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!