24 Weeks and 2 grandma visits...

So life here on the Deaton Ranch has been moving right along....albeit slowly and largely :o)

I'm a couch-potato for all intents and purposes. I get to venture out about once a day, but if I over do it, I'm house-bound for 3-4 days to recover. My sciatic pain in my right leg is bad enough to warrant me wearing a pregnancy support belt (like a girdle) everyday....if I don't, I can't walk or stand or sit for very long.....and if I keep going anyway, I become bedridden, cuz laying down is the only way for the pain to stop.....which is not fun. Just call me the poster child for Slug-girl!

Also, I'm now big enough, that if I lean back too far in a chair or on the couch, I'm like a turtle on it's back.....stuck! :o|

Oh well, all for a good cause....

This month we have been blessed with two separate visits from both sets of our parents.....

First, MommaJo came for a couple of days to help me clean...YAY!!!! It was GREATLY appreciated! E really enjoyed her time with MommaJo! So much so, that on Thursday afternoon when the hubby went to pick her up from school WITHOUT MommaJo, E was very upset about it! :o( But we reassured her, that MommaJo would be back!

While she was in town, we went over to have dinner with Aunt Lisa, Uncle Alan and their gang. MommaJo did not get to attend the House Warming/Decade Birthday Party at their house over Labor Day weekend, so we took advantage of Uncle Alan's cooking, and brought her over to check out the new place. She took some pictures from our visit.

The next week, Memaw and Paw came in for a couple of days to cook and freeze some meals, and to so some sewing projects for me.....YAY!!!! Again, it was GREATLY appreciated! And again, E really enjoyed her time with both of them......Paw is a great 'tickler', and she is a fool for it! The house smelled so good for the three days of cooking! And now the freezer smells good too!!! Unfortunately, we suck and do not have any pictures from that visit....and yes, when the hubby brought home E from school to NO Memaw or Paw, she was very upset.....but we reassured her, they would be back!

Then we went to see the Specialist last Friday, for a follow up ultrasound, to check on the twins. They checked for all the internal organs on both babies. Everything was where it was supposed to be! The Doctor that was operating the ultrasound machine was very nice.....she was looking at Baby Girl's (Baby A's) brain, and she said "look! she has a pretty brain! you can tell her you saw it even Before she was born!" She was a really nice Doctor who obviously loves her job. After she took all the initial photos, the Specialist came in and reviewed them, and then took some of his own. They were 'ooh-ing' and 'ahhh-ing' over the pictures so much, we finally asked what was the big deal....did they get a new machine or something? No....they said the pictures are so clear and pretty because 'I'm not fat'... !!!! ...HA! I thought, good thing you are not ultra-sounding my butt! :oP God love them, I think they called me skinny!! :o)

He also checked on the previa, and it is still right where it was when they first discovered it. He also did a check to see if it has advanced to a definite accreta state, but he did tell us the test is just a visual test..."guestimate" if you will....and that we really won't know until Dr. G goes in to deliver the twins...but we are hopeful that the previa will NOT advance to accreta. We have a couple of profile shots of each baby and one shot of Baby Boy's (Baby B) foot.....don't you just LOVE baby feet!?!?

And then today we went to our regular OB appointment.....heartbeats sound good....moving around good....all the usual 'good' stuff....we go back in two weeks, but we don't have to see the Specialist again, unless Dr. G discovers something 'new' and wants a second pair of eyes.

I'm also attaching a little video we took of E dancing the other night....she LOVES to dance....she loves just about any kind of music as long as it is not TOO loud, and she lets us know when it is.....so far, she is not a fan of thrash metal, but we are totally polluting her with 80's music.....she likes to get her dance on before she goes for her bath....in this video, she is rocking out to Rick Springfield (yes, we went there...)

On another topic, the hubby's cousin, Isabell, and her hubby Charlie, welcomed their twins Ike and Sophie into this world on Monday. Ike's water broke late last week, so they put her in the hospital to monitor the kids and administer some drug therapy for the twins to help with their lung and brain development...they made it until Sunday, which was 32 weeks for her, and then stopped the drugs.....she went into labor on Monday and had them shortly there after.....Ike delivered first, but then Sophie started doing 'toe touches' in-utero and got stuck, so they had to delivered her via c-section. Both babies are in the NICU, but doing fine according to the latest email correspondence from Grandma.

We can't wait to see pictures of Ike and Sophie! That is a hint, by the way...

And we send a hearty Congrats! to Isabell and Charlie!!

Love to all,
Cherise

Twins update at 19 weeks 3 days...

After a 24 hour delay to see our OB doctor, we saw Doctor Graham on Wednesday morning...(her office called to ask us to reschedule our Tuesday appointment to Wednesday, due to Dr. Graham being up all night Monday night performing an emergency c-section to deliver twins....talk about Karma!)

We were very relieved to talk to Dr. G. After seeing the specialist, I have to admit, I have been more than a little pent-up over this past weekend. The 24 hour delay just depressed me. But getting to talk with her, and have her answer our questions and concerns, really put us both back on even ground.

She said that she had experience in treating patients with cases just like mine, and being very successful at saving not only baby but mother as well. She also told us that we will not really be able to tell how bad the previa is until she goes in to do the c-section, but we will have a better idea a little farther along in the pregnancy.

She is so funny. She was trying to reassure us and said "it is really hard to say this without sounding like I'm bragging on myself, but before I entered civilian life, I was pretty famous in the military." She went on to tell the following story:

She was an OB doctor in the military (Air Force, I think), and 'in charge' of the OB department for the National Naval Medical Center (where all of the Army, Navy and Air Force personnel are treated...so to speak). She was coming onto her shift to be On Call, and checking in with the Interns and Residents. It was also the 'changing of the guard' time with the Interns...the old class had moved up to Resident status and a new class of Interns was coming on. The old class Interns were telling her what was on board for the day, which included a scheduled c-section. But upon looking at the patients information, she looked at the Intern and told them they were not going anywhere....the patient had a history of c-section births and had an indication of placenta previa. This patient had never seen her before and the Intern had been taking care of her during her pregnancy. She told him, 'you are staying thru to see this one to the end with me.' She rescheduled the c-section to after lunch, to guarantee that the nursing staff was fully awake and on their game. She also ordered 4 units of blood to be hanging before she ever got started. Long story short, it turned out to be the worst possible case scenario of placenta accreta, requiring immediate hysterectomy to save the mother's life; she delivered a healthy baby and did in fact save the mother....but she ended up putting 37 units of blood into her before the surgery was all over. Her heroic efforts quickly spread throughout the military, and an internal email went around basically saying "if you have a high risk OB patient, send them to Graham."

So!

We are in the Best Possible Medical Hands! She has successfully dealt with patients in our exact situation before. [Whew!]

She went on to tell us that the next 4 weeks are important, as they will get us to 24 weeks, which means viability for the babies. But the following 4 weeks, 24-28 are The Most Important....28 weeks will get us past most of the pre-term labor complications with the babies (for us, this will be Thanksgiving)....she ultimately would like to see us go to 37 weeks, as would we, to ensure the babies are good to go from the moment they are born.

She also reassured us that a hysterectomy would be necessary only with the worst case scenario of accreta. And these chances are small in comparison. In most cases, the placenta just detaches once she is in there, so no problem.

She said that she wants to see us every two weeks, but we will not necessarily do a sonogram every time. But if it will make me feel better, we can come in every week!

She did say that as long as I felt up to it, I could make dinner or do little shopping trips, or do a little laundry...the mundane things of life....but no lifting and no long trips.

We did talk about hospitals, and which one to go to in what type of situation. So the hubby and I are all clear on that plan.

Basically, we are back to being mostly calm, but still careful, and just waiting....

We are just looking at the next 4 weeks....and then will move on to the next 4 weeks...and so on, and so on.

So please keep us in your prayers and thoughts!
Love ya,
Cherise