I recently came across the notebook that I carried to my doctor's visits when I was pregnant with the girls so I thought the blog might be a cute place to document some of the excepts for memory sake and helpful purposes for the next Pondillo/Kees baby in the future. Please beware the entries below are detailed and I made my own code where needed.
September 27, 2007: Around 13 1/2 weeks. Ultrasound and both girls were doing well with healthy heartbeats. Doctors already planning for the girls exit at 35-36 weeks if they don't arrive earlier. One baby measures 13 wks and 2 days and one is 13 wks and 5 days. I had just found out I was having girls from the CVS genetic test I had just completed.
October 23, 2007: Full scan done and everything looked good.
November 5, 2007: Normal ultrasound apt.
November 19, 2007: 21 weeks. Ultrasound looked fine. Told there is a 1/3 chance girls are identical. Weight was +18lbs! Thyroid was low so need to up medicine for that.
December 4, 2007: Nothing new to report except told milestones for babies are 24 then 28 then 30 weeks.
December 17, 2007: Girls are measuring 1lb and 8oz. and 1lb and 11 oz. Everything looks good.
January 2, 2008: Glucose test is fine. Did stress test to check the girls movement and all was good. Twin A was on the left side (later to be known as Ava) is smaller and more active. Twin B (later to be know was Belle) was on the right side and less active. (Hysterical to see this now cause that is true to date of their personalities). Twin A is head down with feet by my chest. Twin B is sideways with head by right side and feet by her sister.
January 11, 2008: Had some mild contractions the night before so went in for a check. Fetal Fibrocin test came back negative so not likely to deliver in the next two weeks. C was closed. Heartbeats looked great on fetal monitor in room.
January 14, 2008: Ultrasound apt showed that Ava (note, I used the word Ava in the note so I guess names were finalized by this time) was 2lbs and 2oz and breech. Isabelle was 2 lbs and 13oz and sideways on top of Ava with feet by Ava's feet...playing footsie already. Dr. K said he thinks I will go early and they will be about 5lbs each. Everything looks good but they will be small. No signs of IUGR. Baby B's umbilical cord is a little better than Baby A's.
January 21, 2008: Umbilical cord flow is ok. C is opening a bit-2
January 28, 2008: C still 2. Ava is head down on left side with feet by Isabelle's head who is laying across me on top. Poor Belle is probably getting head kicked by Ava. Umbilical cord and heartbeats looked good.
January 31, 2008: Blood pressure was high (150/100) so wondering if I have preeclampsia. C is staying at 2 but testing blood and urine for protein.
February 1, 2008: Blood pressure still high. Sent to Albany Med overnight for observation. Released on Saturday. Urine and blood work looked good though so just watching issue.
February 4, 2008: Ava is 3lbs and 7 oz with head down and Isabelle is 3lbs and 13oz laying across me with head to the right side. BP is good at 122/83. C and doopler is good. Suggested the girls come out at 34 weeks.
February 7, 2008: BP is in 140's/80's. Going to monitor it once a week.
February 11, 2008: 33 weeks. Ava is breech and Isabelle is sideways with head on right. Will let me wait until 36 weeks to deliver.
February 13, 2008: Ultrasound showed both babies were ok. BP and urine ok.
February 18, 2008: Ava is head down and Belle is sideways. Belle has some hair they see on the U/S. BP and doppler looks good. March 6th is induction date.
February 25, 2008: Ultrasound for growth showed that Ava is 4lbs and 10oz and Isabelle is 5lbs and 1oz (boy was that wrong!) BP is high so admitted to Albany Med. Stayed overnight and BP was still high so concerned about my kidneys since urine shows protein now.
Stay tuned...only 3 more days till my little girls arrive....February 28, 2008!!!
(Hopefully I can find those posts as they are missing from my notebook. Knowing me I saved them somewhere special as a keepsake).
Okay....well the notes taken after this point were found but slim pickings. I guess while I was in the hospital I was boycotting my journal. I did find some chicken scratched notes from Dave on the actual labor day and they went like this.....
Mom and Dad Kees showed up bright and early to be part of the action and ended up lasting all the way to delivery and to see both girls..long day! Ironically, I was at 1cm and having some light contractions prior to the induction starting. The induction started around 2:30 and my water broke about 4:30. To give everyone a laugh, I thought I had peed myself when my water broke so Dave had to get the nurse to check. The beauty of labor. To my own defense I had to have a catheter in at that time since I was on a mag drip due to the high blood pressure so I just thought my catheter fell out. Silly me! At the time it was not funny but now I can definitely laugh at Dave asking the nurse to come check cause his wife thought she wet her pants in bed. At 5:30 I was at 2cm but then at 7pm when they checked again I was already at 8cms. That is when they rushed to get me an epidural. Not for the pain cause that was not that bad but because they were not sure if I was going to need a c section since Belle was sideways and could go breech when Ava came out. This is where the notes stopped and my memory just lives on....
When I got the epidural by BP crashed and everything then had to stop while I got oxygen and it came back up. Then they just let things happen and things were about ready for me to go to the OR a little after 11. My old school doctor said I should give a few practice pushes in the actual room before going to the OR and the nurse had a holly fit because she did not want to deliver preemie twins in a regular room without the NICU team to assist. My nurse during the delivery time was a nightmare (very controlling and not personable) unlike the one I had during the day who I loved and later brought a present back for. The other thing I remember is that resident after resident came in to check me so never before had so many people seen me naked! They all wanted a peek and touch...not sure if that is standard or just a twin delivery thing but it was annoying.
So after finally getting to the OR, I remember wanting to push so before I even got on the table they had me pushing a bit. Then Dr. K got ready had me a do a few pushes and Ava was out! Then he felt Isabelle and she was breech. So I remember his resident saying to him "prep for c-section" and I insisted that I try first naturally. So he said if I was ok with it so was he....and with a few pushes from me and few pulls from him....Isabelle arrived. I remember Dave walking around the OR carrying Ava all wrapped up. He was telling me she was fine but she was small so had to go to the NICU. Isabelle was a bit bigger so they allowed her to go back to the room with me and was there the entire time.
I also remember being asked earlier in the day if I was ok being interviewed if the girls turned out to be the 1st leap year babies and I honestly was not crazy about it. My father in law (Grandpa P) thought it would be great but all I could think about is trying to explain separately birthdays. So Dr. K and I also had a plan to deliver these girls before midnight and we did!! 11:55 and 11:58. I remember seeing the clock in the OR and saying to Dave that I was running out of time. The last thing I wanted was one being born on 2/28 and one on 2/29. So when I did delivery with 2 minutes to spare...Dr. K congratulated me on squeaking in under the wire...little did he know that I was not about to fail on this one. Willpower wins.
To be honest the next 3 weeks were a haze as Ava was in the NICU and Isabelle was home with us. I remember daily trips to see her and calling every 4 hrs to see how her feeding went. It was the hardest to know all was fine with her except for she had reflux issues. Later to be figured out that the poor girl just needed a special formula. I remember not being able to see her the day after delivery since I was still on the mag drip to prevent potential stroke issues due to the high BP so Dave would bring me pictures. I remember crying cause she was so small in comparison to Belle when I first saw her and being so upset that I had to leave her. I took daily trips, often with Isabelle in her carrier, to go visit Ava. It was often funny when I would leave the NICU with Belle in my arms they would stop and question me since she was so small herself cause they always thought she was a patient. I felt (and still do) it was so important for them to see each other during that time and that as sisters they deserved to be together if only for a short time. Ava finally came home on Easter morning and that will be forever the best Easter. It wasn't until the night before that I got to know that my baby was coming home to me for the holiday cause it was pretty touch and go with her reflux too....probably the reason we ended up back in the hospital for another week 1 week later...but that is ok cause I got her home for a few days.
Then they FINALLY figured out the correct formula and she was without another issue (damn doctors and residents!). I won't go into all the details but it still bothers me!!! The 2nd time we were in the PICU and I remember losing my cool one night when Dave was traveling and I had Belle staying over with me in the PICU. I couldn't (and wouldn't) leave Ava in the PICU since the rooms were open so I basically lived there 24/7 for that week. I didn't want to be away from Belle so I had to keep her over in the hospital too. So I was going on nothing, they were not getting anywhere with results or a plan of attack except for we'll see what tomorrow brings so I went off on a resident who was a ITCH and told her I was checking myself out at 3am cause I was better off caring for Ava at home. This was asking to speak to her in the afternoon and she only came in at 3am cause she was "BUSY!"....yeah not the thing to say to a tired mom! That confrontation caused the head GI guy to come see me and after he heard my concerns he got some things done and Ava was home 1 day later with no more issues. So the 1st month with twins was a blur for many reasons and I sometimes wish I could go back and soak up that time with them over and over. It was more functionally getting through the day more than enjoying the 1st month as a mom but such is life sometimes and we got through it and the girls are strong, beautiful and smart and that is all I can ask for!!
