Slumber Party! and 30 weeks today.

Daddy spent the night last night, which everyone enjoyed. We watched a movie and had a close to normal Friday night. Today is a big day! Grandma and Grandpa Boulware and Daisy are coming to visit. My nurse has arranged is so that I can go outside to see Daisy. I miss here very much. Grandma and Grandpa should be here around the same time, so we are going to have a picnic outside. I have not been outside since last Thursday. This will be a real treat. Not like a TCBY treat, but still really good. I have not gone for my scan yet, but imagine they will call anytime now.

Later that day...

Well Dr Y did my scan and it was okay. Not worse and not better. Same is good! He has also started to scan the blood flow in the babies brains, this has showed great results. This means that although there is an issue at times with blood getting to Yip, at least once it is there is goes and does what it needs to do. They have changed again how they are doing the heart rate monitoring. Instead of one hour on and four hours off which seemed to confuse some of the nurses, I am being scanned for two hours every eight hours. This mean I can have a full night sleep, YEA!

So time in hospital= 1 week and two days.

Weeks pregnant 30!

Games Cubs are ahead 2!

Number of TCBY treats 1!

Clarification and definitions.

I did some research online last night and thought I would pass it one to those of you who are curious. Below is a clear definition of the zero blood that they have been seeing on Yip. So far they have only seen the absent end-diastolic flow, if they were do see the reverse flow we would have some babies coming early.

"Absent end-diastolic flow: Normally, the blood flow through the umbilical artery (and in all other arteries) is forward; as the heart pumps the blood forward, the flow through the arteries is more rapid right after each heartbeat, and slows down a little in between heartbeats. In some disease states (such as severe TTTS), the blood flow in the umbilical artery comes to a stop in between heartbeats: there is absent flow at the end of diastole (the phase in between heartbeats, as opposed to systole, or heartbeat). In very severe cases, the blood flow in diastole is even reversed (blood flows backward, toward the heart): this is termed reversed end diastolic flow in the umbilical artery."

http://bms.brown.edu/pedisurg/Fetal/TTTSGlossary.html

We have been going in for scans where they look at the Doppler to determine if there is this absent end-diastolic flow. I found a web page that shows what a normal, absent end, and reverse flow looks like on a real scan.

http://www.fleshandbones.com/readingroom/pdf/1157.pdf

Go to the bottom of page 48, that is where the description starts, then the pictures are on the next page.

At this site also is a descriptions of what makes up the 8 out of 8 score that we have been getting with every scan. If at some point we do not get and 8 out of 8 (which we will not!) they will have to take the babies early. This description is on page 50 of the site above. I go in for the Biophysical profile every day and they look at everything you see in table 2.1 on page 50, the CTG is done in my room with the heart rate monitor, so that makes it a 10 out of 10.

Hope this helps explain what is going on, let me know if you have more questions and I can answer or ask one of my Docs.

Our November Goal

Well lots of activity has occurred, well lots if you are on bed rest. Auntie Val came to visit us to hang out and watch the first episode of Survivor. Right in the middle of the show the nurse came and said we were moving. So I am now in my third room. This one is in the Mother and Baby side, so no scary birthing stuff in this room. It is also a little smaller, which has turned out to be a good thing as I got the best sleep yet since I have been here. So much so that they woke me up for my daily scan and I had barely enough time to brush my teeth before I went down. I am such a fixture here that I walk down by myself and walk my chart back. So there I go every morning in my house coat walking my chart to and from the ultrasound appointment. So, without further ado, today's result is more of the same. Not better, not worse. We did see the zero blood flow from the placenta to Yip, so the three of us are still here to stay, but same is good. I got to see more 3-D pictures of the babies. From the profile they look like Daddy and from straight on they look like Mom. Pretty cute.

So on to the November goal. Yip and Yap and I always talk in the early morning when they are doing one of the heart rate monitoring. They reminded me the July, 13th was the date when Daddy and I found out that they were twins, I was admitted here on September, 13th so they would like to be born on November 13th. I said that was fine with me. Then they said that they would also sleep through the night and only have poopie diapers when Dad is around.

Time in the hospital 1week 1 day.

Days pregnant: 29 weeks and 6 days.

Games Cubs are ahead 1.5!

"One Day at a Time" Do do do do

Well I had my scan today and the fluid looks good, they are breathing, moving like crazy, and aside from the diastolic flow they see with Yip- everything looks good. The absent Diastolic flow means that there are moments when Yip is not getting any blood flow from the placenta, but it is intermittent. Dr. C seems to think I would be okay on home bed rest and could come in to the hospital for my daily scan and heart rate monitoring. Unfortunately, it is not up to Dr. C, it is up to Dr M. or Dr. Y. Also, I think Dr. Grandma would rather we stay here. I will take is as a good sign that someone thinks I would be okay going home. Lord knows Miss daisy would love that. So the holding pattern continues. I have been cleared to do some small exercises and lift some small weights, so like in prison maybe I can get totally buff. :o)

Go Cubs Go! Mine and the team!

Boy were Yip and Yap active last night. They are very excited about the cub's win. Their little personalities are starting to come out already. Every time Yip has the heart rate monitor on she/he kicks it and goes crazy, a little scrapper from the start. Yap seems to be the shy one, whenever I have a scan Yap has her/his hands up by his/her face. Very cute.

I have not had my daily scan yet today, but my OB Dr C came for his daily visit and had nothing but positive things to day. Basically he thinks that they are just wanting to keep a good eye on Yip and due to that I am not going anywhere for a while. So another day down and another day toward our November goal.

Days in the hospital so far- 7, days pregnant 29 weeks and 5 days.

Number of games the Cubs are ahead 1!

Another scan under our belts and three monkey votes

Days in the hospital so far- 6, days pregnant 29 weeks and 4 days.

Well we saw Dr Y today and saw the monkeys. There was a nice pocket of fluid around Yip and Yap. Another good sign is that they both moved through the night. Yesterday they were face to face and head down, now Yip is breach and Yap is along the top of my belly like bunk beds. This movement is a really good sign because if they did not have enough fluid they could not move like this, also if they were not getting enough nutrients then they would not waste energy on movement like this. Grandma Doyle got to see a 3-D image of Yap. It was very cute.

for now we got a good report, not good enough to go home, but good enough that Dr Y said we had at least another good week.

Grandma goes home today, we have really enjoyed her coming to visit. We went down to the cafeteria every day for lunch, so it was like when I was little and always would go to lunch with her and her friends.

Crazy at it may seem there are two women at the hospital now with triplets. I have met both of them. One is having the same issue with her Baby C as I am having with my Baby A (Yip.) I heard one of the nurses say she was going crazy with all of the multiples! Edwards hospital delivered 5 sets of triplets last year and we have two here right now. Hope they have a lot of diapers!

Today we are 29 weeks and 4 days. Yip and Yap said they wanted to be born in November, so today is another day toward that goal.

Another day ends, another day further to the goal...

Well Aunt Rebecca, Grandma Doyle, Uncle Danny and Daddy came to visit the twins and Mom today. One more day on the inside which we will take! They were very active today. They always go nuts when the cubs are on, so does Daddy. Yip and Yap have had another big day, Dr M has us on baby aspirin as that has shown to increase blood flow and thus the size of smaller babies. They are also going to monitor the heart rates more; one hour on and four hours off throughout the day. They did great on their 8:00 pm monitoring, so next is 1:00am. This means interrupted sleep for Mom, but worth it. It is kind of nice to hear the heart rates, kind of like a cute little horse race. Well it does not look like the cubs are going to pull it out again tonight, so it is time for bed. Goodnight all and thanks again all the thoughts and prayers.

Little bump today

Well after a night of celebrating the cubs victory, Yip and Yap were very active. They have both now turned from breach to head down. This is a good sign as it means they have enough fluid and extra energy to move around. They are now face to face and head down, their two little butts are at each side of my belly.



The little bump that we had today had to do with the blood flow to Yip. It showed the periodic zero flow that worried Dr Y enough to get me in here in the first place. Yesterday they did not see this, and we had a great report. Basically we are back in the same holding pattern. Dr M said that there was a patient here a while ago that stayed with periodic zero flow for a month or so. This is good because every day that Yip and Yap stay in me is three days less in the NICU.



So more of the same today. More rest, prayer and positive thoughts.

Yip and Yap benefit from Bed Rest

well, it is now Monday, September 17th and I have now been on bed rest since Thursday night. Things have been looking up, yet we are not out of the woods. Today's scan showed more fluid around Yip (baby a) and also did not show the zero blood flow that got me admitted in the first place.

Yip and Yap were glad to spend the day with grandma Doyle. As a special treat we go to walk down and have lunch in the cafeteria.

There is some talk about going home, but that we changed today. It seems that the three of us are here for the long haul. That is fine with me as long as the babies stay in mommy as long as possible.

The best thing that happened today is that the hospital chaplin came to bless our beads from the mother's blessing.