Not that we're taking it for granted, but it's been almost 2 months since Baby A needed to have a blood transfusion, so we've come to almost expect dopplers, bladders, and fluid to be normal on each weekly ultrasound. Today, all these things were normal again (prayers answered!)
Our more immediate concern lately has been growth, particularly Baby B's. Today, they estimated Baby B's weight at 2 pounds, 7 ounces, which is a gain of 10 ounces from 2 weeks ago. This puts her in the 4th percentile (still just a little peanut, but the 4th percentile is better than less than the 3rd percentile!) The docs are happy with her progress! Baby A's weight is estimated at 3 pounds, 3 ounces, which means she gained a whole pound in two weeks! She is now in the 49th percentile. If this pattern keeps up, our doctors are hopeful and confident that we will make it to our goal of 34 weeks (only 4 1/2 weeks away!!)
My blood pressure is back down to where it normally is, and I haven't been experiencing any swelling that would be considered abnormal during pregnancy. They're still keeping an eye on it, but the immediate concern of preeclampsia is gone (more prayers answered!) I start my nonstress tests this Friday. If the results of any ultrasound or nonstress test from here on out happen to be concerning, which we're not planning on, they would most likely give me steroid shots to help mature the babies' lungs (two doses, 24 hours apart) and deliver the babies. If not, the shots will probably be given sometime around 33ish weeks so that they are most effective for a delivery at 34 weeks. It is CRAZY exciting to think that, even if everything goes as planned, our babies will be here in a month!
Thank you for praying. We are getting close!
Nate, Sara, and Babies
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Getting Closer...
Our little fighters looked great on our ultrasound this morning!! Fluid and dopplers looked normal. Growth was not checked, because the margin of error in the weight measurements makes it silly to check each week. Up until now, growth has been checked every 3 weeks... starting next week, it will be checked every other week. The babies were certainly moving around a lot, and Baby B has made her home underneath the right side of my rib cage... not the most comfortable, but I'll live. My blood pressure was also much better today!
After our ultrasound, we got a quick tour of the NICU at U of M. It seems like a great place, and they really do whatever they can to accommodate parents who have a baby/babies there, but being 2 1/2 hours from home is still not ideal for us. We are working on getting a tour/meeting set up with the NICU at DeVos, so that we can be prepared for whatever happens. If we get closer to our new "due date" and things still look stable, we will likely look into having the babies in Grand Rapids.
We also had our fetal echocardiograms today. Twins are at a slightly higher risk for congenital heart defects than single babies, and the recipient twin in TTTS (baby A) is at risk for heart failure due to fluid overload. Our regular doctors are trained to look at the contractility, function, etc. of babies' hearts on ultrasound, and they didn't see any problems, but they referred us to a pediatric cardiologist just to be sure. We were told to prepare for the test to take at least 2 hours. From my perspective, it felt no different from an ultrasound, and I had no idea how I was going to lay on one of those tables for 2 hours. Fortunately for me, the table was more like a really comfy bed, and the test only took about 45 minutes. The even better news was that the anatomy AND function of both the girls' hearts is completely normal! It's such a relief to know that, when the babies are born, we won't be dealing with any major heart issues on top of any other problems they may have. The peds cardiologist did warn us that some minor heart defects can't be detected by an echocardiogram, but anything major has been ruled out!
Since my last post, we've also hit our big 28 week milestone. Ever since our surgery (which was more than 11 weeks ago now!), our doctor has been talking about 28 weeks, and how it is such a big deal to get there. Well, we're there and still truckin' along! At maximum, our babies will be here in 5 1/2 weeks! We just can't wait.
Next week Tuesday is our next ultrasound and a consultation with a neonatologist to follow.
Thanks for all your thoughts, prayers, and support!
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| A profile picture of Baby A |
After our ultrasound, we got a quick tour of the NICU at U of M. It seems like a great place, and they really do whatever they can to accommodate parents who have a baby/babies there, but being 2 1/2 hours from home is still not ideal for us. We are working on getting a tour/meeting set up with the NICU at DeVos, so that we can be prepared for whatever happens. If we get closer to our new "due date" and things still look stable, we will likely look into having the babies in Grand Rapids.
We also had our fetal echocardiograms today. Twins are at a slightly higher risk for congenital heart defects than single babies, and the recipient twin in TTTS (baby A) is at risk for heart failure due to fluid overload. Our regular doctors are trained to look at the contractility, function, etc. of babies' hearts on ultrasound, and they didn't see any problems, but they referred us to a pediatric cardiologist just to be sure. We were told to prepare for the test to take at least 2 hours. From my perspective, it felt no different from an ultrasound, and I had no idea how I was going to lay on one of those tables for 2 hours. Fortunately for me, the table was more like a really comfy bed, and the test only took about 45 minutes. The even better news was that the anatomy AND function of both the girls' hearts is completely normal! It's such a relief to know that, when the babies are born, we won't be dealing with any major heart issues on top of any other problems they may have. The peds cardiologist did warn us that some minor heart defects can't be detected by an echocardiogram, but anything major has been ruled out!
Since my last post, we've also hit our big 28 week milestone. Ever since our surgery (which was more than 11 weeks ago now!), our doctor has been talking about 28 weeks, and how it is such a big deal to get there. Well, we're there and still truckin' along! At maximum, our babies will be here in 5 1/2 weeks! We just can't wait.
Next week Tuesday is our next ultrasound and a consultation with a neonatologist to follow.
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| 28 Weeks |
The VPs
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Update
My creative juices must not be flowing today, because I can't think of a better title than that. Anyways...
Our ultrasound today revealed normal fluid, bladders, and dopplers (bloodflow). All of our prayers continue to work. Yay!
Since it had been 3 weeks since the last time the babies' growth was checked, they also took these measurements today. Baby A is weighing in at a whopping 2 pounds, 3 ounces, and Baby B at 1 pound, 13 ounces. This puts Baby A at the 25th percentile and Baby B at less than the 3rd percentile.
Since she's still growing, our doctor isn't immediately concerned about Baby B's size, but it warrants closer monitoring than what we've been having. Being less than the 10th percentile for weight, she's considered "growth-restricted," which puts her at higher risk for developing problems in utero. If we start to see evidence that she's having trouble (there is none now) or her growth stops, it will be time to deliver both babies. Next week Wednesday, we will have our normal weekly ultrasound with a nonstress test, and starting the following week, we will go to Ann Arbor twice a week, with a nonstress test scheduled on the extra day, which always happens to be Fridays. Also next week, we will have a tour of the NICU and our fetal echocardiogram, which is just a fancy word for a really detailed ultrasound of the babies' hearts. Like I said before, from what our docs can tell, there aren't any issues with their hearts, but this test will tell us for sure.
I've been developing some swelling in my feet and hands (I pried my wedding ring off today, and it's not going back on any time soon... and yes, I have cankles... real sexy.) On top of that, my blood pressure is up about 20 points from where it normally is. It's still not in the range to diagnose preeclampsia, but we are now being watched closely for that too. I had labs checked today and they all came back normal, so they'll use today's numbers as a baseline and check every so often to make sure I'm not developing preeclampsia. We are very thankful that everything is checking out so far!
We're praying that these babies get 6 more weeks in there, but with possible growth issues and my blood pressure being a concern, we have no idea how much longer they'll have. As an added precaution with all the news we got today, I've officially been taken off work until after my maternity leave. I'm going to do my best to rest, rest, rest in hopes that my blood pressure will stabilize and I won't go into labor anytime soon.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for continuing to pray for our sweet little girls!
Nate, Sara, and the Babies who shall remain unnamed. :)
Our ultrasound today revealed normal fluid, bladders, and dopplers (bloodflow). All of our prayers continue to work. Yay!
Since it had been 3 weeks since the last time the babies' growth was checked, they also took these measurements today. Baby A is weighing in at a whopping 2 pounds, 3 ounces, and Baby B at 1 pound, 13 ounces. This puts Baby A at the 25th percentile and Baby B at less than the 3rd percentile.
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| "I'm just a little peanut!" |
I've been developing some swelling in my feet and hands (I pried my wedding ring off today, and it's not going back on any time soon... and yes, I have cankles... real sexy.) On top of that, my blood pressure is up about 20 points from where it normally is. It's still not in the range to diagnose preeclampsia, but we are now being watched closely for that too. I had labs checked today and they all came back normal, so they'll use today's numbers as a baseline and check every so often to make sure I'm not developing preeclampsia. We are very thankful that everything is checking out so far!
We're praying that these babies get 6 more weeks in there, but with possible growth issues and my blood pressure being a concern, we have no idea how much longer they'll have. As an added precaution with all the news we got today, I've officially been taken off work until after my maternity leave. I'm going to do my best to rest, rest, rest in hopes that my blood pressure will stabilize and I won't go into labor anytime soon.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for continuing to pray for our sweet little girls!
Nate, Sara, and the Babies who shall remain unnamed. :)
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
"Well-Behaved Babies"
That is how our doctor introduced us to a visiting OB who sat in on our visit today... "Meet Sara and Nate Vander Ploeg and their well-behaved babies." I LOVE having well-behaved babies!!
You're probably sick of reading the same things each week lately, but I'll NEVER get sick of writing it, so here goes...
.JPG)
You're probably sick of reading the same things each week lately, but I'll NEVER get sick of writing it, so here goes...
- Babies A and B have normal fluid levels
- Babies A and B have normal bladders
- Babies A and B have normal bloodflow (until today, Baby A's was always on the high end of normal and Baby B's was on the low end of normal... today, they are both much closer to the "average" normal value. YAY!)
- We can tell the girls are growing, even though we won't get official measurements again until next week.
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| Baby A - profile view |
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| Baby B looking straight at the camera! |
My doc was happy to hear me say that I'm getting more and more uncomfortable and that it's getting harder and harder to move around. In her words, she loves seeing me "super pregnant," and I have to be honest, I love BEING super pregnant, considering a couple months ago we were just praying our babies would live. We only have, at the max, 7 1/2 weeks left before our little bundles arrive... I am so excited to hold them!
The nursery is coming together. The cribs and dresser are assembled, and we just picked up our chair today. I had to do some work when we got home, so I decided to set up in the nursery and break in the new chair. I'm still sitting in it right now, and I'm imagining what it's going to be like with two babies in this room. I have a feeling I'm going to want to sit in here and stare at them while they sleep... good thing this chair is comfy!
My friend Mandy from work arranged for everyone who was interested to buy a "Fight TTTS" bracelet to support TTTS awareness and research. About 30 people bought bracelets, and even more are interested now, including lots of family members! I'll be putting in another order for more bracelets, so if anyone wants one, let me know (they're $5)! We think it's such a cool way for people to support us and our babies, and parents who have been and will be in our situation.
Our next appointment is next Tuesday, 3/11. We will keep you posted!
Thanks, as always, for all the thoughts and prayers!
Nate & Sara and the babes
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Stable!!
Our babies both looked great on the ultrasound yesterday... their bloodflow measurements were pretty much the exact same as last week! Our doc thinks they may have hit that "magic" point where baby A got just enough blood to stabilize things out. That nasty blood vessel connecting the two babies can misbehave at any point, so the plan is for an ultrasound each week until our little peanuts arrive! We aren't complaining, because we love seeing them!
We are so thankful for this news and beyond excited to meet our little princesses (but not too soon!!)
Sorry, no pictures again this week... I think we might have hit our quota on pictures of our babies :)
Thank you for praying!
The VPs
We are so thankful for this news and beyond excited to meet our little princesses (but not too soon!!)
Sorry, no pictures again this week... I think we might have hit our quota on pictures of our babies :)
Thank you for praying!
The VPs
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Still Lookin' Good
Our appointment yesterday went as well as we could hope for! I passed my glucose test (I assume, because I haven't heard otherwise...) and the drink really wasn't that bad! And... the best news of all: both babies look normal with respect to fluid, bladders, and bloodflow. Thank you God! Our next ultrasound is next Monday; Nate will be out of town, so my Mom gets to come along for the ride. :)
We also had a growth ultrasound, since it had been 3 weeks since the last one. Baby A is measuring 1 lb., 8 oz. (7 oz. more than the last time) and Baby B is measuring 1 lb., 6 oz. (9 oz. more than last time.) Both babies are on the growth curve! YAY!! The docs believe Baby A's growth has slowed down a bit due to the anemia, but they aren't concerned since she is still growing and remains on the growth curve.
Our echocardiogram has been pushed back to March 19, since our doctors think it's not a pressing need right now. As a high risk OB doctor, our doc is trained to look closely at babies' hearts on ultrasound, and she says that everything looks awesome! Of course, they want to have it looked at eventually by a pediatric cardiologist, just to make sure, but we are happy that there aren't any obvious abnormalities!
It is starting to feel real that our babies will be here in just a couple months! Our doc doesn't think she will let us go any longer than 34 weeks, which puts our new "due date" around the end of April. Of course, there is still a risk of preterm labor, (30% just from the laser surgery, plus probably some added risk due to the two blood transfusions) but so far, there have been no signs that labor is coming. We're hoping and praying it stays that way, and that our girls arrive happy, healthy, and and at the right time. We cannot wait! Nate painted the nursery last weekend and is building crib #2 as I write this. Our registries are made, and I am having a blast with nursery decoration ideas from Pinterest. We have started stocking up on diapers and washing all the clothes and blankets we've received so far so we don't have to do it all at once. We are so excited for the girls to get here, but we remember that each day they stay where they are is such a blessing.
Some (okay, a lot of) people have asked if we have our names picked out. We do! We are keeping them to ourselves (and a few close family members and friends) until our girls arrive. We figure we have shared every detail about my pregnancy with everybody who wants to know, so we have to leave ONE surprise!
I would share a picture of the babes, but I think they forgot to give us our pictures yesterday. Maybe Monday I'll have a couple to share. :)
Thank you all for thinking and praying for us. We appreciate it more than you know!
The Vander Ploegs
We also had a growth ultrasound, since it had been 3 weeks since the last one. Baby A is measuring 1 lb., 8 oz. (7 oz. more than the last time) and Baby B is measuring 1 lb., 6 oz. (9 oz. more than last time.) Both babies are on the growth curve! YAY!! The docs believe Baby A's growth has slowed down a bit due to the anemia, but they aren't concerned since she is still growing and remains on the growth curve.
Our echocardiogram has been pushed back to March 19, since our doctors think it's not a pressing need right now. As a high risk OB doctor, our doc is trained to look closely at babies' hearts on ultrasound, and she says that everything looks awesome! Of course, they want to have it looked at eventually by a pediatric cardiologist, just to make sure, but we are happy that there aren't any obvious abnormalities!
It is starting to feel real that our babies will be here in just a couple months! Our doc doesn't think she will let us go any longer than 34 weeks, which puts our new "due date" around the end of April. Of course, there is still a risk of preterm labor, (30% just from the laser surgery, plus probably some added risk due to the two blood transfusions) but so far, there have been no signs that labor is coming. We're hoping and praying it stays that way, and that our girls arrive happy, healthy, and and at the right time. We cannot wait! Nate painted the nursery last weekend and is building crib #2 as I write this. Our registries are made, and I am having a blast with nursery decoration ideas from Pinterest. We have started stocking up on diapers and washing all the clothes and blankets we've received so far so we don't have to do it all at once. We are so excited for the girls to get here, but we remember that each day they stay where they are is such a blessing.
Some (okay, a lot of) people have asked if we have our names picked out. We do! We are keeping them to ourselves (and a few close family members and friends) until our girls arrive. We figure we have shared every detail about my pregnancy with everybody who wants to know, so we have to leave ONE surprise!
I would share a picture of the babes, but I think they forgot to give us our pictures yesterday. Maybe Monday I'll have a couple to share. :)
Thank you all for thinking and praying for us. We appreciate it more than you know!
The Vander Ploegs
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
So Far, So Good
I'll be short and sweet today...
Our ultrasound today showed that everything looks normal. Woo hoo!
We will go back next week for more follow up, a regular prenatal appointment, and the dreaded glucose test. We are also trying to schedule an echocardiogram for the babies on the same day. Based on how long our first blood transfusion "lasted," our doctor told us she thinks there is a good chance they will want to do a transfusion again next week. Our appointment is early in the morning in hopes that, if we do need a transfusion, we can do it the same day. Ideally, we will have our ultrasound right away in the morning, have the echocardiogram while we wait for all the blood bank stuff to come together, and then have the transfusion. Of course, we are just hoping and praying everything will still be normal and we won't need the transfusion. Every time they have to enter the amniotic sacs for a procedure, it makes my risk for preterm labor greater.
Our doctor was at a conference last week, and she told us she had talked to a doctor from the Netherlands who took care of a patient very similar to me (us). Her patient required eight (!!) blood transfusions throughout her pregnancy, but she ultimately delivered two healthy babies. It was so great to hear that there are cases like ours that turn out well!
Thank you so much for praying and for all your support!
The VPs
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