Tuesday, March 27, 2012
33 weeks
Spring in Seattle has got to be on of the most beautiful places on earth, and we are so appreciative of it. Jen and I get to have two 1 hour wheelchair rides around the hospital campus and we've been using them to suck up vitamin D when available and get some fresh air. We had an ultrasound this morning and the twins are now 4.2 lbs and 4.4 lbs respectively thats almost 9 pounds of baby etc. way to go Jen! The love and support our friends and family have shown (not to mention hospital staff) has been amazing. Here are a few photos of our little hideaways we've found on our outings.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Perspectiving
A shift in perspective can teach you a lot, it can open you up to something new, confirm or refute a theory or opinion, or straight up put you on your butt wondering where the rug went.
This last monday I loaded up the babywagon and filled her with gas to trek the pass over to Seattle after Jen's workday. We would be meeting the head of the OB department at the University of Washington hospital, getting in- depth ultrasounds and echocardiograms, touring facilities, visiting Childrens hospital where baby B would be getting his hardware upgrade.
Things went very well, babies the same weight, B had flipped and we were inspired by the news that should things proceed as they were, we would have the opportunity for a vag. birth, so important for us because of the recovery time for Jen and need to nurture two babies in two different places (baby A here at the U hosp. and baby B at Childrens). The last thing the Dr. did was check Jen's cervix which was found to be 3 cm and fairly soft. This being our first children and knowing that the longer those babies had to grow and develop the better for an impending surgical outcome, we knew this was not the best news. In twin gestation it isn't uncommon for the mothers Uterus to be agitated, at 30 weeks, our boys are a total of 7 pounds, and Jen is not a very big person, this as well as other unavoidable factors had put us in a pretty freaky spot. Normally twins coming early is somewhat common and just requires a little incubation time, for us it means that the time between birth and being strong enough for baby B's surgery means a measure of time that his heart would be running basically backwards and creating muscle memory and heart growth opposite of the way it would need to run post operation, the longer the time, the more possibility that there would be complications later in life as the heart that started out wrong struggled to do what it needed to after being fixed. Not good.
On the way to the U hospital we hooked up some Burgermaster! (Tom and Jerry shakes ftw)
At this point I'd like to just stop and say that the medical attention we have received could not have been any better in any way, without boring details that would fill pages and pages, this hospital is literally filled with angels.
After we were checked in we learned that Jen was contracting once a minute very consistently, more not very good news. The staff quickly administered magnesium sulfate to relax all Jen's muscles and some steroids to help the babies lung development in the case they did end up coming early. After 48+ of nail biting and meeting all the teams that would be involved in the birth-transfer-surgery-recovery, everything has calmed and returned to "normal". Now we get checked twice a day and are doing absolutely positively nothing.......................................................which is much preferred to hey here come your babies. It looks like we will be here in Seattle until the babies are born, which in ideal circumstances wont be for another 7-8 weeks, add a month of recovery for baby B and we won't be back home to the tri-cities for quite some time. We have had visits from sister Sara who made these
and from friend Wendy Lee, deeply needed conversation with Pastor Matt as well as many a digital encouraging word from many others, thank you thank you thank you. So in simple summary our life has gone once again from crazy to supercrazy-insane, and now, for the first time in what seems like forever, watching the grass grow and river go by slow. It is a rollercoaster that opens my eyes everyday to the power of love and the depth of care that humans can give to each other, what grace is, what patience can be and the power of God to show you how small you are and also how much you matter.
This last monday I loaded up the babywagon and filled her with gas to trek the pass over to Seattle after Jen's workday. We would be meeting the head of the OB department at the University of Washington hospital, getting in- depth ultrasounds and echocardiograms, touring facilities, visiting Childrens hospital where baby B would be getting his hardware upgrade.
Things went very well, babies the same weight, B had flipped and we were inspired by the news that should things proceed as they were, we would have the opportunity for a vag. birth, so important for us because of the recovery time for Jen and need to nurture two babies in two different places (baby A here at the U hosp. and baby B at Childrens). The last thing the Dr. did was check Jen's cervix which was found to be 3 cm and fairly soft. This being our first children and knowing that the longer those babies had to grow and develop the better for an impending surgical outcome, we knew this was not the best news. In twin gestation it isn't uncommon for the mothers Uterus to be agitated, at 30 weeks, our boys are a total of 7 pounds, and Jen is not a very big person, this as well as other unavoidable factors had put us in a pretty freaky spot. Normally twins coming early is somewhat common and just requires a little incubation time, for us it means that the time between birth and being strong enough for baby B's surgery means a measure of time that his heart would be running basically backwards and creating muscle memory and heart growth opposite of the way it would need to run post operation, the longer the time, the more possibility that there would be complications later in life as the heart that started out wrong struggled to do what it needed to after being fixed. Not good.
On the way to the U hospital we hooked up some Burgermaster! (Tom and Jerry shakes ftw)
At this point I'd like to just stop and say that the medical attention we have received could not have been any better in any way, without boring details that would fill pages and pages, this hospital is literally filled with angels.
and from friend Wendy Lee, deeply needed conversation with Pastor Matt as well as many a digital encouraging word from many others, thank you thank you thank you. So in simple summary our life has gone once again from crazy to supercrazy-insane, and now, for the first time in what seems like forever, watching the grass grow and river go by slow. It is a rollercoaster that opens my eyes everyday to the power of love and the depth of care that humans can give to each other, what grace is, what patience can be and the power of God to show you how small you are and also how much you matter. 
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