met up with some of J's family at a fish restaurant. It had been about a week since my last visit to the hospital, and predictably my contraction count that night was high. I took a turbutaline and that helped. The next night was the same thing but by Monday, the pills stopped working. I was sent to the hospital.
The upside of having turbutaline pills is that they kept me at home for 2 more days. The downside is that eliminates the shot from the list of things they will try once I get to the hospital. So, they put me on magnesium sulfate by IV. They also started the first round of steroids for the babies' lung development. This sealed my fate for at least a 3 day stay. By this time I was contracting about every 2 minutes.
The first time I had the magnesium, that week in March, I just felt lethargic. This time it made me sick. I spent the night failing at keeping anything in my tummy, even though I was really hungry and thirsty. The last thing I had successfully kept down was breakfast on Monday.
By Tuesday morning I must have looked pretty bad since the first thing the doctor did was turn the magnesium down. He also prescribed me an anti-nausea medication. That seemed to help a lot and I ate lunch. It's unfortunate that they didn't think to give me anything during the night before, but I don't think they expected me to react that way. The contractions still hadn't slowed down as much as they liked. I was still having them every 5 to 10 minutes.
By Wednesday they had dropped to 1 or 2 per hour. They took me off the mag and IV but kept me overnight for observation. Thursday morning I did my monitoring strip and waited for the doctor to take a look at it. This was around 9:30am. Unfortunately my normal OB was stuck in a surgery. My MFS was also out of contact. Finally around 5pm, the nurse got ahold of him. He wanted me to do another strip. It didn't turn out very well because I'd missed lunch, thinking I'd be going home. Luckily the doctor let it slide and released me.
Even though I've been taking it easy for months now, J and I decided it was time for me to do a more strict bedrest program. My little trips to anywhere but the doctor are over. No more making myself a snack or climbing the stairs more than once a day. I pretty much just sit on the couch or lay in bed now. Hopefully this will work and I won't need to go back to the hospital until it's baby time.
4.14.2009
0
Week 29
Lots of things have happened since my last post. Last Friday my contractions were high again, in the 11 per hour range. All of the water I could drink didn't make a difference. So we had to go into the hospital around 7pm to get them stopped. I expected to just be there for a couple of hours but they ended up admitting me for the night.
Since my reaction to turbuteline has been pretty bad, they tried giving me a different type of relaxer. It didn't help but did make me sleepy enough that when I did get the shot, I didn't get sick. I woke up at 11pm and was ready for dinner. J had just gotten comfy in the pull out chair. hehe Long term they gave me turbuteline pills to help stop contractions from home.
I was released at 10:30am the next morning, which was lucky since I had our baby shower at 2pm. We got home, got showers, and got dressed for the party. My mom and sister were staying with us and had helped clean up what we couldn't get to, with the hospital visit and all. Everything looked great. J and his mom went to the grocery store to get some last minute things. Our sister-in-law arrived soon after to finish setting up things for the party.
It was really great to have people over. Even though I do get out some, like a weekly trip to the grocery store, it felt like forever since I actually got to talk with people. All of the nephews were here, plus some of their friends, running around and having fun in the back yard. It was a really fun gathering and I think people enjoyed themselves.
We had our MFS appointment today. I think the growth check-ups are my favorite. Baby A is 3lb 9oz and Baby B is 3lb 8oz. That puts me at about 7lb of baby, up from about 4.5lbs 3 weeks ago. No wonder my belly has been sore! Both babies continue to be ahead of the growth curve for singletons, with Baby A at 85% and Baby B at 77%. 50% is average. According to calculations based on their current size (and if they were singletons), they would be born sometime between June 14th and 16th. hehe
Their fluid appears to have reduced back to normal for both babies. The only thing I've changed has been my diet, so I'll continue to keep up with the low sugar thing. I don't have to test my glucose levels anymore, though. Yay! My cervix seems to be holding fairly steady with only a slight shortening in length. According to the doctor, it's to be expected. In a stunning turn of events, the doctor said he didn't need to see me for two weeks!
So things are still looking good for the babies. I just need to keep the contractions under control and off my feet to ensure continued cervix participation.
Since my reaction to turbuteline has been pretty bad, they tried giving me a different type of relaxer. It didn't help but did make me sleepy enough that when I did get the shot, I didn't get sick. I woke up at 11pm and was ready for dinner. J had just gotten comfy in the pull out chair. hehe Long term they gave me turbuteline pills to help stop contractions from home.
I was released at 10:30am the next morning, which was lucky since I had our baby shower at 2pm. We got home, got showers, and got dressed for the party. My mom and sister were staying with us and had helped clean up what we couldn't get to, with the hospital visit and all. Everything looked great. J and his mom went to the grocery store to get some last minute things. Our sister-in-law arrived soon after to finish setting up things for the party.
It was really great to have people over. Even though I do get out some, like a weekly trip to the grocery store, it felt like forever since I actually got to talk with people. All of the nephews were here, plus some of their friends, running around and having fun in the back yard. It was a really fun gathering and I think people enjoyed themselves.
We had our MFS appointment today. I think the growth check-ups are my favorite. Baby A is 3lb 9oz and Baby B is 3lb 8oz. That puts me at about 7lb of baby, up from about 4.5lbs 3 weeks ago. No wonder my belly has been sore! Both babies continue to be ahead of the growth curve for singletons, with Baby A at 85% and Baby B at 77%. 50% is average. According to calculations based on their current size (and if they were singletons), they would be born sometime between June 14th and 16th. hehe
Their fluid appears to have reduced back to normal for both babies. The only thing I've changed has been my diet, so I'll continue to keep up with the low sugar thing. I don't have to test my glucose levels anymore, though. Yay! My cervix seems to be holding fairly steady with only a slight shortening in length. According to the doctor, it's to be expected. In a stunning turn of events, the doctor said he didn't need to see me for two weeks!
So things are still looking good for the babies. I just need to keep the contractions under control and off my feet to ensure continued cervix participation.
4.06.2009
0
Week 28
I went in for my weekly MFS check-up today. My mom is in town for a couple of weeks so she went with me instead of J. I think it's fun to watch the babies on the ultrasound, especially since you can see them move. Both babies had good heartbeats and were squirming around pretty well.
They also had about the same amount of fluid, but according to the doctor, it's now too much on both. He suspects that it's sugar related, either because of my diet or that I've developed gestational diabetes. For the first one, I'm supposed to only eat low sugar foods. My days of bread and pasta are over for a while. Concerning the diabetes, I have to measure my blood sugar for a few days. The results will tell them if that's the case.
If they can't figure out the trigger, a last resort is another amnio fluid reduction. It's the same situation as before where the excess fluid causes contractions. Those contractions will eventually lead to preterm labor. We've seen an increase in contractions on the home monitor over the past week or so. Drinking water only seems to keep me just under the threshold.
I'm kind of feeling neutral on the whole situation. I'm not surprised that something else has popped up. It seems like whenever we get something behind us, there's a new thing to worry about. If I have gestational diabetes, that just means another pill added to the happy herd of them I take daily. My major concern in all of this is that the blood sugar testing was going to hurt. The silver lining is that I'm good at bleeding, so the prick I need is so small I can't even feel it. It's nothing like the thing they jab you with at the doctors.
Another bright side is at this point I've officially started the third trimester. My goal is 10 more weeks of baby growing. There's starting to be a dim light at the end of the tunnel now. At some point the doctors will run out of time to prescribe me new and wonderful diseases. Instead two cute little boys will arrive on the scene. And according to the ultrasound today, they'll both have a good amount of hair. hehe
They also had about the same amount of fluid, but according to the doctor, it's now too much on both. He suspects that it's sugar related, either because of my diet or that I've developed gestational diabetes. For the first one, I'm supposed to only eat low sugar foods. My days of bread and pasta are over for a while. Concerning the diabetes, I have to measure my blood sugar for a few days. The results will tell them if that's the case.
If they can't figure out the trigger, a last resort is another amnio fluid reduction. It's the same situation as before where the excess fluid causes contractions. Those contractions will eventually lead to preterm labor. We've seen an increase in contractions on the home monitor over the past week or so. Drinking water only seems to keep me just under the threshold.
I'm kind of feeling neutral on the whole situation. I'm not surprised that something else has popped up. It seems like whenever we get something behind us, there's a new thing to worry about. If I have gestational diabetes, that just means another pill added to the happy herd of them I take daily. My major concern in all of this is that the blood sugar testing was going to hurt. The silver lining is that I'm good at bleeding, so the prick I need is so small I can't even feel it. It's nothing like the thing they jab you with at the doctors.
Another bright side is at this point I've officially started the third trimester. My goal is 10 more weeks of baby growing. There's starting to be a dim light at the end of the tunnel now. At some point the doctors will run out of time to prescribe me new and wonderful diseases. Instead two cute little boys will arrive on the scene. And according to the ultrasound today, they'll both have a good amount of hair. hehe
4.01.2009
0
Week 27, Day 3
A number of things have happened since my Monday post. So much for a mundane week. hehe
Yesterday it was announced that J will be on furlough, or temporary layoff, for the month of May. Initially this may sound like a pretty bad thing but it's not. He'll be able to use his 2 weeks of vacation for part of it, plus I'm still getting a decent paycheck. We've also saved up for a rainy day, so financially we're doing just fine. We'll continue to be covered on our insurance, just like normal. On the bright side, J will be home to take care of me during my last few weeks of pregnancy and also have time to finish all of the baby to-do things. The only downside in my mind is that I wish he would be home the month after the babies were born instead.
Today I had a regular OB appointment. Before I went in, I did my hour of home monitoring. The result was a 6, over my threshold of 5, and pretty unusual for a morning reading. Those ones are normally 0-1's. The monitor people wanted me to retest but I didn't have time or I'd be late to the doctors. So instead she called the doctor so I could do my retest there. I drank about 30oz of water in the van on the way, hoping it was just another hydration issue. It wasn't. I was contracting every 3-4min. They checked my cervix and nothing had changed. Bacteria in my sample led them to believe that a UTI might be the cause of the contractions. In my rather large state, any little irritation can set them off.
So the doctor wrote me a script for an antibiotic and told me I had to go to the hospital to get the contractions stopped. This was not the news I wanted to hear. Luckily it was only going to be a day visit - no admitting. Unluckily it involved not one but two shots of turbuteline. Each one made me just as sick as the first one weeks ago. J got there in time to witness the ickiness that was the second shot. That seemed to do the trick, though, and stopped the contractions. I was allowed to go home. Yay!
I had a pretty lengthy talk with the head nurse while she was hooking me up to the monitors. What I'm going through is typical of a twin pregnancy. They start you out on the lowest, easiest to take meds first but over time your body starts resisting them. They then either step up the dose or switch you to another medication. In my case, I'm on the higher dose of procardia now. If I keep having to go back to the hospital, they'll consider sticking me on a turbuteline pump. Eventually I'll start resisting the pump and they'll have to "reset" my body with a magnesium sulfate treatment.
So at this point I'm hoping the UTI was the cause of my contractions, and not the failing of the procardia. Turbuteline makes me feel pretty terrible and magnesium is even worse. It's painful, makes me feel ill, and requires hospitalization. On the bright side, the home monitoring did what it was supposed to do, alert us that something unusual was going on. Also, the babies are still doing just fine. In fact, they swapped spots mid-monitoring and threw the nurses for a loop trying to track them down again. They'd get close enough with the device to get kicked, but then the babies would move a little more. hehe
Yesterday it was announced that J will be on furlough, or temporary layoff, for the month of May. Initially this may sound like a pretty bad thing but it's not. He'll be able to use his 2 weeks of vacation for part of it, plus I'm still getting a decent paycheck. We've also saved up for a rainy day, so financially we're doing just fine. We'll continue to be covered on our insurance, just like normal. On the bright side, J will be home to take care of me during my last few weeks of pregnancy and also have time to finish all of the baby to-do things. The only downside in my mind is that I wish he would be home the month after the babies were born instead.
Today I had a regular OB appointment. Before I went in, I did my hour of home monitoring. The result was a 6, over my threshold of 5, and pretty unusual for a morning reading. Those ones are normally 0-1's. The monitor people wanted me to retest but I didn't have time or I'd be late to the doctors. So instead she called the doctor so I could do my retest there. I drank about 30oz of water in the van on the way, hoping it was just another hydration issue. It wasn't. I was contracting every 3-4min. They checked my cervix and nothing had changed. Bacteria in my sample led them to believe that a UTI might be the cause of the contractions. In my rather large state, any little irritation can set them off.
So the doctor wrote me a script for an antibiotic and told me I had to go to the hospital to get the contractions stopped. This was not the news I wanted to hear. Luckily it was only going to be a day visit - no admitting. Unluckily it involved not one but two shots of turbuteline. Each one made me just as sick as the first one weeks ago. J got there in time to witness the ickiness that was the second shot. That seemed to do the trick, though, and stopped the contractions. I was allowed to go home. Yay!
I had a pretty lengthy talk with the head nurse while she was hooking me up to the monitors. What I'm going through is typical of a twin pregnancy. They start you out on the lowest, easiest to take meds first but over time your body starts resisting them. They then either step up the dose or switch you to another medication. In my case, I'm on the higher dose of procardia now. If I keep having to go back to the hospital, they'll consider sticking me on a turbuteline pump. Eventually I'll start resisting the pump and they'll have to "reset" my body with a magnesium sulfate treatment.
So at this point I'm hoping the UTI was the cause of my contractions, and not the failing of the procardia. Turbuteline makes me feel pretty terrible and magnesium is even worse. It's painful, makes me feel ill, and requires hospitalization. On the bright side, the home monitoring did what it was supposed to do, alert us that something unusual was going on. Also, the babies are still doing just fine. In fact, they swapped spots mid-monitoring and threw the nurses for a loop trying to track them down again. They'd get close enough with the device to get kicked, but then the babies would move a little more. hehe
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
