Gender/Marvelous Multiples

Hi!
Sorry I didn't post last week, sometimes I'm just to lazy honestly. First, we saw Dr. Cassidy on that Thursday. She did a scan and the heart beats were fine. There wasn't much to discuss at this point in time. She agreed with the plan to visit the MFM group weekly. She had a different attitude this visit. We have always liked her but I guess you could say she was a lot my genuine this time and liked looking at the babies and so forth. I will see her again in 3 weeks. At that time I believe I will be 19 weeks and so we will probably discuss the future at that time.
That Friday, I went back to MFM and had my mom go with me since Adam couldn't. Everything looked fine again.

So, a week later, the Friday I went back. Everything looked good again. Their heart beats were like 150 and 147. They seem to have stayed in basically the same positions for the past few weeks. One of them is above the other but head to foot. Actually, at one point the top one was using the other one as a seat which was funny. It was just a brief scan to check for viability. At next weeks appointment, they I believe are supposed to measure again and so forth. So that will be nice to see if they are growing well.

Also, that night was marvelous multiples, a class geared just for multiples. It was interesting because a lot of the ones there were first time moms to having twins. Their were several identical and fraternal twin boys in the group and two pairs of boy/girl fraternal twins. I thought that was crazy. No twins like mine though of course. The class was good though, it encouraged a lot especially about breastfeeding saying it is perfectly possible. It also gave you a bunch a lenghty phamplets and stuff about it and recommendations. That was nice. They also gave you a bunch of tips: such at schooling (same class or different), photos separately when their born (so that in high school when they need a picture, they have an individual one), choosing a color pattern for each so that when you look back on photos you know who is who according to what color pattern you gave them. Just tons of useful information and lots a things to read. It gave me a sheet of must haves and the amounts to survive the first 3 months. We toured the NICU which was a neat experience. The teacher also let me see the antepartum unit which is where Ill stay for a lenghty period of time before the babies are born.

Last night, I was going to post as usual since it was Sunday but I was pretty ill all day yesterday. I'm not going to go into details in what was going on but I was miserable. I also had this pain start running in my L groin area down my leg. Its so weird and at times I have to limp. It worries me when I start feeling so horrible. I know my body was stressed yesterday and my reactions such as crying and so forth just added to it. It worries me not for myself but that somehow I'm harming my babies. I know they know when your stressed or your body is. I just hope I didn't harm them in anyway because their environment is stressful enough.

Its crazy the further you are in this pregnancy the more you have to start looking at the future and the more it scares you that something could still very possibly happen. I have trying to work on the more positive side such as looking at baby stuff and making plans. But sometimes the other side just comes in and its hard.

Some of you already know this but it was confirmed that we are expecting: BOYS!
So that means 98% of us were wrong haha. Its crazy we started learning of this possibility last week but was confirmed this past one. They were not shy about showing their business. We are very excited. NO we don't have names as of yet. We like several but none are completely convincing us yet. We had the girls names picked out because that was easy haha but boys names seem to be harder. Its turning out the Stuart side of the family is just going to be a bunch of boys hehe. And we will have to wait and see what Nicole is having for the Borders side. At least Charles will be excited for boys :).

Well, yet again another appointment on Friday. Thanks again for everyone who is praying and thinking of us each day. It means a lot.

And the Gender is??

14 weeks 5 days

Hello,
So, back to the doctor I went on Friday. We had an ultrasound first which was supposed to be just a limited one, meaning checking for a heart beat and such, but it still was like 20 minutes. The babies were moving around but not as crazy as last week thank goodness. Thier heart rates were 148 and 150, so similar to last week. They were all streched out from thier head to their toes. Thier legs looked so long, it was the first time we had really seen them because they are usually bent. It was neat to see. For the first time ever the doctor didnt come in during the ultrasound so we were put in an exam room. We saw the same doctor as last week which was good because it makes things a little bit more consistent. It still amazes me how little a physcian doesnt want to sugar coat anything. I figured since this is the first time sitting down with him, instead of before when they are just staring at the ultrasound, I would take advantage of it and just start asking tons of questions. Poor guy, it probably was 30 minutes of my questions when all he needed to tell me was everything looked fine this week. But listen to these questions and some of his responses. (We do really like him and all of our doctors, they are just very to the point.)

1. So, is the reason you want to see me weekly mainly to make sure that thier hearts are still beating? (He had just told us to make the next 3 appointments so the schedule wouldnt fill up.)

Response: Yes, we feel that we need to make sure they are viable each week because if something were to happen we would like to take care of it as soon as possible so you can move on with your lives and try again.

Ouch, like I said straght to the point..now you know why im nervous btw each ultrasound.

2. If one baby dies, will the other one?

Response: In this situation, in most cases yes. They share all vascular systems so when one passes it influxes to the other killing it as well. (This could vary after the babies are viable, but for now that is the scenario.)

3. Have you seen many successes?

Response: Yes, I have seen successes but on the other hand I have seen failures as well.
(Did I ask about your failures?)

4. Is there ever a point when Im any safer?

Response: No. This is a complicated situation. Right now the babies are so fragile and so cord problems happen a lot but on the other hand once the cords are knotted and they are growing, as the cords grow and get thicker, the tighter the knots get causing restriction. Its really a day to day thing and one week they could be fine and the next not. There is just not good research with how rare these kind of multiples are to suggest otherwise at this time.

I asked lots of other questions too. But you can kind of see why I leave feeling emotional at times. He made good suggestions like meeting with a neonatologist prior to making a hospital admission date ranging from 24-28 weeks. That way we can learn about the differences in the weeks and so forth. But like I said we do really like them but man do they really hold nothing back. He did in confidence give us some information about what would be different at Vanderbilt which made since from Adam and I working there. (He only did this because I kept prying into why his whole group left.)

I have been trying to be more positive and I think I have been somewhat better but when you really think of them its so hard when you feel like natures forces in the body are against the situation.
I asked many other numerous questions and at least I felt like he was trying to answer them honestly and I didnt feel like he was trying to rush out on me. Which means a lot.

I cant bring myself still to do anything for them. (i.e, registry, thinking about the nursery) I dont know how I even feel about a shower at this point. I hear about some people doing them after the babies are born in certain situations or even during my hospital stay. But who knows, right now things are just so early and everything is scary.

My migraines have been going absolutly crazy. I mean the worst ever I think. I went and got nerve blocks recently but they prove to not be working. They left me in bed all day Saturday and most of today.

Well, I see Dr. Cassidy on Thursday and back to the high risk group on Friday.

So the picture below is of baby A. You cant see the head very well but u can see how the legs are all the way streched out. So cute.




This is baby B. Much better picture than last week.

Monoamniotic factoids

Hey,
I found thses on another blog, so I thought I would share. My next appointment is Friday and im already getting anxious, so pray for us. I also signed us up for a class on July 23. Its Marvelous Multiples.

Monoamniotic factoids

*Monoamniotic twins are always identical
*Monoamniotic twins are the result of a late splitting egg; one that split around 8-12 days after fertilization
*Monoamniotic twins only occur in 1% of twins
*Monoamniotic twins share a placenta and amniotic sac which means they have skin to skin contact
*Monoamniotic twins are considered extremely high risk because of the risk of cord compression leading to fetal death as a result of umbilical cord entanglement
*Monoamniotic twins are always delivered by C-Section
*Monoamniotic twins are usually delivered between 32-34 weeks gestation because the risks of staying in utero are greater than the risks associated with a premature birth
*75% of monoamniotic twins are girls
*inpatient monitoring at viability yeilds the greatest success rates

13 weeks 5 days

Hi,
So it has been a rough few days for me. I guess I will have my good days and my bad days.

We went back to the doctor on Friday. They babies were doing OK. They were moving around everywhere and flipping like crazy. Normally, this would be cute but this only means they are getting their cords tangled. They confirmed that there is defiantly no membrane now. They spent some time looking for the cord insertion into the to placenta. They ended up being right on top of each other which isn't ideal. Its better if they are further apart. I don't know all of the reasoning behind this. He again talked about some of the risk which is really getting old. And I don't know how many times I have to hear, "We just have to hope that a higher power has a plan for them." It never feels reassuring when a physician says something like that and yet I've heard it from all of them. It makes me feel like, its going to take a miracle to get through this. Which I know it is but its another thing to keep hearing it from your doctors. I mean I guess I don't want them to sugar coat stuff either. We had also asked him about the referral thing and was very nice about it but he said that Dr. Cassidy would have to be the one to make it because they just act as her consultants. That made since to me, so I guess I will just have to wait and talk to her. I'm on nerve everyday but its worse going into the appointments. You can just see me, I'm sitting there not doing anything, shaking my legs, palms sweaty, heart pounding, my IBS starts to flare....and finally I see their heart beats and I calm down some. Its nice being seen every week but the co pays really start to add up, but its worth it to see them. I go back again Friday to see them and then I may start alternating each week with them and Dr. Cassidy. I posted two pictures below. On the bottom of each picture it will say A or B. They are too big and move to much to be in the same shot anymore. I had several good shots of baby A but baby B didn't have to many. B was moving around a lot though so that probably why s/he didn't put on a good photo shoot. A's heart rate was 150 and B's heart rate was 147. They were lower this week but still normal. So now Adam thinks their boys because the heart rates are lower.

I don't know what happened but right after the appointment and still today I have had the roughest time. Its like hearing what they say, it doesn't really make me feel better. I got into the feeling like I already felt doomed. And I don't want any criticism about this. I read the MoMo boards and have realized people who are going through exactly what I'm going through go through the same emotions. I know its not over till its over but when you see them getting so big on the screen and changing, it gets REALLY difficult to think you may have to part with them. I have just been really tearful the past few days and just not wanting to do anything. I didn't want to go anywhere because I felt like a lose cannon who could just explode with emotion at any second. I wish this feeling would pass. Its so hard. I hate more than anything in the world having these negative thoughts. I guess it makes it harder when you cant feel them. Maybe once I can feel them and know there in there, it can give me some relief. I have even been on the MoMo boards (they have different categories in which you can post in) and was looking at the loss forum thinking its already happened to me. This is horribly sad I know and I feel crazy. But like I said please don't post a comment beating me up about that, I already feel bad enough.
I can only hope for a better next few days and another okay report on Friday.

I continue to thank you for your support and prayers. I thank heavenly father every night for the support I have.
I love my babies more than anything in this world and I want to be a stronger person for them!