Babies Update and Marvelous Multiples
We went back to the specialist this past Thursday. I did better, but it was still tough. I am really struggling with anxiety before the appts. It starts the night before and last usually through the appointment. During the ultrasound, I felt like I held my breath waiting on the results. At this specialist, we have an ultrasound tech who does the scan. It last about 10 minutes. He measures everything. But he doesn't talk very much. He basically then prints a report and the doctor comes in to review. I feel like I can't breathe while we wait!! I don't think its going to get any easier :-)
The great news is that everything looks great! Both baby boys are doing really well. They took a close look at the hearts and pulmonary system. All doing well. They are growing well. Baby A weighs 14 oz and Baby B weighs 1 lb!!! Both are measuring a little ahead of schedule so size is good for now. We are actually a little bigger than the average. They also measured my cervix for a baseline. The longer the better. The longest being 4cm and then on the other end of the spectrum we don't want the cervix to efface. I measured a solid 3.5 so nice and long for now. Praise the Lord! We have 2 happy and healthy baby boys so far.
We went ot our childbirth class this weekend called Marvelous Multiples. We spent a long time talking about nutrition. Fortunately at the beginning, I was recommended to follow Dr. Luke's book on having multiples. I think there were a lot of twin moms in there that seemed surprised by the information of the calories, proteins, etc. I am solidly hitting the 3000-3500 calorie mark now. The only area I may be falling short is protein but Sgt. Justin Riley is on the task. They gave us this protein tracking sheet to fill out each day. I am on strict instructions that I have to turn my in at night. If I don't hit my 110 g of protein a day, then I have eat egg whites! Yuck. For those of you who know me well. I hate eggs. Hate them. I eat everything in life except liver and eggs. My parents traumatized me with egg eating growing up and I won't go near them now. So I went to the grocery store today and protein shopped. I am hitting around 70 each day already. Sometimes more but need to be consistent in hitting the 110. The main reason with the protein is the birth weight of the babies. Preterm labor is the riskiest part of carrying multiples. The more these babies weigh, the better chance they have if they deliver early.
We also learned a lot about preterm labor. The babies are considered viable outside the mom at 24 weeks. However, they generally have serious lifelong health issues. But most preterm labor for multiples starts around 24 weeks. There are lots of options to stop it but I have to be aware of the signs and how to determine if what I am feeling is preterm labor. That makes me nervous!
The highlight of the class was watching Justin watch the live birth videos!! He was totally unprepared for the delivery scenes. They showed everything! He had to cover his mouth and turn his head when the placenta was delivered. We watched a natural twin birth and a c-section triplet birth. I am 99% sure I will have the c-section birth. There is a possibility with twins of natural birth but I have the complication factor of Baby C as well as being a little more high risk due to that situation. I want to do whatever is less stressful for the baby looks like c section it is!
There was a couple who has twin boys that came and brought them and spoke to the class about their experiences. It was great to ask questions and here how they are doing. She was extremely positive and she works full time and they are doing great. It gave me a lot of reassurance that it can work. It is going to be difficult but oh so many blessings!
Please continue to pray for our baby boys and their mom. Love you!
Luann and Justin
The great news is that everything looks great! Both baby boys are doing really well. They took a close look at the hearts and pulmonary system. All doing well. They are growing well. Baby A weighs 14 oz and Baby B weighs 1 lb!!! Both are measuring a little ahead of schedule so size is good for now. We are actually a little bigger than the average. They also measured my cervix for a baseline. The longer the better. The longest being 4cm and then on the other end of the spectrum we don't want the cervix to efface. I measured a solid 3.5 so nice and long for now. Praise the Lord! We have 2 happy and healthy baby boys so far.
We went ot our childbirth class this weekend called Marvelous Multiples. We spent a long time talking about nutrition. Fortunately at the beginning, I was recommended to follow Dr. Luke's book on having multiples. I think there were a lot of twin moms in there that seemed surprised by the information of the calories, proteins, etc. I am solidly hitting the 3000-3500 calorie mark now. The only area I may be falling short is protein but Sgt. Justin Riley is on the task. They gave us this protein tracking sheet to fill out each day. I am on strict instructions that I have to turn my in at night. If I don't hit my 110 g of protein a day, then I have eat egg whites! Yuck. For those of you who know me well. I hate eggs. Hate them. I eat everything in life except liver and eggs. My parents traumatized me with egg eating growing up and I won't go near them now. So I went to the grocery store today and protein shopped. I am hitting around 70 each day already. Sometimes more but need to be consistent in hitting the 110. The main reason with the protein is the birth weight of the babies. Preterm labor is the riskiest part of carrying multiples. The more these babies weigh, the better chance they have if they deliver early.
We also learned a lot about preterm labor. The babies are considered viable outside the mom at 24 weeks. However, they generally have serious lifelong health issues. But most preterm labor for multiples starts around 24 weeks. There are lots of options to stop it but I have to be aware of the signs and how to determine if what I am feeling is preterm labor. That makes me nervous!
The highlight of the class was watching Justin watch the live birth videos!! He was totally unprepared for the delivery scenes. They showed everything! He had to cover his mouth and turn his head when the placenta was delivered. We watched a natural twin birth and a c-section triplet birth. I am 99% sure I will have the c-section birth. There is a possibility with twins of natural birth but I have the complication factor of Baby C as well as being a little more high risk due to that situation. I want to do whatever is less stressful for the baby looks like c section it is!
There was a couple who has twin boys that came and brought them and spoke to the class about their experiences. It was great to ask questions and here how they are doing. She was extremely positive and she works full time and they are doing great. It gave me a lot of reassurance that it can work. It is going to be difficult but oh so many blessings!
Please continue to pray for our baby boys and their mom. Love you!
Luann and Justin