Here we are, the actual countdown has begun!
I went in on Tuesday, at exactly 37 weeks and had my first NST and fluid check this week.
Again, we got up at dawn so we could fight L.A. traffic and get in to our appointment on time. We went to Corner Bakery Cafe for a quick breakfast before my OB appointment. I got the same thing as before, an egg scramble panini (hold the bacon!). It's delicious. It's an egg scramble with tomatoes and avacado and cheese on sourdough bread. Yum!
I sat down and started eating my yummy sandwich. It was just as good as I remembered. Then about five bites in I bit into something I hadn't eaten in five years, but I knew what it was. Bacon. Eww. I opened my sandwich to look, it hadn't occurred to me to check. I had been ordering no bacon at this particular cafe for a couple years. I even checked the receipt when we got it to make sure it said no bacon.
Sure enough, diced up into small pieces all through my egg was bacon.
My stomach churned.
I caught the attention of the guy that range me up and told him there was bacon and I was a vegetarian which is why I asked for no bacon.
He apologized and immediately had them make me a new one. My appetite was gone. I ate about half of the new sandwich, after triple checking there was no bacon. Blech.
He came back and apologized again and told me he'd be happy to get me something from their baked goods for the inconvenience. Which I have to admit, I had been thinking that was the least he could do. But when I actually thought about what they had I knew that everything had icing or way too much sugar. Sigh.
We finished our food and headed to my OB where he pronounced that yet again I was still 0cm, but that my cervix was thinning out nicely. I asked what his protocol was for induction, because last time it started with cervidil and then pitocin and then a c-section.
He said just pitocin. Since my cervix was already thinning there was no need for anything like cervidil, just pitocin to get my contractions going to start opening up my cervix. Perfect. I'm not thrilled with it, because I know from experience the pitocin makes your contractions come on hard and fast, but the less medications the better.
I realized as we were talking the next time I saw him it would be to deliver my babies. Wow.
Things all set up and everything fine, off we went to our NST.
First they did the ultrasound, which didn't quite make sense to me. I had just eaten so they would get good movement from the boys for the NST portion, but oh well.
My technician came in, a woman I hadn't had before and she brought an intern. No worries. She explained to the girl and I what she was looking at and all that. She laughed at one point when she was looking at a pocked of fluid next to one of the boys' heads. "Look at that hair!" she exclaimed. What?!? You can see hair??? She showed me and sure enough, right next to that adorable little skull it looked like a tupee flapping in the wind. He had hair! Lots of it!
She pulled out the 3D want and tried to get face pictures. This time Baby B wasn't interested, but she did get one of Baby A. He's so cute. I don't know if it was the angle of the picture or reality, but he looked like he had Daddy's chin. Hmm. We'll see. I'm even more curious to meet them now that I've seen their adorable faces. Unfortunately, only I got to see his little face well because the printer was out of ink so she couldn't print me a picture. No matter, we'll get to see those handsome faces soon enough!
She also told me where the boys are positioned. I knew Baby A was head down, but I swear Baby B has had his feet in my ribs for the last week and a half so I asked her to check. She said he may be butt down, so his head and feet are by my ribs, but when she checked she found the boys head to head. They are both head down and had been playing footsy in my rib cage all morning. That made sense. :-)
The part where I get to be a mummy again went okay. It took FOREVER though. Baby B was no problem. He performed wonderfully. Baby A wasn't in a performing mood. LOL.
The point of a stress test is to see how well the baby handled accelerations. Once they establish a baseline of the baby's heartrate, they need to see it go up by 15 beats per minute for about 15 seconds and then come back down to the baseline.
Baby B moved around a few times giving her the accelerations she needed.
Baby A would start to go up and then change his mind and come back down. He wasn't going up enough, or staying up long enough for her to get the reading she needed. 40 minutes later the nurse was waiting until he was totally calm and then plying me with water and graham crackers and pushing on his head for 15 seconds trying to get enough of a response out of him to be done with the test.
Finally she decided to show the doctor and see what he said. I thought I was going to wet my pants I'd had so much water and the baby she kept pushing on was the baby on my bladder!
I hadn't met this particular doctor before, but I could hear him talking to the nurse in the hall. She came back and said everything was fine and I was done. LOL. The first thing I did was go straight to the bathroom!
This time I was actually getting tired of Soup Plantation as it had been our go to after appointments the entire pregnancy and I'd just had it a few days before. Then I remembered this great restaurant called Vegan Glory over on Beverly, less than a mile away, that a friend had turned us onto last year. We had only been once, but I had been craving their orange 'chicken' since. (soy of course, but still so good!) The batter is delicious and the pieces inside are good size. Though they are fried they are not greasy and the brown rice is puffy and steamed to perfection.
I was in heaven every bite! LOL
So now we have a crazy few days and then we get to meet our boys. My daughter is getting excited finally, because the babies have been a long time coming, especially in the mind of a three year old, and the time is finally almost here!
Everything is all lined up! My Dad is on his way here as I type to see our daughter and of course the boys, but as far as anyone in this house is concerned, especially my daughter, he's coming to see her. Then a day after he gets here, our daughter will FINALLY get to go for her sleepover at her godmama's house that she's been talking about for weeks if not months!
And while she's there, we get to welcome and meet our little boys. I can't wait.
We'll get to see them one more time when they check their fluids during the NST appointment and then the next time we see them they will be in our arms.
I can't wait!!!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
36 weeks and counting...
Okay all, we're so almost there. Today I'm 36 weeks and four days.
We had our crazy doctor day on Tuesday (36 weeks exactly) and it was quite the adventure.
In order to make a 9am appointment to start our run of appointments I had to get up at 6:30am and get in the shower. Which shouldn't be a problem, except I haven't been up before the sun since I got pregnant. So I got up before dawn and took a shower and got dressed. My husband was up a few minutes later and by the time he was dressed our daughter popped her head into the bathroom as he was putting in his contacts.
Even she looked like she wasn't sure about the hour, but if we were up she was going to be up! LOL
We got dressed and headed into Beverly Hills. We made it to the four block area where all the appointments were located and settled ourselves down at Corner Bakery Cafe for some breakfast. Yum!
First appointment of the day was our first NST (Non-Stress Test) at 9:00am, followed by our 36 week ultrasound at 10am. Then we had to be at my OB's office for our 36 week check up at noon. No worries right?
Ha.
I arrived on time for my first two appointments and after sitting for about half an hour was called back. My favorite nurse, whom I believe I've mentioned, was my nurse and she set me down and did my NST. Which meant she placed a listening device on each of the boys and another device that measures contractions and strapped them all to my tummy. Which means I looked like a mummy wrapped in pink and blue. Of course Baby A was cooperative so she settled his sensor and strapped it down, but Baby B was feeling wiggly so she pulled up a chair next to me and while we talked for about 20 minutes she chased him with the sensor around his side of my tummy as he kept rolling over playing hide and seek.
Once this was done it was down the hall to ultrasound so I could have my fluids checked to make sure there was plenty of fluid around each baby. This was also supposed to be my 36 week ultrasound so I was really looking forward to getting to see the boys and find out how big they were. I was betting close to six pounds each.
I settled into the chair and as the technician started slathering up my huge belly I asked if we were going to find out how big they were. He told me no. I was disappointed. He said he was simply going to check their fluid levels and the blood flow in their umbilical cords to make sure everything was as it should be.
He checked my levels and the boys, thankfully, had full jaccuzzis to swim in. No worries there, and the blood was pumping away through their umbilical cords. I even got to hear the 'heartbeat' sound of it pumping. Crazy.
He finished up his measuring and said, time for fun. He pulled out the 3D wand and tried to see if we could see their little faces. He managed to get a great view of Baby B's face and took a couple pictures for me. I was so excited! The only picture we had of his face before that was the scowl. (Remember, when his brother kicked him in the face right as she snapped the picture? LOL) Now I had a very clear picture of Baby B's face and I was amazed at how much he looks like his sister! The same little nose, mouth and chin. Gorgeous! We make some adorable babies if I do say so myself :-) Baby A had both arms in front of his face and was camera shy, but I wasn't too upset. After all I have three great pictures of him from just a few weeks ago.
As he left I asked if I needed to wait to see the doctor or if we were done. He said he'd check for me, but he didn't think I needed to wait.
I texted my husband to let him know I was done so he could head my way to pick me up so we could head to my OB's office. He had taken our daughter over to the Beverly Center and they had been trolling the mall and playing at FAO Swartz and the like for the last hour or two while I did all this.
I sat there for about five minutes wondering if he was coming back when my favorite nurse popped her head in and was very relieved to see me. She told me I couldn't leave, the doctor needed to see me first.
Okay. I knew everything was okay, I figured it was a formality.
Then my ultrasound technician came back into the room and looked just frazzled. He told me I wasn't done after all, that it was supposed to be a complete scan not just a fluid check. He set me back up in the chair and slather up my tummy once again.
He told me the particular doctor I was seeing that day generally just wanted fluid levels so he didn't know it should have been the full scan.
I quickly texted my husband hoping they hadn't left the mall. No luck. They had already left the parking garage and were on their way so they settled themselves in the deli on the first floor of the building and started in on some lunch while I looked at how big our boys were getting. I was amazed at how much they had grown.
When all was said and done he told me that Baby A was measuring in around 35 weeks and 3 days and Baby B was measuring in around 35 weeks and 5 days. Since I was exactly 36 weeks that day and they were twins he said they were doing great.
Baby A weighed in around 5lbs 14 oz and Baby B weighed in around 6lbs 4oz. A six ounce difference sounded great to me! Of course, that also meant there was roughly 12lbs of baby in my belly! Whew! No wonder!
The doctor came in about ten minutes later with an intern and asked if I minded if she joined us. At this point whatever would get me downstairs to food faster, I was in. Sure, I said. She slathered my belly for a third time and double checked the amount of fluid pockets for each baby and then told me to come back in three weeks.
I told her that didn't make since because I would be delivering in less than two. She said, no, I need to see you at 38 weeks. I told her that was in two weeks and I would be delivering. She told me I wasn't 36 weeks I was 35 weeks.
I couldn't believe she was arguing with me! I had been carrying the kids the whole time, I was 36 weeks. Finally after I told her she was wrong three time, I pointed out that they were measuring at 35ish weeks, but I was 36 weeks that day. She looked at the computer and realized that I was correct. She had been looking at where they measured, not where I actually was. Duh. I wasn't in love with this woman's bedside manner.
Then once I had her convinced I was 36 weeks and already scheduled for delivery, she turned to me and said, "Oh, so you already scheduled your c-section?"
"No, a VBAC." I said.
She turned to me with the most sour look of disapproval on her face.
"Who is your doctor she asked?"
At this point I didn't care what this woman thought beyond are my babies healthy. And I was so glad she wasn't delivering my babies because she wouldn't have given me a choice. I could tell, she'd have cut me open and taken them out whether I liked it or not.
So I smiled very sweetly and said, "Dr. Brock."
"Ah." was all she said.
I smiled twice as sweet and she moved on. LOL.
She told me that in her opinion these boys could come whenever now. They were both strong and healthy and big enough and old enough that any time worked for her. I laughed and told her it sounded good to me, but I didn't think they'd be leaving until we kicked them out.
So, finally we were done.
I went downstairs and grabbed a couple bites to tide me over because we had to rush to make my OB appointment now after all the hullabaloo. Since our daughter is allowed into the building there she got to come along and my husband too for my check up.
I managed my sample. Yeah! Didn't even make a mess this time LOL!
The nurse called me back and we made our usual stop at the scale. She kept going this time until she stopped at 175. Really? 175? Come on!
Sigh.
On to the exam room where she took my blood pressure and got me settled to see the doctor. He checked me and told me still no change. My cervix was thinning out, but still closed. Good news. Except for the part where they were six pounds each and I was ready to have them!
I gave him the update from the ultrasound. Baby A still head down (to which he did a little happy dance again) and about 6 lbs each. "That's what I like to hear!" he said.
Then he says, "Call me on Friday and we'll schedule your induction for the 8th."
Wow, really? Okay.
So now that we have finished our crazy run of appointments I'm starving! Off to Soup Plantation and I'm a happy preggo and by golly, I'm gonna eat like one even if I do already have an extra 50lbs or so on this poor little frame of mine. Good food! Happy tummy!
So Friday rolled around and I called the doctor's office, they told me he was in with a patient and he'd call me back. In between calling and waiting for a call back I was playing phone tag between my OB's office and the PDC (Prenatal Diagnosis Center) to make appointments for next week for my last two NSTs before the boys arrive.
My doctor calls me back late afternoon and says, "Time to schedule a birthday!" Then he said these words, "How does midnight sound?"
To which I replied, 'Wait, what?"
"How does midnight sound?" I thought he was joking.
"What time?"
He laughed and said, "Midnight."
"Oh, you're serious." I said. LOL.
He told me that the 'day' starts over at midnight so we would get full days in the hospital. I'm sure that our nurse would be our nurse for longer this way too.
Once I realized he was serious, I laughed, thanked him and said see you next week.
I called my husband and told him we had our induction scheduled. As we had both been expecting a time like 10am or 2pm, I shared my surprise.
He asked what time and I said, "Midnight."
"Wait, what?" my husband said.
LOL.
"That's what I said!"
Once I explained it like the doctor had we both gave a shrug over the phone and said, okay. Midnight it is.
Now that we know on Sunday night at midnight we get to go to the hospital and have babies, it's becoming less surreal. I'm finally feeling a little nervous.
I've been through a c-section I know what to expect. But, if I get the VBAC I want, that's a whole new ball game. I don't know how bad the contractions will be or what it will be like really. I'm just hoping it doesn't take more than a day to have them. :-/ I would love to actually have them on the 8th. That would give me about a 24 hour window from the time we check in and they start me on pitocin. I'd love to have babies by lunch, but we'll see.
The good news is that I feel comfortable, that I'm in good hands. My doctor has delivered many VBAC babies and many, many multiples.
Now I just can't wait to meet my boys!
We had our crazy doctor day on Tuesday (36 weeks exactly) and it was quite the adventure.
In order to make a 9am appointment to start our run of appointments I had to get up at 6:30am and get in the shower. Which shouldn't be a problem, except I haven't been up before the sun since I got pregnant. So I got up before dawn and took a shower and got dressed. My husband was up a few minutes later and by the time he was dressed our daughter popped her head into the bathroom as he was putting in his contacts.
Even she looked like she wasn't sure about the hour, but if we were up she was going to be up! LOL
We got dressed and headed into Beverly Hills. We made it to the four block area where all the appointments were located and settled ourselves down at Corner Bakery Cafe for some breakfast. Yum!
First appointment of the day was our first NST (Non-Stress Test) at 9:00am, followed by our 36 week ultrasound at 10am. Then we had to be at my OB's office for our 36 week check up at noon. No worries right?
Ha.
I arrived on time for my first two appointments and after sitting for about half an hour was called back. My favorite nurse, whom I believe I've mentioned, was my nurse and she set me down and did my NST. Which meant she placed a listening device on each of the boys and another device that measures contractions and strapped them all to my tummy. Which means I looked like a mummy wrapped in pink and blue. Of course Baby A was cooperative so she settled his sensor and strapped it down, but Baby B was feeling wiggly so she pulled up a chair next to me and while we talked for about 20 minutes she chased him with the sensor around his side of my tummy as he kept rolling over playing hide and seek.
Once this was done it was down the hall to ultrasound so I could have my fluids checked to make sure there was plenty of fluid around each baby. This was also supposed to be my 36 week ultrasound so I was really looking forward to getting to see the boys and find out how big they were. I was betting close to six pounds each.
I settled into the chair and as the technician started slathering up my huge belly I asked if we were going to find out how big they were. He told me no. I was disappointed. He said he was simply going to check their fluid levels and the blood flow in their umbilical cords to make sure everything was as it should be.
He checked my levels and the boys, thankfully, had full jaccuzzis to swim in. No worries there, and the blood was pumping away through their umbilical cords. I even got to hear the 'heartbeat' sound of it pumping. Crazy.
He finished up his measuring and said, time for fun. He pulled out the 3D wand and tried to see if we could see their little faces. He managed to get a great view of Baby B's face and took a couple pictures for me. I was so excited! The only picture we had of his face before that was the scowl. (Remember, when his brother kicked him in the face right as she snapped the picture? LOL) Now I had a very clear picture of Baby B's face and I was amazed at how much he looks like his sister! The same little nose, mouth and chin. Gorgeous! We make some adorable babies if I do say so myself :-) Baby A had both arms in front of his face and was camera shy, but I wasn't too upset. After all I have three great pictures of him from just a few weeks ago.
As he left I asked if I needed to wait to see the doctor or if we were done. He said he'd check for me, but he didn't think I needed to wait.
I texted my husband to let him know I was done so he could head my way to pick me up so we could head to my OB's office. He had taken our daughter over to the Beverly Center and they had been trolling the mall and playing at FAO Swartz and the like for the last hour or two while I did all this.
I sat there for about five minutes wondering if he was coming back when my favorite nurse popped her head in and was very relieved to see me. She told me I couldn't leave, the doctor needed to see me first.
Okay. I knew everything was okay, I figured it was a formality.
Then my ultrasound technician came back into the room and looked just frazzled. He told me I wasn't done after all, that it was supposed to be a complete scan not just a fluid check. He set me back up in the chair and slather up my tummy once again.
He told me the particular doctor I was seeing that day generally just wanted fluid levels so he didn't know it should have been the full scan.
I quickly texted my husband hoping they hadn't left the mall. No luck. They had already left the parking garage and were on their way so they settled themselves in the deli on the first floor of the building and started in on some lunch while I looked at how big our boys were getting. I was amazed at how much they had grown.
When all was said and done he told me that Baby A was measuring in around 35 weeks and 3 days and Baby B was measuring in around 35 weeks and 5 days. Since I was exactly 36 weeks that day and they were twins he said they were doing great.
Baby A weighed in around 5lbs 14 oz and Baby B weighed in around 6lbs 4oz. A six ounce difference sounded great to me! Of course, that also meant there was roughly 12lbs of baby in my belly! Whew! No wonder!
The doctor came in about ten minutes later with an intern and asked if I minded if she joined us. At this point whatever would get me downstairs to food faster, I was in. Sure, I said. She slathered my belly for a third time and double checked the amount of fluid pockets for each baby and then told me to come back in three weeks.
I told her that didn't make since because I would be delivering in less than two. She said, no, I need to see you at 38 weeks. I told her that was in two weeks and I would be delivering. She told me I wasn't 36 weeks I was 35 weeks.
I couldn't believe she was arguing with me! I had been carrying the kids the whole time, I was 36 weeks. Finally after I told her she was wrong three time, I pointed out that they were measuring at 35ish weeks, but I was 36 weeks that day. She looked at the computer and realized that I was correct. She had been looking at where they measured, not where I actually was. Duh. I wasn't in love with this woman's bedside manner.
Then once I had her convinced I was 36 weeks and already scheduled for delivery, she turned to me and said, "Oh, so you already scheduled your c-section?"
"No, a VBAC." I said.
She turned to me with the most sour look of disapproval on her face.
"Who is your doctor she asked?"
At this point I didn't care what this woman thought beyond are my babies healthy. And I was so glad she wasn't delivering my babies because she wouldn't have given me a choice. I could tell, she'd have cut me open and taken them out whether I liked it or not.
So I smiled very sweetly and said, "Dr. Brock."
"Ah." was all she said.
I smiled twice as sweet and she moved on. LOL.
She told me that in her opinion these boys could come whenever now. They were both strong and healthy and big enough and old enough that any time worked for her. I laughed and told her it sounded good to me, but I didn't think they'd be leaving until we kicked them out.
So, finally we were done.
I went downstairs and grabbed a couple bites to tide me over because we had to rush to make my OB appointment now after all the hullabaloo. Since our daughter is allowed into the building there she got to come along and my husband too for my check up.
I managed my sample. Yeah! Didn't even make a mess this time LOL!
The nurse called me back and we made our usual stop at the scale. She kept going this time until she stopped at 175. Really? 175? Come on!
Sigh.
On to the exam room where she took my blood pressure and got me settled to see the doctor. He checked me and told me still no change. My cervix was thinning out, but still closed. Good news. Except for the part where they were six pounds each and I was ready to have them!
I gave him the update from the ultrasound. Baby A still head down (to which he did a little happy dance again) and about 6 lbs each. "That's what I like to hear!" he said.
Then he says, "Call me on Friday and we'll schedule your induction for the 8th."
Wow, really? Okay.
So now that we have finished our crazy run of appointments I'm starving! Off to Soup Plantation and I'm a happy preggo and by golly, I'm gonna eat like one even if I do already have an extra 50lbs or so on this poor little frame of mine. Good food! Happy tummy!
So Friday rolled around and I called the doctor's office, they told me he was in with a patient and he'd call me back. In between calling and waiting for a call back I was playing phone tag between my OB's office and the PDC (Prenatal Diagnosis Center) to make appointments for next week for my last two NSTs before the boys arrive.
My doctor calls me back late afternoon and says, "Time to schedule a birthday!" Then he said these words, "How does midnight sound?"
To which I replied, 'Wait, what?"
"How does midnight sound?" I thought he was joking.
"What time?"
He laughed and said, "Midnight."
"Oh, you're serious." I said. LOL.
He told me that the 'day' starts over at midnight so we would get full days in the hospital. I'm sure that our nurse would be our nurse for longer this way too.
Once I realized he was serious, I laughed, thanked him and said see you next week.
I called my husband and told him we had our induction scheduled. As we had both been expecting a time like 10am or 2pm, I shared my surprise.
He asked what time and I said, "Midnight."
"Wait, what?" my husband said.
LOL.
"That's what I said!"
Once I explained it like the doctor had we both gave a shrug over the phone and said, okay. Midnight it is.
Now that we know on Sunday night at midnight we get to go to the hospital and have babies, it's becoming less surreal. I'm finally feeling a little nervous.
I've been through a c-section I know what to expect. But, if I get the VBAC I want, that's a whole new ball game. I don't know how bad the contractions will be or what it will be like really. I'm just hoping it doesn't take more than a day to have them. :-/ I would love to actually have them on the 8th. That would give me about a 24 hour window from the time we check in and they start me on pitocin. I'd love to have babies by lunch, but we'll see.
The good news is that I feel comfortable, that I'm in good hands. My doctor has delivered many VBAC babies and many, many multiples.
Now I just can't wait to meet my boys!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)