Apothecary

Alice asked about the Lovenox and I have a soft spot for Alice. So, yes I am still taking Lovenox and have been since... I think I started the Lovenox at transfer but I might have waited until the positive pregnancy test (all of four days later). My OB said to start it at ovulation so I worked from there, allowing for IVF weirdness and the fact that when I tentatively mentioned Lovenox to my RE (man, I haven't thought about them in months - you would think I would be more grateful) he rolled his eyes so hard they would have stuck like that if I had smacked him on the back of his head. Which I considered. Anyway, it is a blood thinner and comes with its own needle and every night I try to find a new place to inject myself in the stomach. Eventually I discovered that you can pinprick around for a while until you find a spot that hurts less than the others. This has left me with a fine rash of tiny little red dots but many fewer actual blow-out bruises. For what it is worth. Lovenox, by the by, stings like an adder and comes with horrible needles. They are so weensy they should be effortless but they really suck. Oh and Alice's question was a two-parter: am I on Lovenox and why? So yes and as for why... that is harder. In theory I am a heterogeneous carrier for a single gene mutation called MTHFR. And MTHFR is linked to clotting disorders. However, half the Caucasian women in the world are carriers and yet the vast majority of women manage without blood thinners just fine. So I would be inclined to give the Lovenox a pass were it not for the fact that I am pitifully superstitious. And I noticed that the pregnancies for which I was on Lovenox (agreed to out of desperation), for the most part, progressed further than the ones for which I was not. Same unbalanced translocation ultimately was fatal but with the Lovenox the fetii developed to eleven weeks or so and without it they tended to succumb around seven or eight. This is probably a total coincidence but I could not shake the conviction that more than one thing might be contributing to the pregnancy failures. So my rationale was that if I could get a genetically normal embryo started perhaps a guaranteed clot-free environment would help. The only indication I have that this is anything other than a placebo for me is when I was in the hospital the other week I was off the Lovenox and they had to flush out my IV every time they changed it because I kept forming clots around it. Oh, and I rarely bruise despite being on it. Hardly incontrovertible evidence but there it is. Fear trumps logic.

Speaking of needles, the terbutaline pump is not bad at all, other than the part where you are attached via a tube embedded in your thigh to a vinyl clutch the size of a small evening bag. I have not sufficiently examined the apparatus but the needle bit is just used briefly to guide the little tube in and then it gets thrown away. So you have a disc with a... well, a grommet I suppose, going into your skin and then you click another disc on top of that with a tube that connects to dispenser and voila. Every three to five days you pull out the one grommet and put another one in the other leg. You would think it would be horrible to sit there and push this thing in but it isn't. My big fear was accidentally ripping it out and I did that and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I spent a few nights misjudging the amount of medicine I had left in the dispenser (hint: actual math makes no sense with these things - you would think having 1.34 left with hourly doses of .066 and two bolus hits of .274 a piece would leave you plenty until morning but you would be wrong) and subsequently being woken up to change the cartridges at various ungodly hours. It took me a while but I finally learned to just abandon small amounts and put in a full cartridge every night if there is even a smidgen of doubt that it will last me. Thus ends our public service announcement.

I just took advantage of the every-three-to-five-day leg swap and had the nicest bath. I can shower in the interim but a shower always feels like work to me, what with the standing and the moving your arms around. I put a new leg grommet in but I am a little concerned about it. SOMETHING was just leaking down my leg and on to the bed and I am not sure if it was the insertion site or if my hair just dripped. It seems ok but it is rather unnerving. I have my appointment (yay! out of the house! ultrasound! glucose screening!) in two hours so I will ask someone there what they think.   

------------------ back now. I started leaking again more obviously from the insertion site so I called the nurses and they told me to swap out the needle-tube thingy with a new one and to give the needle a half-turn when I pulled it out. She mumbled something about the manufacturer. Whatever.

The doctor's appointment was quite nice, all things considered. I made a superhuman effort to pay attention when they told me what to do next this time and dithered considerably less as a result. I passed the one hour glucose, which I was expecting, and gained a pound and a half, which I was not. Doreen and I and the 13s spent a cozy forty minutes or so taking measurements. They are now big enough that I can no longer make heads or tails of any of it. Not that I could in the first place, but it is officially a jumble of bits now. 13a is head down... waaaaaaaaaaaaay down. I TOLD you I felt something in my pelvis. That would be A. The baby is so far down that it was very difficult to get a head measurement. I wondered if is is a bad thing? No one mentioned anything like, hey, watch it! that baby is about to fall out! so I guess not. 13b has turned completely upside-down in the past week and is now bottom-to-head with A, feet down. My OB airily said that as long as 13a stays head down I'll be fine to deliver vaginally. Apparently she recently delivered the latter of a set of twins by pulling the baby out feet first. I admit this sounds uncomfortable to me but I am not worrying about it yet. Right now How I deliver is the very least of my concerns falling behind a very big When and a smaller but related Where. Who/What is a matter of intense curiosity but I am content to coast on that for another X weeks. Steve is refusing to discuss names rationally (Drake? he says. Oh I know, how about Drake!) and my fear right now is that I am going to be weakened by how terrific he's being and say yes one of these days. And no offense to any Drakes out there, but it is not to my taste. And even if I succumb (which I will not) that still leaves us, oh, one two THREE names short. He's killing me.

Steve really, truly is being amazing. I know I have said this before but it bears repeating. He makes breakfast lunch and dinner, does the laundry, arranges playdates, goes to the library, fetches and carries all day long, and he even organized the pantry. Meanwhile, he put primer up in the new rooms and is planning on painting them this weekend. Oh yeah, and he is running his business, apparently making $$$ in his spare time! from home! He made me dinner and then took Patrick out for pizza tonight. I am quite touched by everything he is doing. And he isn't even all that crabby. He turns 40 on December 8th and I had planned for years to throw him a REALLY big surprise party for it. Steve loves surprises. When I did the math on the twin thing, though, I realized that I was going to have to pass on anything that involved deposits but I still planned on doing something. Now I have no idea what. Any thoughts? Maybe the surprise will be that we watch Netflix on his birthday and then I throw something in March. But if you think of anything that I can plan and execute from bed let me know.

Oh, I forgot. Yes I am still on bed rest but she did bump my threshold for contractions with the monitoring people so I will have to do less re-monitoring. Last night (was it last night? I honestly cannot remember) I was up until 2 because I kept having too many contractions and I had to take more terbutaline and then monitor again. Total drag.

And 13a is 1lb 14oz and 13b is 2lb 1oz. So, growing.

It's good. I am feeling very excited.               

Comments

[Sheila]

That's great news on your check-up! Getting to 27 weeks and 2 lb each is a good milestone, and as you know, every day they stay safe in your womb is so important. Way to go! Also way to go Steve for keeping the household going, and giving you few things to worry about.

However I would vote NO to Drake; there are just too many ways people could make fun of him.

We had a lot of trouble picking possible names, didn't get our 3 finally named until day 3 after they were born. See if you can keep working on the short list. (No doubt many friends are suggesting truly terrible names as jokes.) Names that don't sound alike or start with the same letter probably make life a lot easier for twins at school and on sports teams, in the years to come.
Hang in there - you are doing a great job!

[Chi-An]

Re: Twin A being down in your pelvis: My first baby was really far down really early. I went into my OB and said "It feels like the baby is head-butting my cervix." Yep, that's exactly what he was doing. Ouch. At 35 weeks he was +2 station (where +5 is crowning). Delivered at 38 weeks. Best of luck to you and your tribe...

[Monica C.]

http://www.lifesizecustomcutouts.com

Get him (you) a life size poster of himself. I ordered one of my husband for this 40th and one of our good friend who's 40th was the same day and they were HUGE hits! The company was great to work with, as well.

[cursingmama]

RE: Steves birthday from bed:
Any thoughts on having someone come & stay with you & Patrick & sending Steve away (even if it's in town but just "away") for a bit of a break before he is outnumbered by kids? A spa weekend of sorts -

[Diane]

I though MTHFR was an abbreviation for a swear word. hee.
Julia, I have been reading you forever but haven't been able to keep up with you lately mainly because they blocked your site at my work. I just wanted to tell you how happy I am for you with the twins. I can't believe it is really happening. You have so many readers now and I wondered how you could read all the comments but you're on bedrest so you'd probably enjoy as many comments as you can get. I am anxious to hear about their arrival and I wish you all the best.

[Sarah]

Hi Julia, I used to keep a diary on iP w/you way back and have been following you since. Congrats, I'm so happy for you.

I wanted to comment on the head down way low thing--when I was pg w/my first she was so low they could never get an accurate head circumference. Hannah was born w/a very "crooked" head and wore a helmet for 15 months to correct it.

Same thing with my son, who was born in January. I remember I had emailed you for some advice when I was newly pg b/c they had deemed him a blighted ovum. Anyway, Jack was perfectly healthy (thank goodness I refused the D&C!) and was also found to be very low and head down starting around week 18 or so. Sure enough, he was born with a very similar head shape. He's 9mos now and just finished his helmet last week.

Hopefully your babies will have beautiful round heads, but if not it's a minor and easily fixable thing. Just wanted to mention it b/c in addition to A being low, their being multiples also is a risk factor for Plagiocephaly. You may want to look into Nightforms or something similar.

http://hannahsnoggin.typepad.com is their site, which badly needs updating!

[liz]

I have a late breaking book series to recommend to you. They are set in medieval England, so the history is really fun if you know anything about that time period (and, if you don't, all is revealed in the little summaries at the ends of the books).

The series is by Margaret Frazer and involves a nun and her various exploits. Some of them are more true mysteries, but alot of them tend to be more in the vein of political intrigue. I just finished A Traitor's Tale and loved loved loved it.

[Rebekah]

Funny how you discover the little tricks to giving yourself shots. I was on Lovenox with my last pregnancy, and also did the whole "poke around until you find a spot that doesn't sting as much" thing after a while. There has to be a medical explanation for this. I think I still have bruise scars (seriously!) from the times I did it wrong, or whatever.

[Anita]

UPDATE! (she commanded)

your silence makes me anxious.

[Kate]

Is everything all right? I'm getting worried because of the long silence.

[Mandy]

RE your Redbook questions.

For some reason it won't let me respond there so I hope you get a chance to read this.

The JJ Cole brand bundle me things are quite wonderful for use with an infant seat or stroller. Contrary to what one commenter said they do not compress in an accident and are considered very safe. They have one portion that goes between the seat and the straps (straps threaded through), lined with soft warm material, you put baby in, buckle them up and the top layer is OVER the straps. There's nothing between the baby and their straps, which is where the danger comes in with heavier clothing. They clean easily, and keep baby nice and warm without worries that the baby is unsafe or a wind will blow the blanket off.

In the infant stage, we swaddled my daughter tightly and she loved it. So, I highly recommend warm sleepers and swaddling blankets that are bigger than the typical receiving blanket.

Halo sleep sacks (though there are other brands out there now) worked great for when she was older, no longer wanted to be swaddled but was still too young for a blanket. Layering (we live in CO) is also big around here, so if it was really cold it wasn't uncommon to have her in a onesie and then a warm sleeper for outings. Don't forget tiny little hats as so much heat escapes from their heads!!

I bought flannel crib sheets too...they seemed to add a little bit more warmth.

My daughter was born in early April and it actually snowed the day after we came home from the hospital, but it will be even colder when this baby comes - mine is due in Feb, most likely to come in Jan.

[Toni]

Can't post at REDBOOK - but did want to throw my two cents in for the snowsuits. Go Lands End - you'll thank me later. Definitely awesome for cold weather (I'm from Chicago and lived in MN for awhile - I know it's cold and snowy!!)

[victoria]

Julia, those of us who've never so much as suffered a single Braxton-Hicks contraction, much less what you're up against, are wondering, how much discomfort are you experiencing? I've only ever had to endure menstrual cramps, but they can be pretty miserable.

If you're bored and have nothing else to do, and you feel like satisfying my curiosity (which, granted, is probably really inappropriate), please check one: your contractions are
__ as painful as,
__ less painful than,
__not as painful as severe menstrual cramps.

[victoria]

Oops, sorry, I ommitted

___ more painful than

[Crystal]

Replying here instead:

Call me pragmatic (hell, call me cheap and lazy) but my kids had 3 kinds of pyjamas for their first 18 months, onsies, those thin footie pyjamas that gerber makes, and thick, warm footie pyjamas. Unless we went someplace where it was actually essential they be dressed (photo op, church, fussy relative) that's what they wore. They were comfortable, of appropriate temperature, and weren't fussily pulling at seams or bows or buttons or anything else. And diaper time was a cinch. If it was really cold and we went outside, then yes, a snowsuit/papoose/bunting thing over the top. You can't use those in the car seat though, which is a major PITA, but they make these things that attach in the car seat to bundle them up much more effectively than blankies and snowsuits, and go outside the car seat straps, not inside (don't let the strap-holes in buntings fool you, if you make an emergency stop, all that fluffy filling will smoosh, and baby will fly...).

So, yes. Pyjamas really do work quite well for quite a while, and for fussy clothes, hell, people will probably buy you enough fussy clothes to get you by. And actually, those gerber things come in packs of 3 (these: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2666357 ) and to reveal just how cheap and lazy I am, I bought them in 3-6 month sizes, let them swim in them the first few months (the last two were BIG kids, so they didn't swim long) and by the time they outgrew them (they wind up a bit stretched, so you get quite a bit of wear) I cut just the bottom of the foot part off and made a quickie hem with double sided hem tape, thus they got far more wear because with the toe part cut off, they lasted another 6 months as regular 1 piece pyjamas with leather soled bootie shoes (or now the wonderful Robeez).

My kids spent much of their first year either having projectile vomiting, diaper blow outs, or some other kind of messiness which destroyed the cute clothes, so to save my sanity, and for the sake of their comfort, yes. Pyjamas.

Excuse me while I go hang my head in horror now.... I can't believe I admitted that in public!

[JenH]

I can't figure out how to leave a comment on the other site so I'm doing it here.

I recommend buying those winter bunting things that go over infant car seats and then zip to the chin. You can zip them shut or open them up as the you go in and out of the cold. No wrestling hot clothing off of the sleeping baby who will not fall asleep unless he's in the car and putting clothing on a newborn is hard enough- who wants to do it over and over? Just put them in comfortable indoor clothing. Just one item needed per baby. Also, no kicking off of covers.

[CharmingDriver]

Hey, sorry to be all up in your business but...I totally am because: How you doin? Hope all is well.

[meg]

Just checking on you! You have been too quiet!

[Katie]

Hoping all is still fine with the 13's. Keep on cooking little ones!

[Angie]

Where are you? I'm worried about you!

[Katie]

So Happy to read the update at RB! PHEW you had us all worrying. Glad to know that the babes are still cooking well! And about the fieldtrip thing. I was the same way with my daughters first few field trips. Now I go because I enjoy it, and I think she likes having the cool mom, um well thats what I like to think anyway. Does it make me cool that I bump the Disney channel music while driving! Anyway yay 13's, grow big grow stong and stay put for 10 more weeks!