April & May 2008

[kipatte]

Thanks Mandy. For some reason your ticker did not show on the messages before so I could not tell how far along you were. I just met a woman the other day who is due on April 29th and had her boy 3 weeks ago. He was in the ICU for 10 days so you are right about needing the extra time.

Congratulations Haley!!!!!!! Let me know how long you choose to stay in the hospital. The one I will be going to does not let your husband spend the night so I am not sure how long I will want to stay. I am also interested in what happened with your epidural.

I am counting down..... 5more days.

[woodcliff]

Kipatte..good luck...
You'll be fine...
You'll want to get out of the hospital...it was so great to be home after 4 nights in the hospital...I needed it due to the C-section...now, 2 weeks out, am feeling better...but I am very sleepy and do sleep a lot...I have help 24/7 and am still in the nursery most of the time...twins are very fun and always something up!

Love to you all...

Cocoa, best in health to you...
Hayley and Rebecca...AWWWWWWWWWW
and all the rest...my memory is not here still (D**n Magnesium Sulfate)

[Cocoa]

HI Ladies...

Well, still waiting for my cardiologist appt tomorrow to get some direction with this disorder... in the meantime I am awaiting all my babies here I am so excited to share all the memories about our births and our precious gifts! I waited for my sweet, precious angels for 12 years and my son is so good with them - I couldn't be any happier... I am also losing tons of pounds (18 to go!)... which is great!!! I did not get any muscle separation or stretch marks so I was truly blessed with that - only problem was the water and now the CHF... I will kee you all updated as I find out...

Well, my little cuties gained NINE ounces in the last week!!! They are now ABOVE their birth weights - YEAY!!! I am Bfing AND supplementing with Infamil Lipil (very expensive).

Is there a way we can post pics privately? Maybe we can PM email addresses and share pics that way???? Let me know if any one of you would like me to PM you with an email address to share...

In the meantime - keep us updated and I cannot wait to hear ALL of our birth announcements.

BabyB - I am soooo excited for you - I remember how anxious you were when you first found out you were pregnant!!! I think about you every day!!! With blessings and love...

LISA PA!!!! Where ARE you!?!?!? Please post and let us know when your cycle is coming up!!! I cannot remember - March? or May? Please, please, please...

Has anyone heard about Sciteacher77???? I know she was going through a FET cycle... has anyone heard????

I miss you guys!!! I KNOW we are all busy with babies but let's not lose touch!!!

xxxCocoa

[Kelley77]

Hello! Mandy..how nice of you to ask how the girls were doing. I just logged on and read up on everyone. Glad to hear how all of the new mothers and new babies are doing! My little girls are still in the NICU, and most likely will be for some time. Marli..the bigger of the two is doing well, and at this point her real struggle is staying awake during her feeding. BUT, that comes with time and age..so hopefully within the next few weeks she can last longer. She takes about 15ml out of 39 before she falls asleep, and the rest is fed thru her tube.
Delaney on the other hand while doing really well considering everything, is still so tiny at just 3lbs..and that is WITH her tubes etc. She still has her sutures and chest tube, and until the chest tube is out, I cannot hold her. I have only been able to hold her twice since she was born (and Marli I can hold really as much as I want!) so that has been hard. She looks at me, and I feel like she is beggin to be held close. Again..with time. I do feel blessed however, that their progress has been all forward..as I realize now that many NICU parents have major setbacks, and we have been very lucky in that category...so far, knock on wood. We did set up a caring bridge site for them...if you want to check it out.

www.caringbridge.com/visit/marlianddelaney

For those who were able to take their babies straight home from the hospital, do not take that for granted!! And good luck to every one who will be delivering soon...may your labor be easy, and your babies healthy!!!

[Vlada]

Kelley,
You little girls are just sooooo adorable!!!!!!!!
Very beautiful babies!!!!!

Well, ladies, i am having my c section on Wednesday. It is supposed to be at 7 30 am, but if they have any emergecy c sections at the hospital in front of me, i will be pushed back to the afternoon. Hopefully not, but we will see.
Wish me luck!!!
Vlada
PS
I am so so so happy for all of us !!!!!

[Babyb]

Vlada: Good luck on Wed. I'll be thinking of you and your precious baby to arrive.

Kelly: I understand your struggle in the NICU (unfortunately). I couldn't hold my first child either for quite some time and when I was able, she too had issues with falling asleep while on the boob. While our story ultimately ended tragically with her passing (nothing to do with size -- genetic disorder), I wanted to share with you that with some time and patience in the NICU, she began sucking away like nobody's business. But for her dreadful disease that didn't rear its ugly head until about 7 wks following her return home, she was strong and eating like a champ. I'm sure you little girl will be doing the same in no time as well. Our daughter transformed overnight in the NICU. We had this really ridiculous male nurse who didn't want to "tire our DD" so he wasn't amendable to being patient with breast feeding. I had a huge dispute with him in the NICU and finally banned him from getting anywhere near me or my DD. We then had a very supportive female nurse who had our DD on the boob in literally a day or so (a COMPLETE TRANSFORMATION). Sending health your direction.

Cocoa: Thank you so much for your kind words. Please let me know how your appt with the cardiologist goes. Very worried about you. CONGRATS on losing all that weight soooooo quickly. That's about 70 lbs so far right? Almost incredulous that one can go from 90 lbs to 18 lbs to lose that quickly. GIVES ME LOTS OF HOPE AND COMFORT TO KNOW THAT I MIGHT ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO HOLD MY BODY UPRIGHT SOON.

I've put on about 40 lbs so far. My BP is elevated anytime I stand or sit (140/184) but drops to normal when I'm on my side. OB has instructed me to stay in bed as much as possible and rest on my side (which I can do now that I'm done with work). Swelling is getting a bit worse (nothing too alarming though). Exhaustion and migraines still suck. Again, I think bed rest will do much to help out on a lot of this.

Still scheduled for May 9 for my C-Section. A little over 2 weeks to get this house in order (our bedroom and the babies' room is still a disaster and nowhere near ready). YIKES. Haven't packed my hospital bag yet either. Mom is now in town and Dad will be hear over the weekend to help whip things into shape.

OK, long post, I know. Better say goodnight.

[kipatte]

Vlada: Good luck on Wednesday. You are one day ahead of me so I probably won't find out how everything went until I get out of the hospital myself. I couldn't be more ready!

Cocoa: I am wondering if the CHF was just pregnancy related and will go away, resolve itself soon?

BabyB-I take it easy with that blood pressure. I know I have not felt at all like doing housework the last month. I am about to hire someone to come in a couple times a week just to keep up. That will take the pressure off my DH.

All for now

kipatte

[Mandy J]

Vlada, good luck for tomorrow, look forward to hearing your posts from motherhood!

I had a fantastic night last night! As you know in the UK we do not have baby showers, but my sister has come home from the US for a few weeks, so her and my Mum organised a baby shower for me last night, around 13 people showed up all bearing little gifts (Sleep suits etc) and played a few games, it just went on for a couple of hours which was ample for me really!

But.....one gift has left me slightly confused.....a headlamp, you know the type, used for potholing or mountaineering????????? I really don't know what I am meant to make of it, the mind boggles! Maybe its so DH can have a better view during child birth...NO THANK YOU! I was going to be very personalised with my thank you cards, but this one I think will be just "thank you for your kind gift"

Kelly, pleased your babies are making progress, it must be really hard for you just at the moment, but hopefully time will pass quickly for you to be able to hold Delaney in your arms too.

Mandy
x

p.s. Hi to everyone and hope you are all doing okay!

[woodcliff]

BabyB: I sent you a PM...I hope it went through! "Invalid entry" kept posting, but then so did "you can't post something so soon after another post"... I'll check later to see if indeed you got the message, OK? Just let me know...I do have lots of help (snapshot of post) but it is from different people at diff. rates.
The "Perfect" baby nanny I hired? I don't like her at all...and I have a contract with her...I don't even think she likes Babies!!!! She is competent, so the babies are safe, but she is cold and keeps telling me everything I am doing, and the rest of the people are doing, is wrong.....she bums me out. Not what I need when my hormones are bouncing around...you might want to ask the Doula questions re: her philosophy toward newborns...I just want mine held and loved, not whipped into some freak shape of 'oh sleeping through the night at 3 weeks' which is what this woman basically would like to do (ha. She works nights. Wants to sleep.)
I do not have family around so have hired people to hold and love my babies along with me...I really loathe this night nanny...OK, it's all in the PM but just in case it does not come through...so sorry for the typos...must run

Kelley--your daughters are GORGEOUS....I feel for your need to hold them...it will come, in due time...I am wishing you only good things...

More later...hoping all the moms...Kipatte, Vlada...to come are doing well.
more later
OH the miner's hat? For midnight diaper changes and feedings, maybe? fun gift!

[Babyb]

Just a quick note as I may be MIA for a bit. Looks like I escaped work just in time. I've had non-stop headaches last several days and started to swell. OB performed blood work and I have been diagnosed with Pre-eclampsia. OB says I am in early stages, but is checking me into labor and delivery tonight to monitor protein in the blood. I'm only 34 wks and 2 days so we are doing our best to keep the boys cooking for a little longer, but my OB says that if things get any worse, we will need to make a quick decision about early delivery.

I know I kept saying I want to be done, but now I'm scared. I don't want anything to happen to my boys and I'm terrified about them being in the NICU on life support. I'm taking my computer to the hospital -- hopefully they have wireless access. Try to keep everyone posted.

I have nothing ready at home -- you can't even walk into the babies' room. My Dad is coming in town earlier now to help out (mom is already here). Packing my hospital bag now.

Take care all and Vlada - good luck tomorrow.

[woodcliff]

BabyB, I am thinking of you...
I had Pre-E and my OB held off from delivering the twins until I was at 37 weeks...but the day I went to the Hospital my BP was very high and it wasn't fun post-c-section because of all of the medicine...

Wishing you and the babies good health...
One thing my OB gave me was Ambien to help me sleep...ask if you can get it...(it may also help lower the BP)...I LOVED Ambien ... sigh.

Wishing you all well.

[Cocoa]

OMG!!! Gone for a day and sooo much happens... such is my life anyway...

WC - I am so sorry to hear that you do not like your nanny AND you have a contract...!!! For how long is this contract? You know, a friend brought up to me the other day that marriage is a contract with a "death do you part" clause and THAT contract is easier to break than any business contract one can sign... doesn't that suck?!!? I have all the help here I could want and then some with the state a$$hole up my butt... I have to have someone with me 24/7 so friends and family have rallied (DH too but he's out of town every other week for 3 - 4 days for business) and I have people I love here helping and loving my babies AND listening to my wishes (though at times I do back off to let people have some fun esp grandma and grandpa). Anyway, I am the one up all night with them. I am so happy they are so beautiful and are now sleeping 3 1/2 hour stretches (I stare at them a lot). They went from eating 2-2 1/2 ounces every 3 hours to 3 1/2 - 4 ounces in a week!!! They gained 1/2 pound each in ONE WEEK! so they are now above their birth weights.

BabyB and Kipatte - this is a temp condition and yes, it is very related to pregnancy - look up PPCM. Problem is that there is no way of knowing how long I will have to deal with it. The BP meds are awful but after a couple of days my body adjusts -problem is I have had the dosage upped so after I took the new dosage yesterday I was totally OUT OF IT! Oh, and YES you too will lose all the water weight very quickly but if it takes longer than expected you will get lasics (sp?) to help eliminate. Remember - I did not pee the last 4 weeks of my pregnancy except for trickles every 4 to 6 hours and I did not have pre-e - or so they think. I think my body is just really good as showing no expression even with a condition... I have 12 pounds to go as of yesterday but my tummy looks even less bloated today and is almost back to my normal flat self... YEAY!!! No twin skin!

Bbay B -I do hope that the docs can keep your babies in a little longer but in the event you have to deliver early PLEASE understand that it is for YOUR health and the babies WILL be fine. 34+ weeks is really good for twins. Yet even though mine were in for 36w 2d they still needed lung help and you can not tell which babies will be developed and which will not - thank God for surfactant... The neonatologists told me my babies would be in NICU for 10 days to 2 weeks but they were so strong and responded so well that they were in for 5 days taking them to 37 weeks gestational age. Today they are 39 weeks gestational age and eating, sleeping and pooping like champs and they are the BEST burpers!!! If you want a pic just PM me your email - Kipatte did...

Vlada!!! - you are probably on the c-sec table as I write this... love and blessings to you... I can't wait to hear the stats on your precious girl!

Kelley - looking forward to seeing your pics as soon as I am finished here... and do not worry too much - your babies are in thebest hands possible. My NICU nurses and doctors were great! and I know that no one works there unless they love the little ones to pieces... Still I am praying for you and your sweet angels - I know not being able to hold your little one must be so heartbreaking... Love to you sweetie!!!

Well girls - I am ok. I am on beta blockers and BP meds - I did not want my OB treating me for this (as she thoroughly runied my birth celebration and after...) so I went to a cardiologist. I go in for an Echo the end of next week. I will keep you updated...

Remember - if you want to share pics just PM me your email - I will send you mine...

xxxCocoa

[Cocoa]

Kelly my Gosh!!!! Your babies are beautiful!!!! So tiny and so perfect!!! God bless you and your sweet family... I will email you pics...

xxxCocoa

[Babyb]

Just want to let you all know that boys Halen and Asher arrived early and are both doing beautifully. We delivered this morning at 5:12 and 5:13 am (34 wks and 5 days) weighing in at 4.8 lbs (Asher) and 4.11 lbs (Halen). After being diagnosed with mild pre-e, OB decided that we would give the boys steroids to develop the lungs & tap them with an amnio in about a week before delivering on May 1 (8 days before the originally scheduled C-section). Well, I guess my body had something else in mind. Within hours of starting my steroids, I noticed I was having some regular contractions. Initially, I was having anywhere between 2-6 an hour (no big deal). THEN, in a matter of 2 hours, I escalated to 20 contractions an hour (every 3 mins). While my cervix remained long and closed, my OB felt that with all of the combined facctors, it was time to deliver. She called me at about 3:50 am and advised that I'd be on the operating table 30 mins later (4:20) -- completely SHOCKED! Called my DH and he rushed to the hospital with my mom and dad and boom.... we delivered our beautiful boys. THe procedure was quick and I'm already up in a wheel chair, taking visitors and feeling MUCH more energized. I have some pain from the surgery, but overall, doing just great.


I'm SOOOOOOOOO IN LOVE WITH MY BOYS!!!!!!!!!! I can stare at them and kiss them 24/7. Don't know how long it will be before the boys will be able to come home. Halen seems to being doing really well. Asher is stable as well, but needs a little help with immature lungs.

Just took my percoset so I'm starting to fade a bit. Going to catch some shut eye and I'lll check in with you in a bit.

Vlada: How did your C-Section go? How are you feeling?

G'night to all!

[Mandy J]

Baby B congratulations on your little boys, I've been waiting to hear your news.

Mandy
x