BabyA

Baby B

Today I went to see the perinatologist, for a 16 week checkup. It was a really long ultrasound since he had to check and measure all the body parts of both babies (head, chest, heart, legs, feet, arms, hands, etc). Everything is ok, measuring normally. He said that they are about 8in(!) in length, when you stretch their legs out. From crown to rump they are more like 5 inches. He also confirmed their genders, which we already knew from the CVS test a few weeks ago. Michael and I decided to keep that just between us and the doctors (although everyone is dying to know). I also found out the positions of the babies, since that was something that I kept forgetting to ask about. Baby A is head down nearest to my cervix, and Baby B is on top of A, but sideways, so they form a “T”. B’s head is on my left side and the heart was right under my belly button. It turned out to be a really fun appointment because we chatted about all kinds of stuff - the health care system in the UK vs. Canada vs. the US. Since he’s worked in all three countries, it was interesting to hear what he had to say about the US system. He said that it’s basically good, although medicare needs to expand to cover more and he is optimistic that the government will make the right decisions to get there. We also talked about San Diego, since that’s where he worked for a little while and he’s currently helping to get the doctors trained there to do the Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome surgery. It’s amazing that he’s one of a handful of doctors that can perform the surgery in the country! And Evergreen is the only hospital equiped to do it, the next nearest one is San Francisco or Milwaukee! Anyhoo, I was surprised that he didn’t like San Diego since so many people rave about it. I was cracking up when he said “San Diego is like what it would be to live on the moon. You go from one air conditioned artificial place to the next.” I guess the weather here in the NW is a lot closer to the UK than San Diego would be. I guess you would have to be a real beach nut to like it out there. My next appointment is in about 5 weeks, ugh, it will be tough to wait that long to see the little babes again.

I went to the ob doctor today and found out that I lost the 3 pounds that I gained last time, so I’m back to square 1.  I’m supposed to have gained 16 lbs. by now, but only have gained 9.  Who would’ve thought it would be HARD to gain weight?  The doc said not to worry though, most women catch up by the 18th week.  I hope so!  My stomach is getting bigger and I now for sure don’t fit into my “regular” jeans.  I went to Target after work today to pick up more pairs of this yoga pants that I really like and is really comfortable.  Turns out, it was on clearance when I bought it two weeks ago and now they don’t have any left!  We tried 2 different Targets and both of them didn’t have it.  Soooo frustrating!  I also went to some of those maternity stores and my weird body shape does not fit anything.  So now I’m down to 2 pairs of pants and I’m going to send in my jeans to get altered.  Much easier to do that than to buy new ones.  Michael tried to cheer me up by taking me to the Mongolian Grill for dinner but they messed up my order by putting their god awful rice in with my food.  I was so mad, I walked out of there before I took someone’s head off.  Can’t wait until Friday, when we have another ultrasound.

I got the call today for the final results of the CVS test, and all is well with both of the babies. What a relief! With the thousands of things they look at, we were expecting some kind of abnormality. Thank god they could do a “rush” on the major results (trisomy 21, 18 and 13). I don’t think I could’ve waited this long!!!! We learned a lot about the chromasomes that make up our bodies. Trisomy 21 is down’s syndrome, and it means that out of our 23 pairs of chromasomes, the 21st pair has an extra one, given from either parent (I think it’s usually the mother). Trisomy 18 and 13 are the same thing except with the 18th and 13th pairs. Unfortunately for those babies, they do not survive more than a few days after birth if they are not stillborn. It was really cool to learn about the procedure, I wish I could visit the lab to see it in action. It’s amazing what they can do nowadays!

I talked to the multiples program person at Evergreen and she informed me that I need to start eating a LOT of protein. 175g a DAY! Do you know how much that is? And with a meat aversion, it’s next to impossible. One 8oz chicken breast has about 25g of protein, beef has about the same amount. The only meat I’ve been able to eat much of is ground beef. So, I’ll eat that as well as eggs and drinking a lot of milk. I also have to supplement that with protein shakes (ugh!). They are really gross.

Such a tiny hat!

Here is another Mags Kandis/Mission Falls design. I never really knitted in Fair Isle before, so this was a real educational piece! I also never had to join seams with different colors, so that was another thing I learned. I made this hat in about 5 hours. I made a mistake with determining what is the right side and what is the wrong side, but I don’t think you can tell the difference. Now on to the matching sweater…

Their first clothes

A few weeks ago, I got really excited about knitting some baby clothes by a designer named Mags Kandis. She is the exclusive designer for Mission Falls Yarns. It is so amazing because Mission Falls has only *2* yarns. She makes really amazing stuff just from working with those two. I immediately ordered several kits from a yarn store in Canada and it was painful waiting for the package to arrive. I could’ve ordered from a store here, but I’m not sure if they would have the buttons. Anyway, I got the kits last week and immediately started knitting away. I chose the easiest one out of the bunch, a one color design. But it wasn’t easy remembering how to knit. I mean, I know knit and purl, but I forgot how to read a chart pattern. I think I had to pull out the first 5 rows about 6 times due to mistakes. Once I got the hang of it, I couldn’t stop. I learned a lot from this patter too. I never made a buttonhole band/buttons before. I also have never blocked my pieces either (shhh, don’t tell). I never made a hat before, and now I love it! It took me about a week to make both the sweater and hat. The great thing about baby clothes is that they are so small, it takes no time to finish! This is the first set of baby clothes that I made for our babies and it is a shame they won’t be able to wear it until they are almost a year old! :(

It’s good news, the doctor called us at around 2pm. We were eating at the Village Square Cafe when my cell phone rang. I was so nervous all morning. He was very excited and that made me very hopeful and he said it was good news, both babies are fine. I was soooooo relieved. It’s the best news I’ve ever heard in my entire life! We ate our lunch, half crying out of just pure happiness that they’re ok!

This morning we went to see Dr. Walker to get the CVS test. It tests for any chromosomal abnormalities (downs syndrome, etc.) and is similar to amniocentesis, but the needle doesn’t go as far. They had to take 2 samples, one for each baby. Dr. Walker is one of the best doctors to do this procedure. What happens is one doctor is holding the ultrasound and the other doctor inserts a needle and removes tissue from the placenta. I was told that it wasn’t painful and lots of women on the internet were like “I didn’t even know it started when they told me it was finished”. Boy, it wasn’t like that for me. The needle being inserted didn’t hurt at all until it hit muscle (or something) and then it sent kind of a shockwave throughout the region. But that part is over and then whenever he goes into the placenta, it hurts like really bad cramps. And you can’t move! But luckily, the procedure doesn’t take very long. The 1st baby was no problem, sore, but straight forward. After that, my back muscles started cramping and I couldn’t move. It was very uncomfortable. The 2nd baby gave us a lot of trouble since it moved and changed the shape of the placenta in a way that was hard for the doctors to get. They said that this was probably one of the hardest CVS tests they have done! It was a little scary because I heard “I’m out of needle” (they inserted the needle and the location was just out of reach). I had my eyes closed, since I think seeing the needle would’ve freaked me out. But, they were very skilled and was able to get a sample anyway. Phew! I’m happy that Michael was there to hold my hand. We went home after that and I had to make sure that I didn’t do anything strenuous and lift nothing heavier than a gallon of milk. We get the results tomorrow (thank god), so it’s just 24 hours of waiting.