TTTS......

Well I have sad and scary news, so I need every ones thoughts and prayers with me, Shauna, and the boys right now. I went to see the specialist today and hoping I would get a good appt out of it, I was wrong. The ultrasound tech determined that we have something called TTTS (Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome) www.tttsfoundation.org It is where one baby the recipient baby will take all the nutrients from the other baby the donor baby. The donor baby will then have a decrease in amniotic fluid and will start to stop growing at the rate it should. Other issues could arise but we are not there yet. We are at a Stage 2 of TTTS, here is the reason why.... Baby A is measuring 3 wks behind schedule at 24wks and weighs 2lbs with a pocket of fluid only to a 3. Baby B is measuring 27wks which we are and is 2lbs 7oz with a pocket of fluid at a 9. They have me going in to see the actual Peri (specialist) on Monday 24th and he will determine what our next step of action is. Baby A looks so uncomfortable because he has so little space to move in and hes crunched into a little ball, it made me want to cry so bad, while Baby B is just swimming in a giant swimming pool in 3/4 of my belly. The Dr has suggested so far that as long as Baby A keeps growing and doesn't loose more fluid and they don't get to a lb difference then we will just watch them week by week, however if it becomes to harmful for them to be in the womb then we will have an emergency C-section and the baby will remain in the NICU until they are ready to come home. I am very scared and nervous but I am trying not to take it out on the boys because I know stress will just make it worse. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers, I have a NST(non-stress test) on this Wed. as well as this Fri. then my appt on Mon. I will post again later and keep everyone posted on what is happening with out beautiful miracle boys!! I know they will be survival troopers!!!

Yet another trip to L & D...

On 12-13-07, I was having a hard time telling if I had to use the restroom or if I was going potty on myself( I know gross) so when Shauna got home from work, we decided that we should go to L & D to make sure my water wasn't leaking. It is now 12-14-07, We got admitted and had to run a few tests, which by the way are not the most comfortable tests in the world blahh. She called my Dr to see what he wanted me to do, and he ordered an ultrasound to make sure the boys were doing good, as well as gave me Terb shots, 3 of them every 20min. Those shots are so bad they make me shake sooo bad. I was having contractions and the shot was helping them so they decided to let go home. Apparently I just cant control my bladder or something, I'm not sure what is going on, but I now try to go potty every 30-45mins lol I've been doing a little better since then and have been watching myself and resting, so all seems to be well. Still have Dr appt on Monday so I will post the boys stats, as well as here is a 26wk pic of my belly. It is definitely growing again!!

uncomfortable...

So I am still having my cramping and sever back pain, it doesn't seem to want to go away! GRR I know that sometimes the pains I get are gas pains because they go away shortly after, but with these menstrual like cramps they don't go away for long periods of time and then they come back again. It feels like I'm going to start my period(sorry to much info) but about 5x worse, ughhh. I also have both babies playing in my ribs which makes me not able to sleep or lay the way I want to because I cant breathe. I have 10 more weeks if I'm lucky and I so want to be able to take these little angels home with me after my 3 day stay at the hospital, but OMG they are causing me so much pain right now. I try to grateful and I am, as long as we have wanted to get pregnant I feel selfish for being such a big baby with all this pain and I feel so bad for Shauna because it makes her sad to see me in pain. Last night she was almost convinced to take me to L & D but I told her no. I don't think they are contractions, I think the babies are just readjusting and making more room for themselves but boy do they hurt momma when they are doing it. I haven't been feeling them as much, I gave them a decaf Starbucks today YUMMY! but they only kicked me like 3x, usually they are so hyper, so I am convinced that they just don't have as much room in there. They should both be over 2lbs by now, we will know more Monday, and I should get my first Non-stress test so I'm trying not to go to hospital because they will watch my contractions when I go there. All I do is take baths and use the heating pad, but I need to have a GOOD day sometime soon. I feel so bad for complaining but sometimes I just get so over it, I need to vent and I hate complaining over and over to people because I don't want them to think I'm a big baby lol. Like if she cant handle the growing process how is she gonna handle labor. lol thanks for listening...ill update on Monday after our appt with the specialist!

Trip to L & D

So for the last 3 days I have been having major cramps (period like) and sharp pains in my back, which usually means I am having braxton hicks. Well they started to feel like they were coming all the time 5-6 times in an hour. Shauna and I decided to go to the hospital and get checked out because we wanted to make sure they were doing damage to my cervix and making it shorter. This is the first time we have been to our new hospital and weren't to sure what to expect. They hook me up to all the monitors and the nurse cant find the other babies heartbeat, she was like " I can only find one baby." I told here well there are two in there so I don't know what to tell you. She said she was going to order an ultrasound since she couldn't find it. The ultrasound tech came in and started looking for them and found two Heartbeats!! woohooo after making Shauna and I feel scared like something had happened to the other baby. Baby A was sleeping and didn't move really much at all and Baby B was moving and kicking all over, so that made me feel so much better. Then that same nurse came in and said,"I don't like your twins, no offense to you!!" WHAT, I should have slapped the shit out of her and told her I don't like you either but I was so shocked she said that so I was dumbfounded. She then hooked me back up came in 30 min later and said you aren't having any contractions, its probably gas or a round ligament pain. I know what both of those feel like and they don't feel like Braxton Hicks. Anyways we left the hospital, on a bad note because I don't want to even go back unless I know for sure the twins are coming because she made me feel so shitty about coming in. GRRRRR some people just have no people skills. I go to see my specialist in one week, so we will get new measurements on them and see how their levels are doing. I had to vent a little on my bad nurse experience. Everyone have a good night!!

Doctor update

We had Dr appt yesterday which was to our new Dr and we love him. He is so nice and understanding and seemed like he knew so much about twins. He said if we can make it to 36wks that will be GREAT but he knows I can go anytime from now til then. Both boys are 1.81lbs and 1.85lbs almost 2 lbs each so I'm carrying about 4lbs OOOOHHHH GEEEZZZZ lol the both looked really good in Ultrasound (see pics) He also gave me pills (Terbutaline 2.5mg) to take every 4 hrs to help keep my braxton hicks from coming and if i have them every 10min I am to do to hospital. he basically told me all i need to be doing is getting up to potty and shower and that is it. I also had to take my glucose test which was gross and I am expecting to fail it though because diabetes runs in the family. I am so happy they are doing good and growing just like single babies would. I'm starting to get their room ready and my hospital bag just in case things happen. next Dr appt is with our specialist on dec 17th then we see regular dr again Jan 2nd. I cant wait to see them I'm so anxious, but i need to leave them in there for a while.

Shauna got to see one of them totally kick my tummy and she was like EWWWW that's gross, then we kept trying to get them to do it again and no success.

Baby Shower Pictures

the cake ;-)
some gifts that we recieved
Me opening a gift
Shauna opening a gift

Baby Shower

The baby shower was Dec 1st. It was a very stressful day to begin with because I wanted everything to be perfect. My grandmother and mother in law were the ones throwing the shower and they made everything look sooo awesome. I will post some pics. The beginning of my day was bad because we were expecting about 25-30 people to come to the shower and we had about 14 people cancel at the last minute or just not show up. I understand they all had valid reasons but it made me a little sad. I was EXTREMELY happy and thankful to the ones that were able to come and for all the WONDERFUL gifts that we got. We still need some large things and a few small things but it was a great turn out. We had a lot of fun!!!! Now that I have all their stuff I just want their room to be done and for them to get here. The next 12 wks need to go by fast so I can see my precious babies!!!! The babies are doing good, kicking me like crazy and always in my ribs. I have them listening to music right now on my belly and they are just kicking me around like crazy, I wonder if that means they don't like the song or they do lol!! I feel like I'm getting bigger again so that should be interesting. P.s to my other post my sisters were not able to make the shower ;-( which made my heart sad but hey what can I do. I have a Dr. appt on Wed so I will let everyone know how that goes, its with our new doctor so it will be interesting. THANK YOU AGAIN to everyone that came to the shower as well as to the people that couldn't make it but were still kind enough to get us a gift, we APPRECIATE it sooooo much!!!!

Doctor appt update

My Dr appt on Tues went really good, boring but good. I am still measuring at 33 wks, my weight was 227lbs (33lb gain so far) They wanted to hook me up to the monitors because of the previous episodes of Preterm labor, they said I had happy good babies and only had one minor minor contractions while hooked up (Braxton Hick) so they said everything was going good. I'm switching Doctors so I will go to see my new Dr on Dec 3rd, not sure what to expect at that appt, so we will see. I also have 2 days til my baby shower, I cant wait!!! Some people had to cancel but if everyone else comes we should still have about 15 people there. I'm excited, I want to see what my little boys got!! My sisters are not coming, thanks to my mom WONDERFUL!! I hate my family right now, but I don't have time to vent about them lol. My grandmother is still coming to see me/Shauna/and the boys shes actually on her way here from Vegas now! I have to go get in the shower so I can be ready for tonight. COWBOYS play the Packers GOOOO COWBOYS!!!!! wooooohoooo

needing to vent alittle....

Well not much has changed since my last post. Both boys are doing good, kicking me like crazy but I love it. I needed a moment to vent so here goes. My baby shower is this sat Dec 1st. and I cant wait, however I have been dealing with my family and they are stressing me out. (A little background: I don't really talk to my mom that much because of bad choices that she has made throughout my life, as well as things that she is making my sisters go through as well) I want my sisters to come to my baby shower yet my mom told them they could not come unless she could come as well. NOOOO I cant handle my mom coming to my home. I don't want her here, she needs to prove so much to be before I will allow her in my home and to become the grandmother of my boys. She may be the grandmother by blood but she needs to earn that title. I tried talking to here today and all i did was start crying and got myself upset. I have been holding back many feelings for her that I try not to let out, but I guess I need to start telling her how I feel. I sent her am email and told her to read it because I don't get as upset writing my feelings instead of talking to them. I want my sisters out here so bad and I hope my mom allows them to come out with my grandmother, but I DO NOT want my mother around right now and probably wont want her around after our twins are born just because she has a lot to prove to me. Thanks for listening to me vent a little. I have Dr. appt tomorrow so I will post how that went...well see how much I weight??? and how far along I'm measuring?? Last appt I was 224lbs (30lb gain) and measuring at 33wks....lets see what tomorrow will bring??

Thanksgiving!!

Just got home from thanksgiving at Shauna's parents house, it was fun!! I was sad because Shauna wasn't there, she had to work ;-( I'm waiting for CSI to start so thought I'd post a little something. Ive been doing pretty good, taking it easy and laying around the house. The twins have been waking me up at night kicking and poking at me but its OK I love to feel them, its when I don't that I get worried. I have also been waking up in the middle of the night with very sharp pains in my right side. I'm thinking they are growing pains, because the boys love to sit on my right side. It drives me crazy sometimes though because one of them gets under my ribs and OMG it hurts. This is just the beginning too because they aren't nearly as big as they will get. I love having Thanksgiving with family, wish I could see some of my family as well but its OK. I have a regular Dr. appt on Nov 27th, then have another appt on Dec 3rd. So I will keep everyone posted. Shauna is working the next 3-5 days in a row so I will probably be posting again soon!! HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone!!!! Here's a little picture of me from today which is 23 wks and 3 days!!!

Never know what to expect!!!

Sunday was a day that I wasn't expecting to go to the hospital, but these boys had a different plan for me. I was walking up my stairs and tripped onto my belly. I got scared because I was cramping, so I went to labor and delivery. Once i got there they tested my urine, it was good, blood preasure was good. They hooked me up to the heart rate monitor and contraction machine. I was having some minor contractions but nothing they were worried about, but because I fell I had to stay in the hospital overnight (EEEEKKKK, my 1st night at the hospital by myself) Shauna got off work and came to see how I was doing, while she was there I started to get more cramping and pain so they hooked me back up to the monitors, I was having a lot of irritability and cramping. They decided to give me a shot of Terbuline(which relaxes my uterus so I stop contracting) lets just say the shot makes you feel like you are on drugs. My heart was racing and the boys heart rates went up a little as well. The shot worked almost immediately, Shauna left for the night and each monitor after that was good. I got discharged at 1030 so I could go home and get ready for my appointment with my Peri.

The peri appointment went well, the babies are 1lb 3oz and 1lb 4oz, both looking very good and healthy. They will finally start to put on their baby fat weight now so they have to continue to keep baking in the oven. They did say that my fluid levels were increase around the babies and could possibly be why I keep having my braxton hicks contractions. My cervix is still at 3.5cm which is good anything under 2.5cm is a concern. Ive been resting a lot since then and just trying to take it easy, but figured I needed to update my journal because I had a pretty big journey these last two days. Will be posting my 23wk belly pics sometime this week.

Babies Nursery

Were finally getting the nursery started, Auntie Angela & Uncle Mike gave us an early babyshower gift, by painting the nursery. We had a really good time painting it and took some cute pics. I cant wait til it is all done and we can take complete pics!!

Fifth Month

This is my current month right now and we have definitely had quiet and adventure. I can feel the boys move and kick me all the time, in different parts of my tummy, as well as I can feel them up in my lower ribs and down to my lower pelvic area. I have some of my energy back and I eat like a pig most of the time. lol. about a week ago we had a bigger scare, I began to spot again and we called L & D to see if we should come in. They had me come in and hooked my up to all the monitors, heart rate monitor, contractions, give blood, do dilation check, urine sample the works. It was very scary for me and seemed so real, I was not anywhere close to having these babies. I'm only 22 wks. The Dr. put me on moderate bed rest and I am to stay in bed most of the day. I am off work now, which is kinda hard because time is going by so slow and now Shauna has to work more that usual. They have been very active this last week so I think they are over a lb now each. I will start posting blogs after each Dr visit now, as well as any updated I have. I already get Braxton Hicks which is normal for twins. My cervix is also measuring at 3.6cm at my last visit at 20wks which anything about 2.5cm is good. Shauna & her sister, Auntie Angela, get to feel the boys kick all the time it is so fun.

I am tired of getting up and going to the bathroom every couple hours while I am trying to sleep but anything for those babies. I also am starting to get the baby gitters, being 1st time moms I'm a little scared and hoping that I will be a great mommy. TWO babies is definitely going to be a challenge but I will manage as well as Shauna will be a great mommy as well.....Looking forward to keeping everyone posted on the upcoming milestones, appts, and updates!!!

Forth Month

Well now that it has been determined we are caring two little angels in my belly, it was time to get to thinking about other things, and looking into twins. Shauna began researching any and every website she could find on twins. We found a great website called Twinstuff and I love it there, the website is all about mothers of multiples or being pregnant with multiples right now. We had to have many ultrasounds done now because they wanted to make sure we had a dividing membrane. ( OK here is a little twin info so everyone knows)

Identical twins- usually have 2 amnio sacs, and 1 placenta or they can have a fused placenta which is 2 placentas that have now formed as one. You do not have to have 1 amnio sac and 1 placenta to be identical, in fact that is a rare case of twins and is monitored very closely.

Fraternal Twins- usually have 2 amnio sacs, and 2 placentas or if they have the fused placenta depending on when it was fused together as one.

so now back to my story. They finally sent us to a specialist called a "Peri" Perinatologist. Who specializes in high risk pregnancies. They were able to find my dividing membrane, meaning more than likely we have identical twins, 2 amnio sacs, 1 placenta. We were so relieved to find the membrane it was another milestone in this pregnancy. I was getting larger and larger by the day it seemed like and I continued to keep growing. We had another ultrasound scan at about 15 weeks to see if we could tell what were were having and the tech said WERE HAVING BOYS!!! We are so excited, we wanted boys more than girls either would have been good but so happy we got boys instead, because I know I was a very difficult girl to raise lol. Yeah for BOYS!!! My nausea is also gone and I am always hungry now instead. Month 4 was very fun for us and we got great news!!! There names are Evan Michael & Ethan Glenn!!!

Third Month

This is the month of the most eventful events that happened during this pregnancy. We wanted to see our little baby really bad so we went to a place called First Glance, where they provide ultrasounds just for entertainment. We scheduled a day to go in, (9 weeks pregnant) and we were ready to see our angel. The ultrasound tech was very nice, we loved her. She began scanning my belly and we could see the little flickers of the baby's feet & hands kicking (or at this point kind of just twitching). Then she stopped and looked at us for a sec and continued to scan my stomach, she went up a little higher and said do you see that flicker up there. We were like yeah, whats wrong? Is everything OK? She told us that she couldnt say anything. I told her she had to please otherwise I would worry all weekend about it. She told us we should really see our Dr. because she wasnt able to give medical advise, I said WHAT IS IT ALREADY!!! She said I think you are having twins, I can see two heartbeats, and 4 legs flickering. She then let us hear both heartbeats. OMG are u serious TWINS!!! could this really be happening to us?? We got a couple pics and were in complete shock. As we left Shauna started to cry and had to call her mom and tell her. I was in to much shock to cry, laugh, be happy, or anything.

So the following day I called my Dr. and said I really think I need to come in because we went somewhere and they said we are having twins possibly. They then tried to tell me that at 9 weeks it is to early to tell if I was having twins. I said I dont care get me in so you can see me please. The Dr. appt revealed that YES, WE WERE HAVING TWINS!!!! I couldnt believe it. No wonder my pants didnt fit already, and I was wearing small maternity jeans.

Now it was time to tell everyone the good news again!! Everyone was very excited, but also shocked like us, how could there be twins in there. Then at 11 wks we had another scare that led us to the ER, I started spotting again and was now more scared than ever because i knew there was 2 babies. WOW, 2 BABIES!!! what a journey (and remember we had no medical help, we did the insemintation at home) So these little angels were our Miracle Babies.

Second Month

OK we finally made it out of the first month and were now into our second. WoooHooo We are making some progress. I was still feeling very ill and sick, had to miss many days at work because I could barely talk because of the nauseousness. Probably the worst part about being pregnant. I was now having to unbutton my pants because they no longer fit, didn't seem to abnormal to be because this was the first time. We started thinking of some names because we always do everything really early lol. This month just kinda flew by because not much was happening (inside my body a lot was happening) but outside it seemed like the same old thing. More people were finding out that we were pregnant and telling us Congrats, which was nice. Not much else to this month....kind of boring ;-)

First Month

My first month of pregnancy was probably the most worryful and hardest part, because I didn't want to do anything wrong to hurt my baby. We went to our 1st Dr appt and made sure we were pregnant for sure, then we had to tell everyone. We always said we would wait until we got out of the first trimester before saying anything but that didn't work to well. I then began to spot at about 5 weeks so we panicked and went to the ER to make sure everything was OK. I was fine and they sent me home to just take it easy. It was a hard first month because all I could do was barely eat because I felt so nauseous I didn't even want to move. I started feeling a little bigger but thought I was just bloated....not much happened the first month, we did get our first ultrasound pic of our little angel and began to start making plans for our new life. The ultrasound pic really didn't show us much we just saw the flicker of one heartbeat.

Start of the Pregnancy Journal

The first couple posts, I am going to be catching everyone up to speed since I'm alittle behind on starting my pregnancy journal, so here goes.....

My wife, Shauna, and I have been trying to get pregnant since 2005, we attempted Artificial Insemination in Jan 05' and no success on getting pregnant. We decided to wait a few years before we tried again because it was so devastating the first time we found out we weren't pregnant. Now, in May of 07' we decided it was time to start trying a again, so I began to watch my cycle and follow when I was ovulating. We opted to try for a home insemination for 6 month and if we didn't get pregnant, then we would try In-vitro Fertilization(very pricey) June was going to be the first month we tried. We watched my cycle and I was ovulating on June 24,25,26 so we did the insemination. (I'm thinking the 25th was the good date) The next 3 weeks were horrible to wait and see if I was pregnant.

I began to get very tired, moody, and my breasts hurt very bad to the touch. I was sure I was pregnant but didn't want to be wrong again. We decided to take a pregnancy test on July 4th, but that was too soon it came back negative. We tested a second time on July 7th at night, with a first response pg test. It had a very thin pink line, so i brought it to Shauna and said what does this mean?? I was so at a lost for words. I told her I was going to the store, I was off to Target at 945pm to get another pregnancy test. I took the 2nd test on July 8th and it was a digital one, WE'RE PREGNANT!!!! That was the happiest moment in our lives!!!