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 30^th 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