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"

It's time.

So much going on the past few days. I've been running around and no time to post.  (It's actually taken me three days to finish writing this post)

After we had the scare on New Year's Eve I realized I had to get my shit together!  I called the NY OB office and they told me they had not received any medical records yet. They also let me know that if we did not come in for an appointment by Jan 14th, the OB did not feel comfortable taking Wife as a patient. 

At first I was PISSED!  I think mostly because I was scared. How DARE he make us an ultimatum like that?!   Doesn't he realize where we live?! Doesn't he know I work?!  We aren't possibly ready yet! I can't take off work yet! What are we going to do in NY and with me off work for so long?!

Then I got to thinking...

That's 34 weeks!  

This year I've had friends deliver their twins at 31 and 35 weeks.  

34 weeks is only 6 weeks from a NORMAL due date. 

We have to drive ACROSS THE COUNTRY. 

Holy shit, that's 34 weeks! We are almost there!

The more I thought about, the moser I realized he was being really, very reasonable.  And it was time. 

We had an OB appt two days later and every thing was fine.  We discussed the impending trip an he was like "oh my, we are almost there aren't we". So I'm not the only one who didn't realize things were so far. I think because she hasn't had any problem and I think he honestly expects Wife to go to term.  

So we are (I am) busy running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I had a call schedule in place so my last shift is on the 11th.  We still don't have everything we need. We have a shower tomorrow (good timing!!) 

I've been busy doing laundry and packing as well I can. We elected to bring The Boys with us. They are just too old and don't really do well without us any more. Plus they have so many meds that have to be managed on a daily basis. The last three times we have left them at home they have gotten sick or had medication errors so it will actually be less stressful to have them with us. 

The trip is about 900 miles. In normal conditions it is a 11-12 hour trip. We decided a few years ago that we are not as young as we used to be and usually make the trip in 2 halves. With the dogs and the uber preggo wife we are budgeting a half day to pack and 3 full days to drive. If it doesn't take that long then great!  But we want to be able to take it slow and not be stressed. 

Mainly this weeks has consisted of me running around doing laundry and trying to figure out how on earth to pack for two adults, two dogs and two baby humans who aren't even here yet.  This has been moderately successful. I have three small bags packed and one living room completely covered in clothes. 

Today work threw us a shower. This was a huge blessing.  A bunch of really awesome ladies got together and we all had lunch and then got lots of much needed baby things!  We probably doubled the amount of baby things we have!!

I probably won't be blogging much the next few days until we leave but the plan right now is:  OB appt tomorrow morning to ensure we can travel. And then three days of work, one day of packing and then leaving on Monday. 

Wish us luck!!