Half way there!

20 weeks pregnant yesterday woo hoo :-)

So excited!

I am so excited right now! There are several reasons for this excitement:

1. We got a great report from the doctor yesterday.
2. Dad came today and is going to stay through the weekend.
3. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we'll be here with my parents, Matt's mom and brother and another friend... lots of talk and laughter.
4. I've been watching basketball on TV the last two weeks. This is by far my favorite time of the year when the tv has a variety of college games to view, although I never miss a Duke game.
   
5. Monday is our next doctor's appointment and providing everything still looks good (and we pray it does) the doctors are going to let me go out for dinner to celebrate our first anniversary.
   
6. And finally, I'm watching the Orlando Magic. That means, I'm watching J. J. Reddick (my favorite Duke player) and also why we're calling J.J.... J.J.
   

All right, back to tv.

Goodnight

cb

A Quick Update

Hello all,

I have a quick update for you. We saw the high risk specialist this morning and the stitch in my cervix looks great and is stable. The doctors are very pleased with my recovery. The babies are also doing well. They are moving around like crazy and have each gained an ounce since last week, Baby A is 8 ounces and Baby B is 10 ounces. I am still on bedrest and we'll go back to the doctor next Monday. Providing everything still looks great, the doctor may allow me to go out long enough for dinner. Matt and I are really hoping we can go out since next Monday, we will celebrate our first wedding anniversary. Also, I think I may have mentioned in one of my first emails that there was some concern over me losing weight. As of Saturday I had lost 17 pounds since getting pregnant.This is mostly due to the fact that when I sit down to eat I am usually doing good if I eat half of what is on my plate. I'm excited that today, I have ate five small meals. I need the calorie intake for the babies to grow. Hopefully, this will continue to be the norm especially with all the good food coming up for the holidays. We appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers and we hope that y'all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Crystal

One week and counting down...

til our first anniversary!

Update on the Babies and Me

I know I usually post baby updates pretty promptly but was a little delayed this time.

We had our appointments Wednesday morning. The babies are doing great. Fluid levels still have not changed but doctors feel that as long as they don't get worse then things will go fine. As I had mentioned on my previous email, there were some concerns about preterm labor. As you progress closer to labor your cervix gets shorter. In a week and a half mine went from 2.6 cm to 1 cm which is definitely not good. In order to keep that from progressing any further the doctors suggested a stitch be put in my cervix to keep it closed. By 11 am I was admitted to Spartanburg Regional and put on various medicines and watched overnight. I was examined the next morning and doctors decided to go ahead with the stitch. The procedure went very well (although once they started they found out I was already dilated one cm) and the doctors are very pleased with it. I was examined this morning and with the stitch in place they were able to lengthen my cervix back to 1.5 cm. Last night was rough with some pain and complications with some medications but after seeing the doctor at 8 am we were back home by 11 am. Our prayer now is that the stitch stays in place and keeps my cervix closed. The doctors are not concerned with the health of the babies since they are doing so well. J.J. now weighs 7 oz and Jordan weighs 9 oz. They are growing so well. With the various obstacles we have had to deal with we (and the doctors) are rather confident that the babies will definitely arrive early. Our milestone will be 32 weeks (the week after Valentine's Day). If the babies can wait til then they have a high chance of surviving with no long term effects of their prematurity.

We are home now and resting. Neither Matt nor I have slept much in the last new days and are looking forward to a slow restful day tomorrow. He has been helped me so much in dealing with all of this and is taking such good care of me. I am on bed rest again with only getting up to to go the restroom, shower, and sitting up to eat. (The blessing is disguise: I won't miss any Duke basketball games on tv. hehe) We are so grateful for your thoughts and prayers. We will return to the doctor next Wednesday morning and they plan to gradually add back some activity for me.

As a side note we got a surprising phone call today when the twin to twin transfusion specialist, Dr. De Lia, called the house to check on me completely unaware of the week's events. Its rare that you hear of a doctor (whom I've never actually seen but only talked to on the phone) calling someone at home just to see how they are doing. After talking for a little while and getting updates, he feels confident that the babies will do just fine and that we'll never have to travel to Milwaukee for treatment. That is definitely a prayer answered!

Thanks again for your concern. We really do appreciate it and we know we are thought about.

Crystal

Doctor Visit

There isn't a whole lot to report on today's doctor visit. The babies' fluid levels have had very little change. If there was any change it was maybe a tiny bit better but not enough to really note a significant change. My cervix was measured and is slightly shorter than the doctors would for it to bed. It needs to be longer than 2.5 and measured 2.6 today. They'll keep a close eye on it and measure it again at my next appointment which is next Wednesday. If it gets 2.5 or shorter we may have to consider a couple of things to make sure I don't go into any preterm labor. I'll try to get around to post new pictures at some point. They've definitely grown a whole lot.

I just wanted to let everyone know what Matt and I have decided as far as treatment for now.

We are incredibly grateful for doctors who are willing to communicate and consult with one another. My doctor is Spartanburg (Dr. Laye) and the doctor in Milwaukee (Dr. De Lia) have talked and Dr. Laye agrees that whatever treatment Dr. De Lia prescribes is what we should do since he is the expert on Twin-to-Twin Transfusion. I spoke with Dr. De Lia for quite some time Tuesday morning and he was gracious enough to call Matt's dad as well (he being a doctor, he can understand all this medical stuff much easier). I was very impressed with Dr. De Lia. He tries to do as much as possible to keep patients out of an operating room. His recommendation is that I drink three protein shakes (Ensure) each day and am on bed rest during the day. The protein in the drinks will help with any protein or calorie deficiencies I may have developed while trying to feed myself as well as two little ones. I may not have been consuming enough because of nausea and smaller appetite resulting in my 8 pound weight loss. Increasing protein and calories in my system will help my body to hold protein and as a result hold onto to fluid thus creating more fluid for the babies. Should this treatment not work we still have eight weeks in which the surgery can be done. As far as the bed rest, I don't have to be in bed all the time. Thank goodness! I can get up for small tasks such as fixing myself a sandwich or if i needed to run to the grocery store that would be ok as well. The idea for the bed rest is to keep off of my feet for the majority of the time. Walking burns calories. Add two babies and you burn even more calories. I just need to burn as few as possible. I hope all of this makes sense.

Please continue to pray that this treatment will work. Matt and I appreciate your prayers!

Here is our latest baby update:

We learned today that our little twins are boys and we are ecstatic. At our last appointment doctors became concerned about the fluid around Baby A and instructed me to drink lots of water and to return in two weeks to check fluid levels again. Today Baby A's fluid was still very low while Baby B had an abundance. The doctor we saw today thinks that I have something called Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome. This occurs in identical twins when one baby begins to receive less blood/nutrients and the other baby begins to receive too much. If I indeed have this and if it is left untreated, Baby A would stop growing and due to the increased blood Baby B could go into heart failure. There are treatment options that were discussed with us, the main one being surgery done that fuses or cuts off the blood flow between the two babies and hopefully fixes any problems. This treatment method is not widely practiced and is only performed in five medical centers around the United States. The two doctors recommended to us today for treatment are located in Tampa and Milwaukee. My initial reaction was to choose Tampa since it is physically closer but after doing some homework and research my gut has me learning toward the doctor in Milwaukee. The two doctors are very different and handle patients very differently. Dr. De Lia in Milwaukee has some methods for treatment that have been very successful and surgery was never required. That being said please be in prayer for us as we try to make the best decision for our little ones. Hopefully we will have the chance to talk with the doctor in Milwaukee and get his input. A contact at the Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome Foundation told me tonight that really likes to talk to patients in person and keeps very open communication. Hopefully between Matt and I, the wisdom from our parents, and with God's help we will be able to discern the best method of treatment for little J.J. and Jordan Brewer.

Thanks for everyone's prayers.

Today was a fairly productive day... considering I put up our Christmas tree. I hate halloween so I figure, what better day to put up the tree? I'll put up pictures eventually since I love our tree so much.

Now its midnight, I'm exhausted but the babies won't let me sleep. I just can't get comfortable. Any advice?