Labor Negotiations

The Twins Are Here!!!! (now updated with pictures!)

Lynnette's DH here.  Lynnette will provide a more detailed birth story when she checks out of the hospital.  She is boarding at the hospital to take care of the twins and does not have internet access.   Until then the babies are beautiful but I'm a little biased.  Here are their stats: 

Baby A
Nicole Rae
Born Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 11:53 a.m.
Weighing 4lbs. 3ozs.
Measuring 17 1/2 inches

Baby B
Julia Lee
Born Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 12:07 p.m.
Weighing 5lbs. 1oz.
Measuring 18 1/2 inches

The babies are doing well and both are almost back to their birth weight.  Lynnette, is doing well with her recovery.  Will update soon with pictures when I figure out the camera and this Mac. 

Thanks for all the kind comments and wishes,
D

OK. How about January 13th?

I think my water just broke. Bloody show. Will update when I can!

2 on 2/2 or "Groundhog Day" (uh...that's less than 3 weeks from now...)

This is kind of a disjointed post (like most of them, I suppose). I worked on it yesterday, but then last night and this morning, we lost power again. Its back on now, so I'm throwing it out there, for now, since were getting a "one, two punch," storm-wise, and the electricity will probably go out again soon, when we get MORE ice and freezing rain.

I saw the peri for my weekly visit Thursday. I was 34 weeks 1 day. Everything is looking good: cervix closed, but thinning, perfect fluid levels (Theirs, not mine. I look like I have sausages for feet and fingers...not that I'm complaining, mind you) Babies are between 4 1/2 lbs. and 4 3/4 lbs and still wiggling and head down. Blood pressure a little high, but no protein in the urine. Stopped the Heparin, Tuesday. Yay! So, I guess he thought it was time to think about an induction date. He's not interested in scheduling a c-section for me, since I'm so "textbook." I voiced a slightly whiny concern about my past lumbar problems, which have been acting up a little lately, and for which, I'm seeing a chiropractor he referred me to. But in all honesty, my back and hip are getting better since I've been seeing the chiropractor, although I still can't stand for very long. I blame the edema for that. Also, the carpal tunnel is killing me, to the point of panic attcks in the middle of the night. But again, I'm not complaining. So vaginal it is, I guess. He suggested January 31st, which would have been 37 weeks exactly, but mentally, I was hoping to have them in February, since that was when I was due, and it feels like more of an accomplishment. He agreed to February 2nd, although he said he was going to be pretty busy that day. He's also inducing a friend of mine on the 2nd. Small world.

I went to our fire department last Saturday, and had the car seats installed in the hybrid. That drove the facts home, pretty quick. Bizarre! I have car seats in my car! We've decided to hold out on buying a mini-van until they outgrow their infant seats. Our hope is that Toyota will actually release their Sienna hybrid, by then. Probably not, but might as well save a few bucks in the meantime. Since my last post, we watched Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, and now we can't stand the idea of buying another gas guzzler.

While we're on the "green" topic, I might as well start with the "crazy talk," since it seems so shocking to friends and family in real life. Not only are we planning on using cloth diapers, we plan on WASHING. THEM. AT. HOME. From the reactions we've gotten, you would have thought our next step was admitting ourselves to a mental hospital. My mom was one of the naysayers, until I reminded her that I was cloth diapered, and she washed them. Now that she's seen the system we're using, I think she's kind of excited about it. Plus, we spent all that money, last year on the GE frontloading washer and dryer set with the anti-bacterial settings. Might as well get some use out of them. Don't even get me started on what D's family thinks. Normalcy in that family is splitting a Coke between a baby bottle and a sippy cup for two kids.

Speaking of D's family, they threw a baby shower for us, last Sunday. I was sore and cranky, and made D go with me to do the socializing, so I could just sit like Jabba the Hut. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I guess it's just his immediate family that I have a problem with. Anyway, we got some more nice things, and that's always fun.

He also finished the nursery, and it looks great. It really came together nicely. My glider still hasn't come, though, so I called and got an ETA. Looks like that will be here next week, sometime. I guess their idea of 6 - 8 weeks is really 3 months or more. Ugh. I just want to sit in there and contemplate the room for a few weeks while there's still peace and quiet. I'm going to post pictures, but I want the glider first. So, in lew of those pics, at Alex's request, I submit the most current union suit shots at 32w1day and 34w1d.

We picked a pediatrician, as well. In the end, we chose the guy whose office was a mile and a half from our house. He seemed fine, and if we don't like him, we can always switch. I was just not in the mood to interview any more doctors. And did I mention a mile and a half? So yeah, that's settled.

We are also in the process of getting bids for adding a bedroom suite and kitchen expansion addition to this little house for resale value. When I think I'm going to be able to manage that project, well, I just don't know. Must be crack in my pre-natals or something. Note to self: make sure the contractor gets a Port-a-Potty for OUTSIDE, this time...no poopy in the housy.

National Delurking Week, so come out, come out, wherever you are. Oh wait, I forgot I don't have much of a readership anymore. My bad. It probably ended already anyway.

Sneak Peek

I know I owe more of an update than this, but I've had a hard couple of weeks, especially the last few days. The babies are fine, but long story, short, I have a new doctor. Something I didn't expect to have to find at 26 weeks with twins. Pediatrician, yes, perinatalogist, no. I'll try to post about it later. For now, I thought I'd introduce you to my girls.

Twenty+

Ok. I admit it. I don't have many excuses for my absence anymore. Just sheer laziness. The hectic pace of the summer has mellowed out, and I find that I've just gotten used to not posting. Every day, I think, "Oh, I should write about that in my blog." Then 10 p.m. rolls around and I'm out for the count.

This last week marks the end of the house "issues." I'll have to post pictures. Monday, we had movers bring our basement furniture and (shh...) nursery furniture over to our house from storage at my dad's. Wednesday, I had a cleaning crew start on a bi-weekly basis. Everyone kept asking if I would be getting any help when the babies came, and I decided to try a housekeeping service first. I'm already not getting around too well, when it comes to deep cleaning, and the construction dust was just depressing. Much less expensive than a nanny or baby nurse, so we'll see how it goes. So, anyway, the house is clean now, and I can really start preparing for "this."

I was to host a baby shower for Alex at The Infertile Gourmet this Sunday, but as many of you may know, she's still in the hospital suffering from God-only-knows-what. Hopefully she'll get some answers soon. I don't even feel like I can visit her in the hospital, since we don't know what she has yet, not to mention all the other assorted bugs floating around in any given hospital. Very hopeless feeling, and I miss my lunch buddy. Keep her in your thoughts. She was supposed to leave next week, to foster/adopt her daughter in Guatemala.

My other friend A got a third opinion on her ovarian cancer. That Dr.'s suggestion was that chemo should have started six weeks ago(!) I think we're all still a little in shock, but I'm sure she'll get to the bottom of the situation soon, and do what she needs to do.

Two weekends ago, I had a little scare. I was having pretty severe menstrual-like cramps. I tried the "water, lying down on my left side" trick, but they just got more intense. I wound up calling the on-call peri/women's evaluation unit, three nights in a row. The first night, the peri suggested I take some Advil. I was surprised I was allowed to take it, (2nd trimester, ok) but it worked, just like it did for my real AF cramps. Then it happened the next night. I called, didn't get a return call (!) but in the meantime, I had a small bout of diarrhea, and felt better. I took the Advil again, too. The third night I called the certified nurse midwives 24 hour number, and they again said it was ok to take the Advil a third night. I did, and the cramps didn't come back. Four days later I had a cervical check and everything was fine. I felt like I dodged a bullet, but I chalk it up to mild food poisoning and La-Z-Boy shopping two of the days.

We had our Level II ultrasound last Friday (19w2d). Both babies were looking good, wiggling around, and weighing 11 oz. each. No abnormalities detected (touch wood), and both definitely girls. Those two aren't shy about showing off their girl parts! I hope this isn't a sign of things to come..."No, you may not leave the house in that skirt! I can practically see your vagina!" I would post pictures, but for some reason, they're not as clear as some ultrasound pictures I've seen. I'm hoping to have a 3-D in a few weeks. I'll post those instead. I think in the last week or so, I've started to feel "flutters." The peri said to not even think about it until 20 weeks, and that it might take longer since they have each other's sacs to cushion the "blows."

Since Friday, I've pretty much given myself a free pass to check out any baby clearance rack that I might come into contact with. My rules are:

1. The clothes must be cute.
2. The must be deeply discounted.
3. They must be age/season appropriate.
4. They must match in style, but not in color.

I also got lucky buying a second crib. I wanted a match for the one I bought 2 1/2 years ago. So I went online to the saved "favorite." "This Item No Longer Available." WTF??! So, after a mini panic session, I tried the 800 number with the catalog in my hand. Available. Yay! Ordered on a Sunday, picked up at the catalog counter Wednesday. Normally, I would have waited a bit longer, but I didn't want to risk losing it, altogether.

This past Wednesday, we passed the 20 week mark by touring the hospital. I think it will be fine, some of the suites even have jacuzzis. We were definitely the oldest ones in the group. I celebrated by ordering Moses basket rocking stands to have next to the bed for the first few months. The actual Moses basket is the one without the stand. Yes, I have actually registered. Hey, 6 1/2 years...I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted!

My MIL and FIL came over last night for coffee and dessert. (they walked in without ringing or knocking, but that's a story for another day) She kept hinting that she thought the babies would have brown hair (I'm brunette). Frankly, I think she's hinting that she knows we're "keeping the full truth" from her. Or as we (recovering) Catholics like to say, The Sin of Omission. That family is so gossipy, I just can't work up the need to tell any of them about the donor eggs. And we're in the "Tell" group! My whole family knows. The problem is, I think we told two of D's brothers. I hope she's not too shocked when these blonde, blue-eyed girls pop out. When I said as much, last night, she said "Why is that?" Fucking annoying. I figure with my heterozygous carrier status and D's homozygous, we had a 75% chance anyway, so get over it.

I've said it before, but I will try to be a better blogger. This was supposed to be my pregnancy journal, after all, since I don't write about it anywhere else. Maybe I will shoot for a certain day or days of the week, and just talk about whatever come up.

Results are in...

Just got the results of the early trimester screening. The bloodwork came back average, and combined with the nuchal fold translucency ultrasound, the odds of either of the babies having Down's jumped to 1:12,578. The odds of one of them having Trisomy 13 or 18 is 1:39,521. So yay! No amnio or CVS for me! What a relief...

Also, are you all wearing DMC #814 pomegranate embroidery floss on your wrist? Check out this link for more info and spread the word.

Timing is everything...

Yesterday, 12 weeks

I had my peri, genetic counseling and nuchal fold translucency ultrasound appointments, yesterday. Cut to the chase; the kidlets look great! Both had heartrates of 167 bpm. Baby A was measuring 12 weeks 4 days, and Baby B was 12 weeks 6 days. For the nuchal measurements they were looking for anything under 3.0 cm, and one was 1.4, the other 1.5. Due to the age of our donor (21) their risk of genetic abnormalities is infintessimal according to the peri and genetic counselor. I'll have the results of my early trimester screening, next week, and then they can give me a ratio to go by. Right now it's something like 1:4,000. The babies were flipping around all over the place, except when the tech really needed them to. :) They both had the hiccups, which I attributed to my love for the spicy.

I haven't had any spotting since Friday or Saturday, so I'm crossing my fingers that it was due to my progesterone and estrogen "weaning," over the last two weeks. Had my last 1/2 cc of PIO, yesterday, and my last estrogen tablet.

When the peri walked into the exam room for our regular appointment, the first thing she asked was whether I was off the Lovenox. I nervously laughed and said, "No, but I'm off the progesterone!" Then I asked if we could finally "talk" about the Lovenox. I pointed out that I wasn't heterozygous for the MTHFR mutation, but compound heterozygous. Then I wanted her to be more aware of my family history. My mom had what they believe to be either a grand mal seizure or mini stroke when she was in labor with my brother. She slmost bit her tongue off. My father had a TIA a few years back. His father died of a stroke. And my maternal grandmother has Alzheimer's. I told her again that I just didn't feel comfortable experimenting with a protocol that is working, since this may be my last chance. I asked if we could "compromise" and have my homocysteine level checked at every appointment. She said that it wouldn't matter, because the values would automatically be different in pregnancy. (Hmmnn...recurrent miscarriage, anyone?) She went on again about the chance of me bleeding out in a car accident, and I told her these were all risks I had taken into consideration when I was getting my second and third opinions (including her's back in January) but they were risks I was willing to take. So she finally offered something. It's basically a placebo, but I'll be taking 5,000 units of Heparin, twice daily. I asked her if I could finish off my Lovenox, and she said, "I knew you would ask me that!" I told her, "You know I'm high-maintenance..." Anyway, she agreed, and I'm taking it a step further and finishing off the two refills, too. I figure that'll get me to about 24 weeks, before I have to start taking the Heparin. Hey, you've already figured out that I'm a protocol rebel, right?

The irony of my day, yesterday, came as I checked my email, when I got home from the appointments. There was a note from "Donor Nurse." Huh? It took me a minute to figure it out from the subject line, but once I opened it, I learned that my US clinic finally(!) had a donor match for me. And they have have been unable to reach me at the phone numbers they have listed. Dumbasses! First of all, I changed all of my personal contact information back in April, when we moved. Can I help it if they use post-it notes as part of their filing system? I even updated the psychologist personally, when I talked to her, in April. (I blogged about that call) The irony comes into play, because a week ago, today, D and I conference-called the business department, to tell them we were "pursuiting other options," and would like to have our $3500 deposit returned to us, and our names taken off the donor-matching wait list. This was three weeks shy of being on it for one year, when we were orginally told the average wait time was 3 to 4 months. I asked if we needed to contact the donor nurses, personally, and she said, "No, I can take care of that." Fine, I thought, check is in the mail.

So that's the backstory. I called the nurse's line, left a message with my two new phone numbers, and ended the message with "I guess the business department didn't give you my message. We'll have to talk." A nurse called back about 15 minute later, and I told her the whole story, including our trip to South Africa and our ultrasound earlier in the afternoon. She congratulated me, and couldn't believe the timing of it all, either. I decided not to burn any bridges, and said I credited them for the diagnoses, which we addressed this last cycle (even though I had to fight to be tested, last summer, after two years and two BFN's). She said that was kind to say. And that was that. I guess I could have played coy, for a while, to see what kind of donor they had for me this time. But, I just didn't even want to go there. I was still kind of buzzed from the ultrasound and I'm just pretty happy, right now. Why mess with that? I already have the perfect donor.

Yesterday was even a good basement day. The electrician is done with the rough-in and is doing the service upgrade today (all outside work, I think). The plumber showed up, and got the bathtub installed and the vent pipes run. Today, he comes back to finish running water pipes to the toilet, etc. My framer is coming back in the next few days to finish up, including a new job of dropping the bathroom ceiling a few inches to hide the pipes, and installing a firewall between the studs and upper floor. If all goes well, I can get my electrical inspection tomorrow or Monday and drywall can start soon after that. Click, click, everything is clicking into place.

Orthotorture today at 11:00. Fun.

So that's how its going to be, huh?

11 weeks
Well, things are slow aroud here. Plumber no-showed today, and the electrician will be back someday, soon, I think. Can't wait to have this stupid basement finished! I was thinking it was the perfect time to tell you about how the spotting looked like espresso this weekend, and slowed to nothing by Monday. Yesterday, I felt confident enough, to take my mom up on her invitation to shop and swim. Walking and swimming, the two excercises I'm supposed to be able to do, right? Yeah, well the friggin' spotting started up again, so I'm back in bed. I didn't even bother to call the doctor's office, because I didn't need to hear, "There's really nothing we can do at this point." I have the big multi-faceted appointment a week from today, so I'll just wait it out, unless I start hemmoraging or something. Maybe it was unloading the dishwasher this morning or transferring the wet laundry to the dryer? Damn. I was just feeling bold enough to buy a few unisex toys, and now I'm back to the DBT's.

I forgot to mention, that at last week's ultrasound, we were able to hear both babies heartbeats (all 171 beats per minute) That was pretty cool. Also got 5 pictures, including shots of their arms and legs. We joked that they had D's head. Bald and big. I'm starting to get pretty attached to these little UFO's, and believe that I'm really pregnant, not just fatter. I don't know how I'll cope if they're taken from me now...

See Spot run. Run, Spot, run!

So I was supposed to be at my high resolution ultrasound right now. I'm not there. I'm in bed right now, trying to be very still. Yesterday, I went to the bathroom, and although I didn't check the TP, I did check the toilet. The water was PINK! WTF? I wiped again, and there was enough reddish-brown blood to make me panic. I called the peri's office, and after about a 1/2 hour (in the space of which, I cried to D and my friend D2) they called back. I was to go to the Perinatal Center at 3:00. D rushed home and made me a BLT (hey, I was still hungry!) and we left.

It seemed like hours until we were seen, and boy are those sonographers dour, but we finally got to see the kidlets. I was 10 weeks 1 day, and they were measuring 10 weeks 3 days and 10 weeks 6 days. She said that was just margin of error, and this was a different tech than the last one, afterall. The heartbeats were both 171 bpm. Later, my friend told me that dehydration could make them higher. So, I've been pounding back water like a fish. The peri came in, and made an "editorial comment" about how the Lovenox can make any bleeding episode more serious. (She really wants me off the stuff at 12 weeks) I asked if I could have a shot of RhoGam. I am Rh negative, and D is Rh positive. She thought it was probably overtreating the situation, but agreed. I had my blood drawn for antibodies, and went up to her office for the shot.

I still haven't had an internal check yet. Doesn't she care what my cervix looks like? Is it too early to worry about that? They didn't tell us where the blood was coming from. She also didn't give me any special instructions, but I'm going to self-treat, like I always wind up doing, and stay in bed, until it stops or the other shoe drops. I don't know about this doctor. She doesn't seem to take me seriously, and kind of treats me like a petulant child. I mentioned switching doctors to D last night, and he said he's not a big fan of changing doctors. (?!) He never mentioned that all the other times when we switched RE's. Huh. I'll see how this goes, and how the 12 week appointment goes. That day, the 9th, I also have genetic counseling, early trimester screening, and the nuchal translucency ultrasound. The early trimester screening replaces the triple screen (or quad screen for singletons) and is apparently more accurate. If that's so, why doesn't everyone get it?

Anyway, the spotting is still there, but its brown and watery, so I'm going to try and not worry for now. I still haven't thrown up and the queasiness is milder and milder, every day. Never thought I'd wish for a good chunk-blowing session, but I think it might have been comforting. There were other more interesting things I was going to blog about, but my brain is kind of mushy right now, so it'll have to wait. Thanks for reading this much.

If its brown, flush it down, if its red, sailors take warning (or something like that)

9 weeks 5 days

Thought I better add a new category, since the others didn't seem to fit.

Had another peri appointment today and not a moment too soon, since I had a little (whisper) "spotting episode," this weekend. Saturday, I noticed some brownish discharge on the toilet paper. I tried to ignore it, but when it was still there every other time I went to the loo, I took it upon myself to inflict a day of bedrest and a lot of water on myself, yesterday. Intellectually, I know that brown is not much to get worked up over, but when its your own toilet paper, its another story.

So this morning, just a little bit of "color," but I couldn't wait to get to the appointment. I got my ultrasound, and everything looked fine. They had flipped a little in their sacs and I got to see their opposite sides. The bottom one, (is that "A?") was really moving around, waving its arms and legs, the top one, looked like it was sleeping. The heartbeats looked fine, but this wasn't a high resolution scan, so really she was just checking for heartbeats. D had to miss the appointment, which he was really disappointed about.

I passed last week's 1 hour glucose tolerance test, and the 24 hour total protein test. And she said we didn't have to talk about the Lovenox this week, either. My next ultrasound is this Friday. (yeah!) Genetic counseling appointment coming up. Apparently, I can't even have a triple screen? Does anyone know if this is because I'm not genetically related to them? My friend D2 had a triple screen with twins. I'm confused.

Went to lunch with Alex, The Infertile Gourmet, (can't add a link for some reason) today and did a little last minute shopping for her daughter who she gets to meet in Guatemala on Friday!

Our electricity was turned on Saturday, and I am now writing this on my new MacBook. I love it! I got the 2nd least expensive one, 13" display, with a SuperDrive. So far, so good. I love the smell of new Macs. They must have a deal with 3M, because they smell just like Scotch tape.