Peri Appointment

The twins are doing well. They have their heads together again - but now their heads are resting on my stomach. (Heartburn!) BabyA's been kicking me like crazy. BabyB is shy about having her picture taken. She finally turned the right way so we could get a picture of her face and she put her arms up to block our view! The cords aren't very tangled until you get close to the placenta...and then it's really hard to follow which cord goes where. (This is watching the blood flow directions on the ultrasound.)

There's a sound pattern they look for in the cords that means the cord is being compressed. My twins' cords did NOT have that sound pattern. So, they're doing great for now :)

I'll be going inpatient on May 18th. I expect to be in the hospital for monitoring for 6 weeks.

May Day

Each year as May Day approaches, my thoughts turn towards Dusty and Jenna - friends who passed through my life several years ago. Dusty's family has a May Day tradition. They pick flowers from their yard and ask their kids deliver the flowers to friends and neighbors to show appreciation. I adore this tradition.

A year ago, we lived in Grandmother's old house. We had 3 different kinds of roses--including my favorite, the peace rose; white lilacs; yellow daffodils; purple frosted tulips; snowdrops; purple and white irises;....and tons of others. Wildflowers grew by the ditch....and our front yard was a meadow of dandelions!

We liked to pretend we let the dandelions run rampant for bunny. (Bunnies LOVE eating dandelion greens. We'd pick tons and shove them through the mail slot. Bunny used to sit under that mail slot wishing for dandelion greens to drop from heaven.) Really we just like dandelions. Sexy Haqon still refuses to believe dandelions are weeds. Where he's from, if it doesn't stab you or poison your skin, it's not a weed. A sunny yellow flower that magically transforms itself into a fluffy white globe you can make wishes on just didn't qualify. Beautiful Rabbit agreed. (She was so delighted the day I told her dandelions were an exception to the "no picking flowers from other people's yards" rule.)

For this (and other) reasons, we now live in a home where someone else takes care of our yard for us. It seems more neighborly somehow. But we miss dandelions. I have no flowers of my own to give to my friends and neighbors.

So, if you think of it on Thursday, grab a handful of blossoms and scatter them into the air or on your neighbor's front porch....or deliver an official bouquet. and know that I'd bring you flowers if I had some to bring :)

Or not...

Looks like I was rejoicing too soon - Strong Bear just had diarrhea and Delightful Finch spit up. Uggggg!

Ok. Finch could be ok. Sometimes babies spit up. She'd just crawled down a flight of stairs on her tummy. So...maybe she's OK. ...right?

...and Bear.../sigh

We've been drowning everything in Lysol and washing our hands like crazy. Beautiful Rabbit never got it....

Anyway, I am still feeling better.

Feeling Better

The awful flu that invaded our home is finally gone! I feel like me again :) Well, pregnant me, anyway.

I'm a little annoyed at my otherwise wonderful perinatologist. We'd been discussing when I'll be going inpatient. (I'll be admitted to the hospital where they'll closely monitor the twins for distress caused by cord constrictions/accidents. I might be in the hospital for 6 weeks before the twins are born.) He wanted to discuss it more with some of his colleagues. Because momo twins are so rare, he wanted to add their experience to his own. Anyway, he said he'd call me on Friday to give me their combined advice. He didn't call.

While the matter isn't strictly urgent, I could be going inpatient as soon as 2.5 weeks from now. If that's the case, I'd like to start seeing about getting people to come stay with my little ones. It'd be nice if I knew the exact dates before I started asking people for help. I didn't want to disturb my perinatologist's weekend. So, I waited until today to call him.

Apparently he's so unavailable that they can't even get a message to him until Wednesday. My next appointment with him is 7:45am Wednesday morning. So, I didn't see much point in leaving a message.

Like I said, I guess it doesn't really matter....but it would've been nice to know the exact dates before Wednesday.

Oh well, another week closer to two beautiful baby girls :)

Perinatologist Appointment

Ok, it was actually on Wednesday, and I've already covered some of the highlights. I don't have pictures today because I can't figure out how to get the scanner working. My brain doesn't feel up to sorting through the actual manual. (LOL - I used to tease people who couldn't figure out how to use electronic stuff when they'd refuse to look at the manual..../sigh)

Twins:
Twin A is now on top and Twin B is on bottom. They weigh 1.9lbs and 1.8lbs -- which is good for their age and means they're sharing their food well or at least stealing equal portions. They finally put their heads together and started kicking me instead of each other :)

Yes, I'm still feeling really sick.

I'm Thankful for....

Lysol, diapers that manage to hold puddles of diarrhea without spilling, and parents who don't run away screaming when Strong Bear vomits all over just minutes before I have to leave for a doctor's appointment. (Still feel bad about that one...)

My family is feeling icky. Only Beautiful Rabbit seems to have escaped. and maybe me. It's hard to tell when nausea and diarrhea are pretty normal in my current pregnancy. I haven't thrown up yet.

I can't wait til it's gone. Strong Bear's been a trooper, but Finch traded out "delightful" for clingy and prone to tears. I think she's teething, too.

Fetal Echocardiogram...

....which is just a more in depth ultra sound. It was long, but cool. More and more doctors kept coming in the room. Colors flashes on the screen to show you which way the blood is flowing.

Anyway, they confirmed what we already suspected and then talked about treatments and implications. Baby B's heart has 2 problems rolled into one.

The heart on the left is a normal heart. The heart on the right has an atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD). There's a hole between the 2 bottom chambers of her heart. So, the oxygenated blood mixes with the de-oxygenated blood and isn't sent to the right places. ADDITIONALLY(not shown in the picture), her left ventricle (which pumps oxygen rich blood to the body) is too small to work properly.

We already knew the left ventricle was too small. We didn't know about the hole between the ventricles. The small ventricle is the more serious problem. The surgeries correcting that will correct the AVSD, too.

She'll need 3 surgeries - the first before she comes home from the hospital, the second when she's 4-6 months old, and the third when she's 2-3 years old.

She's fine as long as she's still in my tummy because she gets extra oxygenated blood through the placenta. She'll be blueish when she's born. She'll be taken to Primary Children's NICU and cared for there.

-45% of kids with down syndrome have AVSD - ...so we'll put that in the maybe category.
-for reasons unknown to me, kids with congenital heart defects have to brush their teeth more often to prevent infections in the heart valves.


As an added bonus, the cardio team threw in heterotaxy (situs ambigous)--some of her organs are on the wrong side of her body. My perinatologist looked carefully at it today, and thinks it's more likely that she has situs inversus which is where all her organs are reversed - a mirror image of where they should be. This would make our twins "identical mirror twins". We just keep hitting all the low odds! (Haqon wants me to buy lottery tickets!)

heterotaxy would require surgery to make sure there's no danger of intestinal blockage. Situs inversus is kinda cool but not a problem - lots of people have it w/out even knowing it. The biggest problem is your symptoms are on the wrong side of your body. So you could be telling your doc about pain from appendicitis, and he might think it's nothing serious because your pain is on the wrong side for it to be appendicitis.


So...they explained all of this to us.....and then asked us if we'd take a test to determine our stress level. LOL. I don't know about Haqon, but I scored pretty high :)

Thank you for your support and prayers--it means a lot :).
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REMINDER: Beautiful Rabbit reads your comments. Please don't reply with anything that's needlessly gloomy or worrisome. Thanks :)

Twin Cousins

My sil's twins were born yesterday. They live awfully far away, but they're coming to visit in August. I still have 8 weeks to go.

Ya know that feeling you get when you watch your friend go down the super tall water slide in front of you and they squeal and scream and laugh and get all wet....and you're up next...so you're excited but still nervous..? yeah...that.

Silk and Pearls

Sexy Haqon and I were married 12 years ago this week. He's every bit as fun and sweet and sexy as that first day. It amazes me that I could find the man I want to spend all the eternities with in so short a time. Angels and etc.

I often find the whole world is crazy except him. He is my strength, my joy, my love.....I wouldn't want forever without him.

I love you, Boy ;)

Ups and Downs

Monday was awful. The whole family picked Monday to have a bad day.

For my part, I forgot about the consequences and went grocery shopping at the store instead of online. I was completely exhausted, felt icky, and had cramps for the rest of the night.

Tuesday was fantastic. Oh, it started out too early and with much stress. But all that melted away and the whole family picked Tuesday to have a great day. We need more days like this.

Today I'm just too tired to do anything. I wonder if that means the twins are having a growth spurt.

Swiper no swiping!

Swiper is the fox on the Dora the Explorer cartoon. Swiper tries to steal stuff, but if you say "Swiper NO SWIPING!" 3 times, he says "awwwww, man!" and doesn't take anything.

I've started to encourage my kids to say "awwww, man!" when they're disappointed or fail at something....and then to try again. It's been good. It's fun when I'm playing Zuma and lose a life to hear Strong Bear say "awwwww, man!" for me.

This morning, Delightful Finch started saying "aww, Ma-yan" :)

A Day in the Sun

I took Strong Bear and Delightful Finch to the park. I was feeling icky before we left, but it's too nice outside for the kids to be stuck inside. Bear met new friends. He asked me to help lift him a couple times. I told him I can't lift him and he'll just have to climb. So he climbed all over the place. I'm so grateful that something in his head makes him hold on tight to the ropes. Even when his feet slip off the ropes, his tight grip saves him from falling while he recovers.

Finch wanted to visit people's houses. She climbed all the way up the steps of the house that overlooks the park. She isn't old enough to climb the ropes, but she found lots of cool things on the ground to look at. One 3 yr-old boy (who had a 13-month old brother at home taking his nap) followed Finch around very protectively.

Bear followed around a 3 yr old girl who was completely fearless when it comes to heights. They both went higher than I was comfortable with, and I thought she'd be more timid after she fell from 4 ft, but she got right back up and started climbing again. I'm glad Bear didn't fall. He also saw a helicopter fly overhead. "OOOOH!!! Look at the airplane!!!"

I felt less sick by the time we got home. Bear pushed Finch home in the stroller. It was windy, but I didn't have trouble with allergies. All in all, a good trip ;)

Rabbit's special day

Thanks to everyone who helped make Beautiful Rabbit's special day even more special :)

Ob visit

My doctors and nurses are always surprised at how active my twins are. All of my kids have been super active in the womb, so I'm just used to it.

BabyA has completely turned around since Wednesday. Now instead of using each other as foot rests, they're head butting each other :) I have high hopes they'll be strong enough to withstand their brother playing with them.

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Tonight Strong Bear fell asleep on the couch. Delightful Finch kept climbing up on the couch as if he wasn't there at all. But she pushed her luck too far, and Strong Bear (in his sleep) kicked her off the couch. She fell to the floor crying. Poor girl - you'd think she could get the upper hand while he was sleeping.

Pretty Car

After several referrals from my mothers' group, we hired a guy to come detail the interior of my car. He did a fantastic job. I really couldn't have cleaned it that well, and it was so nice that he could do it at my house instead of me hauling the kids to some auto place and then trying to keep them entertained for 3 hours.

Beautiful Rabbit learned that if she plays in the mud, she's gonna have to clean all the mud off. And that we still love her even when we make her clean. She's such a sweetie.

Strong Bear learned that he can earn more candy if he goes potty more often. (Mom let him get away with 5 potty visits right in a row today. Hey, it's better than cleaning up the mess when he waits too long.)

Mom learned that sometimes with lots of helpers, things fall through the cracks. ...and when muddy clothes get washed without soap and then put into the dryer, you have to vacuum and wipe down the dryer. (doh - remembering the soap would've been soooo much easier!)

Sexy Haqon likes to do magic tricks for the kids. Rabbit and bear love it. Rabbit is old enough to know some of the magic behind it, and tries tricks of her own. Bear is mystified and entertained, every time. One time in church, Haqon started doing a trick (making a goldfish cracker disappear)...and Bear grabbed the cracker and shoved it in his mouth cuz he didn't want his snack to disappear.

Tonight, Sexy Haqon did a couple of magic tricks - making Delightful Finch's binky disappear. Each time Haqon said, "where did it go?" Delightful Finch pointed to the binky's actual location. He didn't trick her once. I wonder if she has a psychic connection to her binky....

Dr Peri Appointment

The twins were incredibly wiggly today. It took 4 tries to get Baby-B's heartbeat because she was so active. It looked like she was trying to swim! Baby-B is facing my back, so it was really hard to get a good look at her heart. Baby-A is breech. She's resting her legs on BabyB's head--they seem to be taking turns with that. BabyA kept opening her mouth. I thought it looked like she was crying, but the tech said it was more like yawning.

Dr Peri said Baby-B's heart looks a little better, but one of the chambers is still noticeably smaller than the others. I'll get a fetal echocardiogram on April 22nd so they can take a better look at it.

BabyA is 1lb 3oz. BabyB is 1lb--both normal. BabyB's heartrate was faster than BabyA's...but both were within the normal range.

...more in 2 weeks ;)

Life is peachy

I love peaches. I think anyone who doesn't love peaches has never eaten a peach fresh off the tree.....warm from the sun...leaning over so the juices drip on the grass instead of all over your shirt....

I feel bad for those people.

Sexy Haqon lived in Atlanta the summer before we got engaged. I went to visit him for a week. He'd told everyone how much I love peaches. (the peach state!!!). Every place he took me, people gave me peaches. It was heavenly.

Taste

Beautiful Rabbit: Mom, I think I figured out why you like yams.
Mom: Oh? Why's that?
Beautiful Rabbit: Well, when you're born you have all your taste buds, but when you grow up you've lost about half of them.
Mom: (lol) I used to think the same thing when my parents ate avocados....which I love now :p

Yummy Bread

Thanks to all those years of watching my mom make bread from scratch, I actually knew I had to add water to this batch of whole wheat bread :) Thanks, Mom!

This loaf turned out beautifully. It was oh-soooo-yummy, too. We had sandwiches for dinner. New craving: deli ham on homemade wheat bread. Melt cheese on top of the ham. Sliced avocado on the cheese. Sliced tomato on top. dash of salt (opt)(except i LOVE salt...so it's not really optional for me.)

The slices were cut thick, so we did open-faced sandwiches. Strong bear ate his toppings one at a time and then ate the bread.....and then asked for more bread.


Beautiful Rabbit helped Delightful Finch sit on Rabbit's chair at the counter. Finch was delighted! She kept eating the avocados without using her hands. She'd just put her mouth down on the avocado and take a bite. Then smile. I ran to grab the camcorder, but she stopped doing it right when I got back - figures! I still got some cute video of Rabbit and Finch together....w/ Bear's voice in the background.

Story Time

Beautiful Rabbit really knows how to capture her audience!

Much too young to date...

Delightful Finch decided it's funner to dance with a partner than alone. Who can blame her - Elmo's a cutie!

It was hard to get a picture that was in focus and didn't contain Strong Bear streaking by. He's been doing great with the potty training at home....but he now hates wearing diapers (he just takes them off and puts them in the diaper pail), and doesn't keep underwear dry if he wears it.

Finch's Preferences

Delightful Finch takes her meals in this lovely booster seat from Fisher Price. She's my independent child. I always put her in facing the family, but she prefers to pick her own position. Using her feet to move the seat, she turns herself around so she's facing the wall. Then when she's done eating she turns herself back towards us and complains until we let her out.

It kinda looks like I make her eat in the corner...or that she's in time out. But she's doing it herself. I've no idea why she'd rather eat facing the wall than us. I guess she just likes to pick her own settings.,...and it does give her toes something to play with.

Guess who..

"I'm sorry, we can't accept your forms because your middle initial doesn't match our records."
Me (to them): "What's my middle initial?"
them: "We don't have access to that information. You'll need to contact..."
Me (to others): "What's my middle initial?"
others: "W"
Me: "Phew, that's what I remembered, too. So why didn't it work?"
others: "Them's computers must be messed up."
Me (to them): "others confirmed I'm using the correct middle initial. So how can we fix this?"
them: "There's nothing we can do - it MUST be fixed through Others"
Me: "...but it's already correct there. So how can I get it fixed on YOUR records?"
them: "You keep asking me the same question."
Me: "I'm sorry, I guess that's because I'm confused."
them: "How many times do I have to say it - you MUST fix it through Others."
Me: "...how can I fix it there if it's already correct there?"
them: dial tone [they hung up on me!!!! after hours of being on hold!!!]

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If you guessed the IRS, click here.

Breadmaker, Breadmaker make me some bread..

My first loaf of breadmaker bread. It was tasty - warm and gooey and thick. The raisins were yummy but you couldn't really taste the cinnamon even though I put extra in.



The kids loved it....except Delightful Finch who was too tired to love anything but her jammies and her daddy.

It was much harder than I expected. You have to measure and add all the ingredients by hand!!! hehe...kidding. It was hard because the power went out twice today. ...and the breadmaker doesn't do well w/out power. Luckily it stayed on the second time.

Oat Tales

[A few months ago, I was feeding oatmeal to Delightful Finch.]
Strong Bear: I want some! I want some! (this is his way of asking for things.)
Mom: I'm sorry, sweetie. I can't give you any because it has oats in it. It'll give you owies. (He's allergic to oats.)
Strong Bear: No, it doesn't have oats - it's yummy!
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[Last night Strong Bear forgot to go potty for too long and had an accident.]
Mom [holding up a bunch of paper towels]: Come clean it up, Bear.
Bear: No mom - it has oats!
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[A few hours later....Strong Bear was eating an orange...]
Beautiful Rabbit: Bear, can I have some?
Bear: No, it has oats!
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Happy April Fools' Day!!

I used to hate this holiday. A day where people are supposed to lie to each other??? Stupid. Mean. dorky.....

Then Beautiful Rabbit cured me. She loves tricking her mommy and daddy. She's always sneaking downstairs and "throwing" her voice to trick us into thinking she's on the stairs. I finally got to trick her today!

When Rabbit came home from school, I told her she had to clean her room all the way before she could have her snack. (She's always starving when she got home from school.) I was afraid she'd try to talk me out of it. Sometimes we play a game where I ask her to do something that's completely unreasonable just so she can practice not crying and asking to change it to something more reasonable. That's really hard to remember when you're starving, though. So she stomped up to her room.......only to find that Mom, Bear, and Finch had cleaned it completely and unpacked the left over boxes.

She came right down the stairs and told me that Delightful Finch went straight to sleep for her nap....she tricked me! She's much better at tricking people than I am ;)

Delightful Mornings

Delightful Finch wakes up happy. (Unlike Strong Bear who cries because he woke up to discover he's all alone.) I love going in to get her because I'm always rewarded with a huge smile. She gets happy legs and plays like she's running away from you. The whole time she's chock full of giggles. After a hug and a kiss, I place her on the floor and she runs off to play with toys. Sometimes she's so happy playing, she doesn't follow me down the stairs for 30-45 minutes!

Some days I find myself getting out of bed sooner so I can be the one to go wake her up instead of Sexy Haqon or Beautiful Rabbit. Haqon can tell you, Delightful Finch didn't get her morning-time delightfulness from me. I need my 'wake-up-slowly' time..hehe :)

Good Robot

It's so nice to come down to a freshly vacuumed floor every morning.

Last weekend, the main floor was getting too cluttered and HAL wasn't able to vacuum every night. I missed the clean floor and vacuum lines. So, I spent all of Saturday cleaning. I had to take 3 serious naps before I got the floor clean. I packed up most of the toys and sent them up to Beautiful Rabbit's room. So now, at bedtime, I just kick the toys into the bottom of the bookshelf and HAL's good to go.

Rabbit's room is a disaster -- but it's not really her fault. I plan on helping her clean it sometime this week. I just need to find a day where I have a bit of energy...haha.

Most prego gals have to give up vacuuming--esp if they're carrying twins. I'm glad I'm not one of them. My mom will be happy to hear: I think I'm turning into one of those people who keeps their house clean. Oh, I'm still messy, but it's just too hard to clean things once they're all cluttered. It's much easier to just keep it clean and just tidy up a bit. (esp if HAL's the one who's tidying...hehe)