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.