A weekend with Alysha

 My gorgeous niece flew from Syd, Aus to Auckland for a quick, weekend visit. I picked her up at around 1:30am on Friday night and then we talked until about 2:40am...oh my gosh, can she talk! Long gone are the days where she would hardly say a word hahaha.

Saturday was a wee bit of a write off as we had our 4 hour antenatal class, but that night we took her with us to our mates engagement/house warming party. Here we are, in our garden before we headed to the party.

The next day, we drove to Puhoi, about 45 mins out of Auckland. Quaint little spot with a yummy cheese factory/cafe. We arrived in time for lunch, and then Alysha and Josh tried heaps of cheeses before deciding that they liked the normal brie the best.

 

After that, we drove down the road and stopped at the cutest, tiniest little "espicurean" shop. And tried lots of yummy jams and chutneys.

And then onto the honey cafe, where you can see the bees in action and can try heaps of different types of honey (lavender honey, chocolate honey, etc). Turns out Alysha doesn't like honey at all, but was fascinating to see the bees and their hives.

We finished off the night with a dinner at Clarence street, with Josh's parents and grandparents.

Lovely weekend and we miss Alysha so much already!

29 weeks

How far along? 29 weeks

Baby size: TW1 was 939g and TW2 was 1032g at last weeks scan. So both over 2 pounds but TW1 is now below the “small but normal” range and TW2 is right on the “small but normal” line.

Babies positions: Yin Yang position. The babies have done the old switcheroo and TW1 is now head down and TW2 is now breach.  Still looking like C-section will be the way to go as they think the babies will have to come out by 34 weeks due to the placenta not performing well, and apparently they can’t induce me at such an early stage.

Total weight gain/loss: current weight is 60.01kg. Really hoping that the weight gain means that the babies have put on weight..

Maternity clothes? Maternity clothes all the way (or leggings/baggy dresses).

Stretch marks? Nothing yet.

Sleep: So hard to fall asleep. My legs get sore or restless and I toss and turn. And tossing and turning is no easy feat! My pelvis feels so unstable so changing positions in bed is scary. I try to lie on my left hand side as much as possible, but lying on my back is still the most comfortable. But once I fall asleep, I usually manage to sleep until the alarm goes off. Or I’ll have one pee break and that is it.
Best moment this week: Our impromptu lunch in the sun at St Heliers on Wednesday. Lovely to just sit in the sun with Joshy.
Movement: Feeling kicks or little flailing arms, from both inside and outside. And rolls. And occasionally feel a hard bottom or leg or head pressed up against my tummy.
Food cravings:  No real cravings at the moment.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing much

Have you started to show yet: Yes! No hiding it. Measuring about 4 weeks ahead at the moment.  
Gender: Still playing the guessing game.

Symptoms: slow, walking funny, unstable pelvis, tired.
Labor Signs: No signs yet
Things I miss:  sushi and alchohol. Drinking as much tea as I want. Sleeping on my belly. Feeling energetic.
Belly Button in or out? outie.
Wedding rings on or off? On

Looking forward to: 

next weeks growth scan, my niece coming over for the weekend, good friends house warming/engagement party. 

Weekend in Paihia

  

We headed off to Paihia, Bay of Islands late Friday night, and finally arrived at the Copthorne Hotel at about 11:30.  Woke up the next day to beautiful blue skies. Perfect weather for the Food and wine festival.

Josh, Harry and Andy were first up at 11:30, followed by Dirty Dozen, Soljah and the Jordan Luck Band.  

Lovely day in the sun! Glad we made the most of it as the weather made a turn for the worse the next day, and was pouring down back in Auckland. 

Ahh well, was nice to enjoy a teeny bit of summer!

Babies health update II

Babies health update II

  Here is the latest:

1. twin 1 is still smaller than average. And the size difference between the two is about 10%.  According to Dr Google, they only really get worried when it becomes 20%.

2. both babies still have prominent kidneys. But TW1's is measuring 5mm (down from 6mm about a month ago) and TW2's is measuring  5mm (down from 8mm about a month ago). So both are on the high side of normal...but within normal range at the moment. So Yay!

3. Getting consistently high doppler readings. Which is the measurement of resistance to blood flow through the arteries in the cord (3 arteries and readings are high in 2 out of the 3 for both babies).   This is pretty much a sign that the placenta is struggling to service both babies.


Asked about actual numbers so I can understand how freaked out I should be, and here they are:





They want the readings to be >1.
95% of population have a reading .7 or less. But mine are .8.  Personally, I don't see why we are talking about steroid shots at this stage. Really starting to think that doctors over react.


The way it works is that blood is supposed to be flowing through the cord at all times - when the heart beats, and when it is at rest. I can't remember if that's my heart or the babies hearts. But in my case, the flow slows down a lot when the heart(s) are at rest. 

When it gets to 1, this means that there is no flow when the heart(s) are at rest. Should this happen when I am at say 35 or 36 weeks, they'd seriously consider getting the babies out. But if it should happen now, the babies may still be better off inside.
But babies have to come out no matter what if the reading should be over 1, as at this stage, reverse flow begins to happen.



Sidenote:
I also had my big heart scan today, and looks like it is doing really well. The leak looks like it has gotten worse, but this was expected, and is still a mild-moderate leak. And well may fix itself once I have less fluid pumping through my body.   And my heart rate has increased, but not by as much as is expected for someone in 3rd trimester of pregnancy. But all is fine if I am not feeling dizzy, faint or having heart palpitations, etc.  Guess this all has to do with my low blood pressure readings.  Not sure, but I feel fine, so wasn't too worried about the docs finding anything bad today.

28 week update!

How far along? 28 weeks

Baby size: So looks like the last growth scan may have been incorrect, cos TW1 is still measuring a bit smaller. Or this could be the 10% margin of error coming into play. Who knows. I certainly don't.  But at least they are both steadily growing. TW1 is 939g and TW2 is 1032g. So both over 2 pounds woohoo.  Keep growing my little bubba's x  And all is okay as long as growth difference is less than 20%

Babies positions: TW1 is on my left hand side and is breech (and presenting, so will have to have a c-section unless TW1 flips round).  TW2 is on right hand side, head down.

Total weight gain/loss:59.65kg. So have gained weight this week, yay! Back on track!

Maternity clothes? Maternity clothes all the way (or leggings/baggy dresses).

Stretch marks? Nothing yet.

Sleep: My pelvis feels so unstable so changing positions in bed is scary. I try to lie on my left hand side as much as possible, but lying on my back is still the most comfortable. But at least I usually sleep through the night. Not sure I can say the same for Josh what with all my snoring and coughing.
Best moment this week: Getting to 28 weeks and knowing that there'll be no talk of steroids or getting them out for at least another week phew. At this point, feels a bit like every week is an achievement.
Movement: Feeling kicks or little flailing arms, from both inside and outside. And rolls. And occasionally feel a hard bottom or leg or head pressed up against my tummy. I was cuddling up to Josh last night and he said he was getting kicked in the back and butt hahaFood cravings:  No real cravings at the moment.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing much :) Have you started to show yet: Yes! No hiding it. Measuring about 4 weeks ahead at the moment.  
Gender: Uncle Steve has predicted girls, but still anyone's guess at this stage. Actually, I totally think we are having girls too. Scans once a week and not a glimmer of a little pee pee? They have to be girls. Or really good hiders/contortionists.
Symptoms: slow, walking funny, unstable pelvis, bloody nose (grr), emotional. And my feet are fat! Not swollen, they’ve just kind of flattened out. 

Labor Signs: No signs yet
Things I miss:  sushi and alchohol. Drinking as much tea as I want. Sleeping on my belly. Feeling energetic. And missing water walking this week as my water walking buddy is currently recovering from hip replacement surgery.
Belly Button in or out? outie. No denying it now.
Wedding rings on or off? On

Looking forward to: 

a weekend away and getting our bedroom sorted so we can move out of the lounge.

Additional check up

Last Thursday night, I missed a call from the hospital, and a random mid wife left me a voice mail saying that they'd had the team meeting and it had been decided that I needed to come in on the Monday for an additional scan. No reason why and no-one would answer my call after that....

Finally, Friday morning, the receptionist called me back and confirmed my appointment time, but couldn't tell me why I was being called back. So I asked to talk to my midwife (Sam). However, she came on the line and said she hadn't had a chance to look at my notes, so didn't know why I needed to come back in...so would call me back that arvo. Way to stress a girl out argh.

Anyway, about an hour later, she calls back and says there is nothing on my notes,  and as she was on leave last week and not at the meeting, she doesn't have any further info. But she seemed to think it may have sth to do with the kidneys. Just her guess. Hmmm, first time I haven't been happy with our care. If its not in your notes, go and talk to the people that were at the meeting!!!!! Josh had made me promise him that I wasn't going to stress, and well, I still didn't know what I was supposedly stressing about..so I didn't stress. And we had a nice weekend and didn't think about it until Monday.

Monday:
We walked into the Womens assessment unit (first time there), and we both freaked a bit when we got shown to this room, and were told to make ourselves comfortable:

Umm, so how long was I going to be staying here?  And then we got our own nurse, who checked my temperature and blood pressure. She was lovely, but it was a bit confusing when she asked us what we were there for - we were hoping she would be able to tell us!

Oh well, at least I could have a lie down, and at least the view was pretty good.

Finally, we got called in for  a scan. And turns out they were mainly focused on doing the doppler scans.  Which I don't know much about. But I'll look it all up when I get home.  And then back to our room to wait for a doctor to come and see us and tell us what the scan results were.

I got a lunch pack delivered to my room while we were waiting, which made Josh wonder if the news was really bad. Whatever. The food was good and I was starving. Cheese and tomato sandwich, orange, yummy muffin and orange juice box. Awesome!

Another hour later and a Dr that looked a lot like Liv Tyler walked in. Told us that based on last Thursdays scan, they wanted to give me steroids in case the babies had to be taken out soon. But based on today's (Monday) scan, things weren't as bad as seemed PHEW! Basically, they measure resistance of blood flow through babies cords and both babies scans showed a higher than normal level of resistance.  Which means they may not be getting enough oxygen/nutrients. And whilst its at an okay level for now, it can change super fast. And once it does, babies are better out than in.  

Also, based on the babies positions, I'm currently looking at getting a c-section. This wont change unless Twin 1 flips, and also depends on their gestational age. So they want the anethesist to talk to me about my options. Just waiting for his/her call.

So basically, we are all fine and free to go home. And based on today's scan, we are sticking with one weekly scans. But they stressed that it is very likely that the babies will come early. I still feel great and I feel the babies move all the time. So I'm hoping to prove the doctors wrong, and getting to 34 or 35 weeks at least.

27 week update!

How far along? 27 weeks

Baby size: Twin 1 has caught up!!!!!  TW1 was 776g and TW2 was 781g at last weeks scan! Best news ever!

Babies positions: Yin Yang position. TW1’s head was on my right hand side and TW2’s head was on my left hand side. But then by the end, TW1 was kind of more breech position (head on my left hand side and body pointing downwards and then legs curled onto my right).

Total weight gain/loss: current weight is 59.1kg. I’ve lost weight. Not sure how that is possible especially as I’ve eaten so much cake this week. But midwife didn’t seem worried, so I guess I wont worry either.

Maternity clothes? Maternity clothes all the way (or leggings/baggy dresses).

Stretch marks? Nothing yet.

Sleep: My pelvis feels so unstable so changing positions in bed is scary. I try to lie on my left hand side as much as possible, but lying on my back is still the most comfortable. But at least I usually sleep through the night. Not sure I can say the same for Josh what with all my snoring and coughing.
Best moment this week: Baby shower! So spoilt!
Movement: Feeling kicks or little flailing arms, from both inside and outside. And rolls. And occasionally feel a hard bottom or leg or head pressed up against my tummy.
Food cravings:  No real cravings at the moment.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing much :)
Have you started to show yet: Yes! No hiding it. Measuring about 4 weeks ahead at the moment.  
Gender: Uncle Steve has predicted girls, but still anyone's guess at this stage. Actually, I totally think we are having girls too. Scans once a week and not a glimmer of a little pee pee? They have to be girls. Or really good hiders/contortionists.
Symptoms: slow, walking funny, unstable pelvis, bloody nose again, emotional. And my feet are fat! Not swollen, they’ve just kind of flattened out. I looked down and cried out “oh my gosh, I have troll feet” and Josh rushed in to have a look and agreed.   
Labor Signs: No signs yet
Things I miss:  sushi and alchohol. Drinking as much tea as I want. Sleeping on my belly. Feeling energetic. And missing water walking this week as my water walking buddy is currently recovering from hip replacement surgery.
Belly Button in or out? outie. No denying it now.
Wedding rings on or off? On

Looking forward to: 

next weeks growth scan and finding out if the bubba’s are still on track.