Last post, a little late.

A lot has gone on in the past 72 hours. Everything is good even if it didn't go like we had hoped. 

Coinciding with the scheduled birth of our daughters was one of the worst storms that the Southern US has ever seen and a pretty bad storm by north eastern standards.  

The day before my parents were scheduled to fly out, 2,000 flights we cancelled in anticipation of several inches of snow in Georgia accompanied by an ice storm. There is no snow removal equipment to speak of in the south, nor are the cars or drivers equipped to handle true winter weather.  Over the next 48 hours another 3,000 or so flights were cancelled, and all the roads were closed due to ice accumulation of almost 2" inches in some places.   My parents were scheduled and rescheduled eventually a total of 5 times before successfully getting on a plane and arriving 2.5 days late. 

But wait there's more.  On the way into Atlanta Thursday, my parents totaled their truck!   While driving on a completely iced over highway, they lost control of the truck and hit the center median head on. 

Other than cuts and bruises, they are just fine.  But they didn't want to worry us, so we didn't find out till they showed up on Friday night. 

Which brings me back to us. 

We showed up early, 0530, day of delivery.  Wife went in just before 0800 for her epidural.  The first epidural did not work so another attempt was made. This one worked, very, very well.  When I walked into the OR, to sit next to her, the first thing I noticed was the mask on her face, and the anesthesiologist assisting her breathing with a bag.  This was terrifying! And confusing! Was she ok? Was she awake? Was I supposed to be there? 

Turns out, Wife had what we call a "high" spinal. When the medicine finally worked it slowly spread upwards. Shortly after laying down she noticed trouble taking a deep breath. Followed by her arms and chest going numb. Soon she couldn't take normal breaths and the numbness spread up her neck to her face and the anesthesiologist had to assist her for about 15 minutes. 

Section went fantastic. Babies were out quick, 2 min apart. No significant bleeding, which was a huge concern of ours considering how stretched her uterus was with two babies and extra fluid. The docs estimated 5+ liters of amniotic fluid in there with the two babies and placentas!

Kyle Kathryn, born 02/13/14 at 8:39 am, 6lbs15 oz and 20 inches long. 

Ryan Michelle, born 02/13/14 at 8:41 am, 6lbs9 oz and 21 inches long. 

Both babies were evaluated and cleared by the neonatologist to go to the regular nursery. However, a short time after arriving, Kyle was proving to be a trouble maker. Kyle wasn't able to clear all the amniotic fluid out of her lungs (less common with vaginal births as it literally gets squished out). She continued to require small amounts of oxygen, so after a few hours she was transferred to the NICU. 

I'm late posting all of this because my parents were MIA and I didn't want to tell my parents until they could see her. Nothing like hearing your brand new granddaughter is in the ICU and you can't see her to see she's ok. 

After just under 24 hours of oxygen, Kyle was doing much better. She was taken off oxygen and later that day allowed to nurse for the first time. And man was she hungry!!!

On day two she came off the IV and day three (today) she was moved to a nursery. It's like the regular nursery but with NICU nurses. Here she remained "property" of the NICU. After a morning and afternoon of back and forth with different docs about whether Kyle could go home despite needing nothing for 48 hours and having normal labs, we got the all clear!

It's been an adventure, an it's not over yet, but we are well on our way!

Babies come in snow storms!

My family on Long Island has been telling me for the past three weeks "Babies come in snow storms!"  This is usually a mantra said as they frantically shovel the porch and walkway of grandma's house so that we can "get out" if Wife goes in to labor.  Well, today, the D-day of our scheduled c-section, there is quite a snow storm. 

The storm started yesterday morning down south in Alabama and Georgia. Unfortunately, this means that my parents, who were scheduled to fly in early yesterday morning, are still stuck. As of right now, they have had a total of 5 flights cancelled and currently do not have a flight.  This means they will not be here for the births which they are quite sad about that. But they will get here in the next day or so I'm sure and as long as everyone is safe that is all that matters. 

We got 1" of snow this morning and are expecting another 5-9" in our area. 

I told Wife she'll get to tell the girls he had to trudge through the snow to getti the hospital to have them and it will be true!

Waiting to go in now. I'll update when we are out. 

Home stretch!

A lot of lasts today!

Today was our very last MFM appointment. It snowed, again. We got their early, again. And half the staff and doctor were late. Again. 

Last ultrasound!!  Ultrasound looked perfect. Now both babies have an absolute ton of fluid so Wife looks like a giant torpedo is sticking out of her belly. She started getting stretch marks about two weeks ago, and now for the past week she has developed numbness in the center of her belly. We are attributing it to all the stretching and hopefully it will come back after the babies are born!

Baby A: I am already a sucker for those pouty lips!

Baby B:  last week the eyes were open, this week her mouth!  One of my favorites!

Last NST!! Baby B behaved for the heart monitoring and we finished that segment it just about a half hour.

We have all been counting down te days and there are just over 2 days left!

I spent today running errands and finishing up projects. 

Just in the nick of time, our car seat covers came. As it keeps snowing this will be a plus in bringing the girls home. 

I have to reinstall one of the car seats and return a couple things to Babies R Us and I think we are all ready on the baby stuff front. 

Also in the nick of time, I finished my painting. I now am sure I want to put it in the girls room, so I'm glad I finished it before they came cuz there is gonna be NO time after!

Tomorrow is pre-op testing and registration. 

Wednesday my parents are coming in. 

Thursday is babies. 

O. M. G. 

Last OB appointment ... Kinda

So yesterday was our last appointment with the regular OB before the delivery!

I'm posting tonight because we've had some problems with the internet. Specifically, we used up all the data plan on our phones with a week left in the month. So, except for internet at my cousins house, who we let the dogs out for, we've been out of touch with the outside world!

I've gotten a lot done on my painting...

And we went to game stop and bought a couple of used games for the GameBoy DS and PlayStation PSP that we brought with us "just in case". 

I also started working on putting the blog in print form because I think it might be a cool thing to have as a keepsake. Especially as this was originally meant as a journal for me to have and to show the girls when they are older.  Unlike the painting I have no hopes of finishing the book before the girls are born.  I have not decided but I was planning on having Thursday be my last blog post.

Thursday we had our normal bedside look-see with the doctors little ultrasound. Everything is perfect and no babies anytime soon. But we got to see the coolest thing!  The girls EYES!  Baby B even opened her eyes and we got to see eyelids!!

Baby A, for orientation she's lying on her side. Top of head on the right. You can se her right eye, nose, right cheek and chin. 

Baby B is on the left. You can clearly make out her right eye (left side) especially cool is you can clearly see eye lids!!!  The weird thing on the right is A limb belonging to Baby A. 

Baby B again

We got some really cool baby stuff in the mail today from a friend so of course, one of the dogs got a ride in another baby carrier.  

Not that we are counting but...5 days and 6 more nights!!

A New Day, A New Doctor

Today was the pediatric cardiologist appointment.  We had mixed feelings about going but mostly we were feeling "what else are we doing" and "might as well know the most about the girl's health before they are born".

We arrived early at the pediatric cardiology appointment as we again woke up to completely shitty weather.  Last night it was snowing and raining at the same time.  Appointment went really well.  The cardiologist told us that there is no specific cardiac risk factors associated with IVF or 2-vessel cord, just that they occasionally see a correlation that no one understands.  She also told us that 2-vessel cord was not enough reason to get a fetal echo, that usually other abnormalities have to be seen as well and that the most common abnormality is kidney defects and that we would definitely get a renal ultrasound.  I love NY... Except for an ultrasound on Thursday and Monday we are done with all these tests.

The echos on both girls looked perfect, no problems no concerns.  One more check off on the list.

One more OB appointment and then one more MFM appointment and then D-Day!

8 more days for those keeping track at home.

We are seriously ready for babies:

The poor dogs have been suffering while we try out all our baby things on them as we wait for babies to come!

Holy Growing-Like-Weeds Batman!!

So MFM appointment today, second to last one!!

Snow storm today.  Well I use the term loosely. When we woke up there was about an inch on the ground and it was actively snowing pretty hard. We got to the doctors office no problem only to discover almost NOONE from the staff was there!  Apparently they were shocked that WE showed up!  I was like "we are from Michigan, this isn't snow!"  Which of course necessitated us re-explaining our predicament to yet another shocked NewYorkian. 

Finally everyone showed up and we got on with our epic MFM appointment marathon. Despite a growth US, NST, doctor appt, we got out in under 2 hours :-)

!!

Growth US:  all very good news. Baby A is maybe slowing down a tad in growing (also might be the change in US tech) she is now right on as far as dates go. Her weight is estimated at 7lbs5oz! Baby B is still measuring ahead a week or two as far as growth but her belly is smaller and so her weight is estimated at 6lbs15oz!  Still very close so no concerns there. They had really good fluid in their bellies so no concerns there. Baby A had more fluid and Baby B had less, both more than normal, but they seem to be evening out. But in general all very good!

NST (monitoring) went better than usual, perhaps due to an 8am appt instead of a lunchtime appt. Heart rates look fantastic, lots and lots of movement and no contractions. 

Doctors visit was good as well. No legitimate concerns. Dr W (who we saw the first week, we saw Dr A last week) was grumbling about her sugars and her amniotic fluid again. And then was upset we had not gone for the embryonic echo. Apparently we had an appointment, but no one ever told us, it was 4 days ago. ::face palm::  so the office made us an appoinemt before we left for Wednesday of this week. We are not super excited about it as we see it as yet another expense that doesn't seen to have a real reason behind it. BUT we want our babies to be healthy and the more info the better, so like good patients, off we will go on Wednesday. 

The US tech was so cute, as she was doing the 3d pictures she says "you know, I can see both of you on both of these babies, which is kinda weird..."  And I think it's awesome!  I would love it if you could not tell who was the bio mom of the girls. And I totally want people to look at either of us and be like "oh yes, that's so-and-so's mom". So I thought it was really cute!

Now what you all have been waiting for.....

Baby A and her perma-duck lips 

Baby B

Finally put her arm down for a split second

Not that anyone is counting but we have 9days, 1 cardiology appt, 1OB/GYN apt and 1MFM appt left of this pregnancy!  

We have a date!

So not a lot of news, but what we have is exciting!  We had a tentative date: "You will be sectioned at 38 weeks if you don't go into labor first".  But now we actually have the section SCHEDULED!  So its like real and stuff!  First thing in the morning!  Lord knows we wont sleep the night before!  We are 36w1d today!  Hopefully will get belly pics tomorrow :)

I set up "Nursery Part Deux" as I am calling it :)  We brought a kick ass Pack'N Play and set it up next to our bed at Grandma's house (soon to be Great Grandma's house!).  It has storage and a hamper and a changing area so its like a mini, mobile, nursery!

Pack'N Play without attachements

Crib and Changing Table

 Organizer

Well thats about all I have right now.  Just sitting around being bored mostly!  Growth ultrasounds on Monday!!

MFM latest

Another MFM appointment today!

Today was a "quicker" appt, no growth scan today so no new word on how HUGE they are getting. We will do another growth ultrasound next week. 

Today was a BPP which looks at fluid and baby movement and a few limited anatomy shots. We had to wait a little bit for a look at Baby A "practice breathing". Apparently they don't "breathe" all the time. Just off and on to practice. Also, apparently what we have thought was hiccups this whole time, may in fact be practice breathing. We found this out because when we finally got to see Baby A practice breathing, Wife was experiencing what we had been calling hiccups. The tech said that hiccups and practice breathing were basically the same thing!  Cool!  So the BPP looks good with the exception of the excess fluid which really has not changed at all. 

We also had another NST, something we will do every week. Basically this results in even our "quick" appointment being hours long hahaha.  

We no longer have to check Wife's blood sugars. After a week of checking her sugars an hour after eating they ranged from 60-119 so we can OFFICIALLY check gestational diabetes off the list. Baby B still has a bunch of fluid which is a base line concern along with the two-vessel cord. The MFM was a little concerned that she could not see a stomach bubble. If the babies don't swallow the fluid then you can end up with some extra fluid. But we have always seen a stomach bubble in previous US and the tech verified that she saw normal stomach bubbles just prior to the doc coming in.  Prior to the doc leaving she says she saw the stomach filling a little so it's something we will watch but is not too concerning right now.

We talked about when the babies come again. If the babies were to be born now at 35w4d, there is a good chance they might spend a little time in the NICU. The doc said that if we deliver after 36 weeks then the odds are much higher for no time in the NICU which is exciting because that is only a few days away!

C-section is still the plan as Baby A is still sideways. Baby B did three complete somersaults during the 1 hour ultrasound! So no telling what her plan is!

Can't remember if I have posted a belly shot in a while. 

Wife is starting to get pretty uncomfortable. Hips hurt her all night so she tosses and turns from one side to the other. Her belly is so big that she starts to get sweaty/fidgety/faint if she lays on her back for more than about 2 minutes. She's also retaining quite a bit of fluid. Good News: she was down one pound today so no big weight gain in the past three days. Bad News: she has putting edema up to her belly. (Putting edema is when you push the skin in wih a finger for a second or two and let go and the indent stays). Good News: her labs have all been fine so no sign of kidney problems, preeclampsia or HELLP. The fluid retention is almost assuredly caused by the babies pushing on her veins and keeping her blood from returnig to her heart (sounds scarier than it is)

Baby pics!

Baby A

Baby A rocking her fro!

Baby B (notice increased fluid, it gives her room for acrobatics)

Baby A

Baby B

Super Creepy Baby B

More Baby A

Well that's it for a few days. I'm mostly going stir crazy. I started a Paint-By-Number project after finishing my Thank You notes. I seriously need A) something to do and B) any kind I mental stimulation. This no working thing is wearing thin. 

 So this is what I'm keeping yawls occupied with for a few hours each night.  

I want the babies to bake as log as possible. But I also want tem to come as early as is safe for them; we are going crazy here!  Not to mention, my latest fear is they won't fit in the diapers or clothes we brought for them as try are beginning to enter in to the 'larger than your average newborn, and certainly NOT PREEMIE' realm....

All good on the sugar front

So after checking sugars after ever meal for the past 2 1/2 days I can say Wife does not have gestational diabetes. 

First time she checked her sugars at home after eating frosted mini wheats we had a bit of a scare when her sugar came back 160. But after she WASHED HER HANDS and rechecked it, it was 100 and now she knows to wash her hands after handling FROSTING before checking her sugar! Lol!

Fasting sugars tend to be 60-90 and her post meal sugars have never been above 119. So I think wife is finally relaxing about that. 

In other news Cabin Fever is setting in around here. 

I spent probably 10 hours over 3-4 days scrubbing the bathroom and kitchen and then yesterday I rented a carpet steam cleaner and spent 6 hours steam cleaning the carpets in grandmas house. They look SO much better!! We all agree I could probably do it again (as the water in the last load was still black!) but I also brought up enough carpet fuzz (about half a cup) that there is concern the wrote might disintegrate if I clean it much more!!

Today, I am a little sore and Wife is going stir crazy!  We've been playing cards and going to Starbucks or Panera a few times a week for internet, but, I have to be honest. She's so bored, and can't do much because he's getting so big.  Her legs are getting swollen enough we actually bought super TED hose and wrestled her into them a little bit ago and it was basically the most entertainment we've had all day!! 

Later I'm going to set up and refills the Pack'N Play "for practice" and maybe assemble the stroller!! Oooh!

I think we are both ready for the babies. 

Very good day! (And finally a hint towards a plan!)

Today we went for lab work and our first MFM appointment with the new doc here in NY.  

To start, Wife's labs included a blood chemistry so I made her fast. Because of that I didn't want to eat in front of her, so we both got up without breakfast. 

At around 10 we left the house and went to have her labs drawn at the hospital a few miles from grandma's.  Afterwards we went to the MFM appointment early to fill out paperwork. 

What followed was quite possibly, the longest office visit day. 

Ever. 

We waited about an hour and then Wife got taken back for "vitals", which we have now caught on actuall means "do you get beaten" questioning.  We then went back for NST (Non-Stress Test) monitoring. This is also an exercise in futility, as trying to monitor Baby's heartbeat is almost impossible. She does not stay in one spot more than about 5 seconds!  After about 40 minutes of the NO, myself, Wife, and almost every nurse in the office, trying to chase baby B around ... We managed to get a total of about 20 seconds of consistent heart beat tracing!  They finally called it quite with that!

Afterwards (mind you we have now been in the office 2 hours), we went to get our growth ultrasound and to have a BPP (Bio Physical Profile).  I am always amazed at how much the babies have grown! And what we can see with the ultrasound! 

We got some really cool pics:

The biggest news was how muh the girls have grown!!

Baby A is estimated at 6lbs4oz

Baby B is estimated at 5lbs14oz!!!

They are huge!!

There were some minor 'concerns' on the MFM side, but really it seems they are just changes in 'standards'. Apparently here in NY "everybody who uses IVF gets a inutero echo". Why? No one can really tell us, but still they were concerned it had not been done yet. At this point it seems like it's just something to spend money on, but we will do whatever tests they want us to do so that we are the most informed. Also, despite numerous normal blood tests, the MFM is convinced that Wife has gestational diabetes. This is mostly due to how the girls are growing and the fact that there is 'more than the normal amount of amniotic fluid'. After saying several times 'the number one cause of increased amniotic fluid is gestational diabetes', she finally confessed that 'the number two reason is, no reason'.   So she wrote for Wife to check her blood sugar four times a day so that we can catch her diabetes. 

Wife was moderately concerned. I think she's terrified of developing gestational diabetes after everything she has gone through.   

Before we left they decided they'd check her blood sugar. It was 66. At this point we had been at the doctors office 4 hours. 

They asked:

'when was the last time you ate'.

'yesterday'. 

'No lunch or even a snack?'

'We've been here all day! When could we have eaten?!'

'...'

We headed home, hungry, exhausted, excited about BIG BABIES!!  We ate dinner at 1630 which gma was excited about and then we took a nap! 

Preggo Pics!!

So excited to get our pregnancy pics in the mail yesterday!  We had them taken 2 weeks ago before everything got fast-tracked and we were rushing across the country.  They are so cool I wanted to share some of them here!

Meet and Greet the new OB

I wanted to thank everyone for the caring and concern!  It really means a lot!  We made it to NY safe and sound, we are currently staying on Long Island staying with my 93 y/o grandma. 

We are 34 weeks today!  We had our appointment with the new OB today and THANK GOD we like him!  It was a little odd as I spent almost 90 minutes in the waiting room without my wife while she talked with the nurse, and then the doctor, and then had her physical. Apparently, she kept asking for me to come back and they told her "the doc usually likes meeting with you first". It made us both a little uncomfortable, so we will try to make it a point that it doesn't happen in future appointments. But, all in all, he was very nice, seemed very competent, and made us feel  very comfortable. Also, we seem to all be on the same wavelength about birth plan etc., which is good. 

We got a sneak peek at the girls, they are now in a "ying/yang" position so c-section seems to definitely be in our future. 

We are set up to see the MFM weekly for Ultrasounds and monitoring and to see the OB every weeks as well. He is going to let us go as far as we can and unless something changes we will likely go into labor spontaneously and have the section then. Crossing fingers for at least two more weeks!

Monday we go to the MFM for a growth scan and see if our 4.5lbers from last month can tip the scales!!

Meanwhile, I'm busying myself with cleaning my grandma's house. She does not see very well and doesn't clean much so it's kinds of a mess and sorta gross. Today I spent a few hours vacuuming mystery things from under our bed and spraying down the entire bathroom and kitchen with an entire bottle of scrubbing bubbles and a thing of Swifter mops!!

Next week I plan on steam cleaning the carpets. I know no one who knows me is surprised!

Well, that's all I know for now so guess I'll head off to bed. Hopefully we will take 34 week pics tomorrow. This was last weeks that I never got posted before we left:

Aaaand were off!!

And basically on time!

The last three days I've worked night a shifts and then packed/cleaned/shopped during the day. I think I averaged about 5 hours of sleep/day over Thursday Friday and Saturday. Saturday night I worked my last shift, took a nap and then packed all day. By 10pm I was able to start packing a few large things (install a car seat, pack n play and the stroller) and then head to bed. 

Bad news: either I picked up the flu on my last few days of work, or I stressed my body out so much from lack of sleep the past few days and stress about the trip. I have learned in the past few months my body doesn't do well with the prolonged sleeplessness and over working combo. In November, in an effort to make extra money to save for when I have to take time off, I worked a few stints of 7+ days in a row and I got sick. I was sick with crud/bronchitis for over a week. It was bad enough I didn't pick up many extra shifts in December because I was afraid of getting sick!

Well last night as I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off, I developed debilitating nausea, dry heaves and heartburn. I attributed it to stress and was drinking Maalox out of the bottle and chewing Tums by the handful. This morning I have laryngitis and a cough. A small part off is hoping this is just a reaction to the tray bad heartburn and I will be Aaalll better tomorrow. Most of me thinks I have caught the Bronchitis. And ain't nobody got time for That!

Packed up this morning, headed to work to tie up loose ends and make sure I stop getting paychecks while I'm gone (I get paid very weirdly) and then we hit the road around 13:30 or 14:00.  By 18:00 all of us were done. One of the dogs "The Crier" we call him, was... Well... Crying. I was exhausted. And Wife, bless her heart, drove the whole 4 hours and was sick of being in the car.  In other news we only stopped once for Wife and The Cougher (aka the dog who is on a water pill)

So,  we have stopped in Cleveland Ohio. We are taking a much needed rest and will hit the road again tomorrow. Weather permitting we have about 8 hours left of driving. 

Tune in tomorrow for the adventures of "The Insane Couple Who Took A 10-month Pregnant Woman and Two Geriatric Dogs on a Cross-Country Trip"

Tune in later in the season for the sequel: "The Insane Couple Who Took A Post-Op Woman, Newborn Twins and Two Geriatric Dogs on a Cross-Country Trip"