Labor

What had happened was.......

Adaleigh is doing fantastic!!!

Last night Adaleigh was moved to a crib!!!!!!  No more isolette, she has no IVs, she is up to 35 ml in her feedings, they have added fortifier to her milk, and she is up to 4 lbs 3 oz in weight.  That is a full ounce above her birth weight!  She is still being tube fed but the nurse did ask me if I was ok with the occupational therapist trying a bottle with her so hopefully she will be home soon.  I am totally ok with the bottle as long as it is still my breast milk.  I do want to do a combination of breast and bottle and apparently if you dont do breast only babies typically come home sooner.  Everyone continue to pray for us, the prayers are going a long way towards her recovery and it shows.

Today's status

I am doing ok.......my c-section incision is about 9 inches long (pretty much goes hip to hip). No idea if this is average size or not but it sure does hurt. The narcotic meds make me nauseated and dizzy so I am on tylenol every 6 hours and motrin every 8 which only really takes the edge off the pain. I would go through it all again though just to have my perfect girl. My breast milk has started to come in as well finally. My .5-2ml pumpings have now been replaced by 14ml pumpings!!!! Still not what I need but its getting there.

Adaleigh is doing great! She was moved from NICU into special care. She is still under the isolette but just to help maintain her temperature and to monitor her overall. The did have to put in a PICU line today which is like an IV but goes in a larger vein and is threaded longer. She kept having problems with swelling from the IVs so they gave her that but apparently most babies that spend any real time in the NICU have to have one. Their veins are just much more delicate than ours. She has 3 milestones to meet before returning home

1. Breathing on her own
2. Maintaining her temperature outside the isolette
3. Getting the suck, swallow, breathe reflex down so she is able to eat

so far we have #1 so everyone pray that the next ones are just as easily checked off.

The loss of Brasker

So Friday morning I woke up and was feeling a little dizzy so we called the doctor and were sent to the labor and delivery triage (my blood pressure had dropped) Once we arrived they hooked me up to monitors but could not get a fetal heartbeat on Brasker.  It seems sometime Friday morning he had passed on.  After examining me, blood work, and an amniocentesis they believe his umbilical cord was never properly attached  although we will not know this for sure until I deliver and even then only if I deliver via c-section.  This is apparently something that effects 1-3% of IVF twins called vasa praevia.  It was explained to us as a button being sewn on with not enough string, the slightest movements could pop it.  Apparently if this is the case it happens around 29-31 weeks because the baby's movements have become more active.  We were told this is something that cant be predicted or prevented.

Adaleigh is doing fine so far and I have received the 2 steroid shots in the event that I do happen to go into labor early.  I did have some minor spotting but I was told it was nothing to worry about and they have me monitoring my temperature 3 times a day but we are at home now so I am more comfortable.  I am currently dilated 1cm and 50% effaced but that is no indication of imminent labor, I could go today but I could also go in 6 weeks.

Steve and I are coping the best we know how and both of our mothers are here now to help lend support.  As you can imagine this is not something we want to discuss but I did want our friends and family to know about.  Please keep our family in your prayers.

Latest doctor visit

We went to the doctor Tuesday and the babies are doing fine.  No real changes or updates on that front.  They wont make any actual guesses as to when I might deliver so we just are a wait and see.  We do have a sonogram scheduled for Tuesday the 10th of July so I will be posting pics again pretty soon.  The doctor wasnt really concerned about my continuing contractions, he said that as long as they were not time-able and the birthing center triage didnt have to medicate or keep me over night that I was in the clear but that if I had more than 7 in an hour to call.  I do have to take this with a grain of salt though because they have gotten regular enough that if I dont lay down I do have them that often.  Sitting up or reclining seems to trigger them for me, last night while sitting up (hips were hurting so I couldnt lay down on my side) I had 8 or 9 but they were never at regular intervals.  At this point my water is going to have to break for me to know when I actually am in labor :)  On a side note my stomach is so big now that my skin has stretched to the point that it is numb to the touch.  I read that this is common in later pregnancy but for singleton pregnancies it usually occurs around 36 weeks.  I'm just an over achiever I guess :)

My momma is here!!!!!!

Mom got in yesterday and is staying with us for a while to help me with the things that have become near impossible around the house for me to do like buy groceries and some of the cleaning.  She plans to stay and help us with the twins after they are born as well so I dont go crazy.  Thank you Mom!