I am pumped! I love the fact that I can put these little guys in all my favorite boy outfits from Sam. I love that we can use the same toys, sports stuff, etc. It will be awesome to save money. HOWEVER, even better than that, I'm pretty excited about being the mommy to two more amazing little boys. I have to tell you that I think I may just be made for this. As Krystal told me tonight, I can whip them into shape and keep them in line. HAHA. Yes, that, but also, I'm looking forward to raising strong, awesome boys that grow into good men. AND....shhhh don't tell anyone....but I am secretly looking forward to taking some girl time for me (shopping, reading, pedicure) while all my boys pile on the couch watching football (hopefully again someday, come on NFL!!). I really think I lucked out in this deal. ;)
If you want to read all the details about the crazy, insane and slightly scary ultrasound appointment, by all means, read the non-reader's digest version below. For those of you who will inevitably stop reading when your eyes glaze over....here's the short version: Babies are healthy. I'm healthy. We are all VERY high risk and will have to endure countless ultrasounds and various appointments for the next 17 weeks, give or take. BUT - we're doing good now and will continue to take things day by day, week by week. And we will appreciate your many prayers!
Onto the long, extra long, and ridiculously detailed version reserved for those who want the real scoop:
- We go into the ultrasound appointment expecting a normal picture-taking session and lots of "awwwww's." The ultrasound tech was quick to explain that this appointment was different than most because at our 10 week original ultrasound they suspected that our twins were not only identical, but monochorionic twins. Basically this means that not only are they identical (one egg that splits) but they share one placenta. Fortunately they do have separate amniotic sacs, but as our ultrasound tech explained, their "membranes" around the sacs are very thin (about 2 layers thick instead of a less risky 4 layers thick).
- What does this really mean? Two biggest risks for the type of twins we have are: Twin-to-twin transfusion and stillbirth. Yikes. Twin-to-twin transfusion is a scary thing where one of the babies "gets all the groceries" as my doctor likes to explain. Basically this means one of the twins gets more blood, more amniotic fluid, more nutrients, etc. And the other baby suffers. The stillbirth thing is also of course scary because there is often no warning.
- Back to the ultrasound....so our actual ultrasound appointment literally took an hour! That is a really freakin' long time!!!! The "detailed" ultrasound basically means that they measured EVERYTHING on both babies. By everything I mean...length of bones in the arms and legs, feet, mouth, size and placement of internal organs, all the chambers of the heart and blood flow, circumference of everything. It was just crazy. So basically the focus was on making sure these babies are okay, and less on getting the cute pictures to show family! Kind of scary. The ultrasound tech was just wonderful. She explained exactly what she was doing every single step of the way and why.
- The boys are definitely BOYS. Honestly, I saw one of the babies' parts right away - I had a feeling they were boys and it is crazy that for once I was right!!! But yes, boys. Honestly that revelation was so soon at the beginning and there was so much information overload after that it wasn't quite the celebration I had anticipated. ;)
- After the longest ultrasound ever (complete with the tech rescuing me from blood flow restriction since I was laying on my back for so long) we were ushered into a consultation room with the Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialist. He basically gave us the serious complete rundown on what we were dealing with here. We walked through all the concerns and he reassured us that these boys are growing great and doing fantastic. There is not any evidence of any problem whatsoever, but they did want us to be aware of what CAN happen and how serious they take this type of twins. So much so that they ensure safety of the babies and mother by a marathon of appointments until delivery. They want to catch any problems before they get serious (or fatal, because really all the problems that could happen are in fact already pretty serious).
- What's up next? Starting now, I go every 2 weeks for a fluid measuring ultrasound. It is a very quick ultrasound just to make sure both babies have the same amount of amniotic fluid. Every 4 weeks I have a normal ultrasound to measure growth in general. Starting at 32 weeks I will have a normal ultrasound AND a heart monitor at every weekly appointment. The heart monitor is to make sure the babies have good activity level and are still thriving. That's all with the Maternal-Fetal specialist and ultrasound department. Whew. That is in addition to my normal monthly doctor's appointments with my OBGYN. Good grief!!! Yes, I can actually hear my bank account draining....
So what do we take away from all this??????
- The crazy part was that after ALL of the "if's" the Maternal-Fetal specialist just says something like, "you are young, healthy and the babies are doing great." So....yes, we are all at high risk and I will be visiting the doctor way more than I wanted, but the reality is that we are all doing good now and that's the best news we could ask for!!!!!!
- They did take my blood pressure and it was rockin' awesome!!! 118/70. Very happy about that.
- When I asked about working and realistic expectations for a 36 week delivery, the doctor told me that unless work causes high blood pressure or contractions I am good to go for the duration (and even sometimes if those issues happen I can still work at least some). So that was reassuring considering I need to make it at work as long as possible so I can take off the full 12 weeks after....or at least close to it.
- Of course I asked about exercise, since I'm really trying to stay fit this pregnancy and not gain excess weight or swell as much as I did with Sam. He told me given my workout routine before pregnancy I can continue to do my very low intensity exercise as long as I don't start having contractions....he did follow that up with a statement that normally by 24 weeks any physical activity will cause "uterine activity." Yes, that is doctor-speak for contractions. Kind of bummed that my low impact stuff will need to be reduced to only yoga in just a month, but I will do what I can for as long as I can within these parameters.
This whole appointment was just kind of surreal. It was the "risk" preparation seriousness paired with the incredible miracle of one of the most rare phenomenons in life. The ultrasound tech described our chances of having twins, having identical twins and then having this exact type of identical twins as the "lightning strike" chance. What can we do or say in the face of all this? I mean, what other response after hearing all of this can you have than a heartfelt Thank You to God for blessing us in this way, no matter what the outcome, no matter the struggle, no matter the stress. This is truly a miracle.
(Someone please remind me of this in about 4 months when I am up all night with twin boys!!!!)
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