The Girls' Birth!!

My identical girls were born on Monday, July 09 at 27weeks 6days.

Ainsley Isabella 2lb 3oz 14.5in at 10:54pm

Lorelei Annabell 2lb 7oz 15in at 10:55pm

 

Here is the story (trying to keep short but will probably be long):

July 3, 9am - I felt a little wet like I peed a little.  I went to the doctor and was told everything was find but to go to L&D right away if it happened again, just in case.

July 4, 3am - I woke up to a big gush of fluid, and continued to gush all the way to the bathroom and all over.  Rushed to L&D were they confirmed Baby A's sac completely ruptured.  I was having contractions 5 or more minutes apart.  Which wasnt surprising since I was just in L&D that weekend for contractions as well.  I was told I had to stay laying completely back (but could go on my sides too) just not allowed to sit up at all, even to eat or drink.  I was put on a fast IV plus lots of IV meds (antibiotics and stuff to stop the contractions).

July 5, 10pm - I started having a hard time breathing and was put on oxygen but it wasnt helping.  They were thinking the contraction meds were relaxing my lungs as well.

July 6 - Found out I had fluid in my lungs, around my heart, and even around my veins.  If I didnt get better they would have to deliver so they trasferred me to the nearest children's hospital (same one my first set of twins were born at).  There, they were worried something was wrong with my heart because the medication they gave me wasnt flushing all the fluid out.  Turns out... it was simply the fact that the first hospital was literally drowning me with too many IVs and meds.

July 8, 4pm - I was feeling much better but they were getting worried about my contractions so wanted to keep me on the monitors for a while and I wasnted to eat or drink.  A few hours later, I started bleeding.  I thought for sure they would be born that night.  Oh was also giving two bags of blood due to sever anemia.

July 9, 8pm - They finally said I was going in for a csection due to placenta abruption (placenta seperating from the uterus), which is why I was bleeding of course.  When I finally went in, they wanted me on just an epidural because the other stuff could cause more problems with my breathing and other things like that.  They kept having a hard time getting me numb all the way... I was numb at the bottom of my tummy.. but it wasnt going high enough up.  Finally things looked good and they cut me open (didnt feel anything except them shaking my body around a little) and then as they started to actually open me up I could feel everything on the top half... I was screaming out in pain - its like nothing I could ever describe - so they put me to sleep.  I hate that DH had to leave the room and could see the babies being born.

Ainsley's apgars were 2/4/9 - so she was doing good at all at first and quickly starting looking really good. Lorelei's apgars were 8/9 so she was great.  They were both on oxygen but doing well.

They are now 11days old.  Ainsley is on the CPAC (as of 07/15 otherwise she was just on regular oxygen), was having blood in her stool but it looks like it was blood she swalled from the placenta abruption, had one blood trasnfusion due to anemia, stated a continuous feeding of my breastmilk through a pump thats like the IV pumps currently giving her 0.3ml/hr. She is currently 2lb 5.6oz - more than her birth weight! Lorelei is on the CPAC and another breathing machine (dont know the name), had a tube in her chest after her left lung collapsed but that was taken out 07/16, also had a blood transfusion, also started feeding currently at 0.6ml/hr.  She is currently 2lb 6oz - only 1oz less than her birth weight.  The most serious thing both girls had is called PDA, its an opening between the lungs and heart that is suppose to close at birth.  Theirs still had a very large opening.  After a series of meds, they finally got a followup echo exam that showed both were almost completely closed - so no surgery!!!  Head ultrasounds came back normal, so no brain bleeds!  As far as I can tell, if everything continues as it is right now, all we have to focus on at this point is getting off the oxygen and eventually feeding. It will still be a long road ahead even with just those things.. but it makes me so happy nothing is actually wrong right now.

AINSLEY

LORELEI

L&D

Starting Saturday (26wks4days) afternoon I started feeling pain.  My hips mostly, just sore.  At first I figured it was from van shopping all day on Friday and it would go away after a while.  As the day went on it got a little worst until the very end when it was getting really bad.  I took a shower thinking the warm water would help with the soreness - but it got even worst when in the shower.  That was when it really starting hurting in my lower back.  That was when I really got worried.  I only felt a few contractions throughout the day - but with my first pregnancy I wasn't feeling contractions at all... just pain in the hip.  So I told Brian that I should probably go to the hospital.  This was already around midnight.  He was at work so his mom, Carol, came over to watch the kids and give me her car.  I got to L & D around 2am.  Pretty much right away found out I was having contractions 2-4min apart and dilated (up to) 1 cm.

They did an fFN (Fetal Fibronectin) test.  This test checks for the fFN protein which basically helps stick the baby to the uterus.  So if extremely little to no protein is present then the baby hasn't started 'unsticking' yet.  Basically a positive results mean you will deliver within two weeks.  And a negative result means you most likely won't - but can still go either way.  My results came back negative - so that is good still.  After monitoring me for a long time they finally gave me a shot to stop my contractions (I'm never good with all of the names of different medications).  The contractions slowed down a lot, but didn't stop, so they gave me another one.  I had them before with my first pregnancy and I really don't like them.  I naturally have a high pulse and they make my heart race even more, and my body shack.  I only feel "okay" if I lay completely still and don't move even the slightest.  They actually wanted to give me a third shot but my pulse was too high - around 140bpm.  My OB came in the morning and checked me out... since my contractions seemed to have stopped and I didn't dilate anymore so he sent me home.  I wasn't out of there until 11am.

So its started already... this is a sign that I can end up on bedrest at any time and we are not ready at all.

Father's Day 3D Ultrasound

On Sunday, Father's Day, we did a 3D/4D ultrasound of the babies!  It was me (of course), Brian, the kids, Mom, Jimmy, Carol, Kevin, and his "girlfriend" Kaylee.  We got a lot of pictures and video.  A lot of the pictures are not very good but it wasn't the ultrasound techs fault, they babies were just not in good positions and kept moving around a lot.  Baby B was first, she kept putting her arm across her face and later was bringing her knee all the way up to her face too.  When they were taking pictures of Baby A, Baby B put her hand in front of Baby A's face too.  I was joking that at first she was going "No, don't take my picture!" then "No, you can't take my sister's picture either!".  Haha!

Baby B: see that elbow and arm

Baby B: biting lower lip

Baby B: smiling

Baby B

Baby A

Baby A

Baby A: with Baby B's fist

Baby A

After that everyone, except for Kaylee, went to an early dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings.  Mom and Jimmy have never been there before but they enjoyed it.  At the end Kevin left and the rest of us went to Baby Depot.  We bought a really nice big diaper bag for only $35.  I was thinking about making one, but wasn't sure when I would get the time plus it would cost me around $55 or more for material and supplies.  I know Mom and Jim bought some stuff for the babies too but they were trying to be sneaky about it, so I don't know what they got.  The last stop of the night, minus Mom and Jim, was Babies R Us.  We officially picked out the crib bedding so we can pick out paint colors and get started in the nursery.  We bought something small for the nursery that we can use to match the colors.

Yesterday, the cribs were ready for pickup!  After work Brian and Carol picked them up and we put one of them together.  After that it was late and Brian was too tired to do the second crib.

Swimming

Sunday we went swimming at my mother-in-laws house.  The kids have only been swimming in a full size pool a few times, and mostly when they were little.  They were happy and excited about swimming but it took them forever to get completely into the water and they didn't stay in long.  The water was also really cold because the heater wasn't working right.  It took me a long time to get all the way in too, but once I did it felt so nice because I didn't feel pregnant.  I wasn't sore or felt huge haha.

Kid's Bedroom/Playroom

So our house has three bedrooms.  The master, the kids bedroom, and the kids playroom.  In order to make room for the two new babies were joined the bedroom into the playroom.  And the kids old bedroom will be the nursery.  They only things that were in their bedroom were clothes and beds so you would think it wouldn't have been hard, but it was.  Since we just got the house, the kids have lots of toys, and never had a playroom - so literally all of their toys were just sitting on the floor in the playroom with a few boxes to throw the small toys in.  We had to find a way to organize it all.  And I think we did a pretty good job.  The kids liked the idea of sleeping in the playroom.  They are sleeping in it just find, and haven't had any trouble with them wanted to play instead of go to sleep.  There are still a few little things I want to do but basically it's all done.  Now I can't wait to get started on the nursery!

Before: View from door

After: View from door

Before: Wall near the door

After: Wall near the door

Before: Closet area

After: Closet area

OB Appt and Echo Ultrasound

Tuesday I had an OB appointment.  It was suppose to be the first time I got to meet the doctor but apparently he wasn't feeling well, so I met with his wife again.  She listen to the heartbeats (Baby A: 152bpm; Baby B: 160bpm) and said I was measuring 24weeks.  Which is kind of weird because I am 23weeks but with twins.  They only time I got measured during my first pregnancy was at 15weeks and I measured 19weeks - because it was twins.  But she didn't seem concerned about it.  I told her that I have felt movement very high up (ultrasound shows both babies are low) and once I have felt a 3 'bulges' at the same time. [I say 'bulge' or 'bubble up' when the babies stick out really far and make my tummy look ... odd.] I am not saying there is a third baby... I just want to know what it is.  She took me seriously but didn't try to listen for a third heartbeat or anything.  Which I wish she did - just for peace of mind.

Yesterday, Wednesday, I had a regular ultrasound and an echo ultrasound done at the same time.  First off, I had my favorite ultrasound tech finally - Erin.  I had her for every ultrasound during my first pregnancy and only once during this pregnancy.  I think its because I go on Mondays and she just isn't there on Mondays.  Anyways, she took her time, chatted with me (and just the awkward small talk stuff), showed me what the babies were doing, etc.  She kept joking that Baby B was a brat because she kept pushing Baby A when she was trying to do the measurements.  She said both babies were head down and facing each other, tummy to tummy.  She was able to get me a picture of both of their heads, even though that's usually really hard to do this far in the pregnancy.  But she said they were super close together.  Baby A is 1lb 1oz and Baby B 1lb 3oz.

Then I went into another room to get an echo ultrasound done by a different ultrasound tech.  She was nice but just the dumb small talk stuff with her.  She just zoomed in on their hearts (of course) and didn't tell me anything about the ultrasound in any way.  I was already warned my Erin that this tech wouldn't say a word.  The actual results from the ultrasound could take up to two weeks.  That is it with that, except for one thing that was weird (going back to the mysterious third baby).  She found Baby A where she always is, my right side fairly low... but she was having a harder time focusing on Baby B's heart... she was literally just under my rib cage and far back (like closer to my back then my front/chest).  So the tech had to push down really hard and kept hitting my ribs.  But what I don't understand is during the first ultrasound just minutes before both babies were side by side, just about even, rubbing their tummies together.  They highest Erin had to go was maybe even across my belly button.  And Erin had to measure their heads, and legs... so how could Baby B move so far up, so fast?  I get that they still have a lot of room right now... but why would my uterus even be that high up right now for her to wiggle her way up that far?  The tech never even tried to look on my left side across from Baby A either.  In-between examining each baby she completely removed the ultrasound wand from my tummy to do paperwork too.  There has been jokes about a hidden third baby since we found out it was twins... but its all been jokes.  After that exam, that was the first time I actually got concerned about a triplets.  I still think its just twins... but boy oh boy are the little odd things piling up.

The Fair

Sunday we went to the fair.  It was so much fun.  It was me, Brian, and the kids, with my mom, step-dad Jimmy, sister Kaitlyn, her boyfriend Andrew, and my nephew Kody.  The kids had so much fun, they love it when they are with their cousin too.

Mom and Jim pre-ordered wristband for the kids online.  So when we took the printouts for the kids to get the wristbands up on, Konnor started throwing a fit and crying because he didn't want it on.  Rhiannon copied, even though she already had hers on and was fine with it.  Both of them were screaming off the top of their lungs, people were staring, everything.  It was so bad and embarrassing.  They kept trying to take the bands off and saying they wanted to go home.  I was a very unhappy mom and wasn't going to let them waste the $22 each for the band, when I know they would have fun once they calmed down and got on some rides.  Which eventually happened.  It took about a hour and half to get Konnor happy again.  We walked around looking at different animals like a tiger, alligators, snakes, baby kangaroo, etc.  He liked the insects... especially the dead ones in the display frames.  Haha what every makes him happy.

After he was happy again, we took them to the rides and they didn't want to stop.  Some of the rides they are big enough to go by themselves, some of them they can go on as long as they have an adult.  Well of course I couldn't go on because I'm pregnant so Brian had to go on with them.  It was funny because he looked like a monster on some of the rides.  He wasn't exactly having fun on the kiddie rides either.  At the end, Konnor was crying because he didn't want to leave, he wanted to keep getting on the rides.  Go figure. Later when asked what their favorite part of the fair was, Konnor says winning his purple elephant.  And both of them say their favorite ride was the "boing, boing" - a ride that went around in circles and the car went up and down.

Kody and Rhiannon on the first ride of the day.

Konnor and Rhiannon driving a jeep.

Rhiannon, Kody, Konnor, and Brian driving around.

Kaitlyn, Mom, and Me

Konnor won that all by himself!

Konnor and Brian followed by Rhiannon and Kaitlyn.

Haning out in the boat.

I love them so much!