Today marks our first week here in the hospital. We have survived this far without too much with trouble. Mostly the most frustrating thing is that doctors demand so much and the poor nurses have to carry out their orders. That is the biggest thing I have learned this week. And also every doctor has a different thing that they want to see on the monitor read out.
The girls have been super great thus far for their monitoring......heart rates that is. As for being willing to actually get on the monitor, not so much. They love to fight it soooo much, I kinda think its a game now because every time they strap on the straps they start kicking directly where the sensors and also where the nurses hands are.
One thing I have noticed is that the girls have gone crazy wild since coming to the hospital. They are always squirming and kicking all the time. Which is funny to watch! And that there are two of them in there!
Oh and I finally saw them punching each other during an ultrasound, so not only do they beat up on their poor mother but also each other.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Days 2 & 3
Visitors (2) Justin and Derrick
(3) My Mother, Hannah, Abby, Justin, and Laura
Welp I'm still here! :)
I'll start where I left off my 2pm monitoring session which was by far my easiest monitoring session ever!! The girls stayed on the monitor for the most part and were marginally easy to find. Oh how the let me believe they weren't going to continue to be trouble makers :)
They also during my 2pm monitoring session let me know when I would be getting put on the monitor during the day; 6am, 2pm and 10pm. I am not much of a fan of the 6am and the 10pm. But ultimately we are at the mercy of what the doctors think is appropriate.
After my 2pm session the rest of the the day was uneventful, although I will say this the girls are very unhappy about all these sensors being pushed upon them and they have now resorted to kicking anything that applies pressure on to them!! That includes daddy's hand :)
At our 10pm session the girls continued to look good! Still ever the trouble makers we got through it and it only lasted 1hr 45mins, this may sound like a long time but trust me last night was way worse!! I barely got to bed at 12am and then was awoken at 6am again!! This is something that I am really going to have to get used to these short bursts of sleep!
They girls were especially terrible all day yesterday. During both the 6am and the 2pm I had to have the nurse on duty hold the sensor the entire session because baby b who they call spicy would not stay in one spot for more than a few minutes so they had to constantly be shifting it to keep her heart on the monitor.
My mom, Hannah and Abby all came during my 2pm session and were so excited to hear the little one's heart beats!! For Hannah and Abby it was their first time and it was really neat to see their faces light up!! After we were done we went exploring around the hospital and found the rooftop cafe and a couple of other locations! It was really nice just to get out and walk around, while I still can because I know in a few weeks I will just simply be too big to move around too much on my own! Then I will have to wheeled around :)
After we got back to my room Justin was already there!
The rest of the evening was uneventful until my 10pm session which thankfully the nurse that night decided to come at 9pm. It was by far my most trying time here at the hospital. I know I my sound whiny but this session lasted 2hr 30mins. Yikes. It was more than my body could not take just lying there still that long! I got super antsy and my back killed, not to mention my lovely children decided to compress my longs even more so breathing became very difficult. It seems that the girls have now decided to be right next to each other which makes it very difficult to get separate heartbeats!! So my evening ended with me being checked by ultrasound to make sure the girls were there! Which of course they were and were also doing just perfect. They just really love to make the doctors nervous!!
That's all for now! :)
(3) My Mother, Hannah, Abby, Justin, and Laura
Welp I'm still here! :)
I'll start where I left off my 2pm monitoring session which was by far my easiest monitoring session ever!! The girls stayed on the monitor for the most part and were marginally easy to find. Oh how the let me believe they weren't going to continue to be trouble makers :)
They also during my 2pm monitoring session let me know when I would be getting put on the monitor during the day; 6am, 2pm and 10pm. I am not much of a fan of the 6am and the 10pm. But ultimately we are at the mercy of what the doctors think is appropriate.
After my 2pm session the rest of the the day was uneventful, although I will say this the girls are very unhappy about all these sensors being pushed upon them and they have now resorted to kicking anything that applies pressure on to them!! That includes daddy's hand :)
At our 10pm session the girls continued to look good! Still ever the trouble makers we got through it and it only lasted 1hr 45mins, this may sound like a long time but trust me last night was way worse!! I barely got to bed at 12am and then was awoken at 6am again!! This is something that I am really going to have to get used to these short bursts of sleep!
They girls were especially terrible all day yesterday. During both the 6am and the 2pm I had to have the nurse on duty hold the sensor the entire session because baby b who they call spicy would not stay in one spot for more than a few minutes so they had to constantly be shifting it to keep her heart on the monitor.
My mom, Hannah and Abby all came during my 2pm session and were so excited to hear the little one's heart beats!! For Hannah and Abby it was their first time and it was really neat to see their faces light up!! After we were done we went exploring around the hospital and found the rooftop cafe and a couple of other locations! It was really nice just to get out and walk around, while I still can because I know in a few weeks I will just simply be too big to move around too much on my own! Then I will have to wheeled around :)
After we got back to my room Justin was already there!
The rest of the evening was uneventful until my 10pm session which thankfully the nurse that night decided to come at 9pm. It was by far my most trying time here at the hospital. I know I my sound whiny but this session lasted 2hr 30mins. Yikes. It was more than my body could not take just lying there still that long! I got super antsy and my back killed, not to mention my lovely children decided to compress my longs even more so breathing became very difficult. It seems that the girls have now decided to be right next to each other which makes it very difficult to get separate heartbeats!! So my evening ended with me being checked by ultrasound to make sure the girls were there! Which of course they were and were also doing just perfect. They just really love to make the doctors nervous!!
That's all for now! :)
Thursday, August 18, 2011
First Day
Visitors of the day: My mom and Abby
Justin
Well I have so far survived my first evening inpatient and oh boy what a day it was!!
So ultimately it was completely my decision as to when I was going to come into the hospital yesterday.We chose to come in at 3pm. Good thing we waited until later in the afternoon when everyone was awake and alert because somehow in Amelia fashion of weird luck the people and Mother and Baby Care had no idea I was coming!!! Ack!!
Well they were able to get into a room after a little bit of a wait and thus started the series of pokes prods and blood taking. Each being more difficult than the last. It started with my sugar test which wasn't that bad to begin with the stuff tasted like flat orange soda. Then came the hour after that they had to come and take my blood. Seems like my veins would not work the way they are supposed to. My one arm the blood was super thick and then the other one the nurse could seem to get it into my vein. She gave up for a few moments and then came back with another nurse to have her give it a try. Thank goodness this time everything worked the way it was supposed too!
Then later in the evening they decided to do my first Non-Stress Test (NST) on the babies. Well let me tell you my girls are massive trouble makers. It took the poor nurse 45mins to get both babies on the monitor!!!! So needless to say baby b would not stay still and kept being a trouble maker the entire time. So what normally would be an hour was about an hour and a half hooked up to the machines. As usual the babies are doing just fine!
I tried sleeping but mostly I could only go a few hours before I was awake but I kept falling back to sleep at least. It was a little weird and I had to keep reminding myself of where I was.
Wake up call this morning was at 6:30am to a steroid shot and another monitoring session. The babies continued to be trouble makers but we managed to make it through. Their reward was me finally being able to order my breakfast!! And also that they next session of monitoring isn't until 2pm thank goodness. SO I may just be able to get in a bit of a nap before they hook me up again!!
Although it was a rough first day we are surviving!!
Justin
Well I have so far survived my first evening inpatient and oh boy what a day it was!!
So ultimately it was completely my decision as to when I was going to come into the hospital yesterday.We chose to come in at 3pm. Good thing we waited until later in the afternoon when everyone was awake and alert because somehow in Amelia fashion of weird luck the people and Mother and Baby Care had no idea I was coming!!! Ack!!
Well they were able to get into a room after a little bit of a wait and thus started the series of pokes prods and blood taking. Each being more difficult than the last. It started with my sugar test which wasn't that bad to begin with the stuff tasted like flat orange soda. Then came the hour after that they had to come and take my blood. Seems like my veins would not work the way they are supposed to. My one arm the blood was super thick and then the other one the nurse could seem to get it into my vein. She gave up for a few moments and then came back with another nurse to have her give it a try. Thank goodness this time everything worked the way it was supposed too!
Then later in the evening they decided to do my first Non-Stress Test (NST) on the babies. Well let me tell you my girls are massive trouble makers. It took the poor nurse 45mins to get both babies on the monitor!!!! So needless to say baby b would not stay still and kept being a trouble maker the entire time. So what normally would be an hour was about an hour and a half hooked up to the machines. As usual the babies are doing just fine!
I tried sleeping but mostly I could only go a few hours before I was awake but I kept falling back to sleep at least. It was a little weird and I had to keep reminding myself of where I was.
Wake up call this morning was at 6:30am to a steroid shot and another monitoring session. The babies continued to be trouble makers but we managed to make it through. Their reward was me finally being able to order my breakfast!! And also that they next session of monitoring isn't until 2pm thank goodness. SO I may just be able to get in a bit of a nap before they hook me up again!!
Although it was a rough first day we are surviving!!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Last Hurrahs
So this weekend was my last one of "freedom". It is really the last weekend without being trapped in the hospital and without two little ones. So where would I go?
Why to Dubuque of course, we had a wedding to attend and music festival to go to! The wedding was for my friend and neighbor of 17 years. I can't believe we have been living in that house for so long. It seems like only yesterday we moved in, I even remember the exact moment that we met. How many times in your life do you actually remember the exact moment when you meet someone? I think back on this and really there isn't many times that I exactly remember meeting someone. Don't worry I remember about when I met people but that exact moment there are only two that stick in my mind. When I met Liz for the first time (It was right after Christmas it was abnormally warm out and we had gotten roller blades they got skis, they came over because we were outside playing and saw that we had a lot of kids in our family) and my now husband Justin (I was on a "date" with a friend of his at a BINGO event and it was the day before April fools day! We were Facebook friends immediately).
Then we had a Bluegrass festival to go to on Sunday. It was a gorgeous day and mostly I just sat and relaxed and enjoyed the calm. It was nice just to be with my family and do much of nothing. Mostly just being in each others presence.
This entire weekend was a great time to reflect on the many happy memories of my childhood and hope that I can do the same for our two little girls. And even though we may all be growing up everyday we are still in a way the same as we ever were.
Today I go into the hospital and even though I do not know what is going to happen I am still hopeful for the best. I am doing everything I can for these little ones, giving them the best possible chance for survival. Although I have not met them yet I know that I love them.
Why to Dubuque of course, we had a wedding to attend and music festival to go to! The wedding was for my friend and neighbor of 17 years. I can't believe we have been living in that house for so long. It seems like only yesterday we moved in, I even remember the exact moment that we met. How many times in your life do you actually remember the exact moment when you meet someone? I think back on this and really there isn't many times that I exactly remember meeting someone. Don't worry I remember about when I met people but that exact moment there are only two that stick in my mind. When I met Liz for the first time (It was right after Christmas it was abnormally warm out and we had gotten roller blades they got skis, they came over because we were outside playing and saw that we had a lot of kids in our family) and my now husband Justin (I was on a "date" with a friend of his at a BINGO event and it was the day before April fools day! We were Facebook friends immediately).
Then we had a Bluegrass festival to go to on Sunday. It was a gorgeous day and mostly I just sat and relaxed and enjoyed the calm. It was nice just to be with my family and do much of nothing. Mostly just being in each others presence.
This entire weekend was a great time to reflect on the many happy memories of my childhood and hope that I can do the same for our two little girls. And even though we may all be growing up everyday we are still in a way the same as we ever were.
Today I go into the hospital and even though I do not know what is going to happen I am still hopeful for the best. I am doing everything I can for these little ones, giving them the best possible chance for survival. Although I have not met them yet I know that I love them.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
More Surprises and a Date is Set
You would think that after 25 weeks of this pregnancy I would be used to all the surprises these twins have given us. But it seems they had to give us another one and ultimately this is a good one!
Yesterday we had our 4th Ultrasound and our 2nd meeting with the U of I high risk doctors. Both babies are doing wonderfully developmentally. Also in size they gave us a bit of a surprise! It seems that in the 4 weeks since our last ultrasound are babies have grown quite substantially! Baby A went from 14oz to 1lb 14oz and Baby B went from 13 oz to 1lb 8oz!! Both babies are average for the size of a singleton at the same week!! My babies are determined to grow as much as they can while they are still in the womb! The doctors are pretty up beat so that was helpful and even thought there is a size difference in the babies there is no indication of TTTS so far!
Also during this appointment we set a date for when I would go into the hospital to start my constant monitoring. Starting next Wednesday, August 17th I will be a permanent resident of the U of I hospital. As my doctor said I will have a parole date of September 28th or then abouts as we will be scheduling the C-section for 32 weeks baring any complications before then. These babies will be my belated birthday presents! :)
Yesterday we had our 4th Ultrasound and our 2nd meeting with the U of I high risk doctors. Both babies are doing wonderfully developmentally. Also in size they gave us a bit of a surprise! It seems that in the 4 weeks since our last ultrasound are babies have grown quite substantially! Baby A went from 14oz to 1lb 14oz and Baby B went from 13 oz to 1lb 8oz!! Both babies are average for the size of a singleton at the same week!! My babies are determined to grow as much as they can while they are still in the womb! The doctors are pretty up beat so that was helpful and even thought there is a size difference in the babies there is no indication of TTTS so far!
Also during this appointment we set a date for when I would go into the hospital to start my constant monitoring. Starting next Wednesday, August 17th I will be a permanent resident of the U of I hospital. As my doctor said I will have a parole date of September 28th or then abouts as we will be scheduling the C-section for 32 weeks baring any complications before then. These babies will be my belated birthday presents! :)
Monday, August 1, 2011
What it means to have monoamniotic twins
For the more complicated answer monoamniotic twins come from the same fertilized egg which did not divide until 8-13 days after. As for the "living" arrangements they share the same placenta and the same amniotic sac. Problems that will occur from this arrangement are TTTS (twin to twin transfer syndrome) and cord entanglement. As one of my many doctors put it while trying to explain TTTS imagine you have a shake with two straws. TTTS is where one twin is sucking on the straw harder than the other, that twin will get more. This can cause dangerous growth issues.
This is a very rare pregnancy and only happens in 1% of all twin pregnancies. On April 25, 2011 we found out that were not only having twins but they were monoamniotic.
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