Today I tried to schedule 2 appointments back to back, but that didn’t work out very well. I was feeling weak today, mainly due to not eating breakfast. So I had Michael drive me around. The first appointment was with Dr. Walker, and all they did was check my cervix (which was ok) and we talked with the twins coordinator, Melissa. She told me that the average time that people go on bedrest is 28 weeks, so I’m doing great (I’m at 30 weeks now)! After that, we had an hour and a half until the next appointment, so we went to Woodinville and ate at Pallino Pastaria. Dang, their bread is sooooo good. I ate 3 pieces and would’ve eaten more if they were less stingy with it. We had a few minutes to kill so Michael went to the bookstore and didn’t buy anything (shocking!), and I went to the Oshkosh store and bought lots of hats and booties since they were so cheap and I forgot to get those at the big sale this past weekend. We then went back to Evergreen, this time to the ob, and it was the usual poke and prod. I am now measuring 40cms, full term for a singleton! Man, they are getting big!

Later this afternoon, the lactation consultant called me and we chatted for awhile. She recommended some breast pumps and gave me a warning about bottles from formula manufacturers. She said that they make the nipples so that the milk comes out very easily. This makes it hard for the baby to go back and forth between bottle and breast, and the baby usually ends up being bottle fed with formula of course!!! What a scam! I couldn’t believe how sneaky they are! I also tried to sign up for an infant CPR class, but they didn’t have one when I was available. Oh well, we’ll just do it later.

Today we had an appointment to meet with a nurse at Pediatric Associates in Kirkland. I originally made an appointment to meet with a doctor, but on that day, I got a mysterious call that said “he is no longer with the practice”, and I checked their website and he was already gone! Wow, I wonder what the gossip was on that one. Anyways, the only other person who does meet ‘n greets is the nurse, Donna. Michael was so upset that we weren’t meeting a doctor, mostly because we were told to be careful choosing a pediatrician, and none of them do meet ‘n greets. How are we supposed to know if we’ll like them or not? Anyways, I told him he can stay at work and I’ll go to the appointment myself, but he went anyways, with steam coming out of his ears. It turned out to be nice talking to the nurse, she was really friendly, answered all of our questions and we both liked her (she’s from Texas, how can you not?). We didn’t get to meet the doctors, but several people recommended them and I like their “family” atmosphere where there’s only 4 doctors. So we decided to just go with the recommendation from one of the eMOMs (Michael worked with the husband of the eMOM who recommended the doctor, so he trusts their opinion). Michael admitted at the end that it was worth the time. Hmpf! Showed him!

Michael had to work the sale 1/2 of today. He went in around 8:30 and stayed until 11:30. Poor thing! He got bossed around some. I think when women get together, they feel superior and don’t think men can do the job with the same quality. But of course, they reluctantly had to give in due to the insaneness of the place. And he did just fine! I think since the women kind of take over, the men congregate and do some male bonding. Now I understand!!!! Michael worked with a really nice guy named Steve (last night and today) and told him all about his twins. The eMOMs member shop started at 9am, and then open to the public at 10:00am. Michael said it was pretty crazy. It’s so nice to know that this gym full of stuff is being recycled!!! When he came home, he had to take a nap, he needed to get all that estrogen out of his system! While he was napping, I went to Babies R Us and finally bought car seats. It was so hard to choose. I also bought some misc items and couldn’t believe how much all this crap costs! Ugh! I left there completely shopped out. I’m definitely an online shopper….

I’ve been waiting a loooooooong time for this sale. We volunteered to work so that we can get first picks on the stuff and it was worth it! We left work early and went to the BCC Gymnasium. The first task was to carpet the gym floor. Of course, I sat on the side and watched Michael and all the rest of the people. It went a lot faster than I thought it would. I mainly sat around since I couldn’t really do much. They still managed to find a job for me, which was to highlight the word “seller” on some labels. Why they didn’t just print those with a different color I have no idea. It was amazing to see how organized this event was and I found it hard to believe that the gym would be full with kid stuff. I met a lot of other moms, and they all have their twins. It was interesting. Some of them were like “oh my god, you guys are going to have so much fun, twins are the best” and some where “oh my god, it’s a nightmare”. Ha! At 5:30, all the sellers came in and it was my job to make sure they all had “seller” or “helper” stickers on. The labels kind of sucked because they came off as people were taking several loads in and out and I felt kind of bad stopping people as they had their hands full of stuff and asking to see their sticker. At 7:00, I had to “police” people to get out since they were not supposed to be browsing. They had hot dogs and cokes for sale, but unfortunately, I had no cash. So I had to eat the provided food. Next to the hot dogs, the chicken wasn’t all that great. At 8:00, everyone got in the gym and we all stood in one area and they said “Go!” and we all scattered around. Michael and I immediately went to the equipment section and found a couple of bouncy seats and a play yard. We saw a nice Maclaren stroller but someone got to it just seconds before us. We put our stuff in the holding area, then went to the clothing area and just started piling stuff up. I filled our plastic tub with clothes. After awhile my arms and feet started to hurt so we just called it a day. There were TONS of clothes, I mean, a LOT! We did buy a baby monitor for $9, but we’re not sure how good it works. All in all, we did pretty good, and it was totally worth it to go on Friday night. The place wasn’t packed at all, you didn’t get a sense of “rushing” and grabbing anything that caught your eye. We didn’t venture into the toy area, which looked like a vomitous (sp?) mass of colorful plastic. I think kids would go into convulsions in there. We left there so tired and ready to go home! I was so sick of shopping, and we still have more stuff to get!!!

Baby A profile

Baby A face

Baby B profile

Baby B Face

Today I had an ultrasound appointment, I switched offices and this was the first time to see Dr. Walker at Evergreen. I have to say that I was disappointed. Dr. Walker usually does the ultrasounds himself (at Overlake), but at Evergreen, they have techs that do it. Not that I don’t trust them, but I feel better knowing that the doctor himself is looking at the ultrasound and not just at pictures that the tech gives him. Then he comes in afterwards, more like an afterthought, for a few minutes and talks about stuff. I miss the patient/doctor interaction that I had at Overlake. I guess he’s busier there and that way they can see more patients. It’s too bad. It was the longest appointment ever (2.5 hours!), since we had the first tech come in and do stuff, but couldn’t get good pictures of the heart, then we had another tech come in and try to get other pictures of the heart, then the first tech came back to check my cervix. It was hard to lie there the whole time, I nearly fell asleep. The good news is everything else is looking good, and they are nearly 3 lbs each! We were going to go back to work but after that appointment, we were both exhausted, especially me. So, we went home and I took a nap while Michael worked. I think I slept for at least 4 hours! We then did labor practice so that we don’t get yelled at tomorrow. It went really well, but holding ice is nothing compared to a contraction. Our Bradley teacher said to “work up” to using ice, but I found it to be really easy to do. Maybe I’m more relaxed than a normal person?

Today I met with a doctor who is on the on-call rotation with my ob doctor. She was very nice, and made me feel comfortable. I asked her a lot of questions about epidurals, episiotomies and breech extractions. There are just too many things to think about! Everything was ok, I think I gained 2 lbs, which is right on target and I also measured 37cm’s! I couldn’t really tell how much I gained since I can no longer stand on the scale facing forward. The scale at the doctor’s office has the reader “console” right at stomach level, and my belly was too big, so I had to stand on it backwards. Tomorrow I get another ultrasound, hopefully I can post pictures. I’m getting more tired now, everyday when we come home, I’m exhausted! Today whenever we got home, I immediately fell asleep for 2 hours, got up and made dinner, then had a hard time getting back to sleep.

We’ve been calling everywhere trying to see if we can get a flu shot, but it seems like doctor’s offices don’t have them so we’ll have to see if one of the drug stores around us will. Costco does but it will be a total madhouse. We might just skip getting one. I was iffy about getting one anyway, so it makes it easier to make up my mind. I really want Michael to get one so that at least someone will stay healthy in case of disaster!

I got a call today letting me know that the amnio results were normal (no surprise there). I still need to make another appointment with Dr. Lewin (cardiologist) at 32 - 34 weeks. My appointment with Dr. Walker was cancelled for tomorrow so I’ll have to reschedule that one too.

I called the Ronald McDonald House and they told me that they don’t make exceptions to the 60 mile rule. So, we were contemplating going between home and Children’s and that’s just not good. I don’t like the idea of driving to Seattle every day for a month. After much debate, we decided that the best thing to do is to get a hotel room nearby, or some kind of corporate extended stay housing (cheaper, but not as close to the hospital). That way, I can see both babies every day without too much trouble. And someone mentioned that Children’s feeds breastfeeding moms 3 meals a day, so I wouldn’t have to worry so much about eating. I also learned that there are a lot of supportive eMOMs out there willing to help out in any way they can. The hotel seems the best option since it’s about a mile away, but it would be more than $114/night, and that adds up very quickly. I’m currently investigating other options. A lot of the extended stay places are in downtown Seattle, and I don’t want to deal with traffic/parking there. I’m sure there are lots of places around the University, it’s just a matter of finding them. Because of all this running around after their birth, I’m really hoping I won’t have to get a c-section, since it will make everything that much harder.

We also had our 3rd Bradley class today and went over 2nd stage labor. I think people get nervous about birth because of these classes, since it puts a lot of “what if’s” in your head. We only have 1 more class to go….

Michael and I drove over to Children’s hospital near UW for our appointment with Dr. Lewin. The hospital was really cutely decorated (whale/fish theme), I wish regular hospitals were more creative. We waited for a little while and Dr. Lewin himself came out to greet us. We chatted for awhile, then I had the longest ultrasound ever. Baby A has now moved more horizontal across my belly and baby B is on top, with both heads right next to each other. Baby A is probably comforting Baby B! They were both anterior (their backs facing the world), so it was really hard for the doctor to get a clear picture. He basically confirmed what Dr. Walker saw (Dextrocardia and transposition of the great arteries or TGA), although he said that he is only 80% - 85% sure of the accuracy, just because of the baby’s hard to see position. I’ll have to come back at around 32 - 34 weeks to check again. It was a really informative appointment, he gave us a breakdown of the birth and surgery and what needs to happen. This condition alone should in no way impact how the baby is born (cesarean or natural), which was nice to hear. So, right after the baby is born, they will administer a drug through the umbilical cord to keep a shunt between the aorta and the pulmonary artery open (usually this shunt collapses soon after birth). The baby will then be transported to Children’s Hospital, where they will do an echocardiogram to confirm the condition and check if there are any other issues that they couldn’t see with ultrasound. After that’s done, they will put a balloon in the heart that basically replaces the need to keep the other shunt open with drugs. After this is done, the baby will stay in the hospital about 2 weeks and get some strength, learn how to eat, etc. After the two weeks (or whenever they deem it necessary), the baby will undergo the surgery that will basically switch the two arteries back to normal. They’ll have to stop the heart and do a bypass, as well as bring the baby’s core temperature down to 37 degrees! The surgery is fairly common and has a 95% success rate, which is pretty high. The baby will probably stay in the hospital another week or two for recovery. We’re trying to see if we can get a room at the Ronald McDonald house during that time, but noticed that we’re not eligible because we don’t live more than 60 miles away. :( Another alternative is to go to a hotel, but that’ll cost about $100/night. I guess we’ll figure something out as the time gets nearer. Keep your fingers crossed! We were also surprised to find out that my cousin Heidi works in that same office as Dr. Lewin! She came by to say hello. We were there for about 2.5 hours, so after the appointment we went out to dinner. These are some diagrams we got from the doctor, I did my best to explain what is going on. Hopefully the text is large enough for you to see (click on each image for a larger view).

Here is a normal heart

Here is baby B’s heart