Thursday 28 August 2014

Good News & Not So Good News

Today I am 36 weeks and 5 days pregnant! Definitely longer than I thought I would make it. It really is a blessing to still be carrying these babies on the inside as it means they are getting the best nourishment and in the best place to grow and prepare for life on the outside. (And with two big siblings to "carefully" love on them, they need to toughen up and get a little bigger). 




We've hit a few milestones lately! 36 weeks was the goal I had set for myself to carry the twins. After 36 weeks, their lungs are developed enough to live outside the womb with little to no assistance and they should be big enough to avoid any NICU time. 

Also, I'm finished with the routine ultrasounds! Yahoo! No more drinking water and holding it! (Though to be honest, I stopped drinking all the water a few ultrasounds ago - I have to pee almost hourly anyways).  That feels like an accomplishment and brings us one step closer to meeting these girlies.

Both of my doctors comment on how well I'm handling this twin pregnancy. I haven't done anything different from my past two pregnancies, so I'm going to give the credit to God that he made my body wonderful for carrying babies.  The babies themselves have been healthy and steadily gaining weight the entire pregnancy.  They are now up to about 6.7 lbs each, which is a respectable weight for even a singleton. In fact, it's how much I weighed at birth!

Baby A is still also in the head down position and that's unlikely to change as apparently she is so.far.down. You know the wiggle song? For me it's the waddle song.  I don't think I could walk gracefully if I tried. Maybe for 3 steps and then it just all goes down hill from there.  We went to Walmart this afternoon and I started out ok, but by the end of our 30 minutes walking around (and one rest where I sat on the floor and JP helped me upright again) I was keeled over the shopping cart and searching frantically for a seat.  Crossing the crosswalk I thought about yelling at the car who was slowly inching up trying to get past me as I slowly tottered across. 

Now the not so good, and to be fair, it's still good, just not the outcomes I was hoping for. 

I took JP with me to see Dr.  M (OBGYN) today.  I thought it would be a good thing for him to meet her and maybe get a run down of what all is involved and what it's going to be like.  Probably a good thing as he was expecting a blonde haired, blue eyed little surgeon and she is definitely little, but of Indian descent and so not blonde haired/blue eyed.  I guess because he last name is Canadian sounding. 

Anyways, she went over things for JP's benefit. Talking about what it will be like in the OR and what his job is (basically his only job is to focus on me - YES!)  Then she went over what will happen if something is wrong or goes wrong with me or the delivery of baby B.  We found out we can't do delayed cord clamping or immediate skin to skin as there is a bit of a rush to get baby B out safely.  That's ok. I'm ok with that. I like skin to skin and would love to delay cutting the cord, but this isn't a normal situation and ultimately, I want what's best for these girls.  I trust my team and they are the ones who do this every day, not me.

Then she did a quick internal exam. Nothing has changed since Dr. R checked me last week or again this past Tuesday. Still sitting at 1-2cm dilated. Soft, but posterior cervix.  Those things can change really quickly, but I still found it somewhat discouraging.  With Mason I was 3-4cm dilated for the last 3 weeks. 

Then we started talking dates.  We had previously discussed inducing me either Sept. 3 or 4th which is perfect for our busy September schedule. Mason starts Kindergarten on Sept 9th, Lucia has her preschool orientation that day as well. We have a very special wedding to attend on September 13th, so that would give us about a week with the babies before we have to start "doing" things. BUT.

Apparently the Okanagan has a twin epidemic.  There are 4 sets of twins expected to arrive during the first two weeks of September. As one of my facebook friends said, "It must've been a cold winter". That's right.  And a happy Christmas.  So, because I am doing so well and the babies are continuing to thrive and the fact that they are the lowest risk possible (diamniotic, dichorionic), which are all amazing and I am so blessed, BUT that means that I'm the least urgent on the "need to deliver" scale.  So that means my hopes of being induced on the 3rd of 4th are pretty much dashed.  Which means that instead of counting down 7 more sleeps tonight, I'm looking at 12 - 14. Which means that I'm going to be in this uncomfortable state for twice as long as I thought I had left. Which means I'm feeling pretty low. AND I forgot to buy chocolate at Walmart. Ugh.

There's more. The new induction date is probably September 10th.  Good news - I'll still be able to take Mason to his first day or Kindergarten (if I can walk). Bad news - I probably won't get to go to the wedding that I've been looking forward to for over a year!!! Right now that's what's getting me down the most.  I've gone through the whole planning process with this friend and watched this wedding come to life and I'm so, so sad to think that I'll be missing out on sharing her joy that day!

I'm also thinking that if I do have to be pregnant another 13 days and these babies have 13 more days to grow I'm going to be the biggest pregnant person in Kelowna AND we probably will set the KGH record for biggest twins at birth.  They'd probably be close to 8 lbs. (I have no idea what the record is, maybe someone can share that with me). That means that all the newborn clothes and newborn diapers I've stocked up on would fit for maybe a week. 

                                                              Me yesterday at 36w4d.

My saving hope is that I'll go into labour spontaneously (any time now would be PERFECT) and that I won't have to a) be pregnant any longer, b)miss out on anything, c) be induced (which I've heard can go both ways in terms of more intense/less intense). 

So, starting today, I'm going to be going for bumpy drives (we actually did that last night), consuming pineapple by the truck full, eating spicy food, and all those other "natural ways to induce labour" except for  Castor oil... Not sure I can handle that one. 

Prayers would be much appreciated. I've been in not so great a headspace today.  I just keep thinking that my body knows what to do and it'll do it. I just hope it "does it" before the 5th or 6th.

Thanks for journeying with me!

Tamara