4 months
Slowly but surely settling into a routine and getting the girls to finally sleep in their big beds. And mum and dad are finally in the bed together instead of one on the couch. Meeting all our new twin friends and getting lots of hints and tips on how to survive. Our future boyfriend tally has grown so it is now round 6.
Wow – over 2 more months until the Girl’s 1st birthday and big party. Where has that time gone? It does seem like yesterday that we only just got home from our 2.5 months stint in hospital. So for me to take a trip down memory lane, I thought I would do a month by month with what had happened and our monthly photos we do to celebrate another month passed and to see how much they have grown in that time.
One Month Old – 34+6 weeks corrected
Two beautiful girls, Two hospitals and two diagnose for one little bub. It was an eventful first four weeks. Being a “Jersey Cow” expressing every 3 hours, night and day. Getting the girls used to boob. Having our first twin hold. Rohan going back home but travelling every week to be with us. Moving to Paul’s house to be closer to the hospital. Mum staying a week to help drive me back and forth to the hospital. April moving from the incubator to a Perspex cot and getting a nasal tube instead of the mouth one. Little Rachel just cruising along in her little incubator. Moved from our little fishbowl room to a room with a view nursery. Meeting our Nanna and Poppy and uncle Paul and having a cuddle. From memory, their weighs have gone from 1370 grams to round 1.7kg for April and 860 grams to 1.3kg. Yay both girls into the 1 kg range.
2 Months Old – 38+6 weeks corrected
Rachel has done a great job (with help from the nurses) in maintaining her temp and got out of the incubator to a Perspex cot. But then not really keeping stable in the fresh air and having to go into a thermo cot. She loved having her own electric mattress, but it wasn’t really working in my opinion. Spoke to April’s Surgeon for her heart and which was done on the 14th as she was now over the 2.5kg in weight. Rachel now having the nasal feeding tube, but was doing so well with all her suck feeds that it got removed fully. April still needed the nasal tube til after the surgery. Still trying to figure out, if to breastfeed or express feed the girls at home. They were gaining weight better with express milk, plus nipple shields are such a hassle with two. Twin holds with the grandparents. The girls would have weighed in at April 2.9kg and Rachel 2.1kg. Had a great month with both hitting 2 kg!!!
3 Months Old – 2 Weeks corrected
April’s surgery went really well and may not need to go back for another go at it. The girls got their shots and Rohan and I got ready for their release from hospital. Said our final goodbyes to the great doctors and nurses that looked after us and on the 18th of April 2014, the girls were released from hospital and now the real fun begins. Stayed the night with Aunty Lorna and meeting all out Great Aunties and Uncles also their great Nanna and Grandad, with Great Nanna rocking the twin hold. Drove back to Kalgoorlie the very next day, their actual due date 19th April 2014, the longest trip ever and even longest night as they both were not use to their new home and kept us up all night. It was the longest 2 weeks, with still on 4 hourly feeds and being out of whack with sleep pattern, it was a lot of sleeping on the couch for us and where ever they would lie for them, mainly bouncers. Lots of clinic appointments to meet the teams that will be looking after the girls developmental wise here in town and also the physio that will help keep April limber. Meeting all our 2nd cousins and Aunties and Uncles for the first time. As well as all the twin babies in town. Finally meeting Ma and Nifty and spending the week with them. They also let us get some sleep :o)
April Lynn and Rachel Elena Wise
14th February 2014
Week 30 +6 til now 33+5 or 18 days old
We know most of you know that our beautiful little girls have graced us with their presence and are still wowing us with their strength and fight, which they need to do to be able to grow and put on some beef so that we can all go home. But to start with, let’s start with the scan on Tuesday before Birth Day.
On Tuesday, the professor was still away and wasn’t coming back to the hospital til the next day, so that meant we were getting Doctor and we weren’t looking forward to that. I had given an update about Friday’s scan to Lee and Aunty Lorna, so we can brace ourselves to what will be happen throughout the scan. When we got called through, there was an urgent scan that had to be done so that we had the learner Dr (the one that Doctor was flirting with the week before) and just a midwife. She was lovely in the way that she done her scans and talked us through everything that she was doing and everything that she scanned was coming up good. Which is good, even the Doppler that was not good on Friday was better this week. She was making up time as she was waiting for Doctor to come in and check the screen dumps that she done, so she asked if I would like a 3D scan. But unfortunately, she couldn’t get a clear shot as Twin 2’s hand was in front of her face and could only get half a face, so never got to have a picture of one in 3D.
Doctor came in after a while and went through everything and told us that everything was good and I asked even the brain Doppler in Twin 2 and he told me that it was always fine, as the scan on Friday was good. Bloody Liar I say, even Lee asked when we left, but it wasn’t fine. No it bloody well wasn’t. This to say the least had my blood boiling. I was not a happy camper after that. But onto Friday’s scan.
The night before the scan, you can say that not much sleep was had by me, Rohan and mum. Me (in Perth) mainly due to what to say to Teresa when we see her in regards to Doctor and asking whether we can have him off our service as I am not confident in his judgement and just can’t stand the look of him anymore. For Rohan (in Kalg), it was mainly the drive he had to do, plus with everything that had to be done at home before the bubs arrive. And Mum (in Kalg), making sure that she was up early for Rohan to drive to Perth for the scan. So bout 4 hours sleep each was had and it will make for a really long day Friday. We were happy to know that Professor Jan will be doing our scan and high fives were all round for that reason. But no Teresa around too asked to talk to her after the scan in regards to Doctor. So we went in for the scan instead. Twin 1 was fine and dandy, the heart was still the same with a leaky valve and also thickening of the walls, but still happy to keep her in for the time being. Twin 2 was another story, the brain Doppler from the Friday before wasn’t reading all that flash, and Prof thought that it may be due to getting a bad read as she is a wriggler. Then onto the one that was in the body and that also read not flash at all. So she went back to the brain one and then asked me, when was the last time you ate? That would have been breakfast at bout 10am, she then said yep this afternoon, we will be delivering them this afternoon, Twin 2 will not survive til Tuesday. It was like – WOW, Shock and YAY we have a date. We are going to meet our babies today/tonight WOW. So we were moved to the counselling room, the room that started this journey and will now end it, and we were still in shock, but excited and all of us on the phone texting family to say that the babies will be here this afternoon. We had Doctor come in and go through the whole c section with us and when he asked if there was any questions, I said, thank god the Professor was here, let’s just say his face dropped when he heard it, I did say sorry, but I just had no confidence in him with being able to make that same decision as the Professor.
Mum started the water works, but for Rohan and me, I think it was more of the case that we now know a date, there is no more hoping we will last another week or wondering if it will happen next week. It was happening today!!!!
So I won’t go into the nitty gritty of the caesarean section, but I did not like it at all. Well the epidural and spinal block, I am not a fan of at all. I had a junior drug doctor and it was three times lucky on getting the right spot. It bloody hurt, I was going all clammy and faint throughout it all, plus not eating or drinking anything for a while didn’t help. It was amazing to see that all the stuff that we learnt at the course did happen that way, but we had the Professor doing the surgery and we got to see our perfect girls before they were taken away to be cleaned and helped out. I was still in a wow mood that it didn’t really feel real or that they were even mine as I couldn’t touch them or cuddle them and I got to see Rachel (twin 2) before they were taken away, that she took one look at me and started to cry. I must of looked that great for her to burst into tears, but they were both so tiny
Twin 1 is April Lynn, born on the 14/2/2014 at 5:03pm weighting 1370 grams 39cm long and 27cm head circumference, once she was born, she needed help with her breathing and was on CPAP for 3 or so days to keep her lungs inflated to help her to breath. She was to come off the CPAP for 2 hours every 6 hours, but she went so well the first time, they just never put it back on.
Twin 2 is Rachel Elena, born 14/2/2014 at 5:04pm, weighting 860 grams, 30cm long and 25cm head circumference. Even though she was the reason we had to deliver, she needed no help with her breathing and was a ninja in every way. All she needed to do was put weight on and grow to catch her sister.
How did we come up with the names, we hear you ask??? This took us half an hour to come up with after the laser surgery, I mainly wanted to have names for them, as if one of them did not make it, I wanted to be sure that they were known as a person, not as just a fetus.
Well April was for two reasons, one because they were meant to be born in April and second, the TV reporter’s name out of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is also April. Lynn is because of the two strongest willed and loving people we know, other mothers.
For Rachel, well for starters, I thought that Rachel was the TV reporter from TMNT but when we googled it, it was actual the lady out of Batman, so we thought why not stick to the vigilante lady cartoon theme and stick with Rachel, plus it does sound nice with April. Elena is something we had already picked out when we were going through names that we did and didn’t like, Elena means shining light and with the journey that Rachel had done from the very beginning, she is our shining light.
So the girls had spent 10 days at King Edward Hospital, moving from the nursery 3 NICU, to Nursery 2 and then to the HDU and finally being together at last but, throughout the 10 days we were asking for a doctor to look at April’s heart as it had the leaky valve and the thickening of the walls in utero. The first time it did go on deaf ears, I think mainly due to everything else that she had going on and with the breathing and so forth, then once she was in the HDU, and the only thing to do is watch the monitors they are attached too (as well as having the baby blues) I noticed that nothing had been done with her heart and also the monitor did not look right to me to be a normal heart beat. But with some tear and asking questions, we got the nurses and coordinator to get one organised, it did take a couple of days to get one, but one did get done. The EKG was getting done as we were wheeling Rachel in, as the HDU was saving a spot for her right next door. Then we got the news that April has what is called a Severe Pulmonary Valve Stenosis, which means that the valve that opens and closes between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery is not opening fully and that is the valve that carries the blood to the lungs to be oxygenated. The severe only due to something has to be done to correct it, if it was mild then no procedure will be necessary. So to correct this, a procedure is done when a balloon is inserted through the groin artery and blown up to stretch the valve to open it up to the correct size. This will only need to be performed once and that should be fine. If not then, it will be done again at a later date, and worst case, it will lead to surgery. So with this and so she can be monitored by a cardiology team, we were have to transferred to PMH. Just when we got them together too! But PMH were lovely enough to give us our own little room, where both the girls live now and til they put on some beef and the procedure can be done and we can then be transferred home!
With the scans that the girls get every 1, 7, 14, 28 days old, they scan their head to ensure that here is no bleeds or problems that come up from either the delivery or being premmie. Poor April cant seem to catch a break and it seems that her head scan had cysts in the white matter of her brain on both side. This is called bilateral Periventricular leukomalacia or PVL, which is a type of Cerebral Palsy that will hopefully affect her lower limbs and not the upper limbs. Thankfully it won’t affect her mentally, so just a lot of physiotherapy to be done to keep her limber. It was heartbreaking to hear this as we were told in the NICU that no news is good news in regards to these scans and we weren’t that lucky. Little Rachel scan found one cyst in her white matter but it isn’t something to worry bout at this stage.
And that is where we are at now. We have also learnt after the first week, that we cannot be at the hospital all day and into the night as it is exhausting being there and stressing about them, so we have learnt that it is ok to go home and rest, as the girls are in the best possible hands. Everyone, from Professor Jan and the Gold Team, to the NICU & SCN nurses and doctors at both PMH and King Eddy, they have been a pillow of support and comfort in knowing that are girls will be there tomorrow.
Rohan is now back home working and will be travelling up for the weekend to be with his girls and I will be in Perth from now on until the girls are coming home. It is another long journey as it probably won’t be until their due date of 19/4/14. But it will be worth it.
It is also amazing on all the different foundations that are round, with Miracle Babies Foundation, to Heart Kids, to Boulder Rotary (which I need to ask about) that are here to help and make it less stressful on us through this time. There is going to be a lot of fundraising coming throughout the years, I say, so be prepared :o)
So sorry if this is a bit all over the place, trying to put 3 weeks into an essay and not be bogged down in all the details of hospital life. We are also trying not to put photos and information on social media at this point as we will want the girls to be home before we go nuts with that. So sorry if you haven’t seen photos yet, they will be coming. If you would like one, let me know and I can email one to you.
Please also be sure that you will get to meet them in person in Perth and Kalgoorlie. There might be a chance that we will be transferred to Kalgoorlie Hospital.
Rohan and I will really like to thank everyone both on this list and beyond for all your positive thoughts and prayers and encouragements throughout this time and the whole pregnancy! I don’t think we could have done it without your support and also allowing us to vent to you weekly through this update. It was a good release and also helped us nut out all of the details, to make sure that it is correct at the time it was emailed out. Also to all the people behind the scenes, for helping with the dogs and the house, and phone calls and helping to distract us from our own thoughts, it will not be forgotten!
Lot of love Bobbi-Jo, Rohan and the Ninjas April and Rachel.
xoxoxoxo
April and Rachel at 17 days old.
Week 30
YAY!!! We have reached the golden number – 30 weeks and it is a bit of a relief to finally get here and still have the bubs baking in the oven I have going on here. But to tell you the truth, I am so un-comfy, that I don’t really think I could have gone to full term with these two little buggers. Not the way they are trying to claw out the belly. Worst but best feeling ever!
So the scan on Tuesday saw the first one that Rohan couldn’t be there for and had my support peeps of Aunty Lorna and Lee with me. With the Professor away we had Doctor scanning us and also another lady Dr that learning to do these types of scans for the next two years. Now with the Prof, she explains and goes through everything that she does and makes the experience worthwhile, but with Doctor, he is like in a hurry to get things down and doesn’t really talk the way through it until the very end or a quick rundown as he goes from one twin to the other. Plus there was a bit of flirting going on between the two Drs that made Doctor be a bit more energetic with the scan at least, and talk a bit more, or it could have been Lee and Aunty Lorna.
Tuesday Scan on Twin 1 saw the heartbeat at 153bpm and 2cm of fluid round, which is a bit low but had a very full bladder. The heart walls were still thick and also the valve was still a little leaky but the overall functioning is fine. The bub wants to stay in the belly for a bit longer and is looking ok. But just has not been as active to me as it usually would be. So was told if it continues to slow down even more to ring up and would have another scan to make sure everything is fine.
Twin 2 heart beat was 124 bpm and 4.1 cm of fluid round, and everything seems to be fine. This one has been the more active of the two, and that clawing I talked about earlier, well that was this one. Couldn’t really tell what position it was in but I think it has come out of the pike position and into a position that we cannot even tell. All we see now is arms, then legs, then head and brain and then body with spine. Definitely doesn’t help when trying to get measurements with the Dopplers that’s for sure.
The scan on Friday had a bit of a different feel to it for me at least, it was just Rohan, myself, Doctor and Midwife Teresa and it was like he was trying to get through this as fast as possible because they were running behind. There was no talking or anything throughout it and only when Teresa spoke to Doctor about something’s that he actually spoke. Best to say that this had me in tears because of it, I think I was just really missing the prof and her friendly nature more than anything. Plus with the stress on wondering when they make the decision on when to deliver them is probably getting as bit too much.
So the scan saw Twin 1 with a heartbeat of 129 bpm and fluid of 3.8 cm and even with a full bladder. With all the Dopplers good and still the issues with the heart and when we asked the Dr about what this may bring, he said that it may correct itself when they are born or it may stay around for a bit afterwards, they just couldn’t give is a defiant on what might come of this. Which is fair enough, best not give us an answer and say this is what goes and it ends up the other way.
With Twin 2, it seems that it is starting now to go backwards, the heartbeat when he first done it was round 169bpm, which is a bit high and 2.4cm of fluid round. So it is like they did a swap on the fluid there. When Teresa spoke about the heartbeat, Dr did a couple more and some came up as the same 160 + and then one came up as 145bpm so we don’t really know what to take with that. The main concern now is the cord forward flow, which was the problem we had from when we had the laser surgery for the 3 weeks until it got better. When you look at the screen and they have the correct spot, the monitor looks like round hills with a bit of a cliff on one side. This means good forward flow
This is sort of what they have looked like for the last 10 weeks or so. But now the hills are getting sharper peaks on the top and more of a valley in between them you can say and this means not good/or no forward flow.
Once I saw this, I just knew we were now going backwards and the end is going to be very near, and the Dr was concerned about this and it is something that is going to be monitored very closely, but they don’t want to deliver the bubs until this does really start to fail. Both bubs are happy and content inside the oven and it isn’t until the Dopplers really start to fail then they will deliver them. But what they can’t say is when that will happen. Could be this Tuesday, could be Friday, or it could be next week. But they seem to think that it will be in the next week or two, for this Doppler to do this over 2/3 days or could be soon.
Well, Monday night was also a bit of fun for Aunty Lorna and I as we went to a multiple birth class, and whilst we dodged the fire that was out this way, were worried for the families that it was effecting, off we went to the hospital again. Let’s just say Aunty Lorna learnt a lot about birthing and breast feeding that night. Wish Rohan was there as they got out the pregnant belly and one of the partners put it on for half the course and if Rohan was there I would have been putting his hand up to do it for sure. Only problem was it was only a singleton belly not a multiple belly. But the pictures would of been priceless :o) It was a good course, but a lot of it was repeated from the courses that we did a couple of weeks back and a lot of research that we have done on the internet, but one thing for sure is that there is going to be a lot of twins born in the next couple of months at King Eddy. There was round 9 couples there all over 30 weeks, even the two that were at the courses earlier in the year.
Well time to head off and put this belly to rest, if the kids settle down. I don’t think it has anything to do with the chocolate that I just ate. (Kylie – they are going down a treat!!!) If we have time I will do one next Sunday, if not then it will be from the flip side of pregnancy and onto parenthood.
Thank you also to everyone for the well wishes and love, we really do appreciate it and if you send an email and I don’t reply, it isn’t that I don’t read it, I do, it is just I cannot email on my phone and my internet is limited with pre-paid. I take everything you type to heart and is saying a big thank you from all of us!
Lot of love Bobbi-Jo, Rohan and the Ninjas
xoxoxoxo
29 Weeks
Apologies for not writing this last week, it has been a pretty full on 2 weeks with everything that has happened and I just didn’t really get the time to write one up. You could say that we had so much fun celebrating Australia Day the day before that the twins really wanted to be a part of it as well.
So for 28 weeks, the scan went well, Twin 1 heart beats were at 148 bpm and 4.7cm fluid around, all the Dopplers were good, even the brain one as it shows that the leaky valve in the heart is not affecting the baby at all. Twin 2 heart beat was at 163 bpm and 3.9cm of fluid round and all the Dopplers were also good. We think this one will be very flexible on the outside world. Currently in a position of breech – so bum first – well it is sitting on the face of the other one and the feet well they are up round the head also. We had the Professor jabbing the belly in order to get it to move, after a couple of goes, it moved its foot! Poor thing might have to get it into diving or something later on in life. It is already learnt the pike position at least.
Also got the jab in the hip for the first lot of steroid injections, man they hurt like hell! But the second one 24 hours later, even worst! And it wasn’t even in the same side! Apparently the more you get the more they hurt, but lucky no facial hair or chest hair has popped up so I think I am in the clear there.
So the saga of Saturday night – as all pregnant women know the indigestion that you get is horrendous, for me it has been waking me up at night and bout 2 Mylanta tablets later it may of settled down, well this night, it did a little but then heart palpitations and real shortness of breath came straight after it as well. This went on for round an hour, mainly because Rohan was taking my pulse as well and it was fine, so we couldn’t figure it out and what it was causing it. Then Twin 2 moved, right up under my ribs and down the side. It was like it was moving out of that position. That had put me in tears and Rohan was then ‘we are off to hospital’. I went straight through emergency at Armadale and had ecg and bloods and blood pressure and so forth taken and all of that was coming back fine. It was only my heart that was beating a bit fast. I don’t know how to spell the name but starts with T – I will call it the T-word. I had one of the midwives come and see me and the babies were doing well and regular heart beats, it was that they were moving so much that it was really hurting. I think also talking to the nurses and all of that, it helped take my mind of the heart and shortness of breath. The ED doc was thinking that I may have a clot on the lung which comes with pregnancy as the blood does become ‘sticky’ or thick due to supply a fair share to the babies and this may mean that one has become stuck in one of the arteries in the lungs. I needed to have a lung test to do this and this could only be done at Royal Perth as Armadale does not have that equipment. The midwife was still round at this time and was feeling my belly and she also seemed to think that I was having Braxton hick’s contractions as well. After she left, then I had a contraction (Well I think it was, it was only in the belly area and not in the back) but these kids were moving and causing me a lot of pain!
From that they took me up to the maternity ward, I was having proper contractions, every 5 minutes apart and after having a test done to see if I was in labour, I was. I just was not dilated or anything. The pains in the chest and shortness of breath had calmed down now and I was being shipped off to King Eddy as the Dr on the ward at Armadale (with less personality then the cupboard that was next to the bed) said that the clot may have passed now, and with the contractions being so often and so early in the pregnancy, I am better off at King Eddy. We were like yes we are better off there. I had 3 doses of stop labour pills as well throughout this, so if they wore off and I started contracting again, then these babies were coming out now. The worry part was after the first two, they were not stopping, still staying 5 minutes apart, but by the 3rd one, they slowly moved further apart and in the ambulance to King Eddy they were now 14 minutes apart. But these babies were still moving the most I have ever felt! I must say Rohan was so on to all the timing and being so calm and everything, at least I know he would be the best support person ever with this. It was also lucky that both he and my parents were at Aunty Lorna’s and hadn’t left yet, as we know have an action plan for Aunty Lorna when everyone isn’t here.
So at King Eddy’s, I was monitored for a bit and was told the golden words that these babies are not coming out today! I was moved to a ward bed and had a lovely Dr come and see me in the afternoon and it was the first time that I had someone actually examine me, and just me. He ruled out the clot in the lung but we still had to go off and do the test for it to really rule it out, but from all that we just went through, with the heart palpitations and shortness of breath, I had, we he calls it, pre-clinical pre eclampsia. He calls it that due to me having all the symptoms of it, but I am not showing it at the moment. So it could hit in 3 days or 3 weeks, I just have to be really monitored for it. So any shortness of breath or heart palpitations, then I have to tell people that I am having it. Plus it is all caused, for me at least, by the indigestion as well. But I still only had to take Mylanta. So 3 nights in hospital, and the lung test coming back negative for clots, I was released from hospital, mainly due to now being scanned twice a week; I will be monitored that way.
So enough of that, onto the scan on Friday just gone.
The scan this week was a very busy one you can say, we had Doctor doing the scan with the Professor watching and Doctor is just so fast with the scan, that we didn’t really catch much. We also had the midwives come and talk to us throughout as well, so we weren’t really paying attention, until Rohan got out the note book and wrote most of it down.
Twin 1 is now over a kilo with 1120 grams and heartbeat of 155 bpm. The walls of its heart are thickening but it is not interrupting the function of the heart at all, so they are not concern about it. There was 2.3cm of fluid round it, so either it’s growing or there is a full bladder.
Twin 2 is 740 grams and heartbeat was not taken, for some reason may be the position, even though you couldn’t even see what position it was in. The Dr just said it was in a better position than some of the singleton babies he had scanned that morning. There was also 2.1cm of fluid round. Bit all the Dopplers and blood flow were good for both of them
And then the news came that we may be having these babies at 30 weeks. (which is next week) Mainly due the Professor liking more weight behind Twin 2, but it may start to decline anytime soon and they want to be able to catch it beforehand. Also it doesn’t help that my body is now failing as well, but that means that we have got to our personal goal of 30 weeks and had the jabs, and we knew that this was coming, it is just a bit more of a shock now that it is becoming a reality. We just need to sort out our lives now, so that Rohan can be here with me at that time.
We also saw a paediatrician that explained what will be happening after the babies are born and what they will be doing through until they are ready to come home. To keep it short, a lot of test to ensure there is no infections in the stomach or gut, the lungs to be functioning well as they will be stiff when they are born due to not being developed enough, and also the brain and whether it was damaged at all from the delivery, being premature or the whole TTTS disease. They will be having tests every day for about 6-8 weeks, a lot of tubes will be coming out of them and also breathing masks will be attached to help with the breathing. This will be hard to take, but so we have them in the end, it is going to be worth it.
So another scan on Tuesday and it will be the first one without Rohan, So Aunty Lorna and Lee will be coming with me to be my support and information sponge, as lately I haven’t been taking anything in. Blame it on the mummy brain.
So til next weekend, as I will still only do the one update.
Lot of love Bobbi-Jo, Rohan and the Ninjas
xoxoxoxo
27 Weeks
I have returned home for the next 5 days, to get everything all in order before finally relocating to Perth and being ready for these bubs to come. I have been feeling very stretched and pulled and like I have a defence team going on in my belly with arm bars and knees poking each and every way. The ninjas have really stepped up their game this week and are really moving round. I saw a post of Facebook or somewhere that unborn children sleep 90% of the time that they are in the womb – I think our two forgot that memo and just do what they want.
Rohan made it a bit of fun going into Friday when we went through for the scan and all we could see was Doctor round and Prof Jan was nowhere to be seen or that her name was not on the board next to the door, so I went off to do my tests that I do every time I come in and when I returned, Rohan was shaking his head. To me, this meant that we had to deal with Doctor for the scan and it was a bit of a bummer going into the room. Then it was like the heaven lights shone upon us (well the lights in the room were all on, which was something different, usually they are all off) and there was the Professor and this gave me the instant reaction of giving Rohan a little punch to the ribs, for teasing me like that. But I could see where he was coming at firstly. So onto the scans and the measurements that was done.
In the red corner – weighing in at a massive 923gm, (that is a 242 gram weight gain in the last two weeks) and a heart beat of 151 bpm is Twin 1. This little fighter will be a trouble maker as no other measurements could be made, due to position and also it having ADHD or something because it would not settle down. Even with the Prof poking my belly did not help it at all, I suppose it didn’t help that I kept on laughing when Prof was doing it, it was the Prof was slapping its hand and saying stop that now! The only thing that came up was a spot on the heart that showed that a little bit of non oxygenated blood was going backwards which meant a leaky valve, but the Prof doesn’t seem all that concerned about it at this point as these things do have a way of fixing itself. We are still also confused on whether this was the twin that had the problems in the first place also.
In the blue corner – weighing in at (drumroll please) 601gms (The ninja made it – it was a surprise but it made it! 156 gram weight gain!) and heart beat 147 bpm. All the Dopplers and other measurements for this one were fine, the Prof was very happy with its progress and were it had come from.
So this Friday sees the magical 28 week mark and these little ninjas may be born any time after that. We are still hoping to get to the 30 week mark but fingers cross we can make it further! I will also be having steroid injections Friday and 24 hours afterwards to help their organs mature, so if the time comes earlier then they are in with a fighting chance. I am just hoping that no facial hair or chest hair starts popping up on me then I will be giving Rohan a run for his money
Well, I think that is all I need to put in there, for the people that have been asking, here is a belly shot I took this morning. Thank you also to the people with the encouraging words of wisdom with the C-section and I will be keeping them all in my mind when it comes to it. Also Joan, I will be awake for C-section and Rohan will be right there also holding my hand. But I think they still do put mums to sleep if it is more serious or complicated.
Til next week…..
Lot of love Bobbi-Jo, Rohan and the Ninjas
xoxoxoxo
26 Weeks
Another week has gone past and it feels like it was a very busy one at that. Rohan was starting with longer hours with his work and feeling the punch at the end of the first day and with me handing over my work in the first 3 mornings and resting in the afternoons, and then seeing mum and dad from their actual going somewhere trip in the caravan – just made the week fly by …. Well for me anyways.
The system I spoke about with the file and if the Professor would be doing the scan or not, well it didn’t work this time. The file was behind the desk, and we had the Prof doing the scan. We had one of the lovely midwives that just came back from holidays, so it was nice catching up with her. For the life of me, I cannot remember her name at this point in time. Our appointment was at 1:30, but we rocked up early, just so we can get a seat and also so we can see them on time, but there was no one in the waiting room, so we got to go in half an hour earlier. We left when our appointment was meant to start! (Winning!) I went off to do my bit that I do each week for the and saw that there was both Prof Jan and Doctor in the room, but by the time I came back out, Doctor had gone on lunch so we just had the Prof doing the scan. (More Winning!) So onto the scan;
Twin 1 – its little heart is beating at 128 bpm (which is the slowest we have seen for a while but the Prof didn’t seem to concern about it). There was also a nice big full bladder and 4.5cm of fluid around it. Prof Jan also went through the body and showed us the stomach, which had fluid in it, the kidneys and the arteries and everything was in working order. The heart was beating very nicely with also the 4 chambers and all the Dopplers had forward flow. With just the way that the ninja was laying she just couldn’t get a scan of the brain blood flow, but it stretched whilst we were looking at it, and she got the scan and that was fine as well.
Twin 2 – The little ninja’s heart beat is at 157 bpm with also a nice full bladder and with 3.5cm of fluid round it. The Prof went through the same thing as with twin 1 and everything was where it should be and in working order. Even the heart was good. She was also very happy with the Dopplers for Twin 2, which is great. She also seemed to think that the scan this Friday may even see this one at 600grams, but she would still like us to get to 28 weeks before they do anything. I did ask would they be delivered when all of that is met and she said no, they are better of baking then outside. It is just there is a higher success rate of survival if both of those targets are met. So it was still good news all round!
So measurement will be taking this Friday. Trust me, I feel like both of these babies have put on weight, and with what I am eating, it better not be going to my rear end, just let me put that in there. I have been eating a lot of fruit and the protein shake and muffins and nuts, pretty much anything with protein in it, I have been consuming it. Rohan said to me before he left on Sunday that he would like to see me pop out another 3 inches! Let’s just say he got a really evil look and an ‘I don’t think so’. Half or even an inch would be great! I don’t have any stretch marks yet and I don’t want to start getting them now! Yes Mum and Lee, I am putting the oil on every night now!
So Saturday, saw both Rohan and I go back to the hospital for some course on parenting and going through the procedure of the C-section. It was very much an eye opener and although they were condensed coursed for 2.5 hours each; they did have a lot of information in them. The parenting class had 5 couples in it and 3 of us were having twins, plus all of us were having a problem pregnancy as well. One couple also have TTTS but had not gone as far as the laser surgery, although they were meant to have it each week, but they have now made it to 30 weeks, so they are just still being monitored. They were also from Merriden. The other couple were from Mandurah and she had been in hospital now for the last 4 weeks due to her dilating, she was at 28 weeks on the weekend. She is hopeful that if she hadn’t dilated more then she could go home for the day! Fingers cross to her, I couldn’t stand 3 days, let alone 4 weeks +.
The C-section course was interesting, but once she showed the pictures of the epidural and the spinal block, I just went to a different world and didn’t listen to anything else. I am so not a fan of needles, even if I can’t see them. But it was good to get an idea on what we will be going through on the day.
Well that is all I can think of, and I am so glad it is much cooler this week in Perth then the weekend and I am also glad that I am not in Kalgoorlie this week as I did not cope with the heat yesterday at all. But I am glad that I had Aunty Lorna here to force me in the pool to cool me off.
Lot of love Bobbi-Jo, Rohan and the Ninjas
xoxoxoxo
25 Weeks
Cue music – Cue Johnny Nash – “We can see clearly now the rain has gone, we can see all obstacles in our way” Yes you read right and singing the whole song now, I bet. We have some answers to our questions and now know what is going to be happening in the next month or so, and it is the best feeling ever after the last two weeks. Positive feelings and emotions are now coming through instead of tears and worry.
So we have now worked out the system of when the Prof is going to be doing the scan with the ladies at the front desk. If our file is there with them, the Dr is going to be doing the scan. If the file isn’t there, than we have the Prof and this week, the file wasn’t there, we had the Prof and hopefully the answers we needed. It was also measurement day as well, so we also get to see how the babies are progressing and if they have put some fat on.
When the Prof Jan put the scanner on our belly, all you could see was babies’ arms and legs and bodies, it is hard to believe that they have grown so much and you don’t notice it until you really look at it. But onto the measurements;
Twin 1 is still progressing nicely, weighing in at 681 grams and a heart rate of 147bpm with 3.5cm of fluid around it and also a nice full bladder and fluid on the stomach. We also got to see glimpses of the kidney and other organs, which didn’t look like much to us, but the Prof said that they look good and in the right spots. So this little ninja is still growing along nicely having put on 179 grams in the last two weeks, now within the percentile range but only just.
Twin 2 – the biggest fighter of all, weighing in at 445 grams, with a heart rate of 135 bpm and 3.4cm of fluid around it also with a nice full bladder and fluid on the stomach. Falling a little bit more outside the percentile range, but they are both moving along on their own graph line. This also means that not much weight has been put on, with only 60 grams been put on in the last 2 weeks. The Dopplers are still the same, they haven’t gotten worse and they haven’t gotten better, so the Prof would like to see this little fighter at 600 grams before they will be delivered. But they would like for us to get to 28 weeks before they will deliver them. Hopefully we can bake them a little bit longer. Fingers crossed.
So at least we now have a time line to work towards and they have also told me to slow down on the work front and look at going on maternity leave next week. I am staying in Perth for this week and passing on the work to the lady who will be reliving me for this time. I have been told to rest and keep my feet up and lie on my sides to help with the blood flow to the babies and placenta, and also keep on drinking the lovely tasty protein shake to help with that also. Just waiting on now, is when we will be having to do the scans twice a week and if not next week, I will be going back home to say bye to Kalgoorlie for probably the next 3-4 months whilst the babies are born and in nicu and the special nursery for the however long they will be in there for and can come home with us. I meet up with a friend, before coming to Perth, who also had a premmie baby and the information she gave me is golden! We need to be ready to be scared and emotional and also demanding. It’s great to have that heads up and we will now be having a tour of the nicu and meeting with one of the paediatricians beforehand.
So Rohan has now gone home in our new bigger family car, a 2010 Ford Territory, (still thinking of a name for it, I like “twin terror”) so he can now tinker with it however he likes and also has a reliable car to drive up and back in. We didn’t trade in the other car, so I have that here with me.
Well another scan next Friday at 1.30pm and hopefully know even more from then. With all of this time off, it will give me time to rest and make up two little memory boxes. I also want to look into a good blog site, so that I can put these updates (taking out the nasties about the doctors) and everything else to this point to help other couples and families with what we have and will go through due to TTTS. A lot of stories that we have read so far is just like an essay on the whole TTTS journey on a page, instead of really getting into the emotional rollercoaster and week by week blow on how things are. When we were first diagnose with this and asked about it on facebook on alot of the twin pages, a lot of the ladies just commented and said a friend of mine had that and the babies turned out fine, or they had it, and it was all good. For me personally, I need to know more and not knowing these people, I didn’t want to dive into their personal life and ask “was it really?” I would have been happy with comments like, “we had that and the babies are fine, but get ready for the emotional/bumpy roller coaster.” But with this blog I am thinking of doing, hopefully it will give people more insight to the disease and let people know it is alright to be scared s**tless and have the unknown week to week confuse the hell out of you, but it also tests your relationships with partners, family and friends and make you want to see your babies each week and hope that there are still two heartbeats every single time.
Well time to go and find something to eat! I am starving!
“It’s going to be a bright, bright, bright sun-shiny day!”
Lot of love Bobbi-Jo, Rohan and the Ninjas
xoxoxoxo
24 Weeks
Again another trip to Perth, but with Christmas holidays that we are both on, it was good that we could travel to Perth on our time and not be so rushed with it. We had a lovely Xmas with my folks as unfortunately Rohan’s parents flights that they booked a while ago got cancelled due to not many people being on the flight. So it was sad that we didn’t get to have it with them as well and for them to also meet their new granddaughter as well. But they can do that once the bubs are here and have lots of cuddles with all grand kids.
So on to the scan, after an hour wait, we finally got into see our little bundles of joy and we were told that the Prof was in doing the scan! This was YAY! time us and our special high five done on the side, but she just walked out to do something and Doctor called us in, bit of a bummer that was, but the Prof did walk back in but she wasn’t going to do the scan. She sat in the background and wrote all the notes.
Due to them doing measurements last week, they weren’t measured this week, so hopefully more information next week on whether they have put weight on or not.
So firstly Ninja Twin number 1 – Kicking butt still with round 3cm of fluid round it, it did have a full bladder so hoping that the other centimetre that were there last week was in that bladder. The tiny heart was beating at 157bpm. So this little fighter was just like having a single baby and going along nicely. Plus it is also kicking my insides as it is the only one I can feel mostly.
Ninja Twin No 2 – Our little problem child, still kicking with 3cm of fluid round it and a heartbeat of 144bpm. Again also a little wriggler which was funny to watch as Doctor again was playing video games with the screen and was trying to get further away from the screen as possible with his head, then moving the hand and the scanner. (Next week I want to ask him whether he played video games when he was younger) The Prof even commented on how naughty the baby was being as they were trying to get the dopplers beats/measurements again. But here comes the not so good news, the dopplers haven’t improved at all from last week, Doctor asked whether I was back in Kalgoorlie and then ask Prof Jan whether it could wait another week. She said yes it can, so we will know more next week. More or less, I really need to start putting my feet up and get as much blood as I can to the placenta in the meantime to help the little ninja out. Rohan asked him, what will happen if they don’t improve the Dr said ‘Worst case, we will be delivering your babies’ So these babies may be seeing the world sooner than we thought.
This may also mean that I am in Perth from next week onwards, so it is onto working this week til we go back to Perth on Thursday and depending on how the scan goes on Friday, passing everything over to the lady that will be looking after the position while I am away on leave, It just seems so real that this could be happening in the next couple of weeks. But just need to think of the positives and that these little ninjas don’t like the heat much and being baked in the humanoid oven I have going on here and rather be in the air con with us.
Til next week – HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Lot of love Bobbi-Jo, Rohan and the Ninjas
xoxoxoxo
23 Weeks
This week saw us having a later appointment time, so that we could travel with my mum and dad in the one car as we had a 30th birthday to go to that night. Much easier than taking two cars but Rohan isn’t a fan of being a passenger, just makes the trip a little bit of a long haul. Now he knows how I feel.
So the scan this week was a bit of a setback, you can say. It could have been one of two things really, so just waiting for the scan this week to make sure that what we were told last week is correct.
The first thing is due to the Christmas holidays, the Prof was overlooking the whole of the department, so she wasn’t in doing the scan and we had Doctor doing the scan. Let’s just say that the nice things we said about him in the first post, well…. That all went out the window after he did the scan after the surgery and gave us false hope. He mumbled throughout the whole scan and with an air con on in the room, I was the only one who could hear what he was saying and Rohan and Mum could not hear a thing. I felt sorry for the two medical students behind him as well as I doubt that they could hear what he was saying as well. (Good luck to them learning anything that day) So this update may be a bit higgledy piggledy, as I am the only one that got everything and I may miss things. Plus he has no people skills and to tell a pregnant lady and the babies daddy “Not to worry if there cannot be anything done about it” just makes you want to slap him right there and say get a life.
So on to the actual scan, I have had my vent, we had measurements done again. Just to check their progress and all the heart beats and dopplers and everything. Twin 1 is breezing through it and was great with all the blood flow and heart beats. It now weighs in at 502 grams, which means that it has put on 136 grams in 2 weeks. The fluid round it was around 4.9cm from memory. Twin 2’s heart beat was fine and the dopplers were a bit of pain in getting the measurements as it had the hiccups and wouldn’t stop moving either for the Dr. The weight of this little ninja was 385 grams, which this one hasn’t been beefing up and has only put on 87 grams in the last two weeks, and that isn’t from me not eating – let me just add that in there. The fluid was around 3cm, I think. This then puts both babies under the percentile range, which makes you think that we may be seeing these little ones earlier than we think. I also asked about Twin 2’s heart and how is it this week as it hasn’t been all that great. The Dr told me it was fine and always had been and it was Twin 1’s heart that was the problem. So this is where all the confusion starts to set in. We are sure that they were on Twin 2 to start with on all the scans that were done, when they said that the heart was sluggish or had a white spot on the scan. He did explain that due to having the TTTS and Twin 1 being the recipient that this was the reason it was sluggish due to some fluid may have been round it. That made sense, but it wasn’t Twin 1 that the problem was with. We are so confused by it all, that we are going to ask again about it on Friday and hopefully the Prof will be there.
So from the scans and measurements, we have now found out that Twin 1 is going good guns, but is about 2-3 days behind the gestation of 22+6 weeks on the day and Twin 2 is a week and an half. The placenta that Twin 2 has isn’t the best, so this is one of the reasons for the delay in growth. So this is when I asked the Dr if it should be something to worry about? That is when he came back with that answer. The midwife that we had that day after we got the appointment for the next scan was helpful in saying that I just need to put my feet up this week (now I feel really hopeless around Christmas) and to boost up the protein.
On the way back to Paul’s, it was all on to google to look at what protein foods are and how much I should be having. I also had suggestions from the Mothers group I have on Facebook that there is a natural protein powder that can be had that has none of that extra stuff added to it and makes it totally safe to have whilst pregnant. Let’s just say, it also does not taste the nicest either, be sure to use natural sweeteners to make it drinkable!
It was great to be home on Saturday, where I finally got to have a bit of a cry and say how sick I am of having this emotional roller coaster for both of us, that it seems that we take 3 steps forwards and about 4 back. But our goal now is to have these two baking in the oven til at least 30 weeks. This is round 7 weeks away, but it may be 3 weeks even, but just as long as we have both of them in the end, 7 weeks is our plan. Just thinking about it also, it may mean that Perth is probably going to become my new home earlier than I think as the 2 scans a week may be starting earlier then we though.
To answer some questions that we have been getting via emails and text, we have been getting help with the PATS (Patient Assistant Travel Scheme) for all the travel that we have been doing. It is a flat rate for the petrol and I do have the option to fly now that the Dr has ticked that bit, but they have ticked no to the escort side of things, which means Rohan is unable to fly with me unless we pay for it, and at the moment, money is tight with both of us only working 4 days a week. I could go by myself, but I want Rohan to be there with me for a couple of reasons, 1. The only time Rohan didn’t come with me to an appointment is when this all started, I was in so much shock that I missed a lot of what is being said, 2. Two lots of ears are better than mine alone. I forget a lot of things that are said to me if I don’t think they are important, also he is picking up more things with the scans than what I am and last, but not least 3. They are his babies too. But it may change if the scans have to be done twice a week, I will have to go by myself or have an aunty come with me to pick things up as well. Also with staying with family we also get $20.00 a night for the stay.
Now I think I am now done with all the information that is in my head. We will like to say a big huge Merry Christmas to everyone that receives the updates and to the ones that get it second hand and are supporting us throughout this, even the ones we haven’t even met!
Lots of love Bobbi-Jo, Rohan and the fighting Ninja’s!
xoxoxo
A Twin Journey 