A Room With a View

So today I skipped the 8am feeding and let the NICU nurses do it. This let me just pump and sleep till noon. After a good 24 hours of only sleeping an hour or so at a time, that was really nice.

At noon though, when the nurse called, she offered to bring them to me! The girls were off their monitors and can now room in with me. So since then they've been here for me to care for on my own. Good thing I got that extra bit of sleep this morning.

So all the sudden, the view from my room has vastly improved:


It's almost midnight and we're doing pretty good. Of course my mom came over here for a while this afternoon and helped with the 3-4pm feeding. And then later Tom came to help with the 10-11pm feeding.

After the last feeding, Tom and I tested each other on whether the twins are identical or not. We always expected they would be fraternal as I was on clomid and that increases your chances of dropping two eggs at once. But each day as they both gain weight, they look more and more identical! So we put them both in matching outfits, put matching hats on them to cover their bows (which is how we've been telling them apart, pink bow for Gabi and yellow bow for Lily). Then we swaddled them in matching blankets and arranged them on the bed while the other one wasn't looking.

Tom failed.

I failed.

Seriously, we had a 50/50 chance of getting it right and we both couldn't get it right! I think we just might have identical twins.

Could you tell them apart?


So now we're thinking of ways to make sure we keep track of who is who. I've had several people mention painting their toenails, or just a dot on each big toe. I'll ask their doctor about that on Friday as I'm not comfortable with that quite yet. Their nails are so porous right now, and there are chemicals in there that might not be safe. So we'll see about that.

Right now all I have are the bows, which I think are genius actually. They've worn the same ones since day 3 or so, and they haven't come off yet. They aren't tied in their hair, instead they're adhered on there with KY Jelly. And of course will wash right off in water. Cool huh. And very cute of course. Along with the bows, we'll be mostly dressing them in different colors too. Right now it's pinks for Gabi and yellows for Lily., We might add in green for Gabi and purple for Lily too.

I'm open for other suggestions though!

But as long as we do well tonight and they show a good weight gain by the next feeding, they'll be coming home tomorrow. Tom and I got them both to take 65 & 60 milliliters each at this last feeding, so around 2am I'll be sending them to the nurse for weighing. We'll see!

I also see the OB for a follow up tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to showing the girls off up there. And then taking them home!

My THREE kids

Me and my three kids.



Whoa.

That photo was taken Friday May 28th. I'm still not sure it has really sunk in that I actually have THREE children now. I expect it will hit me once the girls and I finally go home. For the last 10 days it's been kind of like being in another world here at the hospital and NICU.

So yes. We're still here. Although rumor has it we might get to go home Monday or Tuesday. We have the carseats here where the nurses will put them in and monitor them to make sure they can tolerate the positioning of a carseat for the ride home. They received their Hep B vaccines tonight. They haven't had a brady since last Monday, so really we're just waiting for them to both show consistent weight gains. Gabi has, but Lily has at least one more gain to go as I understand it. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

But I think we're ready.

Once out of the bili lights, the girls have been able to share a bassinet. That's Gabi on the left. Looks like she likes it:


Nicky holding Gabi:

Nicky holding Lily:

Wednesday morning update

Gabi in one of her awake moments:


Lily, finally free of the cannula!


Lily was taken off the cannula, and later the IV, on Tuesday morning. She's so much more comfortable now!

Tuesday night their levels were finally high enough to put them under the bili lights. I think they'll be so much more alert and interested in feeding once their bilirubin levels have been lowered. We'll find out sometime today how long they need to be under the lights, but it's usually at least 24 hours according to the nurse.





And finally, Tuesday I was so tired, and every time I'd hold one baby she'd fall asleep on me and then the other would cry. Then I'd put the sleeping one down and pick up the other baby. She'd fall asleep and then the other would cry. This was my solution:



That's Gabi on the left and Lily on the right.


I only have a moment with wifi this morning in the cafe at the hospital, so I couldn't do much, but I HAD to share this with you:

Finally they're together again. They've been in separate bassinets pretty much since being out of my tummy. I think they're going to love sharing a bed soon!


Ok, so not all in chronological order, and not my most coherent post, but that was Tuesday!

Sunday update, a day late

So so tired.

Both babies are doing well. We did find out today that every time they have a brady, which is what they call a heart deceleration of below 80 beats per minute (brady is short for bradycardia), they earn another 5 days in the special care nursery. They both had episodes today, so they'll be in until at least Saturday.

Gabi is off the IV and the nasal cannula today. Lily is still on both, but she's being weaned off the cannula gradually and if she can eat 25ml of breastmilk or formula on a consistent basis we can wean her off the IV too. That would be welcome indeed! They're both still being closely monitored for their breathing and heartbeats though, so still dealing with a lot of wires. They are both out of the warmers though, and we can dress them in outfits from home. They're wearing newborn sizes now and they're roomy, but the preemie stuff is already too small for them. They're nice and big!

Nicky really liked going to see them in the nursery and went several times. The NICU nurses were quite taken with him and made him a big brother bracelet (like mommy and daddy had).

Nicky actually went on his first big adventure yesterday though. Sunday he went home with Nana to stay with her for a few days. I cried my eyeballs out of course, but he was so excited to go. He's been asking to do that for months now, so we finally relented. He packed his new rolling suitcase and backpack with his daddy and was all ready to go! They made it to Nana's just fine, and have been having a good time. But he was getting pretty bored today, so Nana arranged to have him spend tomorrow with Gayle and Colin! He's going to have an absolute ball there! He loves playing with Colin so much, and he gets to spend the night with him too. He'll be coming home Thursday I believe, and I'm looking forward to hearing all about his big adventure when he gets home.

As for me, well I'm still in quite a bit of pain. This hurts so much worse than it did with Nicky. I guess it's because it's a second pregnancy and it was twins, so there's a lot more shrinking, moving around, and rearranging going on in there. But knowing why it hurts more just really doesn't help much.

What does help is going to see the babies. So I do that as much as possible. We're tryign to breastfeed at each feeding and then give them expressed milk or formula to top them off. They're not reliably breastfeeding yet, and usually will latch on suckle about three times and fall straight to sleep. Poor babies are so happy to be held I think that they relax and just sleep. I'm totally happy to just cuddle them though, so no complaints from me! I wasn't able to hold them till Sunday, so they're lucky I ever put them down at this point.

But I do have to put them down sometimes because I'm just beat. Occasionally I'll miss a feeding or two to get some sleep, not as often as Tom and my mom would like though. I just enjoy being with them too much. But I know I do need rest, so I'm trying to get that too. Right now I'm trying going to sleep through their 12am feeding and then I'll do the 3am feeding and let the nurses do the 6am feeding since that's right before the shift change and the feedings are a lot faster without me. I missed the 9pm feeding though too, so I'd better get back to pumping. Maybe I'll load up some images here for you while I do that.

Photos from Sunday:
Nicky, the big brother!


Lily and Nana:


Lily and Daddy


Lily and Momma:


Nicky looks worried about Lily's fussing:


Gabi and Daddy:


Gabi and Aunt Liz:


Gabi and Momma:


Nicky and Gabi:


Photos from Monday coming soon!

Baby updates

Lily and Gabi are doing well. They're still on the cpap, but they're starting to wean them off gradually. This means, they were at a pressure of 6, but have been moved down to a pressure of 5. If they continue to do well at that pressure they'll either move them down to a 4 or possibly skip that and go straight to the nasal cannula. Once they're on the cannula I can hold them and start trying to breastfeed. I can't wait!

I'm off to pump for them again and then off to visit. They're in the special nursery which is actually quite far from my point of view, but I'm planning to have Tom wheel me there so that I can use up my energy standing by the bassinets talking to them.

I tell you, once we're finally allowed to pick them up, I doubt we'll ever set them down. Just like Nicky. He was held 24/7 for quite a while!

As for me, well I'm still hurting badly. Stupid contractions. I'm no longer on the pitocin, and I've actually been disconnected from everything today (catheter, IV, leg cuffs) but the contractions continue and they HURT! This time is much more painful than it was with Nicky, so I'm guessing it's because it was twins and everything was just stretched out of place more this time. I am moving better though, and that's important! I have to be able to get over there to see my babies!

Nicky is doing great. He's very quiet in the NICU and likes to go visit the girls. This afternoon he went there and the nurses (who he has completely won over) gave him his own "big brother" bracelet to wear. Since Mom and Dad had bracelets it only seemed fair. We'll see how the adjustment goes once they're home, but for now he's doing great!

They're HERE!

Lilianna Elizabeth and Gabriella Concetta were born this morning, on May 21st (the first day of Gemini by the way) at 8:49am. Literally, they were born within the same minute! Lily was pulled out first by a few seconds, followed very quickly by Gabi.

They were great sizes too! Lily is 6lbs 2oz and 19.25 inches. Gabi is 6lbs 6oz and 19.75 inches. Remarkably similar sizes aren't they!

More details to follow when I can put together a coherent sentence, but for now... the promised pictures:

The last belly picture! Taken yesterday late. We'll count it as 36 weeks:


The bellies of this twin pregnancy. Quite impressive I must say!


Mama with Nicky about an hour after the surgery. My firstborn.


I finally was able to get up and make the trip, via wheelchair, to the special care nursery at about 5pm, and Tom snapped a few photos of me. I was in a lot of pain, but wanted to make the trip before I got more pain medicine so I'd be more alert.

Mama with Lily, my second-born.


Mama with Gabi, my third-born.


More photos of Lily:




And more of Gabi:




They're just having a little fluid in their lungs and so are on the cpap and prophylactic antibiotics until they can tell if it's simply amniotic fluid or something more sinister like RSV or pneumonia. I personally think they have the same issue Nicky had at first with some fluid in there. I was mentally ready to have them in the special care nursery for about a week, so I'm not doing too badly this time. I am pumping, trying to get some going for them. No luck yet, but I'll keep trying!

I'm in a lot of pain, but they were so worth it! I can't wait to hold them. It's hard to not be able to hold them now, but hopefully they won't be on the cpap very long.

We have a new date!

The ultrasound went great today. No measurements of course, but both babies were big, breathing and moving around. They're both head down and feet up, not that this matters much for a c-section, but it explains why I can't breathe worth a crap right now! The placenta even looks good still. They are starting to really run out of room though now, and so that's why we're not feeling a lot of movement this week.

At the OB appointment my OB came in and said "when do you want to do this?" I laughed and told him my bags were in the car. Which, they were. I was going to be prepared for anything! Well we discussed it and he is thrilled we've made it to this point and wants to go ahead and get them out now while things are good. There is the risk that they might need some breathing support possibly, but really it's only one week early, so they might be just fine too.

So our new date is...TOMORROW!

Yep, we go in at 6am tomorrow and the c-section is at 8am. We're all set to go! I'm not getting any morphine this time as it makes my nose itch horribly. And so I'm getting Toradol and On-Q instead. I am GBS+ so I'll also be getting antibiotics via IV along with saline and some glucose.

I can't eat or drink after midnight tonight and I am taking my last insulin shot (theoretically) tonight too.

I think that's all the orders I have. The OB wasn't sure if there is wi-fi in the hospital rooms or not, so we'll see. I will have my laptop though, so if possible I'll update soon after I recover from surgery.

Oh, and I'll be sure to snag one last belly pic too!

This is so exciting!

Still pregnant!

Well, before my appointment yesterday we made sure that I had my bags packed for the hospital. I was hoping it would be like good juju against going in to have them without my OB there. We found out he was out of town yesterday so I didn't want to have to have them until he returned and could do the c-section you know.

It worked.

Everything's still closed up. The babies hadn't really moved all morning though, and so the OB sent us down to Labor and Delivery for a non-stress test. Basically they just set up the monitors and try to get a good 20 minutes of each baby's heartbeat to make sure they're ok. Of course they started bopping around like crazy once the monitors were strapped on. They have a heck of a time trying to locate the heartbeats and stay on them though. The appointment was at 1:10. We left after 4pm sometime. I was so exhausted when I got home!

This is what 35 weeks and 3 days looks like when you're about to have an NST and aren't sure if this will be "it" or not.



Yeah, I made Tom take that, just in case they rushed us into a c/s right from the NST. I wasn't taking any chances!

My bag packing is so much simpler than last time with Nicky. With Nicky I was expecting to go natural and un-medicated (well, pain meds anyway) and so I had a long list of everything I could think of as diversions and labor aids. Extra pillows, birth ball, music, computer, knitting, etc. Of course I barely used any of them. Except the music, but I could have saved a lot of room by just having Vivaldi's CD instead of the giant book of CDs I brought. All I wanted to listen to were violins at Nicky's birth.

But this time I know I'm going in for a c-section. So I don't expect them to let me labor much, if at all. Also, this time Tom won't room in with me, he'll have to go home to be with Nicky, so he can certainly bring me anything I need. And I have a better idea of what they provide at the hospital too.

So this is my list for my hospital bags and it all fit in two bags plus my purse:
CPAP bag:
CPAP machine, mask, hose and power supply
nasal gel, chapstick, medicines, toothpaste
notebook, advance directive, deck of cards (well it fit, so I left them in there)

Laptop bag:
Laptop, mouse, power supply
camera, cord, extra batteries
cell phone charger

Purse:
List of people to call when in labor
Calendar planner
Cell phone

That's it. Of course I have my makeup and other things in my purse, but other than wanting to add in a comb and deodorant in there somewhere I think that's all I'm taking.

I do have a going home outfit for me all ready in my closet for Tom to grab when he comes to bring me home, and I or Tom will pick out going home outfits for the girls once we know their sizes. But other than that I think I'm set. I don't worry about a toothbrush, pajamas, undies or socks/slippers because the hospital provides those Although maybe I'll have Tom pick up one of those small shampoo, conditioner, body wash, deodorant kits they have for a few dollars though. Just to use right before coming home. They do provide soap and stuff, but it's not the good stuff.

So anyway, we're heading to the OB, my OB, this Thursday. I'll be a day shy of 36 weeks and we're supposed to be revisiting the induction date then. We'll see what he says.

Just a quickie

Just wanted to post a quick update. The babies are still in there, but I've had contractions all weekend, sometimes up to 8-10 minutes apart for over an hour. But I've held off going to the L&D because I knew they'd go ahead and pull them. Which sounds weird, since I'm so ready to do this right? But I really would prefer to have my regular OB do the surgery, so I wanted to wait till the week started.

I put in a call to the OB's office first thing this morning and just was called back. Of course my OB isn't there today! But the OB I've seen a few times during this pregnancy was, and she wants me to come in to be checked. We don't want these babies to just pop out on their own, so we go in today at 1:10pm.

I'm trying to make sure all my work is caught up as much as possible before then, so I'll get back to it! Just had to put an update on here!

They're getting so close!

34 weeks

As of yesterday, we're 8.5 months or 34 weeks pregnant! Can you believe we've gotten this far with twins? Thursday we had our BPP ultrasound and OB appointment. I was expecting to get new measurements, but the tech said we get them every THIRD visit, so not till next week. OY! That was a disappointment. I was hoping to hear how big they were since 2 weeks ago they were getting close to 5 lbs each. By next week they might be closer to 6! They were measuring 2 weeks ahead last time, so if that holds true then they'd be now about the size of 36 weekers. Sheesh!

But the babies both look good and they even still have room to move in there. In fact they both moved (Wednesday night I think) to be side by side with their heads up and feet down. Both breech. And both facing backwards so that we couldn't get any photos of them. Baby A is kind of behind Baby B a bit too. Good thing I'm having a c-section, otherwise I'd be all kinds of worried since neither of them seem interested in being head down in there lately!

The OB was happy with how everything is going. I've spent this week working from home with my feet up, and it really shows! I actually lost 3 pounds since last week, and I'm pretty sure that was all below my knees. I am still quite anemic though. Numbers were lower again this week at a 9.7 hematocrit. That's after the iron transfusion in March, B12 shots, which I'm still doing weekly, and oral iron supplements. Guess I'm just going to have to wait till after the babies and then I can have some blood for myself for a change!

So mostly I've been tired, it's been harder to breath since Thursday morning (due to their new positions I think), and moving is getting really uncomfortable. Can you see why?



I'm getting a bit nervous about when these girls might decide to show up though. I had a deal with them to just let me get through my presentation Friday (which I did!) and then they are free to pick whatever time they want. They should be plenty big enough to do really well on the outside. I would hope they'd wait till we get our summer financial aid, that would just make it easier financially, but whatever happens happens.

I have made arrangements for my mother to come up soon though. I definitely need her to be here for the birth as our plan is similar to last time: once the babies arrive, Tom is to stay with the babies and send my mother in to me in the recovery room. It helped to know she was there last time. So she's actually coming up here this Tuesday. That should give her a little time to help us get the finishing touches done for getting the house organized too.

Speaking of getting organized, I think I said before that I've been making lists. Well we finally got our master bedroom closet organized! It was a nightmare in there. But it's all set now, and my bags and bags of knitting and crocheting projects are now all organized in shoe boxes in the top of my closet. I went ahead and THREW AWAY some yarn. (which now I feel guilty about, so will probably pull out and add to the give-away pile instead) It was acrylic and I just hate the feel of it. I know darn well I'll never knit with it. I'm really partial to the cotton yarn and so I think I'll make sure to stick with only buying yarn I LOVE the color AND the feel of from now on.

Classes for summer start this week coming up too. Maybe I'll work at getting a little ahead in those in anticipation of the birth coming up. Or maybe I'll just keep reading through the twilight series again. It took me a few days, but I finally gave in and re-read Twilight. Now I'm working on New Moon again. I think we loaned out out copy of Eclipse though, so I might wait on that. Plus I'd hate to reread it right before seeing the movie anyway. It always ruins the movie if you remember too much about how it's "supposed" to go. I wonder if we'll be able to get a sitter and the energy to go out to see it in the theaters this summer. That would be nice!

About that OB appointment last week

So last week Thursday, Nicky was sick and we had no one to watch him. So we decided the only real option was to leave him home with Tom and I drove myself to my appointments. We were a little nervous about this. I've only driven twice since January, and the last time was to take Nicky to that birthday party in February. But I managed to fit behind the wheel, barely, and did a pretty good job of it.

The hardest part was walking from the parking garage to the doctor's office lobby. There was no way I could wheel myself, and definitely no way I could lift the wheelchair in and out of the trunk even if I could. So I had to walk. There is never any handicapped parking available there. Well, except when we go to L&D in the middle of the night. So I parked as close to the elevator as I could on the 2nd floor of the parking garage.

I made it to the lobby and sat for a rest a bit. Then headed up to the ultrasound for our weekly BPP. The tech was very complimentary and said I looked better and better every time she saw me. So maybe that walk did manage to put some color in my cheeks.

No measurements that day, but both babies did all their tricks and scored 8/8 points on their tests. The first thing she saw was that Baby B (Gabi) has a LOT of hair! You could see it floating all around her head. Nicky had a lot of hair for a baby, so looks like Gabi will follow in his footsteps.

Now, Gabi was still transverse (side to side) with her head to my right. She was facing straight forward, so we managed to get some frontal facial pictures of her. Check them out!

Can you see her?


How about now?


What a face! And this is just a regular ultrasound, not a 3D!


We are so excited about these images. It's so neat to see her little face!

Baby A (Lily) was no longer head down though. She has moved to be transverse also, but with her head to my left. She was facing straight down though, so no good images of her this time.

You'd think they'd be head to foot, but there was one angle with the wand where she could show their heads right next to each other, so I figure they might be in more of an X position in there somehow. It's good that I'm having a planned c-section because I don't have to stress at all about what position they are in!

After the ultrasound, it was time for my OB visit. I headed down the hall for that and everything went well. My iron levels are STILL low. Not much improvement at all yet. So much for the magical B12 injections huh. Not sure what we'll do about this. At least they weren't lower though.

My weight is up now a total of 63 pounds. Yeesh. I'm trying not to worry about it. I know I'm eating well. I have to because of the gestational diabetes. So I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and it'll all come off once I have the babies and return to Weight Watchers. Two healthy babies will be worth every extra pound I have to lose.

My OB was very happy with my glucose levels by the way. I'm doing really well on the 28 units of insulin.

Also, I should soon have a new CPAP machine! My OB wrote the script for an APAP, which is a CPAP machine that can be set to Auto where it will increase as needed if I have apnea events. Instead of being set to a single pressure it can be set to a range of pressures and auto adjust to your needs. I can't wait! I'm supposed to pick it up next Monday. It was actually supposed to be today, but I swear my DME people don't know their ear from their elbow.

After the OB, I walked back down to the lobby, rested and then back to the car. Then I drove to the diabetic counselor. She was very happy with my numbers too. Although she did say my after dinner numbers could be better. It appears that bread just really increases the heck out of my blood sugars, so I should try to avoid that at dinner.

After the diabetic counselor I headed out to the lobby to rest and called Tom. He'd been trying to call me while I was in the office with her. Turns out that his mom, Nicky's Nana, had just gotten a call about the biopsy she'd just had the day before. It was positive for breast cancer. The good news is that it's small, and they've caught it very early. It's not an aggressive form, in fact they advised her to go ahead with her 2 week trip to visit her daughter (Aunt Maryellen) even. But even so, it IS cancer, and she's understandably very shaken. She can use everyone's prayers.

I managed to drive myself home and was very proud of myself for having done the whole afternoon of appointments on my own.

However once was plenty and I'd like to make sure my chauffeur is around for the duration now. He did have to go up to Tallahassee the next day for an overnight stay though. I let him because he was graduating with his masters degree! Yahoo! He's done with school! Well, until he gets into Law School that is. He's thinking that will be his next move. He's hoping to get a job in an academic library with a law school so that he can go for free, which would be all sorts of awesome. Free is good.

While he was gone, my sister and her partner (Aunt Liz and Aunt Jodi) came to babysit me. It was a great visit! Jodi did a ton of work around the house, including the floors, the laundry, the lawn AND washing all four dogs (we have Nana's dog, Peanut, staying with us for a few weeks). It was awesome! She said it was for Tom's graduation gift, but it was gift for me too! Liz kept me company, watched Nicky a lot and did dishes too. It was great, I didn't have to do a thing!

They had to go home Sunday, but now my mom will be coming up on about the 15th. I'm getting antsy about the babies coming and I want to make sure she's here when they do! Our plan is the same as with Nicky's birth. Tom is to stay with the babies after they're born and send my mom to stay with me in the recovery room. So I need her here when everything starts happening. Only one contraction today actually, so I don't think it's imminent, but I'm getting very "nesty" lately and since I can't DO anything physically I'm planning and making lists and stuff like crazy. I just want everything in position ready to go... like now!

Cause you never can tell what babies are going to do. Especially when there are TWO of them!

Too pregnant to remember to put a title.

Getting ready to go to sleep, but wanted to put up some photos first.

Back a LONG time ago, right about the start of April, Nicky got a surprise in the mail from Aunt Maryellen and Uncle Scot. Check it out:


He loves these blocks! Thank you guys so much! In fact, Nicky wanted to thank you too:


We managed to finally get Nicky in for a haircut last week. He'sdbeen telling us he needed one for quite a while. Check out Nicky's before and after shots.




On the same day I came home to find a present for the babies! My office had pooled together and gotten us the stroller we wanted. Tom put it together and we tested it out:


This past week, Nicky was sick Thursday. He ran a fever and was coughing a lot. We kept him home and actually Tom stayed home with him while I drove myself to my 3 doctor appointments in the afternoon. More on those later. When I got home I found Nicky had taken over my laptop.


He's so cute.

Tomorrow I start working from home and I can't tell you how happy I am to be able to do this! I feel very fortunate to have a job where this is an option. It is going to be so great to be able to focus on work instead of spending all my energy just getting there!

Recalls out the wazoo...again!

Tom just sent me this link about a new recall of children's medicines. It's a very inclusive list! We have two of these I have been giving Nicky: one daily! and one this last week when he ran a fever. If you have kids, please read the article and the statement from the company.

While reading up on this I also found there have been recent (this week) recalls of more cribs. Hope none of you are affected by this one! Thank goodness we didn't go for any of these.

And one more on Graco highchairs: (this one was last month) We haven't bought highchairs yet, but these aren't the ones we registered for. Phew!

What a pain. Like we don't have enough to worry about??!!

Could we just please PAY FREAKING ATTENTION to the products we're making people? Especially when they're for kids?!

Oh and for anyone who hasn't gotten the memo... lead paint is still bad. Please don't use it. If I have to buy freaking lead testing kits to test all the twins' toys I'll just have to start giving them sticks and rocks to play with or something.