I will tolerate any level of discomfort if it comes with play time with my babies.
Now this is not to say that Baby B isn't part of the action, but she is certainly not crazy active like Baby A is! Imagine, if you will, you wake at 4am and feel kicks/punches and movement in your belly. So cool. You can visibly see your stomach moving around. Awesome. And then you realize, when you respond by pushing down and around on the tummy where the 'body parts' are elbowing, punching and kicking, that after a moment, the baby responds to your touch at the spot you are touching!
Little baby parts, responding to your touch, playful. Speechless with joy. Laughter. Fun. - it's amazing, folks. Truly cool.
I love these little babies more than I can express. It's too much for words.
Have a great weekend everyone. Be sure to experience joyful exuberance if you can!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Where's my sense of accomplishment?
Right. I forgot. It's being held up by others not doing their jobs.
Yes, folks, my list is getting longer and nothing is moving forward, all thanks to people either doing shoddy jobs, or others just not getting their gears shifted into drive to enable me to move on things. Isn't that just the way?
Meanwhile, I am DEFINITELY gaining inches and weight, and having issues even getting up off the couch, so that later these things get pushed, the worse for me. Not a good recipe. You'd think they would take pity on me, and put me to the top of their list of "People to eventually help out". Harrumph.
So the venting is done. Thanks for your patience.
On another note, I had a great long weekend and got to a friend's cottage for some sun, space and relaxation floating on the lake. That shit is good for the soul, my friends!
What about you? What does it take to take you away from it all? A sandy beach? A hammock and a novel? A patio and cold beer?
Stay thirsty, my friends...
Yes, folks, my list is getting longer and nothing is moving forward, all thanks to people either doing shoddy jobs, or others just not getting their gears shifted into drive to enable me to move on things. Isn't that just the way?
Meanwhile, I am DEFINITELY gaining inches and weight, and having issues even getting up off the couch, so that later these things get pushed, the worse for me. Not a good recipe. You'd think they would take pity on me, and put me to the top of their list of "People to eventually help out". Harrumph.
So the venting is done. Thanks for your patience.
On another note, I had a great long weekend and got to a friend's cottage for some sun, space and relaxation floating on the lake. That shit is good for the soul, my friends!
What about you? What does it take to take you away from it all? A sandy beach? A hammock and a novel? A patio and cold beer?
Stay thirsty, my friends...
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Baby B - An update and a surprise preview
It has been a long day, but all told, not nearly as stressful as it could have been. First, let's get to the fun part. After almost an hour-long diagnostic ultrasound, our technician surprised us by producing a 4D ultrasound wand, and this photo of our beautiful goober, uber-fighter, baby B:
.jpg)
We don't have a shot of Baby A, as she her back was to us, facing my spine.
Cute as hell, right?
And what of her story? We have some more chapters to include, thanks to our long meeting with the doctor today at the General.
Where to start? Well, both babies have had a good growth week, and Baby B especially, so she is now no longer in a low weight concern category, so Mommy is pretty pleased about that! She was also incredibly active during the ultrasound, which we loved seeing too.
She, and her twin sister, had both shifted to be in a breech, or feet down position, so that meant that all those crazy kicks were from both of them, when I actually thought it was only baby A...
And what of her condition? Well, here's the scoop, as we understand it.
What our little goober has is called a Diaphragmatic Hernia. There are a couple things in our favour, we found out. First, the hernia is located on the left side, which has a better outcome than if it were on the right. Second, the liver has NOT also relocated to inside the cavity, and this is also very very good, we are told. The stomach and part of the bowels are there at this time, but the above is apparently good news. On the slightly negative side, the lung measurements were sub-par relative to the growth of the baby's head, which is not great, but then, last week, baby B was considered underweight, and this week, she'd had a growth spurt and there are no issues, so...we hope this will change.
What else? Well, the doctor, looking at our original IPS nuchal fold measurement, combined with today's measurements, said that baby B looks great, and the chance that she has Down's is still very low. So, rather than risk bringing on the onset of early labour by doing an amnio, he recommends against it but feels pretty positive that her chances are very good on that front. Congenital defects like this DO tend to drive up the chance of issues like Downs, but this type of issue doesn't affect the ratio/chances all that much. So this has helped us relax a bit too.
So what now? Well, now we meet with CHEO surgeons, neonatal specialists, and go for appointments and ultrasounds every two weeks at The General. We also wait to see how strong baby B can get, and how well her lungs are able to develop in this small space. But really, we wait for the delivery to see if she can breathe... From what we are told, there is about a 60-80% chance that she will be able to breathe enough to survive, that we can stablize her, and then get her into surgery to fix the problem. But really, we won't know this for sure until after she is born. Plain and simple. And not so simple, emotionally, but still better to know where this all stands.
The nice bonus today? The doctor has placed back on the table the possibility that we can try to deliver naturally, and not have to have a scheduled C-section. If both babies are head down, he doesn't see a reason why we cannot try, and if baby A is head down, he would still consider it. Mommy is VERY happy about that, and I am sure our doulas will be happy to know this also. If this doesn't work out, then great, but at least this is still a possibility.
So. Yes, we have a little girl here fighting for her life, but she has a good chance. And I just have to believe that because Mommy is strong, positive and in love with her two little miracles, that this will be enough. Only time will tell.
.jpg)
Cute as hell, right?
And what of her story? We have some more chapters to include, thanks to our long meeting with the doctor today at the General.
Where to start? Well, both babies have had a good growth week, and Baby B especially, so she is now no longer in a low weight concern category, so Mommy is pretty pleased about that! She was also incredibly active during the ultrasound, which we loved seeing too.
She, and her twin sister, had both shifted to be in a breech, or feet down position, so that meant that all those crazy kicks were from both of them, when I actually thought it was only baby A...
And what of her condition? Well, here's the scoop, as we understand it.
What our little goober has is called a Diaphragmatic Hernia. There are a couple things in our favour, we found out. First, the hernia is located on the left side, which has a better outcome than if it were on the right. Second, the liver has NOT also relocated to inside the cavity, and this is also very very good, we are told. The stomach and part of the bowels are there at this time, but the above is apparently good news. On the slightly negative side, the lung measurements were sub-par relative to the growth of the baby's head, which is not great, but then, last week, baby B was considered underweight, and this week, she'd had a growth spurt and there are no issues, so...we hope this will change.
What else? Well, the doctor, looking at our original IPS nuchal fold measurement, combined with today's measurements, said that baby B looks great, and the chance that she has Down's is still very low. So, rather than risk bringing on the onset of early labour by doing an amnio, he recommends against it but feels pretty positive that her chances are very good on that front. Congenital defects like this DO tend to drive up the chance of issues like Downs, but this type of issue doesn't affect the ratio/chances all that much. So this has helped us relax a bit too.
So what now? Well, now we meet with CHEO surgeons, neonatal specialists, and go for appointments and ultrasounds every two weeks at The General. We also wait to see how strong baby B can get, and how well her lungs are able to develop in this small space. But really, we wait for the delivery to see if she can breathe... From what we are told, there is about a 60-80% chance that she will be able to breathe enough to survive, that we can stablize her, and then get her into surgery to fix the problem. But really, we won't know this for sure until after she is born. Plain and simple. And not so simple, emotionally, but still better to know where this all stands.
The nice bonus today? The doctor has placed back on the table the possibility that we can try to deliver naturally, and not have to have a scheduled C-section. If both babies are head down, he doesn't see a reason why we cannot try, and if baby A is head down, he would still consider it. Mommy is VERY happy about that, and I am sure our doulas will be happy to know this also. If this doesn't work out, then great, but at least this is still a possibility.
So. Yes, we have a little girl here fighting for her life, but she has a good chance. And I just have to believe that because Mommy is strong, positive and in love with her two little miracles, that this will be enough. Only time will tell.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
On the eve of our next appointment - Chinese Food!
It has been a REALLY long week. Ups and downs, and a lot of attention paid to my sometimes moving, sometimes not moving, belly to see if Baby B is going to kick. Lost weight initially and have only just now gotten back to my weight over a week ago. Eating plenty, so that's worrisome. Just trying so very very hard not to worry too much, but it's mentally exhausting.
I won't get into our issue with the new carpeting, which was supposed to be done yesterday and enable us to start decorating the nursery. More delays at a time when we don't need them...
So yeah. Ultrasound tomorrow followed by meeting with the doctor at the General Hospital, our new care location from now forward. Have a LOT of questions and really hoping to have a way forward and a few answers, even though I know we won't have all. We're tired and anxious and so happy this day has finally arrived.
Until then, our wonderful neighbours have taken pity on us, and have suggested we go for Chinese food for dinner.
I.
AM.
IN!
Addendum from our meal:
I picked a fortune cookie with two fortunes inside, and hubby found a single packages fortune cookie with an accidental two fortune cookies inside...I'm liking those signs, my friends!
I won't get into our issue with the new carpeting, which was supposed to be done yesterday and enable us to start decorating the nursery. More delays at a time when we don't need them...
So yeah. Ultrasound tomorrow followed by meeting with the doctor at the General Hospital, our new care location from now forward. Have a LOT of questions and really hoping to have a way forward and a few answers, even though I know we won't have all. We're tired and anxious and so happy this day has finally arrived.
Until then, our wonderful neighbours have taken pity on us, and have suggested we go for Chinese food for dinner.
I.
AM.
IN!
Addendum from our meal:
I picked a fortune cookie with two fortunes inside, and hubby found a single packages fortune cookie with an accidental two fortune cookies inside...I'm liking those signs, my friends!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)