19 weeks (19.4) and a Month of FREEDOM

We went to our 19 week appointment this week with the OB and everything was still great. He measured my stomach and it measures at 24 weeks (if that gives you an idea of how huge I feel). This is normal for twin pregnancies. Baby A was breech and Baby B was head down- literally with his feet on Baby A's face. Aww...brotherly love. 


I feel pretty good though, besides feeling large. I don't get nauseous really anymore but I still have food aversions though sometimes I am too hungry to care.  Sometimes I can't really stand and have to bend over (hands on knees) to talk but I chalk that up to all the weight in the front. Did I mention I feel huge? Cuz I do. And it will only get worse!


We picked out names! Yep. Only took a few days to figure out what was best but we did. With Gavin, I thought I would forget his name since we really didn't say it much before he was born, because it was a secret. Now that we have TWO babies to know names of...I'm leaning more towards wanting to tell people. 


Here is a picture of 19.4 weeks:

And....their names are William Michael Kludt (Will) and Nathan Lee Kludt (Nate)

An Analogy for our MoMo Pregnancy

Fraternal Twins are basically like this: The babies have their own apartments (sacs) with their own kitchen (placentas).


Monoamniotic Dichorionic aka MoDi (Identical twins): The babies have their own hotel rooms with their own beds (sacs) but must eat at the same restaurant (share placenta). 


Monoamniotic Monochorionic aka MoMo (Identical twins):  The babies basically have a studio apartment. They share a bedroom (sac) and kitchen (placenta). 

39 days until inpatient

39 days does not seem that long...and then again, it feels like forever. In "39 days" (give or take a few depending on what the doctors decide), I will leave my home for a possible 10 week stay in the hospital. Most of you who have had children before or had hospital stays can not imagine being at the hospital this long...I can't either. But, I will say that I hope I do stay 10 weeks, that means the best for our boys. 


Some of my FB people wonder what it is like to be pregnant with twins at 18 weeks (well, this is 18.3 weeks) and I will tell you... it's probably a lot like being 25 weeks with just one baby. Our last doc appointment (3/14), the babies were each 8oz, which is right on track and perhaps a little more than "average."  So, against my husbands will, I am going to post a picture of what it looks like...at 18.3 weeks pregnant with twins (the second pregnancy around).

And on that note... my pizza is done. :) 

Inquiring Minds Want To Know...

What does it look like to be pregnant with twins at 15 weeks? Here... I will show you:

Not impressed?

Recent cravings:

Meat (this isn't recent but it's what I like) Mostly... beef and bacon...some venison. Not very much chicken unless it's with honey mustard or it's bdubs...or chinese.

Chocolate ice cream with peanut butter spoonfuls in it (this is just recently as of last week)

Salad that I can make myself (mostly just restaurant style...I am too lazy to have all those ingredients just chilling in my fridge waiting for me to eat a salad)

Fried egg sandwiches with cheese and miracle whip on toasted bread

Bacon and/or sausage- dipped in syrup (also toast dipped in syrup)

Sausage and cheese kolaches (this had been a must from the beginning)

Yellow cake with chocolate frosting

Pizza and garlic planks (from a local place)

Taco meat (I could care less about the rest of the toppings) and cheese

Bagels and cream cheese (strawberry on plain or plain on cinnimon raisin)

Split pea soup (I haven't had any yet but I want some) I tried to eat this today and I opened the can and about puked so... nope.


Dislikes:

Most any candy- I just don't have the urge to eat candy really

The smell of Gavin's milk cups or the kitchen sink

Prints' dog food...yuck. Smells gross

Mac and Cheese... (Velveeta)

Chicken in all other forms than listed above

Poptarts

Peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches

The list goes on...

The PLAN

Yesterday, I received a phone call from my OB with "the plan." He told us at our last appointment that he would get on the phone and talk to his perinatal friend (Dr Charlie Brown... funny right?) and come up with the best plan for us for our situation. So here it is:

Dr. Brown suggested that I need an ultrasound every 2 weeks starting now until 24 weeks (viability). This is every 2 weeks at the Texas Perinatal Group (TPG) because their ultrasounds are more hi-tech and can measure cord flow and other things that can let us know if something is wrong.

On top of every 2 weeks seeing the TPG, I will still be going every 2 weeks to my regular OB. I am guessing I should stagger these appointments or that will be 2 doc appointments in the same week every 2 weeks. My OB is still measuring my weight (yuck!) and other things they normally do for a regular pregnancy...along with more ultrasounds (just mostly to check for heartbeats and measurements).

If all is well at 24 weeks, I will be admitted to Breckenridge hospital in downtown Austin until the babies are delivered via c-section. 24 weeks starts April 25th. (HOLY SMOKES! 9 weeks away!) What this means is I will be admitted to the hospital- for the entire duration of the rest of the pregnancy. Technically as I have researched, these momo babies are delivered between 24 weeks and 34 weeks depending on how their vitals are inside. We will welcome our twins between April 25 and July 4th (maybe a day or 2 afterwards).

Breckenridge hospital is where Dr. Brown works and they have a perinatal doctor at the hospital 24 hours a day so it is our safest bet.  If there is any cause for concern that the babies need to be born early (I will be monitored possibly 3 times a day to check their vitals) then the hospital will contact my OB and he will come do a c-section immediately. This could quite possibly be a very long stay in the hospital for me..and probably a long stay for our babies after they are born. Many babies born before 34 weeks measure 4lbs and under. I have read some born at the 24 week mark are only a little over a pound. It is a bit scary but we are going to grow these babies the best we can... they are already measuring a week ahead!

On that note... where is some meat I can eat...?

Momo Babies and what you need to know (or what I know)

Our identical twins are in the same sac which means they are Monoamniotic (Monoamniotic-Monochorionic). Basically, when the egg travels down into the uterus and does it's doubling, the egg split instead of just doubling, giving us 2 babies. Depending on how early the egg splits, you get 2 babies each in their own sacs- attached to the same placenta, 2 babies in the same sac- attached to the same placenta, or 2 babies conjoined together and attached to the same placenta. This all happens in the matter of days. The first stage is the first 3 days, the next the following few days and the last at the very last moment before attaching to the uterine wall. Monoamniotic twins are rare, with an occurrence of 1 in 35,000 to 1 in 60,000 pregnancies, corresponding to about 1% of twin pregnancies. 


The dangers of this pregnancy are: cord compression and entanglement or also the Twin to Twin Syndrome. Cord entanglement happens when the babies are able to move around without any boundaries between them and the cords are wrapping around each others cords and making knots and twists. This can cause restrictions in the cord, cutting off nutrients and blood supply to one or both babies. (Let me just say right now, I got to see a ball of umbilical cords inside at our last ultrasound and it made me ill) Twin to Twin Syndrome is when one twin gets more blood and nutrients than the other twin. One twin can become much larger than the other twin while the other twin remains the same because it isn't getting what it needs to grow. It can be dangerous for both twins getting too much blood or not enough. If one twin dies at this point, the toxins from the baby will be released into the amniotic fluid and can cause mental retardation in the living baby (this is only the case after the baby is around 20 weeks or more).  


Right now, we wait. We go into the doctor next Monday at 13 weeks, 5 days. We get ultrasounds every doctors appointment. We visit our OB again on February 27th (we go every 2 weeks). We return to the specialist (in Austin) on March 1st at which point we are 16 weeks. The specialist will look again at the babies and check to make sure they are both doing well. From that point on it is either a weekly or bi-weekly visit to both my OB and the specialist (separately). At 23 or 24 weeks they will determine when the babies are viable- which means one or both would likely survive being born if they had to be. Depending on what we decide, I can be admitted to the hospital from 24 weeks on to have the babies monitored a few times a day- OR- I could do outpatient monitoring, in which case I would have to drive to Austin every day and be monitored for a few hours and go home and return...every day until 34 weeks or whenever they decide to deliver. Momo babies are ALWAYS delivered early because of restricted space. We have to think that we might have these babies as early as April 25th (24 weeks) and as late as July 4th (34 weeks). 


That's about all the info I have for you now. Feel free to ask me questions if you have any and I will try to get them answered as best as I know. 

Living without the "P"

Did I mention in the blog post before this that when we arrived at our house and stepped inside- IT. WAS. AWESOME! I mean, I cleaned the hell out of this place before we left so when we got home it was so great...SOOOOO GREAT! Anyway-- 



Brandon and I have started to refer to the pacifier as the "P" as of our arrival back home from Michigan. Since we were all deathly sick (I say deathly but I know- it could have been worse I guess...maybe.), Brandon and I decided that we would just take the P away. Gavin's nose was stuffed up and so when he used the P, he had to basically have it hanging out of his mouth so he could breathe so we thought we would just take it away now while he couldn't really use it. 

I'm not sure how to put it lightly but EUREKA! I mean, Gavin was already whiny and crying about being sick (I'm sure as much as MY throat hurt, his did too) so we could barely notice the crying about not having the P around anymore. We had them on the counter to be washed (I'm not sure why we washed them...maybe in case we were to give in?) and eventually DID wash them but we never gave in. Not once. The last time Gavin had a P was November 24th right before he got a bath that night. It took me until last night to dig out all the P's and throw them in the garbage. It made me a little sad to let that part of him go but I guess better now than later. 


So, the first few days were rocky without the P. I don't know if it was more the fact that I so very much wanted to give in sometimes because he just cried so much (not sure it was all P related but the easy solution would have been to give in and give it to him)! But now, he talks so much more. He says things like rain, no, bye, uh-oh, oh man, "whats that" or is that, hi (with waving ALL the time), don't, now, more, pa-tah (peanut), water...basically anything you say, he tries to copy the words. I try to sound them out for him and the way he says things sometimes..cracks me up. He also has begun dancing like a fool since his dad charged an old cell phone and I pulled up the ringtones. Brandon showed him once how to play the song over and it was all over with after that. Over and over and over the songs get played and more dancing and dancing. 


 Before we decided to take the P away Gavin usually would point to the counter or just cry and we would toss one down or plug one in and be set with him being quiet..sucking his P and twirling his hair. Now days, I hate to tell everyone who knows Gavin but...he doesn't really twirl his hair anymore. That's right. As soon as we took away the P...his hands don't twirl- not his hair, not mine. A few weeks ago I would have given my left foot for him not to twirl/pull my hair anymore but now it makes me sad. I used to pick him up after my shower and he would run his hands through my hair but now that he is a "big boy" who doesn't use his P anymore... apparently he doesn't want to do this anymore. I used to pick him up when he was tired and he would twirl my hair around his fingers and rest his head on my shoulder- no more. I mean, not even his own hair! As most family (and friends) know, if you put that P in his mouth his hands went straight into his own hair, picking and twirling... no more. 


Yesterday he did take a nap with me and twirl my hair a bit and it made me smile but that has been the only twirling since removal of the P. 


R.I.P. Pacifier aka Paci aka "P"  and to Gavin being a baby...no more. He is a big boy :) Below are some of his pictures from recently- being a big boy.

Who needs toys when you have an ice cream bucket!?

Teaching this boy to clean now...while he likes to do it! ;)

Gavin hitching a ride