StogieNinja
Derek | BoM June 2014
Update: 11/2/2013
Both little ladies were born healthy and happy this morning. Baby A came first at 9:19am, weighing 5lbs, and measuring 18 inches. Baby B was born at 9:43am, weighing 5lbs, 5oz, also 18 inches. Both babies and their mama are doing great!
Update: 10/30/2013:
Well, change of plans... One of the babies dropped into position, so the doc cancelled the c-section and says we should go natural! So now, we hurry up and wait. She's had a lot of contractions, and I doubt it'll be more than a day or two. But that's where we are... just waiting!
Update: 10/29/2013:
Well, we had our appointment yesterday, and based on what's happened, it looks like we'll be having a c-section tomorrow afternoon!
Basically, the doc thinks the bedrest did what it was intended to do, and now the babies have grown past the point where my wife's tiny frame will push them down into position. We spent last night and today with her being very active and doing all sorts of things, but the babies haven't moved and the activity hasn't caused any major contractions, so barring anything unforseen, it looks like we'll be scheduled to deliver via c-section tomorrow afternoon.
Thank you to all for your prayers for us during this pregnancy! We're so grateful the girls were able to stay in and grow so well. One additional answer to prayer is that the smaller baby has actually decreased the gap between her and her larger sister, so their growth difference has actually shrunk which is apparently unusual for mono-di twins at this stage.
So yeah, we're having babies tomorrow!!!
Update: 10/15/2013:
34 weeks. Can't believe it. Neither can the doc! We had another ultrasound yesterday, and things still look good. Babies are growing, there's no signs of stress, and we're moving forward! Oh, and both babies showed their practice breathing during the ultrasound for the required timeframes, which was a concern last time, so that's a relief.
Here's a pic of what they look like right now:
We pretty much anticipate the babies will be born at the end of this week, since the full moon is Friday night and all three of our other babies were born on full moons. Kj's been having some pretty hard contractions, and so on.
Spent most of yesterday either at the doctors or prepping for the babies. Got all five carseats loaded in the van for the first time... in case you were wondering what that looked like:
We have to get the one-yr-old in through the back of the van over the seat! It's absurd, but were excited anyway. So yeah! God is good, and we're grateful for every day these two remain inside the womb, growing and developing!
Update: 10/7/2013:
33 WEEKS!!! It still feels unreal that we've made it this far. Wife is having contractions a lot, and they're fairly painful, but so far unproductive, for which we're thankful. Saw the babies today during our weekly ultrasound, and organ function and everything still looks good. They wouldn't practice breath during the hour-and-a-half long session, which is a bit troublesome, but apparently that sometimes happens, so they'll take another look Thursday to try and see if they can be seen practice breathing then.
Doc still says 36 weeks is the goal, apparently there's a lot of brain development that occurs between now and then. So we're waiting and praying!
Thanks again to everyone for keeping us in your prayers. Only the Lord knows how grateful we are for those prayers, and for His blessings so far!
Update: 10/1/2013:
As of Saturday, we made it to 32 weeks! This is more symbolic than anything else, but it marks a major milestone as the 32-36 week timeframe is considered full-term for twins.
As many of you know, our son was born at 32 weeks and spent a very long month in the NICU after birth, and we were told to expect our twins even earlier... so to have twins make it this far is nothing short of miraculous. We're extremely thankful they're still safe and happy inside mama's tummy!
Monday, we we began the first of our weekly ultrasounds heading into the final stages of this pregnancy! All looks well, and the doc was joking about having to induce her at 36 weeks. Babies haven't dropped, so we're not having babies immediately. We go in every Monday for ultrasounds, and every Thursday for non-stress tests, so we're going to see a lot of the doctor -and the babies!- from here on out, which is a huge relief to my wife after going a month without seeing them at all.
Thanks to all for your continued prayers for our sweet baby girls!
Update: 9/26/2013:
Yesterday's appointment went well. We were grateful to see the babies after a month, and they're still healthy and growing. Both weigh over 3lbs!
One concern is that the discrepancy between them has widened just a bit. There's no evidence of twin-to-twin transfusion, heart, kidneys, and bladders look great, but the discrepancy is a little concerning, so we're now scheduled for weekly ultrasounds every Monday to monitor, and every Thursday for non-stress tests, just to make sure the smaller one doesn't begin to suffer.
Doc says if there are any signs of stress or problems, he can take the babies via c-section and they'll be fine, though if it's any time soon, there would be an extended NICU stay. Ideally, we make it to 37 weeks or greater and deliver naturally or via a scheduled c-section, and if we make it that far, we could probably bring them directly home.
Please pray that their growth discrepancy would not get any wider, that both babies would continue to thrive, and that we'd make it far enough along that we could bring the babies home! At the beginning, hoping to make it to a point where we could bring them directly home seemed impossible... but we have so many folks praying for us, and nothing is impossible with God!
Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and support.
Update 9/20/2013:
Today we hit 31 weeks! Last week was the full moon, and we're grateful to be past that for this month. Both our last two were born on full moons, which is very very common, and Kjerste had several labor scares as the full-moon brought on frequent contractions, so we're very glad to be past that one for another month.
Wednesday we get our first look at the babies in over a month, for their 32-wk growth scan. Please continue to pray for their even growth, and for continued weight gain. We'd love to avoid the NICU this time around, which we thought at the outset would be impossible, but every day it gets closer and more possible.
Thank you everyone for your continued prayers on our behalf. We appreciate it very much, and are so grateful to God for His blessings!
Update 8/1/2013:
Had our 24wk ultrasound today!
Thanks to the brothers keeping us in your prayers. Currently, everything looks great! All the little tiny parts are developing normally, both girls are growing! They now weigh 1.2oz and 1.4oz respectively, and have healthy organs and bones and everything else!
The doc is reasonably confident at this point that nothing looks abnormal or riskier (than usual) with twins, so we pray on and keep on.
The 24-week mark was a big one because that's really where, to put it in the doctor's words, "you know you're having babies!" If something goes wrong, they can now deliver the babies and try to address the issues. Prior to this point, there really wasn't much to be done if something had gone wrong. There's still certainly risk of Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome in the future, future discordant growth, as well as early delivery, but all signs point to healthy babies thus far!
Now we look forward to the 28-week marker, which is the big one. At 28 weeks, even if my wife goes into labor, the babies should be just fine. Obviously the hope is that we make it to 32 or even 26 weeks, but for now we're counting our blessings! We're very grateful for all your prayers, and are looking forward to that 28-week mark where we're really out of the water!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update 7/3/2013
So after last weeks misscheduled debacle, we finally had our big 18-wk (technically 19-wk) anatomy scan today. Babies weigh 8oz and 9oz respectively, which is in normal range. All the parts are there, and everything looks good so far! Even better news is that the placenta has moved out of the way, so that business is no longer an issue. Doc wants to see us every two weeks until 24wks to continue to monitor, so we're very happy with the report right now.
Please continue to pray that our little girls would have continued even growth, and that there would be no sign of transfusion between the two of them!
Here's one from the latest ultrasound. My little ninjas are already practicing! (That's one baby's foot to the other baby's face!).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update 6/12/13:
We're having girls!!! So yeah, me and the boy will be grossly outnumbered here by the females. Four girls and a boy. Crazy! But I'm thrilled!
-----------------------------------------
Update 6/10/13:
For those of you interested, the latest update is that my wife was diagnosed with placenta previa, which means the placenta is covering the cervix. There's a possibility that as she expands, the placenta will move, but with her being as small as she is, the placenta may not move enough to allow a baby to pass. If it doesn't move, or move enough, then we'll have to do a c-section. This can be tricky, because my wife is already at risk for pre-term labor, and the risk is heightened considerably with two babies in there. So the tricky part will be trying to schedule the c-section after a point where the babies will be far enough along to be healthy, but before she could potentially go into labor. We go in on Wednesday for another scan just to check progress, so I'll try to update then.
We also know a dear brother and sister in Christ who recently had the same situation (monochorionic diamniotic twins). They had Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, and one of them died. So we're praying and grieving for our friends, and also praying that our twins would be saved from that.
So at this point, the prayer requests are:
-Prevention of pre-term labor, and to go full term
-Resolution about the placenta previa (placenta blocking the cervix, which means a c-section)
-Prayer that Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome would not occur
-Prayer that discordant growth between the two from sharing a placenta would not occur
Thanks to you all for your prayers!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE 5/22/13:
So we had our first ultrasound, and they're identical twins! Neither co-operated when we looked for gender, but we did discover they are monochorionic diamniotic twins. "Diamniotic" means they're in separate sacks, which is good and eliminates a large portion of potential problems, but because my wife is small, we know they'll be early, and she's likely to be in the hospital towards the end for bed-rest and observation.
"Monochorionic" means they share a placenta. There's two major risks involved with identical twins sharing a placenta: one is that one of them may start taking more of the nutrition, leaving the other with less. There's not much that can be done about that, but we're praying against it, and would appreciate your prayers as well! The second is what they call Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, where they could share an artery and blood could begin moving between them. Fortunately, we live in one of only four places in the country with the technology to address this, then can go in with a special scope and laser and operate inside the uterus! Amazing what can be done. So we're praying that that is unnecessary as well, but we're glad to know help is local.
Anyways, that's the update for now. Hopefully we'll know gender in a couple weeks! The doctors want us going in weekly for observations, so we'll begin doing that shortly as well.
Thanks again to all of you for your prayers and support!
Here's a few of the first (of many) higher-quality ultrasounds we'll be having:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Original 5/7/13:
Yep, you read that right. Twins!!!
So, I'm now free to tell everyone the news! My wife went to her ordinary month-two check-up, and the doc says "Well... let's just take a look..."
Turns out we're going to have twins!!! For those of you keeping score at home, that makes numbers four and five. Yep. When they're born, I'll have five kids five and under! My 10-month-old is now the middle child!
I'm still in a complete state of shock, but also grateful to God, and thrilled about adding two more little ones to our growing Clan. It's going to be insane, but also a LOT of fun! And my wife will finally get a new van, because our current van can't hold all the carseats!
For those of you who are brothers in Christ, I'd very much covet your prayers for our family and especially for the twins. Given our history, this is likely to be a complicated, high-risk pregnancy. We already are prone to pre-mature birth (our son was born two months early, and our youngest daughter was born a month early), and twins multiplies that likelihood exponentially. We'll begin having regular ultrasounds and monitoring, possibly some medication, and it's probable that my wife will be on full bedrest by August, if not sooner.
There's a lot to process, and a lot figure out, but we are blessed to have a great support system of friends and family, and the Lord has always provided for us!
Both little ladies were born healthy and happy this morning. Baby A came first at 9:19am, weighing 5lbs, and measuring 18 inches. Baby B was born at 9:43am, weighing 5lbs, 5oz, also 18 inches. Both babies and their mama are doing great!
Update: 10/30/2013:
Well, change of plans... One of the babies dropped into position, so the doc cancelled the c-section and says we should go natural! So now, we hurry up and wait. She's had a lot of contractions, and I doubt it'll be more than a day or two. But that's where we are... just waiting!
Update: 10/29/2013:
Well, we had our appointment yesterday, and based on what's happened, it looks like we'll be having a c-section tomorrow afternoon!
Basically, the doc thinks the bedrest did what it was intended to do, and now the babies have grown past the point where my wife's tiny frame will push them down into position. We spent last night and today with her being very active and doing all sorts of things, but the babies haven't moved and the activity hasn't caused any major contractions, so barring anything unforseen, it looks like we'll be scheduled to deliver via c-section tomorrow afternoon.
Thank you to all for your prayers for us during this pregnancy! We're so grateful the girls were able to stay in and grow so well. One additional answer to prayer is that the smaller baby has actually decreased the gap between her and her larger sister, so their growth difference has actually shrunk which is apparently unusual for mono-di twins at this stage.
So yeah, we're having babies tomorrow!!!
Update: 10/15/2013:
34 weeks. Can't believe it. Neither can the doc! We had another ultrasound yesterday, and things still look good. Babies are growing, there's no signs of stress, and we're moving forward! Oh, and both babies showed their practice breathing during the ultrasound for the required timeframes, which was a concern last time, so that's a relief.
Here's a pic of what they look like right now:
We pretty much anticipate the babies will be born at the end of this week, since the full moon is Friday night and all three of our other babies were born on full moons. Kj's been having some pretty hard contractions, and so on.
Spent most of yesterday either at the doctors or prepping for the babies. Got all five carseats loaded in the van for the first time... in case you were wondering what that looked like:
We have to get the one-yr-old in through the back of the van over the seat! It's absurd, but were excited anyway. So yeah! God is good, and we're grateful for every day these two remain inside the womb, growing and developing!
Update: 10/7/2013:
33 WEEKS!!! It still feels unreal that we've made it this far. Wife is having contractions a lot, and they're fairly painful, but so far unproductive, for which we're thankful. Saw the babies today during our weekly ultrasound, and organ function and everything still looks good. They wouldn't practice breath during the hour-and-a-half long session, which is a bit troublesome, but apparently that sometimes happens, so they'll take another look Thursday to try and see if they can be seen practice breathing then.
Doc still says 36 weeks is the goal, apparently there's a lot of brain development that occurs between now and then. So we're waiting and praying!
Thanks again to everyone for keeping us in your prayers. Only the Lord knows how grateful we are for those prayers, and for His blessings so far!
Update: 10/1/2013:
As of Saturday, we made it to 32 weeks! This is more symbolic than anything else, but it marks a major milestone as the 32-36 week timeframe is considered full-term for twins.
As many of you know, our son was born at 32 weeks and spent a very long month in the NICU after birth, and we were told to expect our twins even earlier... so to have twins make it this far is nothing short of miraculous. We're extremely thankful they're still safe and happy inside mama's tummy!
Monday, we we began the first of our weekly ultrasounds heading into the final stages of this pregnancy! All looks well, and the doc was joking about having to induce her at 36 weeks. Babies haven't dropped, so we're not having babies immediately. We go in every Monday for ultrasounds, and every Thursday for non-stress tests, so we're going to see a lot of the doctor -and the babies!- from here on out, which is a huge relief to my wife after going a month without seeing them at all.
Thanks to all for your continued prayers for our sweet baby girls!
Update: 9/26/2013:
Yesterday's appointment went well. We were grateful to see the babies after a month, and they're still healthy and growing. Both weigh over 3lbs!
One concern is that the discrepancy between them has widened just a bit. There's no evidence of twin-to-twin transfusion, heart, kidneys, and bladders look great, but the discrepancy is a little concerning, so we're now scheduled for weekly ultrasounds every Monday to monitor, and every Thursday for non-stress tests, just to make sure the smaller one doesn't begin to suffer.
Doc says if there are any signs of stress or problems, he can take the babies via c-section and they'll be fine, though if it's any time soon, there would be an extended NICU stay. Ideally, we make it to 37 weeks or greater and deliver naturally or via a scheduled c-section, and if we make it that far, we could probably bring them directly home.
Please pray that their growth discrepancy would not get any wider, that both babies would continue to thrive, and that we'd make it far enough along that we could bring the babies home! At the beginning, hoping to make it to a point where we could bring them directly home seemed impossible... but we have so many folks praying for us, and nothing is impossible with God!
Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and support.
Update 9/20/2013:
Today we hit 31 weeks! Last week was the full moon, and we're grateful to be past that for this month. Both our last two were born on full moons, which is very very common, and Kjerste had several labor scares as the full-moon brought on frequent contractions, so we're very glad to be past that one for another month.
Wednesday we get our first look at the babies in over a month, for their 32-wk growth scan. Please continue to pray for their even growth, and for continued weight gain. We'd love to avoid the NICU this time around, which we thought at the outset would be impossible, but every day it gets closer and more possible.
Thank you everyone for your continued prayers on our behalf. We appreciate it very much, and are so grateful to God for His blessings!
Update 8/1/2013:
Had our 24wk ultrasound today!
Thanks to the brothers keeping us in your prayers. Currently, everything looks great! All the little tiny parts are developing normally, both girls are growing! They now weigh 1.2oz and 1.4oz respectively, and have healthy organs and bones and everything else!
The doc is reasonably confident at this point that nothing looks abnormal or riskier (than usual) with twins, so we pray on and keep on.
The 24-week mark was a big one because that's really where, to put it in the doctor's words, "you know you're having babies!" If something goes wrong, they can now deliver the babies and try to address the issues. Prior to this point, there really wasn't much to be done if something had gone wrong. There's still certainly risk of Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome in the future, future discordant growth, as well as early delivery, but all signs point to healthy babies thus far!
Now we look forward to the 28-week marker, which is the big one. At 28 weeks, even if my wife goes into labor, the babies should be just fine. Obviously the hope is that we make it to 32 or even 26 weeks, but for now we're counting our blessings! We're very grateful for all your prayers, and are looking forward to that 28-week mark where we're really out of the water!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update 7/3/2013
So after last weeks misscheduled debacle, we finally had our big 18-wk (technically 19-wk) anatomy scan today. Babies weigh 8oz and 9oz respectively, which is in normal range. All the parts are there, and everything looks good so far! Even better news is that the placenta has moved out of the way, so that business is no longer an issue. Doc wants to see us every two weeks until 24wks to continue to monitor, so we're very happy with the report right now.
Please continue to pray that our little girls would have continued even growth, and that there would be no sign of transfusion between the two of them!
Here's one from the latest ultrasound. My little ninjas are already practicing! (That's one baby's foot to the other baby's face!).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update 6/12/13:
We're having girls!!! So yeah, me and the boy will be grossly outnumbered here by the females. Four girls and a boy. Crazy! But I'm thrilled!
-----------------------------------------
Update 6/10/13:
For those of you interested, the latest update is that my wife was diagnosed with placenta previa, which means the placenta is covering the cervix. There's a possibility that as she expands, the placenta will move, but with her being as small as she is, the placenta may not move enough to allow a baby to pass. If it doesn't move, or move enough, then we'll have to do a c-section. This can be tricky, because my wife is already at risk for pre-term labor, and the risk is heightened considerably with two babies in there. So the tricky part will be trying to schedule the c-section after a point where the babies will be far enough along to be healthy, but before she could potentially go into labor. We go in on Wednesday for another scan just to check progress, so I'll try to update then.
We also know a dear brother and sister in Christ who recently had the same situation (monochorionic diamniotic twins). They had Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, and one of them died. So we're praying and grieving for our friends, and also praying that our twins would be saved from that.
So at this point, the prayer requests are:
-Prevention of pre-term labor, and to go full term
-Resolution about the placenta previa (placenta blocking the cervix, which means a c-section)
-Prayer that Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome would not occur
-Prayer that discordant growth between the two from sharing a placenta would not occur
Thanks to you all for your prayers!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE 5/22/13:
So we had our first ultrasound, and they're identical twins! Neither co-operated when we looked for gender, but we did discover they are monochorionic diamniotic twins. "Diamniotic" means they're in separate sacks, which is good and eliminates a large portion of potential problems, but because my wife is small, we know they'll be early, and she's likely to be in the hospital towards the end for bed-rest and observation.
"Monochorionic" means they share a placenta. There's two major risks involved with identical twins sharing a placenta: one is that one of them may start taking more of the nutrition, leaving the other with less. There's not much that can be done about that, but we're praying against it, and would appreciate your prayers as well! The second is what they call Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, where they could share an artery and blood could begin moving between them. Fortunately, we live in one of only four places in the country with the technology to address this, then can go in with a special scope and laser and operate inside the uterus! Amazing what can be done. So we're praying that that is unnecessary as well, but we're glad to know help is local.
Anyways, that's the update for now. Hopefully we'll know gender in a couple weeks! The doctors want us going in weekly for observations, so we'll begin doing that shortly as well.
Thanks again to all of you for your prayers and support!
Here's a few of the first (of many) higher-quality ultrasounds we'll be having:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Original 5/7/13:
Yep, you read that right. Twins!!!
So, I'm now free to tell everyone the news! My wife went to her ordinary month-two check-up, and the doc says "Well... let's just take a look..."
Turns out we're going to have twins!!! For those of you keeping score at home, that makes numbers four and five. Yep. When they're born, I'll have five kids five and under! My 10-month-old is now the middle child!
I'm still in a complete state of shock, but also grateful to God, and thrilled about adding two more little ones to our growing Clan. It's going to be insane, but also a LOT of fun! And my wife will finally get a new van, because our current van can't hold all the carseats!
For those of you who are brothers in Christ, I'd very much covet your prayers for our family and especially for the twins. Given our history, this is likely to be a complicated, high-risk pregnancy. We already are prone to pre-mature birth (our son was born two months early, and our youngest daughter was born a month early), and twins multiplies that likelihood exponentially. We'll begin having regular ultrasounds and monitoring, possibly some medication, and it's probable that my wife will be on full bedrest by August, if not sooner.
There's a lot to process, and a lot figure out, but we are blessed to have a great support system of friends and family, and the Lord has always provided for us!
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