Intrepid Murmurings

On Tuesday, May 27th, Elsie Olivia and Delia Grace joined the Hutchinson family.  Finally!  Labor was boosted/officially started at 9:30am with a rupture of membranes, and from there progressed really well.  We were able to have pretty much the birth we were hoping for, given the challenges of a twin delivery! 

Elsie was born first at 2:33 pm, weighing 6lbs 12 oz.  After a bit of manipulation to get her heading in the right direction, Delia was born at 2:55, weighing 7lbs 5oz.  They are doing great and were able to stay with us the whole time and go home on Thursday AM. Right now we are working A LOT on breastfeeding (going fairly well, with some very familiar and expected bumps due to the whole milk supply business, and sleepiness).  Sadly, the sleepiness does not include the hours between 9pm to 3am!

Emma has been enjoying her new sisters, loves giving kisses and hugs, and remarking on their tiny hands and feet.  She is also obsessed with their tiny diapers and all their gear.  But she (and her parents as well) is also very glad Grandma Cynthia is here to pay attention to her, too!

Here is a link to some pics -- more coming soon, I hope! At this point, we are having trouble even remembering to TAKE pictures!

So, in another two hours we will be checking into the hospital to have some babies!  Crazy!  The induction starts tonight with a med to help prepare the cervix, then, hopefully, we will be able to get some sleep until the real action starts in the morning. 

Unfortunately, the laptop is broken-ish (the screen won't close without threatening breakage) so we will not have that for updates, and we don't really know how to text message from our phones (lame, I know) so we probably won't get the news out over the web until later.   We will have our cells and will be updating friends and family through that, of course.  Wish us luck!  Babies tomorrow!  

Yeah, we are heading towards an induction, currently set to begin Monday night.  Whee!  

I was actually encouraged by the Dr of the day to do it tonight, and man, it was HARD to say no to that, but I really think its for the best.  Everything looked fine with both my health and the babies, including a quick ultrasound to check fluid levels.  The main reason for his wanting to schedule the induction this week instead of early next is because the 38 week mark falls on Saturday, and they don't schedule elective procedures on weekends or holidays.   But the 38 week mark, based on my due date, was set by an ultrasound at around 11 weeks, which is known to not be entirely accurate to begin with...

Many crunchier folks really disagree with the 38 week rule for twins, but my perinatal practice is pretty firm that the research shows a (very) slight increase in fetal demise after that time.  If the babies don't come on their own it will be 38weeks 3 days, which I am fine with.  And while I am SO ready to be done and SO uncomfortable, I do really want to  give my body all the time we can to bring things on naturally.  The rate of inductions that end in c-sections is really high, due to all the interventions (and the fact that your body may just not be ready) and I would really like to avoid all that. 

So, yeah, here we are.  Ho hum.  At our appointment on Weds we had a non-stress that took 90 minutes (instead of 20 or so) because the babies Would Not Cooperate, and could not be tracked down for more than a minute or so before moving or having their heartbeats disappear.  Not scary, since the heartbeats were fine, it was just annoying because the nurses (2 of them!) were poking, prodding, and rearranging me that entire time to try and get a good reading.  They finally did, all looked good, and we were able to move on to the Dr.

The cervical exam showed no progress, a dilation of 1-2 cm which it has been at for weeks.  I still think Baby A "lefty" moved back up, and that is what caused our progress to reverse.  Today I've felt a little like she might have dropped more again, but its hard to tell.  I am not sure Emma ever did, actually, because she was high throughout my labor and I finally just pushed her down at the end.  If we can get Lefty to drop, though, it could make things move along, perhaps...

So, thats the story!  We will have babies by Tuesday, I think, unless they decide to come sooner.  Come on babies!  Memorial Day Weekend is a good time to be born! 

Happy Birthday, kid!  We had a fun day yesterday with a picnic in the backyard, lots of friends and family.  Emma enjoyed all the company, adored the babies who attended, and for the second year in a row, was not at all interested in her cupcake.  Ah well.  More for me.  

I am sorry I am lazy with the pics -- we have a few to upload and more on my moms camera, and will try to get those up soon!!! 

The weather here has been AWESOME, and yesterday was pretty hot by Seattle standards.  I love it, generally, but until I am no longer pregnant and can actually fit into summer clothes, I am fine with things getting back to normal, heat wise.  I know I am super lucky to have made it this far without experiencing swelling during pregnancy, but for the first time ever I had some and I'd prefer to not have it get any worse!  Feeling lucky to have had spring due dates both times around, and no hugely pregnant in the middle of summer issues. 

Sorry for no update this past week -- this weeks appointment showed no progress on the baby front.  Baby A has still not dropped (after her move back up a few weeks ago) so it kind of looks like they will be hanging in for the long run.  However, if there is no action this week, I will be induced on Monday the 26th-ish.    So no matter what, in less than 8 days we will have babies!  Yahoo! 

Well, this weeks update is...

...no progress!   And in fact, things seem to be moving backwards.  WTF?!? The doctor of the week (we see many since its a large perinatal specialist group) did a check and I appear to be less dilated and effaced, the cervix is posterior (far back) and baby A is "high".   As opposed to "right there" last week.  Not sure how much of this is due to different doctors interpretations, or if things have really changed, but I think its possible that once she moved back up everything closed back up again.  That would explain the considerable decrease in contractions and feelings of labor.

Ah well.  This really is good news, though of course we are anxious to meet them.  I will be 36 weeks tomorrow, which is the average delivery time for twins, but they would still be premature and could easily have feeding issues and NICU time for that.  Another week or two would significantly increase the chance that breastfeeding will go successfully, I have to keep reminding myself.  And hoo, boy, we can use all the good mojo we can get in that realm.

Meanwhile, I am trying to get off my butt and move around a little more, both to get back some of my strength and t o encourage the babies to "drop".  Supposedly lying reclined (as I have been doing, a whole lot) can encourage the  babies to be 'sunny side up" (facing my stomach, not my back) which leads to extremely challenging "back labor".  I think I may have had some of that with Emma, in fact, which might have been why things got beyond my coping abilities then.  But when you have a stomach the size of a beach ball, one is rather limited to the positions one can hang out in for long, so we'll see....

At yesterdays appointment we had the usual non-stress test, and the babies heartbeats were good and responsive.  No more ultrasounds scheduled for the rest of the pregnancy!  Weird, after having them every 2 weeks since 16 weeks!  I didn't ask why but have a feeling its because a)they've been looking so good all along, and b)the weight estimates become less and less accurate near the end.  I know tons of folks who've had estimates up to 2 pounds more or less than what their babies came out as, so you really really don't want to base any birth decisions on those estimates (which is another good reason not to think these babies are "ready", since they could be 4lbs something instead of 6 lbs something, and that would mean a lot more trouble for them).  But, in the same vein, that means, especially by the end, they could both be 9 lbs something, OMG.  My doctor said this is not a problem, though they would watch me carefully after delivery for bleeding issues due to the uterus being so distended. 

Our specific doctors are pretty adament about inducing at 38 weeks (2 weeks from now), to avoid risks of stillbirth that have been shown to increase after that time.  I know a lot of natural leaning folks adamently disagree with this, but I will take the induction, thanks (even knowing 50% or so of inductions end in a C-section).  Hopefully we won't get to that  point -- if we get to 37 weeks I might try acupuncture or some of the other things we tried last time.   Seems funny to be thinking about all this considering all that was happening a few weeks ago! 

This is pretty inspiring.....

No babies yet!  There have been many times over the past few days where I was pretty sure they were coming soon, and then, alas, nothing.  I have been having periods of lots of somewhat painful and regular contractions, then they die down and just come every once in a while (still 4 or so an hour, but they need to be 6+ to be considered anything, really).  They feel different and I think they must be doing something, just not enough, yet.

Meanwhile, I feel HUUUUUUGE.  I don't want to complain, as I know its best to get as far along as we can here (currently 35 weeks 2 days) but AHHHHH (see, I am going to anyway)!  My stomach is stretched so far, the skin hurts constantly where the stretchmarks are continually growing, yet its also basically numb, too.  I have zero clothes that will even cover my stomach, nada, nothing.  Even though I am off bedrest, I can't really do much because my belly is just too huge, and hurts because it hangs down with the wieght.  I can't even sit upright in a chair, because there is no room for the belly!  Still super itchy due to what I think is a PUPPPS rash -- I just CANNOT stop scratching even though I know it makes it worse.  It has spread up my back and on my arms.  Boo. 

At night, I can sleep for about an hour at a time without having to use the bathroom, which is fine, since I am at least getting some sleep!  But in fabulous news Emma has slept through the night TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW!!!!  This is a major development that I really hope sticks (but won't count on it, as its pretty common for all sorts of regressions when new babies come on the scene).  

Next appointment is Weds (or Thursday? I forget) and I have to admit we are hoping not to make it that far.  Though its probably good if we did, I know, I know.....

So, the ramping up of contractions was enough to get us to finally pack the hospital bag (last night) and write up a birth plan (this morning).  Today, we had three appointments:

ultrasound:  all looked great.  baby A (lefty) estimated at 6lbs 2oz, baby B (righty) at 6lbs 7oz.  Both head down, normal amounts of fluid, good blood flow in the cords, etc.  

Non-stress test -- both babies heartrates were reacting well, and they were picking up my contractions that ranged from every 4-8 min or so.  Lefty was so low it was really hard to get her heartbeat, and then she was not moving/reacting so the nurse had to jab at her a little and buzz her with a noise machine.  Good times. 

Dr. Appointment:  She checked my cervix and it was 3 cm dilated, 75% effaced, and very soft.  She felt the head of Lefty right there, as well.  She gave us the okay to stop the meds as of today or tomorrow, and gave us a 50/50 chance of making it to next week (I am guessing it won't be that long, but who knows, I did walk around at 3-4 cm for 2 or so weeks last time).  

As of Saturday, the babies will be 35 weeks.  The doctor said that at this point, the meds won't do much to stop labor anyway, which is why we are stopping them.  While it would be ideal, perhaps, to have them stay in a bit longer, the doctors all seem to think they will do pretty well once they are out.  We are getting excited to meet them!  Lonnie actually assembled the crib today, so they will now have a place to sleep once they are home (assuming they will actually sleep in it, unlike Emma).