Week 3 (April 27-May 3)

Day 15

My day began early with monitoring at 4:45am. Thankfully, the babies stayed on the monitor without too much difficulty, so I didn't have to be awake for too long. I was able to sleep a little before my doctor came in to do my ultrasound. Elise's cord flow showed some intermittent resistance but Dr. D-P said that it really wasn't any worse than it has been. The way Elise was laying made it necessary to capture the dopplers of her cord close to the insertion site, which always has more resistance than other areas. She still felt reassured that the babies are doing quite well.

To make my day even brighter, Kim Johnson brought Emma and Charlotte to see me this afternoon and brought me a wonderful home-cooked meal! Chris also came by on his way home from Anderson, which made my day even better. It delights my heart to watch the girls playing and to be able to snuggle with them. While it is always hard to see them go, I was able to look forward to seeing the girls again tomorrow.

This evening my IV heplock was really uncomfortable, so my nurse said she could take it out and redo it on my other arm. It was time to draw blood for the type and screen that I have to have every 72 hours. A sample of my blood is given to the blood bank so they can make sure they have blood to donate to me if necessary. The sample is only good for 72 hours, so I have to have it drawn that often as well. My nurse could draw the blood from my IV site so I wouldn't have to be stuck twice. Everything went fine except for the pain of the stick--I'll never get used to it--and the fact that she place the IV in a very awkward spot on my left wrist. It was quite uncomfortable to even move my fingers much less my wrist. I had a hard time knitting or even opening the bathroom door with it. I asked my nurse about it and she said that the position of the IV was causing the discomfort and she could move it if I wanted. I decided to wait until morning when I could ask Dr. D-P about it. I'm hoping she'll say I can just have it removed completely.

During the time my IV was being placed, my nurse was also trying to find Elise on the monitor. She moved the monitor around for an hour without being able to find Elise's heartbeat. I wasn't worried because I could clearly hear her moving around. After an hour of trying, my nurse finally called another nurse for help. I've had Jen before and she's really sweet. She's expecting her 2nd daughter on July 17, Emma's birthday. Jen was able to find Elise right away! Unfortunately, I had to stay on the monitor for another hour to get a good tracing of Elise even though we already had an hour of Anne-Claire.

Before my day ended, my nurse wanted to get another full tracing of the girls, which meant that I to go back on the monitor at 11pm. I was really tired but able to go to sleep not far past midnight, looking forward to seeing Emma and Charlotte again!

Day 16

28 weeks!!! We reached a HUGE milestone today that we didn't know if we'd make or not. Praise God!! Making it to 28 weeks greatly increases the survival rate of our babies. My doctor was very pleased that we've made it this far. She was also encouraged by my ultrasound. She said she wanted to repeat my glucose test in a week and repeat steroid injections a week after that. I was encouraged that she's making plans for the next few weeks and not overly concerned that we might not make it to 30 weeks. She also said we won't measure the babies this Friday but are going to wait until the following Friday to give the girls more time to grow. She is confident that they are doing well enough that we don't need to repeat their growth measurements any earlier. While I'm disappointed to not see how much they've grown, I'm happy to know my doctor feels so good about their progress. I also asked my doctor about my IV and she said we can remove it!! Yay!!

I feel SOOO much better without the IV in anymore. Now I can cuddle the girls without having to worry about the IV catching on anything. Now I just hope that nothing happens that requires the IV to be put back in.

This afternoon Janet Howell brought the girls to see me and we had another great afternoon. I snuggled with both girls for a long time until Anna Chasteen and her kids came by for a visit and my girls decided it was time to get down to play. Emma and Elissa had great fun dressing up in the outfits Emma brought from home. Eliot and Charlotte also had fun chasing each other and playing with the big girls. Anna also brought me some of her home-cooking--so appreciated! Unfortunately, it came time for them all to leave. Emma was really sad and didn't want to let go of me. I really felt badly for Janet who had to take her out of my arms. I cried for a while, prayed for Emma, and called Chris. Talking to him made me feel better. I can't wait to see them all again.

Later I called another mom who had twins about a month ago who'd had TTTS. My doctor gave me her name and number. It turned out she was up in the NICU with her girls, so she came down to see me. It was so nice to talk to someone who knows exactly what we've been going through and a huge encouragement to know we too can have a positive outcome. Her girls were born at 30 weeks and weighed a little over 3 lbs and a little under 2 lbs. They are doing very well now, weighing almost 5 lbs and just over 3 lbs. She invited me up to see the girls, and I jumped at the opportunity. They looked so tiny, but to Jen and Brian they look huge after one month. It is hard for me to imagine our girls being that tiny and probably smaller, but now I have a picture of what they might look like. It was amazing to see Jen cuddling and nursing her baby and to believe that one day soon I'll be holding and nursing Anne-Claire and Elise.

Day 17

This morning I had to get up early because I had an ECHO appointment at 8am. The exam went well--the cardiologist said the girls' hearts were still doing fine. Great news! I also had my regular ultrasound and everything looked good. Elise had some intermittent absent flow in her cord but it was largely due to the cord being looped around her ankle. I asked my doctor if she was concerned about Elise's cord, and she said it's not uncommon for cords to get wrapped around babies in different ways. I am reassured that the babies are being monitored so closely, though, in case something were to go wrong.

This afternoon I had lots of visitors, which made my day! Another mother of TTTS survivors came by today and brought her adorably chubby 6 month old boys. The boys were great! Her donor baby was still visibly smaller than the recipient, but they're both healthy and wonderful. I got to hold the donor, and it helped me to imagine Elise being that big.

Mary Lee Bayly brought Emma and Charlotte to see me today, which made five days in a row! I was so glad to see them because Charlotte has been having trouble with her ears and I needed to cuddle her a little. It is wonderful to get to see my girls, and Chris came by on his way home from Anderson, so we were all together. It makes the week so much easier to be with my family, even for just a few hours. The girls left without any tears because we got webcams today and they knew we were going to get to see one another during our nightly phone call. When they called tonight it was amazing to see all of them while we were talking. The girls kept putting their faces really close to the screen--I guess to get closer to me--so I saw a lot of their foreheads. It was nice, though, to see their little faces and their kisses being blown to me. I love the webcam!

I have one more monitoring session before bed. Hopefully, it will go off without a hitch!

Day 18

Today was a good day. The ultrasound of the babies was really good again. My doctor continues to be pleased with how things are going. I'm sort of bummed that we're not going to do measurements tomorrow but encouraged that she feels comfortable waiting another week for them. Amanda Ewer and Sebra Baker came to visit today and brought Emma and Charlotte along with Anna, Amos, and Elijah. It was fun to see how much Anna is talking now and how big Amos and Elijah have gotten. Of course, I couldn't have been more delighted to see my big girls. I was pretty sad when they had to leave because they weren't able to stay very long and I know I won't see them again until Saturday. After shedding a few tears and praying once again for strength, I tried to focus on holding our babies one day soon. That image helps me to remember why I'm here and why being away from my family is worth it.

This evening Elise had a pretty major decel but once her heart rate came back up she was fine the rest of the time I was on the monitor. My nurse called the on-call doctor, and thankfully, I'm not going on continuous monitoring but will just continue with the normal schedule of every four hours. I'm praying that she won't have anymore decels and we'll have a good night. Now that we've made it to 28 weeks, the benefits of getting to 30 or beyond have become more clear and I hope we can get there. I thought it would be easier now that we're at 28 weeks, but the old fears continue to creep up whenever something like Elise's deceleration occurs. I don't want anyone to think that I don't still need prayer for continued faith and strength. Please continue praying for us.

Day 19

This morning I got to leave my room to go to my doctor's office for my ultrasound. While I enjoy getting out of my room, for some reason, I seem to get sick every time I go to the office. In the middle of the ultrasound, I began to feel lightheaded, then my head started to swim, my vision got cloudy, and my ears began ringing. I told Crystal, the sonographer, and she sat me up. That didn't seem to work--I still felt like I was going to pass out and get sick. I asked her if I could have my blood pressure checked because I felt like it was really low. She was afraid to leave me alone. She brought me the trash can and helped me out of my robe because I also got very hot. Slowly I began to feel better, my vision cleared and the heat left. I remembered that my blood pressure was low this morning, 85/55, and lying flat on my back combined with already low pressure was a recipe for fainting. Crystal was able to complete the ultrasound with me sitting up. Whew! After all that, I was pleased that the babies continue to look really good. Their dopplers and biophysicals were all good-no changes. She also checked the length of my cervix because I've been having a few more contractions, and it was nice and long. I told her that I've never had trouble keeping my cervix closed. :)

My doctor, though pleased with the ultrasound results, decided to put me on continuous monitoring for the afternoon because of the decels Elise has been having. She had at least one each session yesterday and this morning. My doctor wanted to get a longer stretch of time to see exactly how often the decels are happening. I was on the monitor from noon until 4:30pm, and in that time Elise did have a few decels. Dr. D-P was not concerned, though. She said the decels were not lasting very long and Elise's heartrate always came right back up. Apparently, all of this is pretty normal for 28 weekers.

Chris was able to stop by this afternoon on his way home from Anderson and stayed to hear what Dr. D-P had to report. It was great to see him and to get to talk. We're used to spending a lot of time together, so this time apart has been hard on both of us. I do think that this experience has made our marriage stronger and I'm thankful for that. In the beginning of the TTTS rollercoaster, it became apparent how easily a crisis can pull a couple apart. I praise God for allowing our marriage to grow despite the extra strain we're under.

A cute story from Aunt Julie: On her way to drop Emma off at Auntie Barbara's
Julie: I'm going to deliver you to Auntie Barbara's
Emma: Like a pizza?
Julie: Well, yes, I'm going to drop you off at Auntie Barbara's house.
Emma: Can we pretend I'm a pizza?
Julie: What kind of pizza would you be?
Emma: Pepperoni, of course.
So, Julie delivered an Emma pepperoni and cheese pizza to Auntie Barbara.

Day 20

The babies and I had a good day with no surprises. I was thrilled to have Chris and the girls here to spend the day with me. Emma and Charlotte had fun playing "Simon Says." It was quite cute to watch Charlotte mimicking Emma's movements. She's getting so big these days. I hated to see them leave but Julie had come by so I wasn't left alone for a little while longer. Elise had some decels in my last monitoring session but nothing that differed from what she's been doing and were not concerning to my doctor.

Day 21

Today has been pretty lonely. Chris and the girls stayed home so they could go to church. My ultrasound went well--My doctor said she was very excited by how well the girls are doing and how far we've gotten. She was going to order another glucose tolerance test for tomorrow, but thankfully, she heard my nurse mention needing to draw blood for my 72-hour type and screen and said I could do the glucose test today to avoid being stuck two days in a row. The glucose test is not fun because the Glucola is absolutely awful but a necessary evil to rule out gestational diabetes. I don't foresee any problem with the test but it has to be done. The blood draw was particularly painful--I don't think I'll ever get used to being stuck with needles--because the nurse had to use a larger than usual needle to get four vials of blood. Fortunately, I don't think I bruised, so that's positive. Tomorrow marks three weeks in the hospital!