BABIES!!!!

WARNING: This is a REALLY LONG POST…..so make sure you have gone to the bathroom, have a snack and possibly a beverage before you settle in to read it! :o)

Okay, so this post will be a little different than my previous ones….I’m having to resort to a day by day recap….and my days are a little foggy, so some of this is coming from the hubby and Memaw’s account of how things went down.

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?
Monday, January 5, 2009:

Good thing the hubby reminded me to throw together the hospital bag this past weekend.

We arrived at our OB appointment Monday morning, and after the sonogram, Dr. G told us we needed to go to the hospital and check in.

At that time, Baby Boy B's amniotic fluid was measuring lower than it had been the previous weeks, plus he was continuing to trend smaller in size than Baby Girl A. These two things combined made Dr. G want to get a second pair of eyes, and put us on Hospital Bedrest.

So we called Memaw and Pa to head on this way. Called MommaJo to let her know what was going on. Then called one of our friends and asked them to watch E for us for the day. And then my brain pretty much ceased to function clearly.....go figure.

We arrived at the house, passed off E, grabbed our hospital bags and pillows and headed to the hospital. We were really nervous, and anxious to speak to the Specialist, Dr. Magee. But being the Monday after a holiday weekend, Labor and Delivery was pretty busy.

We told the staff, "hey man, we are not critical, so feel free to deal with those who are critical....but if we become critical, we would like to be moved to the top of the list!" ;o)

Late that afternoon, Dr. Magee came in and performed the scan and determined he did not think Baby Boy's levels were too low...he thought it was his positioning that was making it hard to determine an accurate read on his levels. Dr. G talked to him and they decided that we need to stay put and have scans done twice a week (Monday's and Thursday's) to keep an eye on Baby Boy. He was optimistic and thought we could go until 37 weeks. Dr. Graham did not want to push our luck, and put us in an emergent situation for the birth. We, needless to say, were siding with HER! :o) Sensing a birthing sooner rather than later, Dr. G ordered Steroid Shots for me to help with the babies lung development......and boy DO THEY HURT :o(

So the bottom line of all of that was "Go Check In Until These Kids Come Out." We were moved to a regular room around 9pm (this was after we checked in to Labor and Delivery for observation at 12:30pm). The hubby left for the night to go and retrieve E and head home with her, as she resumes school on Tuesday.....no point in jacking up her schedule over all of this....Memaw and I set about unpacking and settling in for the evening.

Then I started to notice that my legs were really starting to ache….they had started down in Labor and Delivery, but I contributed it to me having to be in the bed hooked up to the baby monitors…..basically, I did not think too much about it.

Also the steroids were keeping me awake. So what started out as something I did not think too much about turned into the only thing I noticed from midnight until 3:30am, when the pain was too much for me to handle. Every time I got up to go to the bathroom, that leg would throb and pain would shoot through my calf with what seemed like a knife stab. I almost fell twice. I tried to continue to ignore it until I noticed the knot on my left leg. I woke up Memaw. We called the nurse. She called the doctor-for-the-evening. He blew it off. She was visibly mad about his decision. So the nurse brought Hydrocodone for the pain, but wanted us to be sure to tell the Morning Resident about it. I managed to get a total of ONE HOUR of sleep…Memaw can (unfortunately) verify this as I keep her up with me from 3:30 on.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009:

The Resident came in, and I explained that I was in excruciating pain. She decided to have my legs Doppler-checked for clots. The nurse was relieved.

The hubby came to the hospital after dropping off E at school. Dr. Weinstein came in and also determined a Doppler of my legs was in order. This was scheduled to happen before lunch. So down to Radiology I went. The Tech was also pregnant, so we had something to chat about while she dopplered both of my legs.

The hubby and I were taken back to my room to wait for the results, which came rather quickly: The scan confirmed a 2.5 centimeter clot in my RIGHT leg and a ‘superficial’ clot in my LEFT leg. The nursing staff came in and put compression stockings (called TEDs) on both of my legs, and then put on the “Leg Squeezing Machine” – this was a set of calf-long blood pressure cuffs, that alternated inflating to assist with moving my blood around (to keep it from pooling in my legs). This first night of the Leg Squeezers was really annoying, due to me having to disconnect them every time I had to get up to go pee – remember I’m still pregnant at this point.

They also put me on Heparin Shots, 2 times a day, which REALLY burn…..and they have to be administered to the abdomen, in the subcutaneous fat layer – and mine was REALLY stretched thin, so finding it became a game of sorts. AND I also had to have my second steroid shot this night. Ah, Pain……is there enough to go around? My experience says “yes”. :o\

Dr. Graham came by to inform us that this latest blood clot development really puts us in a Critical category. The Heparin is necessary to keep the clots from growing and/or breaking loose and getting to my lungs and killing me and the babies. She has consulted with a Hematologist Oncologist (Dr. Maisel) that she has worked with before, and he will be stopping by tomorrow with his assessment of our situation. But she suspects that an intravenous filter will need to be put in place to catch any clots that come loose. The problem is we have Placenta Previa, which is a serious bleed risk, and now we have been put on Heparin (a blood thinner). She is visibly concerned, and is telling us that she is have team meetings with all of her colleagues that will be assisting on our case, and getting input from them for the next steps. She will meet with us again after Dr. Maisel meets with us.

Meanwhile, the hubby had gone and retrieved E from school and brought her down to the hospital to see me. She is a little cautious upon seeing me in the bed with the Leg Squeezer machine going. When the nurse comes in to check my vitals, she looks at her and in all earnest says:

You take good care of my mother, okay?

It was very sweet, and I was glad to know that she was somewhat getting that Mommy was sick, but that the nurses and doctors were there to help me, and that I was going to be okay.

Memaw took a picture of me in the hospital bed with the leg squeezers on, big-as-a-house-pregnant.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009:

We meet Dr. Maisel, who again confirms the clot is in the RIGHT leg…..which is just totally baffling to me, cuz the pain is totally in the LEFT. He assures me, it is the Right, with the pain in the left coming from a superficial clot. Okay…..he’s the expert.

My brain is really starting to become overloaded. I’m starting to really freak out on a mostly internal level, but I can totally see that changing and exploding into the external very, very soon.

So Dr. Maisel tells us that we will be on the Heparin until right before the C-section; at which point they will stop the Heparin (about 6-8 hours before surgery), and will resume it 6-8 hours after the surgery. So the filter HAS to go in. Great. He explains that usually, they go in thru the artery/vein in your leg and weave it up to the Inferior Vena Cava (IVC). However, me being the super-doper pregnant person I am, they have concerns. The other option is to go in thru my neck to get to the IVC. Neither sound appealing. I ask if I have to be conscious for the procedure, and he tells me unfortunately, yes…..but that some type of “happy drug” will be administered…..yea me.

All of this is starting to swirl around my brain at a rapid rate……and I kinda lose it a little bit….so when the nurse comes in to administer the Heparin shot for the night, I tell her that I don’t know if I’m really supposed to get it, given the filter surgery they are trying to have scheduled for tomorrow……she doesn’t argue, just says OK, and leaves.

When Dr. Graham shows up later that night, she says:
Dr. G: Cherise, you can’t be telling the nurse not to administer drugs to you! If you were a nurse, I would have you fired! You are fired!
Me: Oh. So I need the Heparin shot tonight?
Dr. G: YES!!! And then she laughs…

She then tells us that the plan is coming together. She has called in all her favors for all her colleagues that she would like to have on deck for the now decided Friday delivery day. (Memaw calls Pa to tell him to come on down). Dr. Graham does not want to name names, but does mention calling “Chris” for her anesthesia doctor. This turns out to be Dr. Christopher Haas.

She confirms that a filter does indeed need to go in. She also explains that she went down personally to find the “right doctor” to do the procedure from Internal Radiology. She was funny about it…she said:

I’m a Doctor Cherise. I can just write an order and make this happen. But I didn’t. I wanted to see the doctor face to face and talk with them and make sure they were completely on board with our case. You will be seeing Dr. Clair Savage. I have spoken with her several times, and she is very good.

I love Dr. Graham. She was SO COMMITTED to our case.

She also tells us that they will be going thru my neck to insert the filter. Also they will not be stopping at the IVC, but rather going to the Renal Artery. This should catch the blood clot(s) if it/they break loose. I will be awake during the entire process, which should take about 20 minutes. Then, I will be in the 'radiation area' recovering for another hour, I think. The entire time, there will be a dedicated person monitoring the babies for any changes, distress, etc. She also said there is a "minimal risk" to the babies due to the radiation from the x-ray. After the hour of recovery, I will go back to labor and delivery and get to see the hubby and my folks, and continue recovering until Delivery Day on Friday.

So I should point out that at this point, I’m really not sure where my IVC -or- Renal Artery is with relation to the entry point of my jugular. My hubby, being the overly intelligent man that he is, starts this conversation with Dr. G about “so, the filter will go thru the neck, thru the heart, thru something else, past the IVC and then be deployed in the Renal Artery”…..she says yes…….at this point I’m white as a sheet and my eyes are bugging out……WAY too much info for me……I was happy in my denial of “Hey, renal sounds close to the jugular, right?” He realizes his mistake and immediately starts to apologize and comfort me….too late….I start to cry……I’m so freaked out and scared.

She also says that the amount of “Happy Drugs” will have to be very minimal to reduce the risk to the twins…..again I say, yea me.

We call upon our good friends again to pick up E, and she has her very first “sleep over” with Mrs. Sidra, Mr. Paul, Sebastian and Ava. I’m worried about her, but comforted in the knowledge that she is in good hands.

The hubby stays with me in the hospital room and Memaw stays in hospital hotel…..neither one of them want to be ‘too far away’ from me, and frankly, I don’t want them to be too far away either……I’m really starting to experience this week as a spectator…..surreal …..

Thursday, January 8, 2009:

Dr. Haas stopped by and introduced himself. He and his team have been ‘tapped’ by Dr. Graham to participate in our delivery scheduled for tomorrow. He let us know that I will be unconscious for procedure. The hubby and Memaw will NOT be allowed to be in the OR for the procedure. I will have 5 IVs including a central line (thru the neck). The being unconscious part does have pros and cons, but after the last meeting with Dr. G, they are in agreement that unconscious is the way to go.

So then a little bit later on in the morning, the hubby and Memaw and I headed down to Internal Radiology to meet Dr. Savage and Dr. Giles, her colleague. The hubby and Memaw were peeled off at the waiting room and I was led away thru the “No Admittance Beyond This Point” doors (queue scary music sequence…)

When I arrived at the nurse station, all of the doctors and nurses went silent upon laying eyes on me……kinda weird, but then again, big-as-a-freaking-house-pregnant…..so didn’t REALLY put too much thought into it…..initially…

So I was parked in a location where I was facing the Nurses Station….there were funny little “Savage Country” posters on the walls …. I was beginning to speculate what Dr. Clair Savage looked like….at this point Dr. Giles wondered over and introduced himself, and explained a little bit about the procedure, and I managed to put a good face on it, and smiled weakly as he talked. Then Dr. Clair appeared. She smiled upon entering my little “holding spot”…..I could not help but chuckle and smile back….I said:

Me: You must be Dr. Clair
Dr. Clair: Yes I am
Me: So I take it you have talked to Dr. Graham
Dr. Clair: I have had SEVERAL conversations with her including one this morning; except in this conversation Dr. G started talking –BEFORE- I had answered the phone. When I did answer, Dr. G was saying ‘And another thing, I don’t understand why…’ I had to say ‘whoa, whoa, whoa….let’s start over.’

I had to laugh out loud. I said ‘Yes, Dr. G is VERY thorough.’ She said ‘You are right. I’m going to switch to her for my OB/GYN!’

Dr. Savage explains the Filter procedure as follows:
I will be wheeled into the Radiology OR. I will not be administered too much of the happy drug due to risks to the babies. The procedure will involve them administering a local in my neck at the point of entry. They will apply a dye first to decide on the placement of the filter. Then they will deploy the filter. This should take about 20 minutes.

So in I go…..the next part was kinda like a bad acid flashback (except that I have never done acid…hhhmmmm)…..So they move me from one table to another, and place my arms in these plastic shields to keep them from falling off the table – translated “trapped”. Then one tech starts to try to gather up my hair in one of the hair nets, and they removed my St. Gerard necklace and wrap it around one of my hands. Then they start to administer a little bit of the “Happy Drug”.

But nothing could be complete without a Claustrophobia attack, right? Dr. Giles starts to unroll this type of drop cloth across my face, where my head is turned to the left, exposing just the right side of my neck….but it keeps on unrolling until I can not see and I start having my anxiety attack….the only thing I can think is “I’m suffocating in a Wal-Mart bag!!!” I start to try to move my arm to push the drop cloth off my face, only to discover They Are Trapped. That’s when I lose it…..I say very deliberately:

Hey. Guys. I’m. Having. A Claustrophia. Attack.

Two Techs rush over and pull the cloth off part of my face to allow some fresh air to come in…I hear them discuss how much of the “Happy Drug” has been administered, and how much more I can take….which turns out to be not much….so then they ramp up the procedure…..they administer the local…which REALLY FREAKING HURTS…..then a serious of things happens….the lights go on and off a few times, one of the techs keeps messing with my hair, there is a lot of discussion between Dr. Savage and Dr. Giles on the placement. They administer –more- local…..then they start to deploy the catheter with the filter in it…..this part REALLY HURTS…..they have to push really hard, and I can hear the tube scraping on the drop cloth…..nothing says love like Sound Affects in a Scary Surgery! YIKES! I manage to hold it together….finally they pull off the drop cloth and hair net, and call the L&D nurse over to do the baby checks….but it has been too much for me and I finally start to cry….Dr. Giles says “Please don’t cry. I can’t go home today and tell my wife I made a pregnant woman cry today.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Savage brings and update to family:
• She had not been able to anesthetize me as she normally would have, due to the babies.
• I was more awake than normal patients having the same procedure.
• My neck was going to be sore, because they really had to push to get it inserted and thru to the Renal Artery.

So the hubby said “Great. So she will be in pain and pissed. Wonderful!”
Dr. Savage also told them that she had never performed this procedure on a pregnant woman before…..glad everything worked out!

Dr. Savage and Dr. Giles are back in the OR with me, intently watching the Labor and Delivery Nurse try to find good heartbeats on both babies….she finds Baby Girl pretty quickly, but can not find Baby Boy, due to him wiggling around too much. Finally she looks at the two Doctors and tells them she wants to go ahead and move me to L&D to hook me up to the big monitors. Both Doctors went a little stiff and opened their mouths….then Dr. Savage says, “Ok, but you will call us when you get the status on the Boy, right? All we need is a thumbs up, okay?” It became very obvious that Dr. Graham had told them to make sure the babies were alright when they were done. They were not thrilled at the thought of the nurse taking me without this confirmation in hand. The nurse assures them, and I’m carted off.

And of course, Dr. Savage was right….or at least partially right….I was indeed VERY sore on my neck…..so now my neck hurts and my legs hurt on top of all the ordinary aches and pains associated with 34 week pregnancy of twins! Yea Me!!!

That evening, Dr. Graham drops by to go over the final plan. The filter will stay in for about a month. I will be on blood thinners for about 6 months. Due to me having to be unconscious, she will need to go fast, and she will need to go vertical instead of horizontal on my abdominal incision. Since I will be unconscious, the babies will be born unconscious too. There will be 2 units of blood hanging when she begins and there will be 2 more in the room. There will be 2 NICU teams in there along with the Anesthesiologist Team, the Labor and Delivery Team and her Surgical Team.

The hubby and I tell her we completely trust her and her judgment in all things regarding this procedure. I reassure her that the vertical incision will be OK….and that I can always have it ‘fixed’ at a later date if it bothers me too much….that the important thing is to get the babies out.

She again reviews that the heparin will be stopped and then restarted after the procedure.
She leaves and we digest all of this info.

Meanwhile, Pa comes in and he and Memaw decide to stay close, so they stay in the hospital hotel that night, with the Hubby staying with me in the room.
E stays with Mrs. Sidra again.
Mr. Paul comes by to check on us and brings Krispy Kreme doughnuts. YUM!
Also Uncle Alan / Aunt Lisa come by and drop off some gifts for E “from the twins”. We are very grateful they can do this for us.
The hubby stays with me tonight.

With all of these procedures going on, Blue Cross/Blue Shield calls Dr. Graham “to find out if this is all for one patient.” Dr. Graham tells us that by the time she was done speaking with them, they told her, “whatever you need Dr. Graham, make it happen.” I SO FREAKING LOVE MY DOCTOR!!!!!!!

Friday, January 9, 2009:
Birthing Day! They stopped Heparin shots for the surgery.

Dr. Graham, Dr. Haas, 2 NICU teams, and the L&D team are ready (Latoya, one of the Labor & Delivery nurses came in on her day off just to be involved in my delivery).

They took me down around 7:30am, and put in the first IV, which knocked me out (thank God) before they inserted the other 4 IVs. The surgery started around 9:40am

M was born at 9:45am, she was 19” long; F was born 9:46am, he was 19.25” long – both were unconscious, like me [NOTE: if you want to know their actual names, send me an email].

Memaw, Pa and the hubby got to see babies almost immediately; the nursing staff offered to take pictures for us in the delivery room.

Everything went relatively smoothly; they were prepared for every possible scenario. After the babies were born, Dr. Graham clamped and cross clamped Uterus; then she discovered the bright red bleeding coming from the placenta’s AFTER this was done; she unclamped and had to deal with placentas then. Up until this point, she had not touched them, in an effort to control the bleeding risk.

Well, it turned out to be I had DOUBLE placenta previa, and they were stacked like pancakes. I had dilated, and both placentas had turned into accreta, grown through cervix and into vaginal cavity; they were the only thing keeping the kiddos IN. Dr. Graham did her magic, and stopped the bleeding with only having to put in 2 units (remember, they had 4 on deck). The nursing staff was so ‘shocked’ at the size of my uterus, they weighed it! The uterus plus both placentas weighed 4.5 pounds…..that was like a third kid!

At any rate…..I remember waking up around 3pm, semi-lucid for the first time…..but evidently, during my recovery, when the hubby and Memaw and Pa were in there checking on me, Swearing occurred…….I know, I know…..pick up your jaws…..

I am told there was a lot of
“Holy Crap, this HURTS!”
And a few of
“Shit, this Hurts a lot!!”
And finally, one
“I just want you guys to know, “F*#@ this Hurts!!!”

Now, I don’t remember any of this, but I’m going off reliable sources….not to mention, I did all of this in front of everyone, including MommaJo, who drove in that morning…….again I say, Yea Me. :o\ {sigh}

Evidently, later on I was wheeled to NICU to see M and F; I totally don’t remember this, but there are pictures of me doing this, so it had to have happened.

My Pain is unreal – abdominal and Neck; they have equipped me with a lovely pain-killer-button…..how I love that button!

They resume the Heparin shots. {sigh}

Dr. Graham checks in on us. She tells me in no uncertain terms that Lisa, our ultrasound technician in her office, literally saved my life. We completely agree. If she had not warned of the low fluid on F, we would have gone home and never given a second thought to my leg pain; I would have died going into the c-section without the blood thinners and filter in place. May God Bless Lisa!!!!

She also tells us that life can turn on a dime. After our successful operation, the next patient they asked her to assist on (not a regular patient of her office), had severe complications, and she is really worried about the baby……she asks us to put Baby Sophia on our Prayer List. The hubby sends out the request immediately.

So!

We are eternally grateful to everyone out there that was praying for us and our doctors. I believe it really worked. Those of you that know me really well know that I am not prone to being overly mushy or strongly religious, but in this case I must be both.
I would not be here nor would the babies if it had not been for my God, my Angels and my Doctors.

Go hug someone! And tell them you love them and that you are glad they are part of your life.

Okay, enough of that :o)

[NOTE: This is the recap of the first 5 days….there will be another post with the next few days worth of drama, but this at least catches everyone up on how we finally got babies. So stay tuned, because there was more drama…..which is not really saying anything, because what is life with Cherise without Large Quantities Of Drama!!! :o)]

Love to everyone,
Cherise

Christmas and Week 32 and 5 days...

We had a very low key Christmas here at the Deaton Ranch. Memaw and Pa came in on Dec 15th, and left on the 28th. They were VERY helpful in getting the last minute 'stuff' completed before the twins arrive.

Being that my brain does not work all the time right now, I had started a list of things I needed to have done when they were here, and it was about 3/4 of a page when they arrived. After they got here and we started marking off things as they were accomplished, other items came to mind and I added them to the list. This increased it to 1 1/2 pages. They were like "I think we are moving backwards, not forwards....stop adding to the list!" HA! :o)

So I stopped.....and we got basically all of it done!!! VERY helpful.

So Christmas Eve marked us making it to 32 Weeks!!!! YAY! We are so happy to have made this very critical date in our pregnancy. I am as big as a house. To prove this point, Memaw took profile pictures of me at every possible opportunity!

Santa came, and brought E lots of dolls with doll accessories like a crib, stroller, swing, clothes, etc. He also brought her a Sandbox complete with an umbrella for outside. She was very excited. I would have to say the "top" gifts for her were the Superman Comforter for her bed (she -LOVES- superman, cuz Papa has superman stuff too); the Dora the Explorer Princess Dress (which she -immediately- put on and wore the rest of the day); the play tool set she got from her best buddy Elliott; a battery operated fish that swims in the hot tub/bath tub from Chuck; and all the doll stuff. There is something to be said about your daughter wearing a pink princess dress, sitting on a superman comforter, hammering :o)

We did manage to get some cool pictures from that morning. Memaw and Pa enjoyed some really nice gifts as well, sent in from all over. All of us kids went in together and got him a really nice dehydrator (per his request). Memaw received some really nice knives and pots; and they both received a really cool Family Tree framed, from Uncle Tim and Aunt Courtney.

The hubby received a really cool black fedora which he put on and wore most of the day. We bought each other a new digital camera for the family.

Pa made a nice pork roast for Christmas lunch, and I had two helping of EVERYTHING, including dessert!!! I scared everyone with the sheer quantity of food I was able to put away that day....mostly myself! :o)

We also enjoyed a visit from the LeGarde's during Christmas week. It was a very nice visit. And talk about it being a small world...within 15 minutes of my folks talking with Aunt Lisa, they discovered that one of Aunt Lisa's roommates in College was the daughter of a family friend of my folks when we lived in Greenville, MS!! We ate good food and had a fun evening laughing and visiting.

Today was another visit with Dr. G. Everything checked out okay; we are still doing well, and Dr. G. would like to see us hit 34 weeks.....she actually said she would like to see us hit 36 weeks, which means 4 more weeks! Ugh! I don't know if I will be able to hit that mark, but I will do my best. As of today I'm measuring 40 weeks (and we are only 32 weeks and 5 days). Baby Girl A is -still- breech and is measuring 5.1 pounds, while Baby Boy B is measuring 4.6 pounds (+/- .5 pounds).

So for some background info, E was born at 41 weeks and weighed 8.1 pounds.....I already have more "baby" inside me than E at term! ACK!!!

So we will be continuing to see Dr. G. every Monday morning for sonograms and checks, and we will keep all of you in the loop as best we can.

Here is hoping everyone has a safe and happy New Year!!

Love to all,
Cherise

Week 30 and 6 days...

Monday morning, E was standing on the stool at my sink brushing her teeth with the hubby. I was in the bathroom with them changing out of my pj's into my clothes for the day. E turned around to me and this was the exchange:

E: Oh Momma! Your belly is SO beautiful!
ME: Oh Thank You Sweetie! Did you hear that dear? E says my belly is beautiful.
HUBBY: {smiling} Well of course it is!
E: Papa! Look! Momma's belly is Great!
HUBBY: {smirking} Great BIG!!!

So much for my 'special moment' with E... HA!!

So Wednesday is 31 weeks......and we are extremely pleased!

We also saw our OB doctor Monday; she walked in the room and told us that we were 'her good news of the day.' She was very happy to see us still doing well, and having reached 30 weeks. She told us she -really- wanted to see us go another month (get to 34 weeks). Actually, we would not mind that either....the longer they stay in, the better off they will be when they arrive, which means a shorter stay in the hospital for them.

We took measurements and the sonogram indicates that Baby Girl A is measuring 3.7 pounds and Baby Boy B is measuring 3.3 pounds (+/- .5 pounds). I am measuring 36 weeks in gestational size, have gained 31 1/2 pounds and measure 44 inches in circumference; which means I have expanded by 4 inches in 4 weeks! YIKES! When the doctor came up with the 36 week number, she speculated that I might be growing out on the sides instead of just out the front.....now that is depressing....I am going to look like I swallowed large inflatable doughnut before this is all said and done. :-\

The babies have not really moved from their previous positions. Baby Girl A is still on the left side, facing 'out', in the breech position (head up, feet down). Baby Boy B is still on the right side, but is now more on his right side...last week he was facing 'in', more on his stomach....he is still kinda in an "L" shape with his head down and his feet curving over to line up beautifully with his sister's head! :o)

The babies enjoy several rounds of WWF a day....and they can go into the night and wee hours of the morning. It just takes one of them to start moving around to cause the other one to 'respond' with jabs and kicks.

The doctor is very pleased with their movement and amniotic fluid levels. Their heart rates and other internal organs are still looking great. The placenta previa is still in tact, with no indication of bleeding or rupture - SUPER DUPER YAY!!!!

She also told us that she will be 'on call' next week, and that we will be seeing her associate, Dr. W., on Monday. We asked what would happen if we rupture while she is on call....will Dr. W. call her to come in and deliver the twins? Or will Dr. W. deliver the twins? She kinda laughed and said "well, you just never know when a call will come in when you are on call. I might be in the bath tub, or just stepped out for a basketball game, or maybe I just poured a second glass of champagne for myself." She basically went on to tell us that ultimately, her idea is that both her and Dr. W. will be there to deliver the twins, a sort of 'tag-team' event if you will. She said she will bring me a glass of champagne when this is all over.....I asked her to bring the bottle :o) She laughed again, but said sure!

We also discussed the possibility that I may have started dilating. I keep getting the sensation of what I call "a foot falling out" when I stand up. She said, 'well, it could very well be a foot falling down, but because the placenta is blocking the cervix, it is staying in.' Now, if that train of thought does not freak you out just a bit, you need to go back and re-read this paragraph :o\

Bearing that in mind, we are keeping our eye on the week by week progress. We learned that we were a few day off in our counting, and that the weeks start on Wednesdays instead of Saturdays. This means tomorrow marks Week 31 and Christmas Eve marks Week 32. So we are a few days farther along than we had originally estimated. I will take every day that I can get! :o)

Last week we had a Momma Jo visit. E was very happy to see her. Momma Jo brought with her the first Christmas Presents to go under the tree. So now we have started trying to teach E 'Christmas Present Etiquette.' In the previous two Christmas' the presents did not appear until the day before Christmas, and then they were not really noticed. But she definitely noticed the boxes under the tree this time. She wanted to open them immediately. She does not do good with grasping time yet, so to tell her she had to wait 2 weeks to open them just went over her head. We also had to explain that she could not throw them or jump on them either :oP

On Wednesday afternoon, the hubby took the afternoon off and he, Momma Jo and E went to the Dallas Aquarium (way too much walking for me to go). They really enjoyed themselves. I got a full report from E of all the animals she was able to see when they got home. Momma Jo was a little disappointed that E did not want to take her hood off for the majority of the Aquarium visit....interferes with the picture taking :o) I'm attaching some of the photos she managed to snap.

Memaw & Paw arrived yesterday early afternoon. They left AR just in time to avoid all the REALLY bad weather that hit. They will be here with us for the next two weeks, helping us with the last minute arranging and organizing for the twins. I am VERY grateful. I am sure for the next post we will have some Christmas activity pictures to share with all of you.

I guess that is all for now.

Love to all,
Cherise

Thanksgiving and 28 Weeks, 2 days...

Thanksgiving here on the Deaton Ranch was very quiet. Instead of doing a huge spread with lots of folks over, it was just the 3 of us (well, FIVE, counting the twins). We had a ham instead of a turkey (due to the size of the turkeys and our small group - just could not see us eating all that bird!).

Trying to engage E in the thoughts behind Thanksgiving, the hubby and I were going over the day's menu, among other things. One of our side dishes was to be a Spinach Salad. When I asked her if she wanted to help make the salad, she excitedly said "YES!" and then ran into the kitchen...now mind you, it was 8:30 in the morning...a little early for Thanksgiving Lunch :o)

But she was excited, and we wanted to encourage it. So the hubby set her up at the kitchen island with a bag of baby spinach leaves and a big bowl. She insisted on a spoon, so the hubby got her a serving spoon. "That's too big papa." So eventually she declared that a soup spoon was the right size. She then determinedly moved the spinach one leaf at a time from the bag to the bowl. He walked out to check on some other things, and reported to me that after about 20 minutes, she had managed to move about 1 cup of the spinach from bag to bowl (HA!) ...So he walked back up to her and this was the exchange:

"E, are you making progress?"
"No papa. I'm making salad."

When all the parades started to play on TV, she sat just mesmerized. She loved all of the floats and dancing and singing....she even clapped and joined in dancing when she deemed the TV performance worthy of her participation.

Later on we explained to her that Thanksgiving was all about being thankful for things we have, people we like, etc. She understood it best when we told her it was about naming the things that make us happy. Not too bad of a grasp for an almost-three-year-old.

Pregnancy is really wreaking havoc on my brain. For example, last night the hubby had spent a good bit of the early evening prepping and then starting a pot of beans (with the Thanksgiving ham bone) and a batch of cornbread muffins (which E assisted in preparing). Then when we were about 30 minutes from being ready, we had friends call and ask him to come over and watch their kids, due to them needing to take their dog to the emergency vet. So E and the hubby headed over, leaving me to "tend" to the muffins and beans. Seems pretty straight-forward: buzzer goes off, take out muffins, turn off oven, turn off burner under beans and cover.

Buzzer goes off.
Muffins come out.
Oven gets turned off.
Brain checks out.
Beans end up boiling out all of the water and scorching to the bottom of the pot.
Damn it!

Does it count as dinner if all you have are cornbread muffins???? Yeah, I didn't think so.

So Saturday was our Second Most Important Goal Date of 28 Weeks!!!! Everyone (but me) do some kind of break out dance of joy!!!!! So as of this posting we are at 28 weeks, plus 2 days!

My sciatic pain is still with me, but I have also developed pretty severe side and now back pain to go along with it. Our OB had suggested that I start taking hot baths in the evenings to help easy those tired muscle, which I was doing, and it was helping.....until E wanted to join me. Not so much on the relaxing as much as it was on the 'catch the slippery kid before she falls on me' end of the spectrum. But the hubby came to the rescue! He fixed our hot tub!!!! Now the funny thing is that sometimes my back/sides start to give out really early on in the day....like before noon. So he just turns the tub on and says "Go Float." You just gotta love a man like that! I have a maternity swimsuit, somewhere.....but that brain thing I was telling you about earlier, yeah that one... well I just can't seem to remember where I put it. So I just put on a bikini top with swim shorts and go for it. It is Quite A Sight, I must tell you...words fail to describe it accurately, although 'scary' is definitely included! HA! :o) And yes.....the purple rose has blossomed into a full blown purple cabbage! :oP

We met with our Doctor today and had another sonogram. Baby Girl A is in a breech position on the left side, while Baby Boy B is in a 'transverse' position where his head is kinda down and on the right, but his body then goes up and wraps around, and it ends with his feet near Baby Girl A's head. Very weird!

They are really starting to move and push off each other and everything inside me. There are several times a day where all of a sudden, I can't breath because one of them is pressing into my lungs. Or even better, trying to rearrange the location of my ribs....very uncomfortable, needless to say.

Today's measurements: I have gained 30 pounds to date. Baby Girl A is measuring 3 pounds. Baby Boy B is measuring 2.7 pounds. I am measuring 35-36 weeks along. For those of you keeping up with all of these lovely measurements from visit to visit, what this means is Thanksgiving Was Good!!!! Don't you just LOVE pie?!?!

We asked Doctor G what are we to expect going forward. She wants to see us every Monday, and will probably do sonograms every visit. At our current rate of measurement increases, we will probably measure like we are 40 weeks along in just 2 more weeks (which will only be 30 weeks in actuality). She told us some key warning signs to look out for, and if they should happen, to call the office immediately. She also said if they happen, she will most likely put me in the hospital. She would really like to see us get to at least 32 weeks, which is the Saturday after Christmas. I told her I'm aiming for one Saturday after the next! Just taking it one week at a time :o)

Side Note: The hubby's cousin, Isabel sent out a link to snapfish, and an album of their twins. Their two darlings are home and doing well! Yay! I'm including the link:

Click Here

You just need to sign up for a snapfish account, if you don't already have one, to view the pictures.

Love to all,
Cherise

Week 26 and 2 days...

So uncomfortable does not even BEGIN to describe my current condition. I was curious so I asked the hubby to measure me around 'my equator' (basically the circumference of my girth measured at the belly button): as of today, I'm 40 1/4". WOW!!!!! I never did measure how big around I achieved with E, but Memaw does tell me that she has pictures to prove I was Quite Large....ah, ya gotta love yer ma, no matter what she does! :oP

I have reached that point in our pregnancy where I'm not supposed to do anything....our next goal date is the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and I'm doing all my best to make sure we make that date and then some.

Well that statement is a little misleading. I actual do very little...period. Mostly due to the fact that I still have pretty severe sciatic pain and am having to wear a pregnancy support belt - like a weird pregnancy girdle of sorts. On top of that, my back hurts from all the weight in the front (see the measurement listed in the first paragraph). And I have been extremely tired....like I spend up to 16 hours a day unconscious...I did not have all of this with my pregnancy with E.

We had our pregnancy glucose test last week, and that came back fine, but turns out, I'm anemic. So back on the Iron Pills I go....and supposedly this will help with some of the extreme fatigue I have been feeling. The Doctor is worried about me having enough blood flow for the delivery, and then the stamina to care for the newborns afterward. Lord knows I can't be sleeping 16 hours a day with twin newborns!!!

We had another ultra sound today, and everything is progressing as they should be. Baby Girl A is measuring 2.3 pounds, and Baby Boy B is measuring 1.9 pounds. They are arranged Horizontally and Stacked....kinda like they are in bunk-beds. Currently, both of their heads are on my left side...so they have not gone into the 'head down position' as of yet...not that it will matter with a c-section. I'm not showing any signs of preterm labor, and the placenta previa HAS NOT MOVED ONE INCH (sigh). So we are still on track for the mandatory c-section.

At our last meeting with Doctor G (last week), the hubby and I asked some more questions about the delivery. I did confirm that the hubby and Memaw can both be in the delivery room with me, just like when E was born.

I did ask what would be the procedure with regard to them if the mandatory hysterectomy comes to fruition (in the event the previa becomes accreta). She informed us that she would probably ask Memaw and the hubby to step out at that point...but my thought is, the babies will be out, so they can follow them while Doctor G finishes up whatever needs to be done. I will also remain conscious (via epidural) as long as 'things don't become dicey.' If dice happens, she will knock me out completely.

We did ask her what are her preliminary plans at this point for our c-section delivery. If things continue to go well, and we get to schedule the c-section ahead of time (versus a preterm labor situation), she will schedule it for a Friday. She said she intends on having my blood typed and crossed and units waiting in the OR before she ever begins to cut. She also said she plans to 'be quick', at which point the hubby asked why. She said she will have no choice but to cut thru the placenta to get to the babies; so she wants to go as fast as she can to get the babies out, and then start to assess what additional steps need to be taken.

She also wants to tie my tubes while in there, because an additional pregnancy after this high risk one will put my life in jeopardy. Enough said! But truthfully, the hubby and I had already decided we were done having kids after this pregnancy...if we had started earlier in our lives we might have more, but I'll be 39 when the twins get here, so we are calling it 'perfect' with the three we will have been blessed with! :o) Besides, as the hubby put it, we are ready to 'start getting on with the process of Raising Kids, and end this business of Having Kids.' Sounds great to me!

We also had another nice visit with Momma Jo last week. E really enjoys her time with all of her grandparents!

E is growing like a weed! She is 2 1/2 years old right now, and boy do we know it on some days! She is just getting us ready for when she will be a teenager, I think :o) Most of the time she is just great. She likes to play 'bat'....which means she holds the bat and you throw the ball so it hits the bat....she is practicing on actually swinging the bat and hitting the ball all on her own, but for now it is just easier to let her swing and you aim for the bat.

She also likes to help out in the kitchen. She is very interested in whatever you are cooking, and likes to help pour stuff and stir stuff....she also will let you know when stuff is boiling, by running up to you and saying "hurry! it's cooking!"

We are practicing with her daily on the concept of 'baby brother and baby sister.' She is catching on, and now calls most of her dolls 'baby brother-sister.' She also insists on having at least TWO around her, which is GREAT, considering there -will- be two around from the beginning! Practice makes perfect!

She has really settled into her school, and has decided 99% of the time, this is where she would like to spend her days....she gets to play with other kids her age and learn cool new stuff....and she sings all these nursery rhymes. Ones that I, frankly, had forgotten about. And of course, you have to ask permission to sing with her, or she will tell you "no, mommy, don't sing!" I don't blame her....Aunt Chantelle is the one who could always sing....definitely not momma! :o)

Love to all,
Cherise

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