The Light At The End of the Tunnel- 36 weeks
36 weeks. Things are good here, babies are growing just fine, I'm doing A-OK, and our little family is excited to meet these twins.
I like to THINK that we are prepared for this......we have cribs, we have car seats, we have diapers, we even have a double stroller. So yea, as far as stuff goes, we are pretty well prepared. What we are not prepared for are how all of this is going to work. We are going to have to get used to the idea that we are not going to be sleeping much for the first several weeks, we are going to have to get used to the fact that we are not going to be as carefree as we are now, we are going to have to get used to not having as much money as we do now....babies cost a lot and if you remember correctly, we are going to have TWO.
I'm also nervous about nursing twins. I didn't have good luck nursing Georgia. She was tongue-tied (which you can read about here) and had lots of trouble latching on to the breast. Since she couldn't get her tongue clipped until she was around 1 month old and by then she was used to being bottle fed. So, that didn't work out like I wanted it to, but it was fine. We went with it.
This time around, I would really like for breasting feeding to work out. My plan is to nurse them and when they get the hang of it introduce a bottle. I'm hoping, that as long as someone is here to help me, that I can do a combo-bottle feeding and breast feeding. So, hopefully at each feeding I would nurse one baby and the other would be bottle fed at the same time by someone else. And then at the next feeding switch babies. I think that will allow me a little bit more flexibility. And hopefully that will allow us to go out to dinner without me exposing myself to the entire restaurant! We'll see how this works and if for some reason it doesn't work out, then it is what it is. I'm not going to beat myself up about it.
Well, I went for my weekly check up today. From now on my appointments are going to be incredibly long. I will be seeing an OB or an NP in addition to my ultrasounds and NSTs. But, the good thing is there is light at the end of the tunnel...I only have two more appointments scheduled. Yea! Nolan was coming with me today so that we could talk with my OB, ask a few questions and just get some clarification about the way things should go during labor and delivery.
I started off with my ultrasound. Rita took me back to the ultrasound room and we were able to get started. Right away I saw two heads pointing down!! YEA!!! Both babies are head down again. Such a relief. I know that things could still change, Baby B could still flip flop around, but with the space at a premium, it seems like she should stay put.
Baby A's heartbeat was at 140 and Baby B's heartbeat was at 143. Both normal. Both babies did their breathing exercises, although Baby B was a sleeping beauty. She had to be poked and woken up a bit to get moving. That is pretty unusual. Usually it is Baby A who isn't moving much and Baby B is all over the place. Baby A weighs in this week at 6lb 2oz. I know, huge right? Baby B weighs in at 5lbs 14 oz. A little less, but still doing great. All of their measurements were taken and all their little organs were checked out as well.
My NST also went well. Both babies were moving around and their heartbeats were great. During the NST, they look for the baby's heart rate to go up and down. That is normal. It is not normal for their heart rate to stay consistent for a long period of time. Every time a baby moves her heartbeat goes up. So, they were both wiggling and dancing around which made my NST not take nearly as long. Also, it looks to see if I'm having any contractions. There were actually a few small contractions this time. Nothing that was super painful and nothing that caused anyone to think that labor would be happening soon, just a couple small ones.
After my NST I was told that Dr Voelkel had to leave the office and she would not be back for the day. WHAT? Nolan was taking off work early so we could talk to Dr Voelkel. Remember when I said at the beginning of this blog that we had a list of questions that we wanted to ask? Yea, all that stuff. And, if you remember from last week's update, Dr Voelkel is going to be on vacation next week. So, I won't see her until my 38 week appointment. Um, I could totally have babies by then. So, I was a little it frustrated and upset that here I am due pretty much any day and I haven't seen her in weeks.
The staff explained that they wouldn't have to reschedule my appointment and that I would get to see an OB. And that's all fine and good, but it's still not the same as seeing your own OB. It's not like I've got a cold or something, I'm having a baby. And I'm not just having a baby, I'm having twins. And I'm not just having twins, this is the pregnancy after having a baby die. Sometimes my nerves get to me a little bit, so it would have been great to talk with my own OB instead of someone that I don't know.
Nolan was already on his way to my OB office, so there was no point in calling him to let him know the news and decide if he wanted to still come or not. When he got there,I was already in an exam room and Dr Wagner had just walked in the room for my appointment. I felt kind of bad for Dr Wagner, he was just kind of thrown into this and was trying to make sure that he looked at everything from my last ultrasound and this ultrasound. What he found was that Baby B's head measurements were the same as they were last week. That concerned him a bit. At first he just suggested coming back in later in the week for another NST to make sure that the both babies were still doing fine. Then the more he looked at things, he felt like I should go upstairs to Maternal and Fetal Medicine for an ultra sound and to see Dr Dungy.
Dr Wagner got on the phone with Maternal and Fetal Medicine and before we knew it, we had an appointment. We did get to ask Dr Wagner some questions before we left the office. I asked if at this point, I went into labor on my own, would they want to stop it. He said that since I'm over 36 weeks, 37 weeks this Friday, that he would not do anything to stop labor or contractions at this point. Nolan asked that if something in the NST shows that a baby is not doing as well as she could be what would happen. At that point they would induce labor and I would have the babies that day. Dr Wagner did ask if I was planning on having a vaginal delivery. And he said that I have the best chances of having a safe vaginal delivery since both babies are head down and that Baby A is so low. He said that he would let me go for it and the only way they would do a c section is if there were any signs of distress with either me or the babies. Yea! I also wanted to know how this delivery would be different from Georgia's. I guess there could be a lot of extra people in the room. Enough to take care of each baby. So at least two more nurses and he said with multiples, it can get a little crowded in the room.
As we left there to head upstairs, I felt comfortable with Dr Wagner. He made sure to check things out and didn't just walk in the room and tell me that things were fine and send me home on my merry way. And although, I didn't get that warm and fuzzy feeling from him, I also didn't feel uncomfortable or that he was in anyway going to try and push me into something that I don't want to do. Good deal.
We went upstairs and had to wait for a long time for an ultrasound room to become available. Finally one opened up and my name was called. Our ultrasound tech was bubbly and friendly. She was one of those people who really seemed to enjoy her job. It always makes it easier when you are a little bit when you don't really know what is going on, to have someone who makes you feel at ease.
We got all set for the ultrasound and the tech told us that Baby A was head down but Baby B was head up. WHAT? That changed in just a couple of hours? Geez! That was a bit disappointing. Anyway, the tech took the measurements and said that Baby A weighed 6lb 4oz and Baby B weighed 6lbs 7oz. That is a bit of a change from our first ultrasound. Both the tech that I had the first time and the this tech said that it is just so hard to get a good measurement at this stage in pregnancy. So, who knows how accurate any of this is.
Dr Dungy came in to check things out (yes this is former Colts head coach Tony Dungy's sister). She said that the ultrasound photos looked good, but she would take a look just to double check things out. She started the ultrasound and she pointed out Baby A's head down and then Baby B's head right next to Baby A's. WHAT? Ok, lets get this straight, Baby B is head down again in.....she moved again in a matter of minutes? No. What happened is that Baby B is in fact head down...you could see the top of her head. What the second ultrasound tech was seeing was a shot under Baby A and she could see Baby B's profile. That is why she thought that Baby A was head up. So confusing, but I was so glad to hear that she is in fact head DOWN! Dr Dungy said that things looked great and there was no need for concern. Again good news. Dr Dungy said that she would call Dr Wagner and let him know that things were good and I was able to go home.
BUT, before I left I had to go back to my OB's office because Dr Wagner suggested that I come back on Friday for an additional NST....just to make sure that the babies were fine. So I ha d to stop by there and make my appointment. After that was done and I made it back to my car, it was a little after 5. I had been there since 12:30. 4 1/2 hours. Ugh. I will be so glad when all of this is done.
So just to recap...both babies are head down. I am still dilated 1 cm (I don't think I mentioned that), both babies seem to be around 6lbs, and both babies seem to be doing well and we are all ready for them to get here.
I like to THINK that we are prepared for this......we have cribs, we have car seats, we have diapers, we even have a double stroller. So yea, as far as stuff goes, we are pretty well prepared. What we are not prepared for are how all of this is going to work. We are going to have to get used to the idea that we are not going to be sleeping much for the first several weeks, we are going to have to get used to the fact that we are not going to be as carefree as we are now, we are going to have to get used to not having as much money as we do now....babies cost a lot and if you remember correctly, we are going to have TWO.
I'm also nervous about nursing twins. I didn't have good luck nursing Georgia. She was tongue-tied (which you can read about here) and had lots of trouble latching on to the breast. Since she couldn't get her tongue clipped until she was around 1 month old and by then she was used to being bottle fed. So, that didn't work out like I wanted it to, but it was fine. We went with it.
This time around, I would really like for breasting feeding to work out. My plan is to nurse them and when they get the hang of it introduce a bottle. I'm hoping, that as long as someone is here to help me, that I can do a combo-bottle feeding and breast feeding. So, hopefully at each feeding I would nurse one baby and the other would be bottle fed at the same time by someone else. And then at the next feeding switch babies. I think that will allow me a little bit more flexibility. And hopefully that will allow us to go out to dinner without me exposing myself to the entire restaurant! We'll see how this works and if for some reason it doesn't work out, then it is what it is. I'm not going to beat myself up about it.
Well, I went for my weekly check up today. From now on my appointments are going to be incredibly long. I will be seeing an OB or an NP in addition to my ultrasounds and NSTs. But, the good thing is there is light at the end of the tunnel...I only have two more appointments scheduled. Yea! Nolan was coming with me today so that we could talk with my OB, ask a few questions and just get some clarification about the way things should go during labor and delivery.
I started off with my ultrasound. Rita took me back to the ultrasound room and we were able to get started. Right away I saw two heads pointing down!! YEA!!! Both babies are head down again. Such a relief. I know that things could still change, Baby B could still flip flop around, but with the space at a premium, it seems like she should stay put.
Baby A's heartbeat was at 140 and Baby B's heartbeat was at 143. Both normal. Both babies did their breathing exercises, although Baby B was a sleeping beauty. She had to be poked and woken up a bit to get moving. That is pretty unusual. Usually it is Baby A who isn't moving much and Baby B is all over the place. Baby A weighs in this week at 6lb 2oz. I know, huge right? Baby B weighs in at 5lbs 14 oz. A little less, but still doing great. All of their measurements were taken and all their little organs were checked out as well.
My NST also went well. Both babies were moving around and their heartbeats were great. During the NST, they look for the baby's heart rate to go up and down. That is normal. It is not normal for their heart rate to stay consistent for a long period of time. Every time a baby moves her heartbeat goes up. So, they were both wiggling and dancing around which made my NST not take nearly as long. Also, it looks to see if I'm having any contractions. There were actually a few small contractions this time. Nothing that was super painful and nothing that caused anyone to think that labor would be happening soon, just a couple small ones.
After my NST I was told that Dr Voelkel had to leave the office and she would not be back for the day. WHAT? Nolan was taking off work early so we could talk to Dr Voelkel. Remember when I said at the beginning of this blog that we had a list of questions that we wanted to ask? Yea, all that stuff. And, if you remember from last week's update, Dr Voelkel is going to be on vacation next week. So, I won't see her until my 38 week appointment. Um, I could totally have babies by then. So, I was a little it frustrated and upset that here I am due pretty much any day and I haven't seen her in weeks.
The staff explained that they wouldn't have to reschedule my appointment and that I would get to see an OB. And that's all fine and good, but it's still not the same as seeing your own OB. It's not like I've got a cold or something, I'm having a baby. And I'm not just having a baby, I'm having twins. And I'm not just having twins, this is the pregnancy after having a baby die. Sometimes my nerves get to me a little bit, so it would have been great to talk with my own OB instead of someone that I don't know.
Nolan was already on his way to my OB office, so there was no point in calling him to let him know the news and decide if he wanted to still come or not. When he got there,I was already in an exam room and Dr Wagner had just walked in the room for my appointment. I felt kind of bad for Dr Wagner, he was just kind of thrown into this and was trying to make sure that he looked at everything from my last ultrasound and this ultrasound. What he found was that Baby B's head measurements were the same as they were last week. That concerned him a bit. At first he just suggested coming back in later in the week for another NST to make sure that the both babies were still doing fine. Then the more he looked at things, he felt like I should go upstairs to Maternal and Fetal Medicine for an ultra sound and to see Dr Dungy.
Dr Wagner got on the phone with Maternal and Fetal Medicine and before we knew it, we had an appointment. We did get to ask Dr Wagner some questions before we left the office. I asked if at this point, I went into labor on my own, would they want to stop it. He said that since I'm over 36 weeks, 37 weeks this Friday, that he would not do anything to stop labor or contractions at this point. Nolan asked that if something in the NST shows that a baby is not doing as well as she could be what would happen. At that point they would induce labor and I would have the babies that day. Dr Wagner did ask if I was planning on having a vaginal delivery. And he said that I have the best chances of having a safe vaginal delivery since both babies are head down and that Baby A is so low. He said that he would let me go for it and the only way they would do a c section is if there were any signs of distress with either me or the babies. Yea! I also wanted to know how this delivery would be different from Georgia's. I guess there could be a lot of extra people in the room. Enough to take care of each baby. So at least two more nurses and he said with multiples, it can get a little crowded in the room.
As we left there to head upstairs, I felt comfortable with Dr Wagner. He made sure to check things out and didn't just walk in the room and tell me that things were fine and send me home on my merry way. And although, I didn't get that warm and fuzzy feeling from him, I also didn't feel uncomfortable or that he was in anyway going to try and push me into something that I don't want to do. Good deal.
We went upstairs and had to wait for a long time for an ultrasound room to become available. Finally one opened up and my name was called. Our ultrasound tech was bubbly and friendly. She was one of those people who really seemed to enjoy her job. It always makes it easier when you are a little bit when you don't really know what is going on, to have someone who makes you feel at ease.
We got all set for the ultrasound and the tech told us that Baby A was head down but Baby B was head up. WHAT? That changed in just a couple of hours? Geez! That was a bit disappointing. Anyway, the tech took the measurements and said that Baby A weighed 6lb 4oz and Baby B weighed 6lbs 7oz. That is a bit of a change from our first ultrasound. Both the tech that I had the first time and the this tech said that it is just so hard to get a good measurement at this stage in pregnancy. So, who knows how accurate any of this is.
Dr Dungy came in to check things out (yes this is former Colts head coach Tony Dungy's sister). She said that the ultrasound photos looked good, but she would take a look just to double check things out. She started the ultrasound and she pointed out Baby A's head down and then Baby B's head right next to Baby A's. WHAT? Ok, lets get this straight, Baby B is head down again in.....she moved again in a matter of minutes? No. What happened is that Baby B is in fact head down...you could see the top of her head. What the second ultrasound tech was seeing was a shot under Baby A and she could see Baby B's profile. That is why she thought that Baby A was head up. So confusing, but I was so glad to hear that she is in fact head DOWN! Dr Dungy said that things looked great and there was no need for concern. Again good news. Dr Dungy said that she would call Dr Wagner and let him know that things were good and I was able to go home.
BUT, before I left I had to go back to my OB's office because Dr Wagner suggested that I come back on Friday for an additional NST....just to make sure that the babies were fine. So I ha d to stop by there and make my appointment. After that was done and I made it back to my car, it was a little after 5. I had been there since 12:30. 4 1/2 hours. Ugh. I will be so glad when all of this is done.
So just to recap...both babies are head down. I am still dilated 1 cm (I don't think I mentioned that), both babies seem to be around 6lbs, and both babies seem to be doing well and we are all ready for them to get here.
Yay! They are already bigger than Aubrey, that is awesome! Hope they make an appearance soon!!
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