What's the title refer to? Mike.
First...deaf. Last Thursday Mike and I went to the doctor's office. As one would expect, there were several other ladies with bellies in the waiting room. I looked around the room and leaned over to Mike and asked "Do I really look bigger than all of these other women?" Without hesitation he replied emphatically "OH, DEFINITELY." He kindly added that I was still as beautiful as the day he married me. Um...OK.
So later when we were back in the room waiting for the doctor, Mike said casually "Well, I don't know, that one woman in the black outfit looked OK." Me: "Huh?" Mike: "She was dressed OK." Confused look from me. Mike: "Well, you still look better than her." Me: "I didn't ask if I looked BETTER than the other women...I asked if I looked BIGGER."
Second...dumb. The other day I was noticing in amazement at how my belly seems stretched to the limits. Can it really get bigger? And since it is so big and stretched I started to comment to Mike and Mom "My belly is SO tight!" But I only got out "My belly is SO..." and Mike chimed in "GIGANTIC!" I told him I was going to say tight, but thanks for making me feel like I may be effecting the tides!
Good news...the contractions seem to have subsided. We had an NST today. All was well with the Addison and Lily. They passed with flying colors. Despite being a small town, Athens had its second set of twins delivered in 2 weeks today. We're really grateful our doctors are getting the extra experience right before our deliveries.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Send in the calvary!
Good news. Peoopee seems to be doing better. We've started letting him walk slowly up and down the stairs on occasion. He's not having any trouble getting up and down from a laying down position. So maybe we've gotten lucky and he did just have a sprain or muscle thing.
Bad news. The last two mornings I've woken with painful contractions. Luckily the painful ones only last for the first 5-10 minutes. Then I have non-painful ones for another hour or so. This really freaked me out yesterday morning because they lasted for over an hour and were coming every 5 minutes. But drinking lots of water and laying on my left side helped make them go away. It was sad to have the painful ones again this morning though.
As a result my mom, Ella, is coming to stay with us a week earlier than planned. We are very fortunate that mom has the flexibility to come up in case we have to rush off to the hospital. My biggest concern has been the girls coming this weekend and the doctors sending us up to Columbus to deliver. Having mom here would make that OK as she could make sure the dogs are OK and Mike would be able to freely be there for the birth of his daughters. But for now the girls seem content to stay put.
We'll probably still end up making it to July 10 for the scheduled C-section and mom, Mike and I will be sitting around for the next 2 1/2 weeks staring at one another.
But in either case it sure is nice to be able to call in reinforcements!
Bad news. The last two mornings I've woken with painful contractions. Luckily the painful ones only last for the first 5-10 minutes. Then I have non-painful ones for another hour or so. This really freaked me out yesterday morning because they lasted for over an hour and were coming every 5 minutes. But drinking lots of water and laying on my left side helped make them go away. It was sad to have the painful ones again this morning though.
As a result my mom, Ella, is coming to stay with us a week earlier than planned. We are very fortunate that mom has the flexibility to come up in case we have to rush off to the hospital. My biggest concern has been the girls coming this weekend and the doctors sending us up to Columbus to deliver. Having mom here would make that OK as she could make sure the dogs are OK and Mike would be able to freely be there for the birth of his daughters. But for now the girls seem content to stay put.
We'll probably still end up making it to July 10 for the scheduled C-section and mom, Mike and I will be sitting around for the next 2 1/2 weeks staring at one another.
But in either case it sure is nice to be able to call in reinforcements!
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Taking care of our 4 legged babies
We believe we have low maintenance pets. Denuen, Peoopee and Jack are fairly easy. We feed them at the same time every day. They have a dog door so they can come and go out in their yard. Other than barking at the UPS man, people out walking their dogs and the garbage truck, they usually sleep during the day.
But now we are 19 days from the scheduled delivery of twin 2 legged babies. Time for the dogs to become high maintenance, right? Right. Earlier this week Peoopee had some sort of stomach bug. He didn't want his 3pm treat and was reluctant to eat his dinner at 5pm. But the next day, he was fine. That night, Denuen wouldn't eat her dinner. She actually to 36 hours to get over the bug. We were sure she was gonna have tumor that would require surgery. Nope. All better.
Then this morning, Peoopee was in obvious discomfort and wouldn't stand up on his own. His back right leg was obviously bothering him. Mike was able to get him up and downstairs and outside for a bathroom break. Mike quickly remembered a similar situation with Denuen from 3 years ago. She tore the cruciate ligament in her back right knee. She had surgery to repair it...broke the sutures...and had the same surgery with heavier sutures. The more we thought about it, the more we were sure this was going to be Peoopee's problem. We were even trying to figure out how quickly the doctors at OSU Vet School might be able to do the surgery and if Lily and Addison would cooperate and wait until he was recouperating before making their appearance into the world.
We took Peoopee to our veterinarian here in Athens. He examined Peoopee extensively and also suspected the ligament but is sure it is not completely torn. So we have Peoopee on Rimadyl and restricted activity for a week to see if he improves. But if the ligament is going to tear, there is nothing we can do about it. Good news is our veterinarian performs the repair surgery on a regular basis, so we don't have to take Peoopee up to Columbus in the event the surgery is needed. But we are all crossing our fingers that it is just some sort of sprain...
On the baby front, we had another NST yesterday. Lily was a bundle of activity and passed with flying colors. Addison, taking her cue from her father, was sleeping. After about 20 minutes, we decided poking and prodding was necessary to get her to wake up. Seemed to work...and both girls got the OK from the doctor on duty.
But now we are 19 days from the scheduled delivery of twin 2 legged babies. Time for the dogs to become high maintenance, right? Right. Earlier this week Peoopee had some sort of stomach bug. He didn't want his 3pm treat and was reluctant to eat his dinner at 5pm. But the next day, he was fine. That night, Denuen wouldn't eat her dinner. She actually to 36 hours to get over the bug. We were sure she was gonna have tumor that would require surgery. Nope. All better.
Then this morning, Peoopee was in obvious discomfort and wouldn't stand up on his own. His back right leg was obviously bothering him. Mike was able to get him up and downstairs and outside for a bathroom break. Mike quickly remembered a similar situation with Denuen from 3 years ago. She tore the cruciate ligament in her back right knee. She had surgery to repair it...broke the sutures...and had the same surgery with heavier sutures. The more we thought about it, the more we were sure this was going to be Peoopee's problem. We were even trying to figure out how quickly the doctors at OSU Vet School might be able to do the surgery and if Lily and Addison would cooperate and wait until he was recouperating before making their appearance into the world.
We took Peoopee to our veterinarian here in Athens. He examined Peoopee extensively and also suspected the ligament but is sure it is not completely torn. So we have Peoopee on Rimadyl and restricted activity for a week to see if he improves. But if the ligament is going to tear, there is nothing we can do about it. Good news is our veterinarian performs the repair surgery on a regular basis, so we don't have to take Peoopee up to Columbus in the event the surgery is needed. But we are all crossing our fingers that it is just some sort of sprain...
On the baby front, we had another NST yesterday. Lily was a bundle of activity and passed with flying colors. Addison, taking her cue from her father, was sleeping. After about 20 minutes, we decided poking and prodding was necessary to get her to wake up. Seemed to work...and both girls got the OK from the doctor on duty.
Friday, June 16, 2006
11 pounds of babies!
Yesterday at 34weeks 6 days pregnant Addison's estimated weight is 5 lbs 6 oz and Lily's is 5 lbs 7 oz. Addison has turned a little bit so we finally got a 3D picture of her face.
Lily was also available for a photo.
For the sake of keeping everyone up with the ever expanding belly...
Last week we/Mike were able to move more stuff down to the basement. And Mike put in the doors. Mike has been using his new, quiet office for a while now.
Wednesday night was a challenging night of sleep for me. In the morning, I told Mike I was sure that the babies were not going to wait 3 1/2 more weeks to come into this world. At the ultrasound on Thursday, the tech looked for signs of changes that would indicate impending labor. One thing that happens is your cervix shortens. Ever since we've been checking this mine has always been 3.8cm. Thursday it was 2.7cm. I felt vindicated in my feeling that the babies would come any time now...until the tech said "Yea, this will keep you from delivering for a good 2-3 weeks." But at least it was shortening...these babies will DEFINITELY come out at some point. Dr Clark also checked my cervix and said it was closed and firm. No dialation. No effacing. "We'll get you there." was his comment. I believe this meant "to July 10 for that C-section". Yep 3 1/2 more weeks.
Today we had another NST (we now have to have 2 per week). Right before leaving for the hospital, I had 2 Double Stuff Oreos. Besides being the best cookie ever invented, apparently DS Oreos are the magic trick for NSTs. Both of the girls stayed on their monitors the whole time and passed with flying colors. Amazing what a little refined sugar will do!
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
4 more weeks!
With just 3 weeks 6 days to go until the scheduled c-section, the fact that we are going to have 2 babies is finally settling in.
Today we went to the hospital for another NST. Just like last week, Addison showed up just fine. Lily, however, was non-cooperative. Or should we say her position was non-cooperative. First the nurse spent a while trying to get the doppler monitor situated to catch her, then Mike spent a while just holding the darn thing to try and get her heartbeat on the monitor long enough to show that she was doing what she was supposed to. Finally Dr Broecker who was over at the hospital delivering a baby came in to check on things. She tried getting Lily on the monitor to no avail and finally said, "let me just do a biophysical profile." Basically this means an ultrasound where we look for a good view of the heart, watch Lily for movements and watch to see if Lily is taking practice breaths. But we had to wait until the other baby was delivered. Luckily that was imminent.
In the mean time, Mike and I were in a labor room and had access to a TV, so we turned on the Brazil v. Croatia soccer match. Dr Broecker returned not too long afterward and did the scan. It took a while to discern exactly where Lily was...she's apparently kind of curled up under my ribs along the right side which explains why it was so difficult to monitor her heartrate. We watched as she moved around and saw her chest move with practice breaths. Dr Broecker also checked her amniotic fluid and proclaimed her to be perfect. We expected nothing less.
After an hour in a labor room, we were fairly happy to get out of there. We'd hate to give these 2 girls any ideas about coming too soon.
Today we went to the hospital for another NST. Just like last week, Addison showed up just fine. Lily, however, was non-cooperative. Or should we say her position was non-cooperative. First the nurse spent a while trying to get the doppler monitor situated to catch her, then Mike spent a while just holding the darn thing to try and get her heartbeat on the monitor long enough to show that she was doing what she was supposed to. Finally Dr Broecker who was over at the hospital delivering a baby came in to check on things. She tried getting Lily on the monitor to no avail and finally said, "let me just do a biophysical profile." Basically this means an ultrasound where we look for a good view of the heart, watch Lily for movements and watch to see if Lily is taking practice breaths. But we had to wait until the other baby was delivered. Luckily that was imminent.
In the mean time, Mike and I were in a labor room and had access to a TV, so we turned on the Brazil v. Croatia soccer match. Dr Broecker returned not too long afterward and did the scan. It took a while to discern exactly where Lily was...she's apparently kind of curled up under my ribs along the right side which explains why it was so difficult to monitor her heartrate. We watched as she moved around and saw her chest move with practice breaths. Dr Broecker also checked her amniotic fluid and proclaimed her to be perfect. We expected nothing less.
After an hour in a labor room, we were fairly happy to get out of there. We'd hate to give these 2 girls any ideas about coming too soon.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Another week goes by
This week passed uneventfully (yet again). We now have weekly NSTs. These pictures are from this week's NST. Teresa the patient, Dr. Meyer checking the charts.
Addison had no problem passing the NST. Basically we look for their heart rate to go up, then return to a baseline. Addison apparently was very excitable. Lily...not so much. We kept encouraging Addison to give her sister a kick, but to no avail. In the end, all was well with both girls. We also went to the doctor's office for a check-in. Once again, all is good.
This weekend we are hosting the Splains for the OU graduation. The dogs are very happy to more people here to love on them.
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Addison had no problem passing the NST. Basically we look for their heart rate to go up, then return to a baseline. Addison apparently was very excitable. Lily...not so much. We kept encouraging Addison to give her sister a kick, but to no avail. In the end, all was well with both girls. We also went to the doctor's office for a check-in. Once again, all is good.
This weekend we are hosting the Splains for the OU graduation. The dogs are very happy to more people here to love on them.
Friday, June 02, 2006
T minus ... and counting
We had an appointment with the doctor yesterday. Blood pressure good. Urine sample good. Weight good (hmm...my knees are not so sure). We listened to the heartbeats. Scheduled a non-stress test for next Wednesday. For an NST I go to Labor & Delivery at the hospital and they monitor me for contractions and the babies heart rates over a period of time. They want to make sure the babies' heart rates fluctuate with movement. Should go up when the babies move around and return to a baseline after a short period of time after they stop moving.
And we talked with Dr. Clark about the delivery. We are scheduled for first thing in the morning July 10. We'd (or maybe I'd) prefer to deliver the week before...like say the 7th when the babies will be right at 38 weeks gestation, but Dr. Clark will be on vacation ( I think he said Wyoming ) until the 9th. So we plan on being his first order of business on his return. I sure hope he's staying at a Holiday Inn Express on his trip!
And we talked with Dr. Clark about the delivery. We are scheduled for first thing in the morning July 10. We'd (or maybe I'd) prefer to deliver the week before...like say the 7th when the babies will be right at 38 weeks gestation, but Dr. Clark will be on vacation ( I think he said Wyoming ) until the 9th. So we plan on being his first order of business on his return. I sure hope he's staying at a Holiday Inn Express on his trip!
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