30 Weeks, post Christmas and some remodeling

Hello to all...We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and spent some much needed time with family and friends... relaxing.  We had a good Christmas here on Station 54.  We had many visitors... this was our Christmas morning photo!!!  Thank you to Brent's mom and sister who also stopped by.  Wiggle (Baby A) and Hiccup (Baby B) are both very spoiled already, Santa and the Grandparents were all very generous.  

The last two weeks have been busy.... well for Brent they have been busy... for me I have just been laying here growing babes.  Brent spent most of the last two weeks laying tile  and wood flooring in our home.  The big projects are now done, we have flooring and the trim is again attached to the walls... now comes the fun of moving all the furniture back!!!! There are still minor projects to be done but we will work on those over the next couple of months:)   I would like to say a giant THANK YOU to both my Dad and Brent's Dad for all their hard work and knowledge... we could not have done any of the construction without you (thank you to the moms also who were responsible for keeping all the handy men well nurished) !!!!  Also, Thank you to Adam for his hard work... we hope that you learned some good skills... and yes we promise when you have a house we will help you with whatever you need:)
As for the boys.... they seem to be doing really well. Their kicks and rolls are getting harder and stronger and more frequent.  Baby A is great at kicking my ribs and Baby B is wonderful at lodging his head up under my left ribs... what talent they already have:)  We had another doppler ultrasound yesterday... both boys' blood flow looks great.  We will have our final growth ultrasound next Thursday, January 7th... I will of course update after that.  Grow Boys Grow!!!!
The biggest news this week is that we are now 30 WEEKS!!!!  Yeah!!!  10 weeks of bedrest are now complete and we have less then 4 weeks to go!!!  
Thank you all for your continued support we are eternally grateful!!!!
Love 
Brent, Emily, Berkeley and the Boys

Almost Christmas...

Hello to all... I hope that your shopping is done, the gifts are wrapped, the cookies are baked and the cards are sent!!!  One of the perks?!?!?! of bedrest is the fact that I have bought no christmas gifts...my dearest family and friends can expect some wonderful Valentines Day gifts as that will be the first time that I am able to shop again!!!  My holiday plans  include visitors to the hospital and the hope that I don't have to eat hospital food for 48 hours :) My room here at the hospital looks as festive as you can make a 10 X 10 room, painted in peach paint, tile floors and 80's style cabinets.  The ugly painting  is now covered with all of your wonderful Christmas cards and the baby tree is now covered with ornaments of hope, belief, love, a few pea pods, some sports themes, and many pairs of Baby A and Baby B ornaments.  Some of my favorites are the metalic Christmas balls containing the week gestation of these two little baby boys... 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and newly added 29!!!  It has been a  long journey to this point, we have faced our ups and downs however we continue to feel eternally blessed that we have made it this far and look forward to spending Christmas and New Years with these two little babes safely growing inside their mamma!!! 
Today, I had another doppler ultrasound to make sure that the flow to the babes is good... again for the 5th time both babes have perfect flow!!!  Yeah!!!! We have one more doppler next week, a growth ultrasound on January 7th and then we will start biophysical profiles.  The boys continue to look great on their NST.  My once well diet controlled GDM was thrown for a loop last week with the 2nd round of Betamethasone and I now have the pleasure of Insulin... a small price to pay for the hope that these boys in the end will be healthy and strong.  
5 more weeks.... 33 days and counting!!!! We have made it this far and hopefully we can cruise through the next couple of weeks.   Merry Christmas and Happy 2010 to you all!!!!
Love,
Brent, Emily, Berkeley and the Boys

A little Christmas Cheer

We have again made Station 54 history... I made Christmas cookies!!!!  Thanks to my wonderful friend Katie, I was able to make Italian Pizelle Cookies.  She came with the batter, the iron and the cute Christmas baskets!!!!  For those of you who will be stopping by in the next couple days feel free to grab a cookie or two.  Thank you again for everyones continued support, food, ornaments, Christmas notes and friendship!!!!!
We are sooooo sooooo thankful!!!
Emily

28 Weeks and a growth ultrasound!

Yeah for making it to the 28 week mark.... (for those of you who are not NICU nurses) 28 weeks is a big deal!!!  WE are sooooo thankful for the past 8 weeks... what a blessing and as one Neonatologist said "a miracle." We are enjoying the milestone and looking forward to my next personal goal which is 2010 and 31 weeks!!!!
To our surprise they moved our ultrasound from its scheduled time on Tuesday to this afternoon...Monday. We have nothing but good news to report!!!!
Again lets start with 
Baby A:
He now weighs 2 pounds 3oz (999 grams) and is now in the 34%.   Yeah BabyA.   His doppler reading looks great and he is still vertex and moving all around!!!!
Baby B:  (the one that mommy and daddy always worry about!!!!)
He now weighs 1 pound 12 oz (807 grams) and is now in the 14%!!!!!!  Double yeah Baby B!!!!!  His Doppler reading remains great and he is still in the breech/transverse position and has his legs and feet down by his brothers head.  We have been worried about Baby B's growth because at the last ultrasound he was in the 12%... but this little man has a whole lot of fight in him!!!!  We are so blessed that he has continued to grow and that means we hopefully will have at least another 3 weeks and hopefully a chance to make it to the 34 week mark!!!!  All those prayers and words of encouragement for them to grow, grow, grow have worked for the time being!!!!!  Don't worry we will continue to pray that they grow!!!!
Some time in the next week or two we may start biophysical profiles (I will explain more once we get there), we continue to do NST twice a day, and may or may not continue to do the weekly doppler readings (we have now had 4 normal readings).  We are also in the middle of another round of steroids to help the babes lungs... this should now cover the boys!
As for life...
We are loving all the Christmas Cards and they are all hanging in my room.   Brent and my dad have spent a lot of time over the last week, ripping up carpet, flooring, and wood trim and have now painted the kitchen, dinning room and family room.  Brent's dad will join in the efforts next week to start installing wood flooring and tile.  Yeah I can't wait to see the finished product (just a little more chaos in an already chaotic life)!!!!
Thank you all!!!!
We love you and we are looking forward to spending Christmas in the hospital (all along we have said that the best Christmas gift would be if I was still pregnant)!!!
Love,
Emily, Brent, Berkeley and the Boys!!!

Another great Doppler!!!

I just wanted to post a quick update after the doppler ultrasound that we had today.  Baby B's blood flow continues to be perfect!!!  That is 3 good doppler readings on him in a row... the next hurdle will be the level 2 ultrasound on Tuesday.  During the next ultrasound we will be measuring both babes  and will have new weight estimates.  The hope is that both babes have continued to grow along their growth curves (Baby A on the 25% and Baby B on the 12%) .   We would gladly take babes who have grown more then that:)  We continue to tell the boys to Grow, Grow, Grow every chance we get!!!!
Thanks for checking in:)
Emily and Brent

27 Weeks (a recap of the last two weeks)

Hello
Sorry to those of you who have been awaiting an update!!  There it is....
The biggest change has been that I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes also known as  GDM. GDM is common among pregnant women of multiples and those on bedrest.  I am lucky enough to fit both of those categories.  The short version is that there are hormones in the placentas that interfere with the way that my body uses  insulin to convert glucose into energy.  So, twice as many babies and placentas, twice the likelihood that my body would be unable to keep up with the demands!  For now, we are able to control the GDM with diet modification and testing my glucose levels in the morning and 1 hour after each of my three meals. The fun just keeps coming:)
Also, last Wednesday we had another ultrasound to check the blood flow on Baby B... the flow still looks perfect we will recheck it again this Wednesday.  We are hoping that the boys are growing and growing.  We have our next level II ultrasound on December 15th to again give us a size estimate on both boys as well as to check the Doppler readings again!!!
Moving on to the fun stuff....   
Christmas:
Christmas time is coming to my little dorm room here on Station 54.  With the help of many we continue to make this little space as homey as possible.  Thank you to those of you who have sent/ dropped off ornaments for our little baby tree.  

Thank you to Brent's mom for the very cute baby wreath covered with Twins and Vikings stockings and ornaments.  (Here is a belly shot for those of you who have been asking)

Thank you also to Auntie Hannah for her hard work on the Christmas Card board and the setting up of the baby tree!!!! 
The weekend:
We had a busy weekend here.  Two of my very good friends from NICU hired a pedicurist to come and give me a pedicure right here in my room. It was fabulous!!!! They were also able to bring me on a wheel chair ride to visit the brand new NICU ( we warned the boys that mommy was visiting as a nurse not as a parent).  The new unit is beautiful!!! Also this weekend Brent's parents were in town and were helping Brent prepare for the start of the home renovation projects which will get underway some time this week... Yikes!!!  Sunday, Berkeley was able to visit again (thank you to my Parents and Stephen & Christine).  

We continue to stay as positive as possible and we are delighted that we have hit the midway point of this bed rest... 7 weeks down and 7 weeks to go.  This week we are praying for strength and for growth for the boys.  I also want to send out a prayer request to keep my aunt, uncle and cousins safe as they travel for South Africa for the next month! (I now have strict instructions not the have these babes before they return... don't worry I have no intention of having them until 34 weeks).  
Thank you all for checking in!!!!
We love you!!!!
Brent, Emily, Berkeley and The Boys

Happy Thanksgiving!

We want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving.  This year we are thankful for our two little baby boys!!  We are hopeful that they continue to do well and that they will continue to grow in mom!!!
I also want to thank everyone for the birthday phone calls, emails, messages, food, visits, gifts and cards!!!!  We are again reminded how lucky we are to have such wonderful friends and families!!!!  We love you all so much and we could not do this without each of you!!!!!
We love you!!!
Emily, Brent, Berkeley and the Boys

College Friends (love the shirt "my pod has two peas")

Katie and I celebrating our 9th birthday together!!! (We have the same birthday... I'm 2 hours older)

Ultrasound Baby!

We had a 25 week level 2 ultrasound this morning.  Here is the run down!!!

Baby A : Remains wonderful, a wiggly little baby!!! Our big surprise with him is that he is no longer in the breech position... he is now head down!!!  All major organs (heart, spine, kidneys bladder, brain etc) look great.  They are estimating that he now weighs 1 pound 6 ounces (25 percentile) and his fluid level at 5.5.

Baby B: For a baby with low fluid... he LOVES to move!!! He remains in the transverse position right under my ribs... both boys are kicking into my upper right abd... kicking each other, and so my life with two boys begins:) All major organs look good.  They are estimating that he weighs 1 pound 2 ounces (12th percentile) and his fluid volume is 1.9.  One of the complications of a premature rupture of membranes (leaking amniotic fluid) is that the infant may not grow as well.  During the ultrasound they were able to measure the blood flow from the placenta to the brain as well as to the body.  If infants are showing distress, the infant would shunt blood to the brain and heart (most important organs) and therefore would have a slowed growth pattern of the rest of the body... the good news in Baby B's case is that he is not shunting blood and instead evenly distributing the blood from the placenta to the entire body. To sum it up... Baby B does not seem to be in distress and is just growing slightly slower because of the increased stress on the placenta because of the rupture.  We will continue to monitor his growth and we will do another ultrasound at 28 weeks.  Also, because of the low fluid it is hard to get as clear of photos of Baby B... don't worry I'll make it up to him once he is born!!!

The plan is to continue doing what we are doing... Nonstress tests twice a day for an hour each time.  The NST will continue to give  us a good ideas as to how the babes are doing on a daily basis. So far,  both babies have looked fabulous (with the exception of that one little scare) and in fact are accelerating and showing variability in their heart rates like babies older then 25 weeks (they are already advanced... j/k). We are thankful for each additional day we get to keep the boys inside and growing... for those of you keeping track we have 61 more days to go!!
Love always
Emily and Brent

PS for those of you who are interested....
Baby A obviously a boy!!!  

Happy 25 Weeks!!!

Yeah for 25 weeks!!!  2 weeks of hospital bedrest down (5 weeks of bedrest total) and 9 weeks to go!!!   We are about 1/3 of the way to big healthy 34 week baby boys! 
We had some very special "Merry Maids" at our house over the weekend!!!  Thank you girls for all your hard work and thank you for the yummy birthday cake (happy birthday to the other November birthday girls as well).
We have a level 2 ultrasound tomorrow (Tuesday) and I will post an update as well as hopefully some new photos of the babes!!! The boys continue to look great on the NST (this is helping me get over the post traumatic stress of last Tuesdays events). Keep up the great work boys:)
Thank you all for the continued love and support!!!  We appreciate it soooooo much and it truly makes the days go by more smoothly!!!
Love always,
Emily & Brent

Non-stress test for the babes-stressful for Mom and Dad

Our new adventure during this 24th week is that we are now monitoring the babies twice a day for an hour at a time.  During a non-stress test the RNs and MDs are looking at the babies heart rates for variability and reactivity.  I'm trying my hardest to learn this new set of vocabulary (it is a whole new alphabet soup from my current NICU base).  A good NST means that both babies excellerate their heartrates 10-15 beats  for  10-15 seconds at a time.  An alarming NST would be if the babies heart rates were not variable and reactive or if a baby dropped their heart rate below 110 for any length of time.  Both babies looked wonderful all day Monday.... Tuesday am was a different story!  Baby B dropped his heart rate X3 which triggered a cascade of events.  My care was transferred to Minnesota Perinatal Physicians (the group that has been doing our level II ultrasounds), I was transferred from my room on Station 54 to Station 64 (labor and delivery), IV was started, long term monitoring(3 hours) and the threat of delivery.  We were scared to death.... as it turned out Baby B never dropped his heart rate again and I was brought back to my room on Station 54... and I got to take the IV out this am. What I learned... I think that they jumped on something that could potentially  have been a problem however... had they known me and the babes better I think that we would not have reacted so extremely (the good side of all of this is that if we need them I know that they will respond quickly). So, today the babes continue to look good!  We continue to pray for health, strength and patience as we wait for them to get bigger and stronger.
Love always,
Brent and Emily

What we have learned... week 1!!!

We are almost to the close of week #1!!!!  Yeah!  Thanks to my wonderful husband, family and friends the week has passed relatively quickly!!!  The Nurses and Doctors are great and we have had the ability to hear the babes HR twice a day every day.   The babies seem to be loving life in the hospital... Steroids are in, antibiotics will be done today!  With each day the babies are getting more active and each kick is getting stronger!!!  We continue to pray for NO INFECTIONS!!!  We will get another level II ultrasound during week 25... so one more week to go.

Brent has survived his first couple of overnight stays on the wonderful pull out chair.. we have mastered the fine art of "Dining on-Call" (my food service program), Berkeley made her first puppy visit to the hospital and we are getting closer to transforming my hospital room into a bright and cheery dorm room!

One of my good friends bought us a Christmas tree (we will put it up after Thanksgiving) her intention was for me to add an ornament each day as we are now counting UP the days until the boys are born.  I'm hoping that as each of you come to visit you will create an ornament for our "baby" Christmas tree.  For those of you who have little munchkins who are not able to visit me at the hospital this would be a great way to get them involved.

We will continue to post updates and photos!!!

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers as we head into the ever so important week 24!!!

Love always,

Emily and Brent

PS there are a few new photos in the slideshow!!!

All moved in...

Good Morning to you all!!!
We are officially moved into Station 54 at Abbott Northwestern, our room number is 5478. Move in day went well. We meet with many members of the care team (all who promise to keep me sane!). We also met with the OB, her goal remains the same... keep ALL INFECTIONS away and grow these babies big!! Our goal remains to keep them in until 34 weeks... January 25th 2010!!! I'm on a mission to make sure that this happens. We listened to both babies heartrates twice yesterday... they sound great... they must like their new home because they were both kicking up a storm. I was also started on antibiotics and was given the first dose of betamethasone (steroid for the babies lungs). Brent worked hard yesterday, keeping me calm, packing and unpacking the car and moving it all into our new home. Brent also spent his first night on his less then comfortable pullout chair bed!!! My mom was also here in the evening and helped Brent get everything organized and put away. 23 weeks seems to be off to a good start! It is now day 2... 75 more days to go!!!
As we had promised!!!! We would like to announce that we will be the very PROUD parents of Twin BOYS!!!! We are thrilled and so excited about the life we will share with these baby boys!!!
Please feel free to visit us, there are great directions to the hospital on the Abbott website. I Will email out the phone number to our room... feel free to call either our cell phones or the room number.
Thank you so much to you all!!! We are so blessed!!!
Love,
Brent, Emily, Berkeley and the Boys!!!

22 Week Ultrasound

2 weeks of bedrest down and 1 more to go before

Abbott Northwestern becomes our home! 

We had another level 2 ultrasound with the perinatology group today.  Both babies look good!  Both babies are moving and grooving in there (mommy can feel the babes all the time now... especially at 3am!), HR's were strong, anatomy looks perfect (for all you NICUers out there, no hypoplasts, no transposition, diaphragm intact, spine enclosed, 3 vessel cords, no cleft palates, 4 kidneys, 4 arms, 20 fingers, 4 legs, 20 toes, all ventricles in the brain are appropriate sized).  Both babies are weighing in at roughly 14 oz a piece.  Baby A continues to have good fluid volumes, Baby B continues to have low fluid.  While we are concerned about the low fluid we remain optimistic that B will contine to produce more fluid (bladder and kidneys looked great) so that the baby can continue to mature its lungs and move all extremities.  Hopefully all this bedrest will help keep as much fluid as possible in that sac!  Infection still remains our # 1 concern!!!
We also had the opportunity to tour Station 54 (our new home), while it is not quite as homey as 8928 St. Croix, it will serve its purpose!!!  (I have already had offers to help with the decorating process). We will give you more details about Station 54 once we are there but for the mean time here are the highlights...
*Visiting hours 11am to 8pm
* No visitors under the age of 16 will be admitted
* Each person will be screened at the door for flu like symptoms (Thanks to H1N1) and given a visitors badge.
* We will have a bathroom, bed, pull out chair (poor Brent will have to sleep on this... didn't look too comfotable), TV, DVD, microwave and fridge.  If we are lucky we might even get a view of downtown.
* Discount parking can be purchased from the cashier (5 parkings for $20)
Brent and I are determined to make the best out of a tough situation... it will  kind of feel like being in a dorm room again... minus the Jello Shots:)
We are again soooooo thankful for all of our wonderful family and friends who have been sooooo generous with their time, engery and resources!!!! We appreciate you all so much! We look forward to more visitors as we enter the 11 week stretch of time in the hospital.
Love Always,
Brent, Emily, Berkeley & the Babes

Baby A photo of the hand... crazy how you can see all the bones!

Baby B looking right at the you... hands right under chin!

Happy Halloween!!!

We are hanging strong... nothing new to report just wanted to wish Brent a Happy 29th Birthday and wish all of you a very Happy Halloween!!!! We will update after our ultrasound on Tuesday!!!!  Thank you to Stephen and Christine for our very cute Thing 1 and Thing 2 pumpkins!!!

21 week appointment

We had another MD appt today.  The quick ultrasound in the office seemed to show more amniotic fluid around Baby B... this can change from time to time however for now that seems to be a hopeful sign.  I have also gained 2 pounds this week....that is what 9 days of bedrest will do for a person.  Next Tuesday, we have another level 2 ultrasound and they will beable to give us exact meausrements of the fluid around the babes as well as an estimate on their size...I hope that they are still growing well!!!  We will keep you posted as we get more information.  THANK YOU agian to EVERYONE who has called, emailed, stopped by and brought food and thank you for all the movies, TV shows, Magazines, books and cards.  We could not do this without all the love, support and prayers of all of our wonderful family and friends!!!
Love always,
Brent, Emily, Berkeley & the Babes

21 weeks

Thank you all for the visits, phone calls, cards, meals, and everything else.  WE are sooooo lucky to have such wonderful friends and family.  We are coming to the close of the first week... we will be 21 weeks tomorrow.  After a very long week we finally have some what of a plan for what the next 13 weeks could look like (you know how I like plans).
The reality is that Baby B will more then likely continue to leak amniotic fluid, while this is a bummer the good news is that Baby B is a good little amniotic fluid maker and kidneys are doing their job. Baby A (and the amniotic sac) is doing a good job of cushioning Baby B as well as potentially helping to block any potential infections.  Our biggest challenge will be keeping the infections away. 
As for the plan...
Tuesday Oct 27th we have another MD appt.
Tuesday, November 3rd we have an appt with the Perinatologiest at Abbott and they will do another level 2 ultrasound.
and finally...
Monday, November 9th I will be addmitted to Abbott Northwestern for Steriods  (to help the babies lungs) and Antibiotics to help my body fight any low laying infections.  The bummer will be that I will be in the hospital from November 9th until the babies are born.  A long road however, we are determined to do whatever is best for the babies. 
We will keep you updated as we have more information.
Again thank you all for your thoughts and prayers
Love always
Emily and Brent

20 Weeks

Well this is my first time posting a blog and it comes after a pretty tough week for Emily and I.  Monday morning Emily woke up and noticed she had lost some fluid and blood.  We rushed to Abbott for what turned into a full day of waiting and wishing for the best.  We learned that from a protein test that the fluid was amniotic fluid.  After this we spent the rest of the morning with Emily being monitored, while we waited  for our ultrasound at 2:30.  From the ultrasound we got to see the babies and they are doing well, but baby B has less amniotic fluid then baby A.  The doctors are going to be monitoring this, we will be getting another ultrasound on November 3.  We are praying that the babies are good and that baby B will build up more fluid.  As of wednesday night, she has not lost anymore fluid, I learned that the babies make more fluid, so hopefully the sac will increase with fluid over the weeks to come.  Emily will be on home bedrest and would love to see anyone and everyone, she is not supposed to do much, besides eat, sleep and rest, so It looks like I will be doing all the chores around here, which is just fine by me, as the father there isn't much I can do for the little ones at this point. I need to do any and everything that will help keep Emily in good spirits.  Emily would love to hear from her friends, Berkeley has been attached to Emily's side, keeping her company. Anytime someone can come and visit has got to be helpful for her. 
We will be keeping this blog updated as we countdown the days.  We need to keep those babies in her as long as possible.  Please keep us in your prayers.
Love Brent and Emily

17 Weeks and counting...

I meant to post last week and never go to it...

We had our 16 week appointment last week, all continues to go well.  The babies are growing and both heartbeats were strong.  One of the babes was moving all around while the MD was trying to listen to heartbeats...that was probably baby A, the same one who was all stretched out and moving all around and kicking its little feet during the 14 week ultrasound.  Brent thinks that baby A is going to be just like me, I guess we have our work cut out for us!!! :)  Our next appointment is the 20 week appointment and ultrasound, this will potentially be when we find out if we are having boys or girls or some combination.  I will post more photos and updates at that time.

For those of you who are wondering what the rest of the pregnancy is going to look like:

20 week: Ultrasound

24 weeks: Ultrasound and appointment

26 weeks: Office visit

28 weeks: glucose check and ultrasound

30 weeks: Office visit

32 weeks: Biophysical profile (ultrasound)

33 weeks: Office visit

34 weeks: Office Visit

35 weeks: Office Visit

36 weeks: Biopysical Profile (Ultrasound)- offically out of the danger zone of having premature babes
37weeks: Office visit

38 week (February 22nd 2010): Baby time (If I have not had the babes by then we will be induced, a decision has not been made about  the need for a C-Section- I'm crossing  my fingers and hoping that we can avoid one... however we will do whatever is best for the babes!!!!)

I have also posted two photos to show you the progress on the belly!!!  Enjoy!

PS. Notice the new hardwood flooring in boxes behind me... can't wait to get them installed!

Love: Emily, Brent, Berkeley and the Babes

Berkeley's Big Surgery

Just wanted to let everyone know that Berkeley did very well after she was spade on Wednesday.  She did have to wear a cone on her head Wednesday night... it was very sad (a little funny though).  She is back to her old self now and is wondering when she can start running around like a crazy girl again! 

Love

B, E, the Babes and Berkeley

Two Peas in a Pod!

Here is a photo of both twins together, baby A on the left and baby B on the right!
Love
B, E & the babes

14 Weeks

We had our 14 week ultrasound today!!!  Everything is looking good with both babies.
Baby A: has an anterior placenta, is laying all stretched out and kicking away, heart rate was 146!
Baby B: has a posterior placenta, is in the fetal position and looked to be sucking (his/her) thumb, heart rate was 151!
I'm feeling good, the early nausea and exhaustion of the first trimester is wearing off as we head into the second trimester.
We will keep posting updates and photos as we recieve new information!
Love,

Brent, Emily and the babes!

Berkeley too!!!