To C or Not to C, THAT is the Question.

Congratulations to my sister, brother in law and niece on the birth of their son and my nephew Luke!  He looks a LOT like his older sister when she was born, such a cutie!

Today I had a post-op appointment with my OB.  He was happy that all seems to be going well and that I haven't had any problems since the surgery.

One big decision I'll have to make before these little ones join us is whether to attempt a vaginal birth or choose to have an elective cesearian.  I know most of you are thinking "Why on earth would she want an elective cesearian???"...well, lets go over it.

Lets say I choose to have a cesearian.  The benefits are, I would be able to have MY doctor deliver the babies...otherwise I'll be at the mercy of whatever doc is on call at the time.  Also, I asked my doc today and he confirmed that if the elective cesearian was my choice that he could do a tubal ligation at the same time, so I wouldn't have to have that as a separate procedure later.
      The downside of a cesearian is of course the fact that it is a major surgery.  Recovery time is much longer than a regular vaginal delievery, and I'd inevitably have some scars (which isn't a real issue with me since the scar would just go along with my stretch marks..ha ha..).

Alright, so if I decide to have the babies vaginally lets look at the positives.  I would have a faster recovery.  Studies have shown that babies actually benefit from the process of labour and delivery because the contractions help the babies lungs prepare to breathe air.  I would have a short hospital stay.
     Those are pretty significant benefits, however, there are some big negatives to attempting a vaginal birth this time around.  First of all, I'd only be able to attempt vaginal if the first baby is head down.  Otherwise it would be a cesearian since most doctors around here won't even attempt a breech birth.  So, assuming the first is head down, and the second one is breech, it's possible that I could still deliver both vaginally, but there's about a 50% chance that either the second one or both of them would need to be delivered by an emergency c-section (again, by the doctor on call, likely not MY doc).  Often the 2nd baby enjoys the extra room in the uterus left after the first baby is delivered and will "stretch out", making vaginal birth impossible.  Since the operating room wouldn't be booked for the tubal procedure as well as a cesearian I'd have to book the tubal for another time, and have a separate procedure for it.

So, I'll be considering the options for a while.  Of course I have a long time until I have to make the decision, but it's what I've been thinking about.

On another note, I've been feeling some movement!  The baby on the right is the one I've been feeling mostly, the one on the left is further back so I don't feel him or her as much.  It's pretty exciting though and I'm loving the little pokes!

So there's my update.  Next ultrasound is still booked for May 10...I've been impatiently waiting.  I can't wait to find out if they're boys or girls!

Franken-Cervix

There's something I haven't told you.  I've known all along it was likely to happen, but I didn't want to worry everyone, but now that it's over I can tell you all about the experience.

I had a minor surgery yesterday.  The procedure is called a Cervical Cerclage.  There are a few reasons why I needed this procedure, but what it comes down to is the cerclage is a series of stitches through my cervix that will keep it closed, and help to prevent premature labour.  It can and will be easily removed either when I start going into labour on my own or a week or so before I'm due to have the babies so that my cervix can open and I can deliver the babies as usual.

You're all probably thinking...stitches through the cervix..OUCH that must HURT!  Well, you're RIGHT.  I'll go over my day yesterday, since I know you're all curious.  It's a long story.

I arrived at the hospital at 12:30pm, I was a bit early as I was supposed to arrive at 12:45, but anyway, I waited to be registered, then waited in the day surgery waiting room...at about 2:00 I was brought back to the changing area to put on my gown and answer questions about my health history...etc etc.  I was offered Tylenol and Celebrex (Celebrex is like Ibuprofen, but a much stronger version).  I declined the Celebrex because, for those who don't know, Ibuprofen is a NO NO during pregnancy because it thins your blood.  That was fine and they understood.
SO, then I waited some more in the day surgery waiting area until about 2:45, and then I waited some more until about 3:30 in the surgery waiting room.  Yes, it was A LOT of waiting!!!

Finally it was time to get into surgery.  I walked into the room, got up on the bed.  They took my blood pressure, temperature, put the heartrate clip on my finger, and the anaesthetist put the IV in my left hand.  Well, apparently he hit a valve and it wasn't working right so he had to take it out and try again in my right hand.  That one worked.  Now it was time for the part I'd be dreading...the spinal block.  I sat on the edge of the bed, leaned over and he prepped my back, poked my spine looking for the right spot and warned me about the sting.  Yeah, it hurt, I felt a really sharp pain, and he apologized because he scraped my bone (ow.).  I got a sharp jolt down my left leg as he pulled the needle out because apparently he didn't get the right spot and had to do it AGAIN.  UGH.  This time he felt he got it right (thank god).

In a few minutes my legs were tingling and I couldn't feel my bottom at all.  They figured the freezing was successful, my wonderful OB, Doctor Potts came in and got me prepped.  He got ready and started the first stitch...yeah, the freezing wasn't working fully on my insides, only my outside skin...so...I felt every. single. stitch.  I felt every pull and tug of the suture.  Both the anaesthetist and my doc felt very bad that it wasn't working but all he could do is just finish the procedure.  I breathed through it, had some tears in my eyes.  Thankfully the procedure took only about 10 minutes and it was over.

I was wheeled into the first recovery area and the nurses were all so excited that I was having twins lol, it was cute.  They got the dopplar and found the hear beats of both the babies, so they were doing just fine after the procedure.  I was in considerable pain, and they asked my doctor what kind of medication they could give me for the pain, and for the life of me I can't remember the name but it started with an F.  I went from being in a constant, throbbing 4 on the pain scale to a 0 within a few minutes of the drug going in my IV.  It was wonderful!  It didn't last very long, but it was very effective when it did.

After a while I was wheeled to the Day Surgery recovery area.  The nurses there gave me some crackers (I was starving, not having been able to eat since midnight the night before), and some apple juice.  There we waited for the numbing to go away enough so I could walk.  After about an hour it was time to get up and see if my legs worked.  Slowly I shifted to the edge of the bed, my bottom was still completely numb but I could feel most of my feet and legs...but immediately the pain in my cervix was there and sharp.  I got up slowly and though half of my right foot was still frozen I walked well enough to be able to get ready to go home.  Chris had been at the dentist FINALLY getting his permanent crowns put on his front teeth (that he broke the day his appendix ruptured and he fainted in our bathroom).  He came from the dentist to pick me up and they wheeled me to the main entrance.

Well, in the end, I survived it.  Yesterday I was in quite a bit of pain, at least a 9 or 10 when I had to walk around...today it's considerably less, maybe a 3 when I move around, though my back is pretty sore from the spinal.  Of course, it was worth the ordeal to help do what I could to ensure my babies survive, but it was pretty painful.  So, I figure now that my cervix is all stitched up, I now have a Franken-cervix.  (get it...frankenstein...franken-cervix...?) Cheese, I know lol.

14 Weeks and Growing

Today was the last time I'll have to drink a litre of water before an ultrasound!!! YAY!  I have to say, that is the only bad thing about early ultrasounds.  It's great to see the babies progress and everything, but that full bladder feeling, and having the technician press on it has to be the worst!

The technician I had today was the same lady that discovered our twins!  I've seen a different tech every time I've been in so it was nice to see this one again, because the babies sure have grown a lot since they were two little fetal poles the last time she saw them. 

Top of both babies heads

I'm a tad bit concerned about the ultrasound.  The good news is both babies are growing at the same rate, and with identical twins that's what you definitely want to see.  The thing that worries me though is that she was having a hard time seeing a membrane separating the two babies.  It WAS definitely there at the 8week ultrasound, but I've heard of some cases where the membrane was so thin that the babies had managed to tear it and then they went from being diamniotic (each having their own amniotic sac) to being monoamniotic (sharing an amniotic sac).  Sharing a sac can be dangerous because their umbilical cords can get very tangled.If it happens to not be there though, it would 100% mean that I'd have a planned cesearian.  So I'm a bit worried but monoamniotic twins are rare and chances are she just couldn't get the right angle to see the membrane and that it's still there.  We'll likely see it at future ultrasounds.  

My next ultrasound isn't planned until May 10th, so you'll all have to wait a while to see more ultrasound pictures, but hopefully I'll get a nice preggo belly to show at some point lol. 

Baby A

The individual pictures of the photos aren't great this time, but they give a general idea.  They've grown a fair bit in 2 weeks!