Fetal Echocardiogram results

Tim and I went in to the OB's office today for the girls' fetal echocardiogram with Dr. Rajan, who did Thomas' echos. It started out pretty much as before, but the big difference was that everything was normal, so the pediatric cardiologist did not scan me himself, he just relied on the tapes the ultrasound technician had made during her scan. And the OB did not come in to do further scanning, either.

Dr. Rajan showed us the normal heart diagram and as we went through the tapes, he'd point out how nice and perfect each part of the heart was. So now we have that over with, and it confirms what the anatomy scans have shown so far. This has all been great news. He didn't remember Thomas, of course, as we never did talk with him after Thomas was born.

There were moments during the scan that Tim and I felt sad. For Tim, it was during the talk of Thomas, as I described the different heart defects he had been born with. For me, it was seeing the perfect hearts and wishing it had been that way with Thomas.

So after Dr. Rajan left, I requested that the technician scan my cervix to make sure it wasn't changing after all the Braxton Hicks I've been having this week. She confirmed it with Dr. Lu, and checked it for me, to reassure me. It was still a nice long 6.09 cm long, or a half mile long as my nurse practioner Lynne put it! That was great news!

They also measured both girls to see how they were growing. Baby A is measuring two weeks ahead, at 26 weeks and 3 days. She has very long limbs, compared to her sister. Baby B is measuring 25 weeks and 1 day, which is one week ahead. Since they are fraternal twins, this is normal. Baby A weighs 1 lb. 14 oz., and Baby B weighs 1 lb. 10 oz. Their heart rates were 147 and 153 beats per minute. When the scan began, Baby A was breech, or sitting down on my cervix, facing to my right, with her head resting on her placenta like a pillow. Baby B was vertex, facing left. We could see B kicking A in the head every so often. But after the echo was completed, while no one was looking at the belly, B flipped over, so that she was breech, too, and spooning with her sister! It was pretty funny seeing them sitting like that, one sitting between the other's legs! They both have large pockets of fluid around them, and still plenty of room to move around.

I asked Lynne to measure my fundus for me, which is the distance from your pelvic bone to the top of your uterus, which she located right up and under my ribs. It measured 33cm, which translates to 33 weeks along, or about two weeks into the eighth month, if I was pregnant with a singleton! That goes to show you how big I am!

Dr. Lu, the OB, did talk to me about the excessive BHs. He said that it can simple be an "irritable uterus". He suggested I take 600 mg of ibuprofin to help relax my uterus next time I have a series of many contractions in an hour. I can take ibuprofin now until my 32nd week. After that, it can impair blood flow in the fetus. I asked him why they say pregnant women can't take it during pregnancy, and he said for that reason. It is just easier to say "not at all" then to explain the specific conditions allowing for its use. There also exists a prescription drug called "vistaril" which is also used to calm the uterus. It can also help with anxiety and be a sleep aid during pregnancy. It is an "old time" drug, as Lynne described it.

Dr. Lu thinks it is just the extra weight I have in there, now, plus it being my second pregnancy, that is causing these BHs. Lynne says that if I get another 4-6 in an hour, I need to make sure I hydrate (drink two glasses of water) then lay on my left side for an hour. If after that, I still get them at that rate of frequency, I need to call so I can be reevaluated. She said that perhaps I'm one of those women whose threshold per hour really should be 6-8. But that would have to be decided after an evaluation that the BHs are not causing any changes to me physically.

I go back in three weeks for my next scan and doctor's visit. I will also be doing the glucose screen, which is a test for gestational diabetes. I hope I pass the test.

Here are some pics from the scan, a pic of me taken Monday at 24w0d, and a diagram showing how vertex twins look at 24 weeks. Please click to enlarge:

Update to PTL Post

The nurse finally called around 5:30pm. About the same time as our financial planner arrived for a meeting, the mailman rang the bell to drop off a package, me in the bathroom and Tim running around the house like a madman trying to take care of everything!!!

So I described what was happening and she asked when I was expected back in for my next visit. I told her this Wednesday afternoon. (That is to be our fetal echocardiogram with Dr. Rajan and an office visit.) So she said to make sure I keep drinking plenty of liquids, do not do any housework or anything at all, basically stay off my feet until Wednesday. If anything changes drastically, I am to call immediately to be reevaluated.

After my last post, I had six in an hour, then four, then three, then none for an hour and a half. That was twenty minutes ago. So hopefully the storm has passed and all will be well.

Next post will be after the fetal echo. I should get some more ultrasound pics! And a new belly pic for tonight.

Pre-term Labor (PTL) at 24 weeks

According to the March of Dimes web site, preterm labor happens in 1 out of 8 births. Women who are carrying multiples are at higher risk for PTL than other women. Symptoms include contractions less than ten minutes apart (or 6-7 in an hour), low back pain, cramping, among other things.

Today I am experiencing some symptoms of PTL. This is not a good feeling. This is the background:

Sunday morning, I noticed I had three Braxton Hicks (BH) contractions (Cx) in an hour, and I was just sitting at the table enjoying some banana bread, decaf coffee and the newspaper. I maybe had one an hour, at most, the rest of the day. Probably less.

This morning, I had about five in an hour. Then I sat at the desk and didn't get any for over an hour. Then I got two in quick succession, and my low back started aching a little. Since I was tired I went back to bed. I had drunk about 32 ounces of water by this point, so I wasn't dehydrated and wasn't working hard on something.

After my 2-1/2 hour nap, I got up. While I was standing in the closet getting dressed, I got a BH. When I squatted to get something out of a bottom drawer, I felt a twinge in the area of my cervix. When I went to make lunch, I noticed I got them nearly every time I stood up. And when I went to the bathroom, (sorry, TMI) it went from at first very hard to soft. So I was worried that maybe I was heading into the diarrhea range later... which would be a third symptom of PTL. But I did make black beans and rice for dinner last night which could also account for that, lol.

So I am on my own enforced couch rest. Which sucks because I had a few things I really wanted to do today. But I am worried, and monitoring my Cx on the PC. They've gone from 17 mins, to 23 mins and now 35 mins apart. I called and left a message for the OB nurse. Just to talk it over with someone. I wonder why they are hitting me so hard today?

Although Tim and I try to remain positive about this pregnancy, we HAVE lost our innocence. We know that just because you are pregnant, does not mean you get to take home a baby (or two). If I go into full blown early labor, the babies today, at 24 weeks, have a 50% chance or so for survival. But they will definitely have developmental issues and physical issues like possible hearing loss or blindness to contend with.

Not one woman I know who has suffered a loss feels full blown excitement about being pregnant again. Not one. I am related to two other women who are also currently expecting (we are all due within months of each other) after a loss. I can guess that they, too, are not 100% sure they will have a baby to bring home, no matter how far along they get. This is our reality; we don't expect you to understand it, but we do hope you will respect our feelings in this regard.

So now my Cx are 16 minutes apart again...

I will update the blog later to keep you all posted. When I was worried, I took a peak outside the front window and saw some light flurries falling, which was not in the forecast today. And I knew it was Thomas reassuring me that all would be well. He is such a good boy.

Oh, here is my belly picture I took last week at 23 weeks:

5th Ultrasound - 21w1d

I am finally getting around to posting pics from the 5th ultrasound I had which was on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving when I was 21 weeks and 1 day (21w1d). They double checked the full anatomy of each baby during the ultrasound scan. I also had the tech confirm they were girls, and there was no doubt! The babies had doubled in size from the previous scan, four weeks earlier. Baby A weighed 1 lb. 1 oz. and Baby B weighed 1 lb. 0 oz. which are both very good. Usually Baby B is larger than Baby A because Baby A is getting squashed and B has more room! Their heart rates were 141 and 147 beats per minute, respectively.

I also had a doctor's visit. My blood pressure is still nice and low, and I am finally starting to gain weight. My cervix was long and tight, which is always good news in a twin pregnancy.

I'm hoping you can click on this to enlarge it, but I'm not sure. Here is my latest collection of ultrasound pics and belly shot. Plus a neat diagram showing how babies look in the uterus at 20 weeks.

Soldiers in Afghanistan

My friend Christina, who named a star after Thomas for us and also has twin girls, has a brother in Afghanistan. Last month, I asked her if I could send some care packages to him that he could share with his fellow soldiers who do not get anything at all. She asked him and he said he would do that, especially since moral is really low right now in Afghanistan.

So I have been buying some things. I got some Christmas candy at the supermarket, some paperbacks and games at the thrift store, and some decorations, cards, toiletries, food items, etc. at the Dollar Store. I am going to make five care packages and send them along with a few other random items like homemade cookies and extra gifts.

And then today Tim and I got an email that the grandson of one of my golfing league ladies has just been killed in Afghanistan. He is the young marine from Kansas City, Nicholas Hand, who died Sunday. How incredibly sad for his parents and grandparents and the rest of his family.

So when you count your blessings this Thanksgiving, please include your thanks for the soldiers who serve our country. And say prayers for their families who must worry tremendously about them, just like Christina worries for her brother.

Thank you.

Tim's big five-oh!

Today is my husband Tim's fiftieth birthday! So I thought I'd post a handsome picture of him with some balloons in honor of this special day.

Last night we celebrated with dinner out at Justus Drugstore, our new favorite restaurant. This morning he opened up his gifts from his mom which arrived Saturday. (I had made him wait!) We got our first snowfall today, a little icy sleet, and now it is raining. But I have a little something special for him planned tonight. Shhh!

Happy birthday, sweetie! xoxoxo

Baby movement

With Thomas, I did not feel the baby move until I was about 22 weeks pregnant. It was my first pregnancy, so I wasn't 100% sure what I was feeling was baby or just gas and uterus growing pains. I also think I must have had an anterior placenta, which means it was like a pillow between the uterus and the top of my belly. But since I had read that it was common for first time moms not to feel movement until 23 weeks, I wasn't worried. By 30 weeks, he was moving constantly and normally, and I had forgotten how long the wait had seemed!

With this pregnancy, since it is my second, I am a little more familiar with movement. Around 15 weeks, I started to notice a repeated fluttering down in the lower left of my belly. Tim was actually able to put his hand there and feel something moving. But I wasn't able to feel it from the outside. The pulse in my hand was too strong to differentiate any other feelings.

With the ultrasound at 17 weeks, we confirmed it was Baby A who was doing that fluttering. It is likely her hands, as her head is down low.

But before this weekend, I had yet to feel Baby B. Her placenta is anterior, and she lays transverse across the center of my belly. Twice, though, I have felt a hard push on my right side. Not sure if it is a ligament, though, or the baby. Yesterday morning I did feel fluttering that was down low, but more to the right. So I don't know who that was!

I can now feel the baby movement with my hand, too, as of the middle of last week. So that has been fun. They are still pretty light, almost like getting the butterflies.

FYI: Tomorrow marks halfway through my pregnancy!

18 Weeks

I can hardly believe it has been 18 weeks already! Tim took my weekly belly shot photo last night. Here is how I am looking now:


Here is the complete collection from weeks 4 though 18. You can tell when I was away traveling!

Happy Halloween!

Google is very cute today... you have to check it out. Put your cursor over the word Google, notice how it says Click or Treat. So click it! Then click again and again!

Halloween Google

Tim and I have two Halloween parties this weekend. First one was last night, and second is tonight. We will go after our trick or treaters have finished (around 8pm). We are dressed up as characters from the original Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie. I am Violet Beauregarde, who turns into a blueberry after chewing on an Everlasting Gobstopper ("Violet! You're turning violet, Violet!"), and Tim is one of the Oompa Loompas. We had planned for Tim to go as Willie Wonka, even buying a purple blazer at the thrift store, but his admin Stacey's husband had made the Oompa Loompa costume, and let us borrow it!



"Oompa Loompa Doompa Dee Do
I've got another puzzle for you
Oompa Loompa Doompa Da Dee
If you are wise you'll listen to me
Gum chewing is fine if it's once in a while
It stops you from smoking and brightens up your smile
But it's repulsive revolting and wrong
Chewing and chewing all day long
The way that a cow does
Oompa Loompa Doompa Dee Da
Given good manners you will go far
You will live in happiness too
Like the Oompa Loompa Doompa Dee Do!"

Here is the entire scene:
Willie Wonka - Demise of Violet Beauregarde

The sardonic commentary of the other characters is hilarious.

"Shall we roll on?"

Flu vaccinations

This fall, Tim and I had several out of state trips planned. We were to fly to Michigan for our annual vacation in mid-September, and then I had to fly to Boston for my Dad's 80th birthday party and then to Michigan to celebrate the in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary in the same week, mid-October.

As news of the flu pandemic spread, I became more and more nervous. Pregnant women were listed as the most high risk to come down with H1N1 flu and suffer severe complications. I talked to my regular doctor's office and they weren't concerned at all, and didn't expect to have any vaccines. They would be offering seasonal flu vaccines, but not until the middle of October, while I was away. My obstetricians' office, however, said if I could get my hands on either vaccine, to definitely get inoculated. They are very concerned.

I did a lot of research into flu vaccines last fall when I was pregnant. I learned it is best to get the preservative-free version if its available. In Missouri, it is actually a state requirement for pregnant patients.

I discovered that our local Walgreens Pharmacy offers flu shots from the pharmacist. They also have a walk-in Care Clinic. The pharmacy would be able to give me a shot, while I was in my first trimester, as long as a I had a doctor's prescription. The Care Clinic's policy was no shots to pregnant women in their first trimester. So one afternoon, before my September trip, I arranged for the OB to fax in my Rx for the seasonal flu shot. When I arrived, the pharmacist was too busy to give me the shot. So she asked the clinic to do it. But I knew they wouldn't based on their policy. When the nurse gave me the form to fill out, I lied and said I was 14 and a half weeks pregnant (second trimester). I really was only ten and a half weeks. While we chatted, I learned she had been a nurse in the NICU of the hospital where I had given birth to Thomas. But she had worked days, then, so wouldn't have seen him. But it was still an interesting coincidence. (Walgreens has since run out of the vaccine.)

Vaccinations take three weeks to be fully effective. So although I wasn't really covered during the first flights, I was covered for my October travel. Since I did it so early this fall, I might have to redo it again in late winter. I'm still not sure how that works, so will ask my OB.

I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the H1N1 flu vaccines into our part of the country. They arrived two weeks ago at our local County Health Department. But the first ones they received were the inhalation type, which is not allowed for pregnant women or children with compromised immune systems. (This is because it contains live virus.) It has been offered to health care workers and healthy children under the age of five. Before I left for our October trips, I asked my OB to mail me a prescription for the H1N1 vax, just so I would have it on hand in case I needed it. They were great about it and sent one to me.

I made the County Health Department's web site our internet browser home page, so I would easily learn when they had the vaccines on hand. They offer free vax clinics on Wednesdays in Parkville and Fridays in Platte City. Yesterday morning, before heading to the dentist, I checked to see if they had the preservative-free version, yet. Finally, the words I was waiting to see! "The Platte County Health Department is now offering H1N1 vaccination clinics for the following priority groups, as identified by the CDC: Pregnant women (you must present an order from your Physician)." So after I went to my dental check-up, I dropped by the clinic. I had to wait about half an hour in line, made up mostly of people with little children, and several other pregnant women. No one was coughing or sneezing, so that was a relief.

So now I have been vaccinated! I am so glad. Two weeks ago, while I was away in Boston, Tim said he felt very flu-ish. By the time he came to Michigan, he was still under the weather and his symptoms started to become more like from a cold infection. Fortunately, I did not catch anything from him.

Today, on my April due date message board was the following message, "Please pray for my cousin, Chrissy. She got married this summer, and got pregnant right after - one of the happiest times of her life. She recently got H1N1. She was hospitalized with it for a week and then released. Unfortunately she's now developed Pneumonia and is back in the hospital. Things are not going as well as we would hope and her family and new husband are beside themselves. I'd appreciate any prayers you're willing to give."

Thirty-seven percent of all pregnant women with flu symptoms in our country have been hospitalized. Although pregnant women make up only 1% of the US population, they make up 6% of all confirmed H1N1 deaths. As of August 21st, 28 pregnant women have died from the H1N1 flu. Although many of these women had underlying medical conditions, not all of them did.

As Tim said to me one day, "I cannot believe that you are pregnant in the middle of the first pandemic to hit our country in years!"

People can debate the safety of the flu vaccine, but I could not in good conscience NOT get vaccinated and leave my husband open to the possibility of becoming a widower who lost his son, his wife, and his two daughters all in the space of one year. This has been my very real fear since I got pregnant in July.

Three more weeks until it becomes effective!

The "big" anatomy ultrasound

Yesterday was our anatomy ultrasound. This is the point in the pregnancy when we learned that Thomas had his heart defect, so Tim and I have been nervous wrecks...

I woke up too early Tuesday morning, ended up feeling a little sick to my stomach, tried to sleep in after breakfast, then headed off to the appointment with Tim. It was at 9:45am, at 10:15 the tech finally came out and told me she wanted me to wait to draw my bloodwork first! I'm thinking, doesn't she know we are anxious??!

Anyhoo... we finally got in for the scan, she started with every body part and left the heart for last! But both babies have good looking four chamber hearts. With Thomas, his just looked like a two-chamber heart, so the difference was really clear. We were SO relieved. She videotaped nearly the whole scan.

So she asked us if we wanted to know the gender, and I asked her if she could just verify for us afterwards that one of them is a boy. I didn't want to know which baby (A or B), just that at least one of them was. So we averted our eyes whenever she needed to scan 'down there'. (Although Tim admitted later he did see Baby B!)

Then she had me get up and use the bathroom so they could measure my cervix with a vaginal ultrasound. (They do this for twin pregnancies to prevent "preterm labor" (PTL).) I said, "oh, so can you just confirm that at least one of them is a boy?" And she just stared at me like a deer caught in the headlights. Now, I was 90% sure I was having two boys. So I stared back at her, "What are you not saying?" And she gave this kind of helpless shrug. "Are you saying we are having TWO GIRLS?!" I asked, flabbergasted. And the tech said, "I don't know how to tell you that neither is a boy, when you don't want to know the gender!" I just had to laugh. I can NOT believe we are having two girls. When the doc came in, he confirmed it for us, too. There really is NOTHING between their legs, which were wide open!

So we are no longer Team Green (i.e. not finding out gender before birth) and I told Tim we may as well tell everyone since I had been so sure it was boys. (Not sure if you remember my story posted on the CarePages, but the week before I cycled, I had this other-worldly message that I was going to get pregnant, and I was going to have twin boys. I even saw the ultrasounds!) I had just really wanted to know what it was like to raise a baby boy, I am going to miss that. I did joke to Tim that we will just have to try again, and at least he said a half-hearted "yeah".

So count us Team Pink!

At least Thomas was a surprise....lol....

This is the rest of the info we learned during the anatomy scan (17w1d): Baby A is measuring ahead at 17w5d (a good thing), heartrate is 147bpm, weight 0.8 oz; Baby B measures 17w3d, 156bpm, and 0.7oz; my cervix measures great at 5cm (normal is 3cm, anything above 2.5 is good). So hopefully these little girls aren't going anywhere anytime soon!

Time to start the next pregnancy blogging!

OK, so I am a little behind. Tim and I cycled again with the same doctors who helped us conceive Thomas. Our first positive pregnancy test was on July 23rd. Our due date is April 5, 2010, the day after Easter. We were happy to see heartbeats at the first ultrasound, but a little nervous since there were two babies!



Three weeks later, we went in for our second ultrasound. Babies were both doing well, and looking very much like little gummy bears!



Our next ultrasound was a diagnostic test to measure the folds in the babies' necks. This is called an NT scan. Both babies did very well and combined with the bloodwork they did, our risk for genetic diseases is very small.



I decided to post updates about the pregnancy here on this old blog of mine, where I wrote about my pregnancy with Thomas, because I feel his CarePages website is really for him. I will probably still post here about my feelings, too, or whatever is on my mind.

But for now, it is nice to start blogging again about being pregnant!

By the way, I have added some links to blogs that I follow, mostly other women who have lost children, or who also traveled the long infertility road with me.

I’ll kiss it away

[I had tried to publish this on November 25th, when Thomas was three days old, but I could not get Blogger to work. I just found this post saved as a text file on my computer, and thought I would still share it with you. Notice the butterflies lyric...]

Some of you know that I participate in an email "chat" group with people from the town we used to live in. One of the participants is a woman from Austria. She sent me the following YouTube video link and even posted some comments about me. It is interesting how we can touch people across the world so easily via the Internet.

The song is by Sarah Connor, called I'll Kiss It Away. This beautiful song is about Sarah' daughter Summer, who also has a congenital heart defect.

The lyrics are:
Twenty days and Twenty nights I’m sitting right here by your side
Surrounded by the monitors listening to you sigh
You’re sleeping so peacefully, sometimes you’re smiling in your dreams
Lord, why had it to be her, why didn’t you pick me
Until the day you were born, still hoping they were wrong
But now I’m here to make you strong,

I’m with you..
I’ll carry your pain, whenever you fall again
I will help you stand, just reach out your hand
When your world is dark, or you’re hurt in your heart
Come what may, I’ll kiss it away

Come what may, I’ll kiss it away

Sing softly into your ear, your hand is wrapped around my finger
Kiss your eyes, whisper “I am here and this won’t take much longer”
And now we’re having fries, you’re chasing butterflies
And show the world you want to fight, oh yes you do

I’m with you..
I’ll carry your pain, whenever you fall again
I will help you stand, just reach out your hand
When your world is dark, or you’re hurt in your heart
Come what may, I’ll kiss it away

In the darkness of the night I’ll be there to hold you tight
And until my final day, I will guide you, come what may
Come what may…

I’ll carry your pain, whenever you fall again
I will help you stand, just reach out your hand
When your world is dark, or you’re hurt in your heart
Come what may, I’ll kiss it away
Come what may, I’ll kiss it away