On Behalf of my Daughter

Since my daughter is just a little busy at the minute, not to mention preoccupied and off-the-scale exhausted, I thought I might step in at this point just to let you all know more details on the birth of my twin grandchildren.

Jessica will certainly return with all the details but the basics are these: her waters broke and she was bustled into hospital in the early hours of 23 November and after a scary few hours while the blood-thinning medication was clearing her system her daughter Cecily Grace was born by epidural Caesarian at 11.11am and her son Benjamin Lucas followed on her heels just a couple of minutes later. Cecily weighed 4 pounds and 8 ounces (in old money) Benjamin 4 pounds and 12 ounces. In spite of their prematurity (just over 33 weeks gestation) he was able to breathe completely unassisted from the start but she needed a little help to begin with; both are now out of intensive care, coming along nicely and getting to know their doting and adoring parents who are haunting the hospital nursery although Jessica herself is now recovering from the whole ordeal at home (as is Jim).

Both babies are absolutely beautiful - I'm afraid I'm having to judge from reports and pictures here although I'm champing at the bit to come over and see them for myself. They both have copious dark hair, Cecily's darker than Benjamin's; they certainly look like little people rather than having generic new-baby faces. So far they are causing no havoc but Jessica and Jim have been put on full alert for the next couple of decades by those of us who have been there already. And the new parents have so far made no mistakes - that's all to come.

As I say, I'm sure Jessica will be back here shortly but as her mother I did think that if you've been following the course of her blog from pre-pregnancy days would want to know as soon as possible that she's pulled it off.

Please Meet Cecily Grace & Benjamin Lucas

Benjamin and Cecily were born by c-section on Monday, 11/23/09 at 11:11 and 11:13 am. Benjamin weighed 4 lbs. 12 oz, Cecily weighed 4 lbs 8 oz. They're doing well in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). Jessica is recovering from the c-section. We're over the moon! More soon ... J the Elder

First picture is Cecily, then Benjamin:

Quick Update

I'm still at home, which I suppose is a good thing, although I would feel safer in hospital at this point. My OB seems to be gaining confidence in me. All seems well, my cervix is shortening and is now 2.5mm but still closed. The babies are doing very well, too. We get new weights this coming Thursday. I'm measuring 43 weeks now. My one big anxiety right now is the blood thinner situation. I've been on Lovenox injections, one injection of 40mgs a day, since before my embryo transfer, due to my Protein S deficiency and my MTHFR, both blood clotting disorders. But the reversal time for these shots is 24 hours, so if I were to need an emergency c-section because one of the babies is in distress they'd need to wait until the Lovenox had worn off before surgery, otherwise I could bleed out. So I'm going to need to change to two shots of Heparin per day from this week - that takes the reversal time down to 12 hours but I think you can also reverse the effects of Heparin with a shot of Vitamin K (not sure about that). I'm nervous about changing anything at this point, but I'll need to get over it. I've read about HIT, Heparin Induced Thrombophilia, which scares me......

I haven't been given the steroid shot for lung development, which I sort of expected to get at some point, in case things move along quickly. Two shots 24 hours apart are needed, but I suppose it means no-one is concerned that I could go into labour imminently. That's a good thing.

I still feel terribly uncomfortable in many ways, and am really almost unable to do anything at all, other than lying on my side. I'm not really even going downstairs anymore. But I can now see the end in sight and I know I can do this for another two to three weeks. We're getting very excited about meeting the little ones soon.

My next appointments are on Wednesday and Thursday.

Chubby Babes

I'm very happy to have made it to 31 weeks so far, given that I was in the hospital twice at 23 weeks and once at 27 weeks. I'm now seeing my OB and my peri once per week, which is very reassuring. My OB thinks he may be able to get me to 34 or 35 weeks with alot of work and probably hospital bedrest. I'm thinking they might put me in the hospital between 32 and 33 weeks and hope to get me to 35. I've been told to pack my bag and bring it to all appointments in case they decide to hospitalise me there and then. Surreal that we're obviously getting very close.

The babies are doing fantastically well, by all indications. We finally got our four-weekly measurements today and our little girl is weighing 3lbs12oz, our little boy has actually overtaken her and weighs 4lbs3oz. We're thrilled with those weights at 31 weeks. Both of them are moving really well and kicking me alot. Baby A, our daughter, is still breech, whereas Baby Boy B is still transverse. Their heads are very close together which is nice, since they can't kick eachother in the head.

As for the way I'm feeling, well, not good. I'm getting very big now, measuring 41 weeks at 31 weeks. It's hard for me to really do anything other than lying down and even that's getting uncomfortable now. I'm still instructed to be on bedrest - have clocked up four weeks of bedrest so far. For some reason, I've started having major nausea and vomiting again, maybe because my stomach is so compressed. I'm still taking terbutaline for contractions, but trying to keep them to a minimum. I hate taking anything, but of course the benefits outweigh the risk of giving birth this early. I'm also finding it hard to get a good deep breath in, obviously also due to major organ compression. Then there's the back ache, acid reflux, digestive issues and so on and so forth...... However, I hope I this misery lasts as long as possible for the sake of the babies.

We've nearly completed the nursery now. I use "we" in a very loose sense - it means J the Elder has nearly finished it and I've "managed" the project from a horizontal position. I'm sad that I've missed out on that part, as well as going out and buying other things we need. A small price to pay, though.

My next appointments are next Thursday and Friday.

I'm Back

I'm finally back to update my blog, starting with a picture at 26 weeks. It's been an interesting month since I last posted. It's included three trips to Labour & Delivery for pre-term contractions and cramping, one overnight. The first two were 48 hours apart at 22-23 weeks and the last one was last week at 27 weeks. I was at my scheduled peri appointment last week and told them that I'd been very uncomfortable with cramping and tightness. They put me on the monitor to check for contractions and found that I was contracting every six to eight minutes! My cervix had also shortened from 4cm to 3.2cm - but still closed, which was good news. Once in L&D, I was given IV fluids and two shots of terbutaline to stop the contractions. The terb did its job and I was released to full bedrest at home after about 5 hours. This morning I went back for a cervical check and the bedrest worked to the point where my cervix is back to 4cm. However, the monitor still showed alot of contractions very close together. My new instructions are to be on "limited activity" - no leaving the house, no more than two trips up and down the stairs, as much rest and lying down as possible and to take a terb tablet whenever I feel alot of contractions. I'm three days off the 28 week milestone and at least I feel more confident than I did when this happened at 23 weeks, before viability. It's still very scary, though. I know that this is it until I give birth; the only trips out of the house now will be those to my OB or peri appointments.

The really great news is that the babies are doing wonderfully. They weighed in at 2lbs9oz and 2lbs8oz last week, ahead of the 2lb average expected at 27 weeks. We're delighted with that news - both the fact that they already weigh so much and that they weigh the same as eachother. They're moving really nicely as well. Sometimes they wake up at the same time and my tummy looks like a bag of popcorn popping with visible kicks all over the place. Other times they wake up one at a time. I need to work on getting them on the same sleep schedule......

We've also had our baby shower since I last posted. We were overwhelmed by the generosity of our friends and family. My Australian half-sister, whom I'd learned about last year and had never met before, came over from London for it. It was wonderful to meet her and to get on so well with her - no awkwardness at all. It was unfortunate that we had to leave her home alone for hours on end almost as soon as she got here, since it was the day of my overnight hospital stay. My mother also came over from the UK and stayed for ten days. We weren't able to do much at all since I was on instructions to rest, but it was great to see her. She will be back to help us out for a few weeks once the babies are here. J the Elder's parents and one of his sisters made the drive up from Florida for the shower, too. My SIL and BIL put on a fabulous party - many Martinis were consumed by all, other than myself. I'll make up for it in a few months' time!

I've more or less sorted out my work situation as well. Unfortunately, after working for big corporations for more than 15 years, I'm currently classed as an independant consultant (long story) and am therefore royally out of luck on any maternity benefits. Just poor timing. I was hoping to become a full-time employee of the company that has taken over my former company earlier this year, but circumstances haven't gone my way on that one. I've discussed with them taking six months leave of absence (unpaid) when the babies are born. The company has agreed to it and has given me a written notice of its intent to hire me full-time once that time is up. This really is a win-win, since I wanted this time off and they will have a better idea of where the company is going by then. My job will continue to involve a fair amount of travel, which isn't ideal but we think we'll manage it. For the US trips, I can often go and come back in one day - long days, but at least I'll come home overnight. There'll be some international trips as well - luckily J the Elder works 2 miles from our house and barely ever travels in his job, so we think we'll be able to juggle it. We've started looking into daycare vs a nanny to come to our house daily and are leaning towards the latter. I'd prefer not to have to go back to work when they're six months old, but then again we'd like to be able to take our children over to Europe to see family and friends as often as possible and that second salary will really help with that. I do also enjoy my job. For now, I'm working from home and will start my leave of absence on Nov 15th.

My next doctors' appointments are next week and in the meantime I will rest as much as possible, working from my bed and making sure I don't get stressed about anything. It feels good that the hospital is only 4 miles away.....

Scare, But All Is Well For Now

We had to call the doctor last Sunday because my tummy tightened up so badly that it felt like a tightly balled-up fist, especially the lower area. It wasn't like contractions that come and go but a constant tightness that lasted 24 hours or so in the end. Having never been this far along before, I had no idea what's normal and what isn't, but this was certainly a new sensation and I wasn't comfortable with it. I absolutely hate calling a doctor during out-of-office hours, but then again we weren't going to risk anything. He called me back immediately (I adore him) and told me to immediately get off my feet and drink tons of water; he also told me to come in to see him in the morning. When I got there the next morning, he checked my cervix manually and then by ultrasound. Thankfully it was still long and closed (4cm +). However, he didn't like the uterine tightening, which he could feel quite easily from outside. My instructions were to go home and rest off my feet, to continue drinking plenty of water and to lie down whenever these cramps started. If I see any kind of pattern, call immediately or go straight to labour and delivery for monitoring for contractions and possible medication to stop them. Well, since then I've put myself on "modified bedrest", in other words lying down as much as I can. I worked from my bed all last week. The tightness seems to have gone away now and I feel much better. I'm still getting the usual round ligament pains, but I know how to recognise them. I'm seeing my OB again this Thursday and will see what he says about the need to continue this or whether I can get up more now. We have alot of family on both sides coming in this weekend, as my SIL and BIL are throwing us a very early shower (lots of reasons why it's so early). I will get to meet my long-lost half-sister from Australia for the first time on Thursday night, when she flies in from London - I only found out she existed last year! Then my Mum and J the Elder's family are coming in on Friday. I'll have to be very disciplined about my rest and staying off my feet...

Coming Out - No More Chopped-Off Heads

Here we are at 20 weeks (yesterday). I've decided to use this lovely picture my great friend and photographer Melissa took of us last night as my first picture with heads attached. I've been a bit shy about showing our faces but - in reality - there's really no reason not to. I was wearing non-sensible 6 or 7" wedges for the picture, the equivalent of standing on a box - normally I come up to J the Elder's nipples at most.....

Well, it's been a big week for us with two doctor's appointments. On Tuesday it was our regular OB and on Wednesday the peri. At the OB's we got to hear the heartbeats on the doppler, measure my tummy and ask my usual list of questions. I'm now measuring 28 to 29 weeks, so 8 or 9 weeks ahead. Quite how this growth is going to play out over the next, hopefully, four months is anyone's guess. Apparently the reason I'm in quite considerable pain almost constantly is because my ribcage is buckling out. Nice! My uterus has gone from my belly button to under my ribcage in the last four weeks. My OB started to drop some hints about not making it quite as far as I'd hoped, to 37 weeks. Hmmmm. Please let me get to at least 34 weeks. I'm a bit scared now. But the highlight of the visit was my weighing in. The nurse weighed me, went to write down the number, then turned around and told me she'd made a mistake, could I please get back on the scales. Erm, it's no mistake, I really have porked up that much. I stepped back on and her number was right - I've now gained 26lbs since before pregnancy. My OB didn't mention it and this is totally in line with the twin recommendations for weight gain. It made me chuckle, though.

The peri visit the next day went really well. It was the 20 week anatomy scan and they spent alot of time measuring or looking at the hearts, brains, bones, blood flow, placentas, amniotic fluid levels, among other things. Everything is looking good for now, much to our relief. We were told that this is no absolute guarantee of healthy babies, but that it's looking very good at this stage. My cervical length is unchanged at 4cm, which is a huge relief, given the on and off cramping I've been having. I'm having three types of cramps, the first I'm pretty sure are round ligament growth pains in my sides, a sharp pain when I move around or get up out of bed, the second type is a sort of tightening of my entire tummy, lasting longer than I think Braxton Hicks Contractions would - I think it's growth, too - and the third are very mild period-like pains. The latter worry me the most, because they can be a sign of cervical softening. However, there was no sign of that on the ultrasound. I was told to call immediately if any of these cramps increase in intensity or frequency.

Both babies were moving around alot - so amazing to see that. Our baby girl measured 20w4d (I was 19w6d) and weighed 15oz and our baby boy measured 20w2d and weighed 13oz. We were so happy and relieved after this appointment. Each peri visit is so nerve-wracking and it's a huge high to come out of it unscathed so far. Now I need to focus on getting to 24 weeks and viability, then 28 weeks and so on. Our next peri visit is in four weeks again and our OB visits are now down from every four to every three weeks. So far so good.

I want to finish by thanking strongwoman for giving me a Lovely Blog Award. Thanks for following my blog!