July 16, 2011

Thirty-two weeks and counting


On Tuesday Jamie's uterus measured in size to that of a singleton pregnancy at 43 weeks. As you can imagine Jamie is very uncomfortable. Her OB/GYN has indicated that if she does not enter labor before 38 weeks she will schedule a cesarean section. Between the heat and her discomfort she is not relishing the thought of being pregnant for another six weeks.


But the good news is on Thursday, July 14, Jamie crossed the milestone of being 32 weeks pregnant. Singletons and twins are much more viable after thirty-two weeks. Meaning if the twins were born today they would probably spend a month in the intensive care unit, but statistically speaking would be okay. Reaching this point is a huge deal for a multiple pregnancy as premature labor and birth is very common for multiples.

We both attended the growth appointment at the specialist on Friday. Jamie has this appointment every month and it typically lasts two to three hours. Of all the appointments Jamie attends each week this is the longest. Not only does this appointment include a multitude of tests which Jamie and the babies undergo each week it also includes measurement of both babies. To give you an idea of what this entails major parts of this appointment include
  • Fetal fibronectin test - indicates if a woman is entering preterm labor by testing for fibronectin in the vagina (imagine a strep culture)
  • External fetal monitoring - monitors fetal heart rate and presence and duration of uterine contractions with external sensors
  • Transvaginal ultrasound - using a vaginal probe determines the length and strength of Jamie's cervix
  • Obstetric ultrasound - typical external ultrasound with an emphasis on measuring particular bones to determine a baby's height and weight. In addition to growth they also test vitals measuring heart rate and rates of umbilical cord pumping
It is a lot of tests, but thus far both Jamie and the twins have been hitting all of the right numbers. Currently Baby A is 4lbs 3oz and Baby B is 3lbs 15oz. Both babies are 16.7 inches long. One of the great things about having tests so frequently is we have seen our babies almost weekly for most of the pregnancy. We have not uploaded a lot of the ultrasound photos as they have become overwhelming even for us, but wanted to upload the most recent 3D Ultrasound images of their faces.




July 08, 2011

Crazy Busy Spring & Summer

Thus far Jamie and I have had a very busy spring and summer filled with trips, celebrations, weddings, doctor appointments, and baby preparations which has left us with very little time for anything else including blogging. That isn't to say we have not wanted to do so, but hopefully by reading this post we can catch up on the status of the twins as well as with us.

May

As detailed in a previous post May began with a bang when two of Jamie’s friends threw her a baby shower. The following weekend (May 14th) Jamie and I flew to Pittsburgh, PA to attend Carnegie Mellon’s spring commencement ceremony. While I am in the process of completing my last class, Carnegie Mellon has the Silicon Valley students participate in the large graduation ceremony prior to finishing the coursework. Pittsburgh is a great town with plenty to do. On top of seeing the sites in Pittsburgh it was nice to visit CMU and get a feel for the campus. Even though Jamie was six months pregnant Southwest Airlines was very accommodating making the flights much easier. Even with the extra leg room Jamie could not believe how swollen her ankles were after the trip. She had to lay with them up for a day to get the swelling to go down.

We spent Memorial Day weekend on another trip, this time by car to Durango, CO for the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic. Iron Horse is a bicycle race from Durango, CO to Silverton, CO spanning two mountain passes. Almost every year I ride in this event, but due to a lack of training was unable to do so this year. Jamie’s dad did participate and enjoyed some of the best weather the event has ever seen. Riding in a car was easier on Jamie than flying had been, but she was unable to ride in the front seat as it made her incredibly nauseous.

June

On June 4th my younger brother David married his longtime girlfriend Leigh Anna. I served as David’s best man while Jamie was one of Leigh Anna’s bridesmaids. Though she will disagree Jamie looked beautiful in her maternity bridesmaid’s dress. The wedding was a wonderful time, but made me realize how infrequently we are together with all of our family.

The following week I left Albuquerque for Meghan and Justin’s destination wedding...in Scotland. Jamie was supposed to come along and even after finding out she was pregnant had toyed with the idea of accompanying me. Ultimately, we decided traveling overseas while pregnant with twins would not be the best idea. I was gone for ten days spending time in London, England and Ft. William Scotland. While in London I purchased a SIM card with unlimited data from 3 Mobile which allowed me to Skype with Jamie throughout the trip. Rather than describing everything we did you can check out my London and a Scottish Wedding photo album.

One unfortunate mishap did occur while I was in Scotland. While hiking down Ben Nevis I managed to break my ankle. Thinking that the ankle was only sprained I finished the hike, visited a whiskey distillery, attended the wedding, wedding reception, lunch and dinner before going to the hospital. Unbelievably, the United Kingdom provides social healthcare to its citizens and covers noncitizens in emergencies. The healthcare provided to me as a foreigner was on par with any paid healthcare I would have received in the United States. Traveling home with a cast ankle was difficult, but thankfully our friend Hannah was traveling with me and kindly carried my bags. United Airlines helped me pay Hannah back for her assistance by very nicely upgrading us both to business class for the return trip. If you have never flown business class I highly recommend it! Upon returning home the doctors in New Mexico put me on bed rest for four days, which is not the easiest thing to accomplish with a seven month pregnant wife. Thankfully, the ankle will not require surgery, however I will be in a walking boot until the end of July.

Twin Progression Update

For the past few months we have been attended one to two doctor appointments a week. Soon these appointments will probably increase to two or three appointments a week. Three weeks ago while I was overseas, breaking my ankle, Jamie had her most recent growth checkup. At this appointment both twins weighed just under three pounds and measured 14 ½ inches. Since this appointment Jamie has had several vitality appointments and regular checkups. From those appointments we know that the twins are healthy scoring full points in all critical areas. Just as importantly we know that Jamie is also doing outstanding. Our next growth appointment is next Friday we will post current statistics after that appointment.

Baby Preparations

While the nursery is painted and the cribs assembled we are missing art work and a glider. Both items are supposed to arrive next week so we will be able to finish the nursery and post photographs. Jamie is very much in the nesting phase so it will be nice to check this important milestone off the list of baby to-dos.

Are you still with me? I know this post was incredibly long, but we wanted to bring everyone who’s been asking us why we haven’t been blogging up to speed. Hopefully, things will slow down over the next couple of weeks before the twins arrive. Speaking of arrival, the doctors are estimating the girls will be here in the early part of August. Here’s hoping they come after my walking boot is off and my department graduation on August 6th.

Jamie 7 months 2 weeks pregnant with Andrew and his broken ankle.