19 Weeks!

With my other 2 pregnancies I rarely thought very much about how many weeks along I was. I didn't have any complications and just saw my OB for regular checkups. At this point I probably would've seen my doctor 3 times. Counting the weeks was never something I did. And I didn't take pictures of my growing belly very often either. For each of my other pregnancies I have probably a half dozen pictures where I am posed for a profile view of my growing baby bump. This pregnancy is different in so many ways. I take pictures when I feel either huge or a little bit pretty. I strive to get a picture off to Zed about every 10 days or less that is aimed with a good belly shot. And Zed, myself, my mom and probably a few other people are counting my weeks faithfully. I am now at 19 weeks.

Usually I would be getting excited for my first and likely only ultrasound to check the baby's heart, pallet, gender and whatever else gets checked out in that ultrasound. This time at 19 weeks I've had at least a dozen ultrasounds and have known for weeks that these are little boys. I also know that their little hearts beat strong, their brains are developing well, and all the other organs we've had a chance to see are doing good at such an early stage. 

Baby B

 o assess

Baby A

I went to the doctor yesterday and we got another look at the boys. They were a lot more photogenic this week than last, that's for sure!  We had a hard time at first deciding which was A and B, because they've moved around some. Last week, though, we had decided that Baby A was head down and is the little guy with the vasa previa; Baby B was sitting up breech. They were not cooperative in comparing last weeks positions to this weeks, so the tech had to trace the umbilical cords to see whose cord went down over my cervix and back up. It was a little extra work. We want to try and keep consistent stats on each baby and not mix them up as much as possible. The doctor tracks size and growth, heart rates and even umbilical cord blood flow. This way they can compare weekly to assess how each baby is doing.

At one point in the ultrasound baby B sat right on top of Baby A. It is always so much fun to watch them move around and be with each other. I'm pretty lucky to get to see them every week moving around.

Well yesterday didn't let us out of the office quite as smoothly as the previous week did. By monitoring the blood flow through the umbilical cords they were able to see that the babies are having to work a little bit harder to get the blood flow that they need. This is because the babies have started to pull their knot of cords just a little bit tighter. Somewhere in the mass of cords are a few little kinks. So blood flow is not going as smooth as we would like.

The babies are still growing and moving and doing good, but it's something that we have to monitor super closely. My doctor showed us the waves of blood flow that we are watching and that if any of my next appointments show the levels dropping to certain levels I will be admitted to the hospital pretty much right away. The struggle is that my babies still are too tiny for any happy percentage of a chance of survival. Right now the goal--which of course we have to control over whether or not I will meet these goals--is to make it to 24 weeks, which for me will be right after Fathers Day next month. At 24 weeks I will be admitted to the hospital because that's the magic number where if I deliver my babies they suddenly have chances of survival, not high chances however. 

Once I am admitted to the hospital I will be hooked up to fetal monitors practically 24/7. I will also then be upgraded from weekly ultrasounds to daily ultrasounds. From there our goal is to make it as far as we can. My doctor didn't sound entirely optimistic about my odds of making it to 32 weeks, so we will just see how far we can go before the stress on these boys gets to be too much.

My doctor is pretty awesome though. I am so glad that he is the doctor that came recommended to me. I love the way he explains things to me. He lets us know that this is a worrisome situation, but that worrying isn't going to help anything and that I need to just be calm about things as much as possible. Since I've come to stay with my mom I've totally been able to just be calm about things, which keeps my blood pressure and heart rate a little more normal I hope! I am on doctors orders to just be a princess right now and let other people worry about everything for me.

My favorite part of the appointment was when my doctor asked my mom and I if we are religious. We are. We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS, Mormon). I know that my doctor is also a member of our church. But without even telling him that we share the same faith, he counseled with us. He testified of the power of prayer. He encouraged us to pray for me and these sweet babies. He told us how much he believes that our Heavenly Father loves us and knows what is going on. He said that he prays for his patients, too. He is a great doctor who brings the spirit with him, and it gives me such and added level of comfort and peace to have a man who is willing to serve and submit himself to our God being my doctor. I know I pray for my babies, for this pregnancy to be successful, for my husband to be safe everyday, for my older boys, as well as for others I know that need help, strength or blessings. But I also ask you to think of us in your prayers. I do have a testimony of the power of prayer. It is amazing. Our Heavenly Father is always waiting to pour blessings upon us, but so often He needs us to ask for them.

After my appointment I was tired and laid down most the rest of the day...hence the hair. But that belly of mine is sure getting bigger!! I'm not even 5 months along yet!

Yesterday I sent Mr. J back home to finish his T-ball season and Preschool year. I am so sad to miss those things, but so incredibly grateful for Zed's mom and her willingness to take Mr. J in for a little while and let him get those experiences and memories in. Thank You Bobbie!!!!!! In the meantime, Otis is very excited to get to be treated like an only child by me and my mom for a little bit. He loves the extra attention and is spending as much time with me as he can. My mom is even able to get some of her office work done while Otis hangs out with me. This morning we played dodgeball in my room. I didn't even have to get out of bed.