23 Weeks - Fetal Echocardiogram

This week I went back to the perinatologist for the fetal echocaridogram, where they look at the babies' hearts.  Apparently twins are much more likely to have heart defects, which is why they do this test (there were no indications that there was any problem, so this was standard).  For once, both babies actually cooperated and they finished all the tests in record time -- the ultrasound technician was very pleased! I assured her that this was a rare occurrence and she should celebrate her small victory. Normally one baby likes to hide out of sight...

In any event, the doctor said that their hearts are "GORGEOUS!"  So that's good news! I got to watch their hearts quite a bit (which is really really amazing by the way... it's crazy how much you can see on just a 2D ultrasound), so I definitely agree that their hearts look gorgeous!

They also took measurements to make sure the babies are growing properly (and at the same rate).  There was around a 5% difference in size, which is totally normal and within the margin of measurement error, so that's more good news! Both babies are now over 1 pound! Baby A is in the 34th percentile for size and baby B is in the 40th percentile. I was a little concerned about them being less than 50% (I expect them to excel, damnit!), but the doctor assured me that there is nothing to be concerned about at all. Because they are growing at the same rate and they have plenty of fluid, the smaller size doesn't mean anything bad. I have nonetheless vowed to myself that I will eat EVEN MORE (if that's possible). Boris also reminded me that at this gestational age, twins tend to be smaller on average than singleton babies, so they are probably measuring exactly right for twins. I guess if the doctor who has seen every complication and problem child isn't worried, I won't be either.

At the end of the appointment, I asked her, "with all of this in mind, what do I currently need to be worried about?" She said nothing -- enjoy this lull where there is nothing to stress out about. So I will!

Here are some pictures of the babies at 23 weeks. They are way too big to get the whole baby in a single shot now. In fact, in order to measure them, did you know that they don't measure from head to bum anymore? Instead they measure their head, abdomen, and femur. An algorithm guesses their size and weight based on that. Fun fact / lesson for the day :)

Isn't the nose kind of adorable??

Hand-me-downs

When I found out we were having girls, one of my first thoughts was, "thank god, we can use Mikayla's old stuff!" Frankly after realizing how much stuff we needed to buy, I would have put twin boys in those pink onesies even if they were boys. For those of you who don't know my sister Laura (Mikayla's mom), she is one of those super organized, over-achiever types. Whatever Mikayla needs or wants, she gets (unless there is a reason not go give it to her obviously.... she's not spoiled, she just has a lot of stuff!). As everyone in my family agreed, Mikayla had at least twice as much clothes as she actually needed. This of course works out great for me, since we need twice as much stuff? So a few weeks ago, Laura packed up everything that Mikayla has outgrown and we shipped it over to our new house.  After working on the unpacking for a few weekends in a row (this is what I did while Boris and my dad dug ditches and poured concrete), we managed to unpack the bulk of the clothes. Here are some photos of our borrowed bounty:

Closet #1: Newborn - 9 months

Closet #1, side 2: 9-12 months

Closet #2:  >12 months

Shoes:

 Pants, PJs, and newborn stuff:

Socks, hats, headbands, and swimsuits:

First batch of bumgenius diapers (new, not hand-me-downs... and we realize these will not last long!)

One of the best parts of unpacking all the clothes (which was SUPER fun - it's like Christmas!) was when Mikayla came to "help." When she walks in the door and sees all her old stuff all over the floor, she just stares for a second before she can focus on the first thing that she wants to grab.  She typically finds some of her old shoes, takes her shoes off, and tries to squeeze into the old ones. She's been surprisingly successful. She also enjoys her old hats (called "at!"), even though they no longer fit on her head. Once we finally got things cleaned up and put into closets, she had to browse the racks to find what she wanted. Here's little Mikayla trying to decide what to wear (she's looking at the 3-6 months section, so she didn't have much luck fitting into anything!):

Isn't she cute? 

21.5 week scan - good news!

A few weeks after our detailed scan, we went back for a follow-up to check on the babies and make sure there aren't any developing problems.  As you may remember from my previous posts, I was a little concerned about a few things, mainly the "marginal cord insertion" diagnosis for one of the babies.  

By the time we went back for the follow-up appointment, I had plenty of time to research the risks, and had sufficiently freaked myself out (warning to all pregnant women: do not read the internet. This is doubly true with twins.  Even more so with mono-di twins. Stay away!). Luckily at the follow-up scan I got to ask the doctor about it again, and actually understand her answer this time.  She explained that while yes, one of the babies has a marginal cord insertion (simply meaning the cord doesn't insert into the middle of the placenta), that is almost always the case with mono-di twins.  After all, they can't BOTH have perfectly centered cord locations... there's only space for one! So while our little one has a cord that is not centered and is closer to the edge of the placenta, she explained that the cord is still firmly implanted in the placenta and she isn't worried about it at all. Yes, it's true that the baby may not get enough nutrients and may be smaller as a result. But that's just one of a million problems that could come up, and the risk is only slightly higher with this cord location. So we don't really need to worry until that baby starts developing abnormally.

The other issue I was worried about last time was cervical length, because last time I measured at 2.9cm - a number that is low. The smaller the number, the closer you could be to labor, so at 22 weeks, they want that number to be over 3.0.  Technically 2.9 is still in the "normal" range, but it's not a number the doctor liked to see last time, which is one of the things she wanted to come back to see me about.  When that number reaches zero, the babies make an appearance, so I was worried about it shortening too fast (something that happens a lot with twins in general). This time I somehow measured at 3.5cm, a nice healthy number. Hurray! 

Doc said I'm allowed to exercise (something that was starting to make me nervous) and travel, and I basically have nothing to worry about. I'm now starting to worry about the "standard" pregnant woman concerns - like, holy crap how will I handle labor? Will I definitely have a c-section? How can I care for these kids - I know nothing! What if I break them?!?!

Anyway here are some pics from the ultrasound - getting less and less interesting unfortunately. Poor baby B never gets a good shot... baby sis always has to photobomb with a hand or foot.

Working on the new house

One of the issues with our new place in Pleasanton is that the soil is terrible.  By "soil" I really mean "clay."  My dad said it was some of the worst he had ever seen.  We knew about it before we bought the house, and it's just something you have to learn to deal with in Pleasanton. Most of the houses in the area are built on piers as a result, so that you can adjust the level of the house when it inevitably starts to "settle" (ie "sink") in various places.  During the inspection of our house we were told that there was moisture under the house, and that we should probably install a drainage system to help keep it dry.  We were quoted over $10k (which the seller would not cover), so we decided it would be worth doing at least some of it ourselves, with the help of some handy day-laborers from Home Depot.

So Boris and my dad started working on a design and plan for the drainage system.  A week later, they had done test digs and at least had a preliminary plan in place, which was now much bigger than before (and involved paving over a significant portion of the dirt in the backyard so that no water can get under the house.  Bigger = more expensive!

The first part of the plan was to rip out part of the driveway and add a drainage pipe so that the water coming off the side of the house could go down the pipe into the street, rather than pooling up near the house and eventually dripping down the sidewalk like it was before.  Boris developed some new and very impressive skills as a manual laborer.  Here are some photos of the final stages of their work - the final concrete pour!

Redwood City Condo Listed

Almost exactly 12 months to the day after we got the keys to our Redwood City condo, and it's officially back on the market... We don't know when we'll move, and depending on when we find a buyer we may try to rent it back from them for a few months. Between the longer commute from Pleasanton and the fact that my doctor's appointments are all in Redwood City (I go 3 times a month and it's only going to get worse), it would be nice to have this place for a while. That said, we also need to move before the babies arrive! So I guess if we find a buyer that wants it right away, at least it will make our decision easier and we'll just move. For the many people who never had a chance to visit us in the short year we've been in Redwood City, here's the official listing - now you can feel like you've been there!

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Redwood-City/631-True-Wind-Way-94063/unit-201/home/51671611

 

 
 

 

 

18.5 Weeks - Detailed Ultrasound

For the non-twin mommas, 18-19 weeks is an exciting time because you get a detailed ultrasound, and usually find out the gender.  We obviously found out the gender weeks before, but the detailed scan is still exciting because you get some confirmation that everything is going okay.  By that time, the babies are big enough that you can see their brain, heart, limbs, etc.

At our detailed ultrasound (a marathon event since they have two babies to check) the ultrasound tech confirmed that they are definitely girls, so that's good.  The specialist also said that the babies look beautiful and don't seem to have any defects.  They are within 4% of each other in terms of size, which means they are essentially exactly the same size (very very good news from a twin-to-twin transfusion perspective).

The only concerning issue was that one baby has a "marginal cord insertion," which means that the umbilical cord attaches to the placenta on the edge of the placenta, instead of the middle.  Apparently this is not uncommon with identical twins, since there's less room in the middle for each cord to grow.  The concern with this is that sometimes babies with marginal cord insertions don't get enough nutrients, and therefore don't grow properly.  It means sometimes you have one big baby and one little baby (just like with TTTS). Since the babies are the same size now, we aren't too concerned, but it's just one more thing that they'll have to monitor.

Here are the pictures from the detailed scan. As I've mentioned in previous posts, the babies are now officially too big to pose nicely in the same photo. Probably no more super cute twin photos, but luckily each baby is still pretty darn cute :)

* Note, with this last picture, if you look carefully, the reason you can't see baby's face is because her sister's spine is in the way. That fuzzy thing you see is a rib cage. These pictures can be slightly creepy :)

18 weeks - First kick!

Just after the 18 week mark I felt something that could have been a small muscle twitch... It happened a few more times and I realized it was probably a kick. I was so excited! Boris was able to feel them a few days later.  Now as I write this (at 21 weeks), the kicks are anything from small. Those babies are trying to escape from their prison!  The other night when they were being particularly aggressive, I told Boris and he put his hand on my belly.  When baby A finally gave a swift kick, Boris immediately recoiled and screamed "AHH WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!?" So funny. Now he refuses to feel the kicks because they are "gross."  He says he is glad that they are kicking but doesn't want to feel it. I can't say I blame him... I love the kicking but sometimes it is a little on the gross side. Feels like there is a goldfish in there swimming around. 

Twin mommas! It's a small world...

One thing that really scared me about the idea of having twins is that I don't have any experience with them. I know a number of adults who are twins, and have relatives with twins, but I hadn't met anyone that had twins in the last decade.  I'm super lucky that I've gotten to spend time with my sister Laura and her adorable daughter Mikayla, and I generally felt like I knew what I was getting into with one kid.  But how does that change when you have two? What would it be like to try to go back to work with two infants? What are the things I'm not even thinking about yet that will be harder with two kids? The first thing that freaked me out about raising two infants was when I saw that they have baby journals for keeping track of which kid has eaten, pooped, etc.  It scared the crap out of me when I realized I might confuse my own children and feed one twice and the other not at all. Boris and I already have a plan about how to tell them apart early on (paint at least one of their toenails with a different color and fingerprint them at the hospital just in case), but other than that we had no idea how to deal with twins.

Luckily, one of my friends from high school, Hannah, had twins last year. I had harassed Hannah for advice a few years ago because she got married at the Fairmont SF right before I did, so I decided to harass her again. And I'm so glad I did! We ended up scheduling a day where I went to Hannah's house and just followed her around for a few hours to see how things work with twins.  Hannah has it DOWN.  She is an expert! It was slightly overwhelming to see her in action, but at least I got to see how it's done. After that day, I completely changed my plans about what to buy, how I was going to feed the babies, etc.  For example, there is no need to buy a rocker (at least for now)... I need a couch! Feeding the babies together is essential (otherwise you literally never sleep), and if you ever plan to do it on your own, you need to be able to get both babies safely from their bed onto your lap at the same time. Easier said than done when their heads are floppy - can't exactly pick them both up and carry them around!  So my new plan is to copy Hannah's early plan: I'll have a couch (hopefully in the nursery, or at least somewhere nearby) with two boppy pillows and the feeding pillow in the middle. That way I can pick one baby up, put them safely in their little pillow on the couch, get the next baby, put them on the other side of the couch, put the feeding pillow on, and grab each baby one at a time.  Hannah was able to do this without the couch eventually (she has crazy skills), but I don't know what I'm doing yet so I need a little extra help :)

Another thing about having twins is that you need a lot of stuff... shocker I know.  I grilled Hannah about what to buy and she gave me her advice about what products were the best for twins, what worked and what didn't.  Since I have to buy so much stuff, I decided to pick up what I could on craigslist.  While I didn't really feel comfortable buying used carseats, I wanted extra carseat adapters for the car and decided I could buy those used.  I found someone selling two, and mentioned in my email that I was having twins.  The seller told me she had twins too, and very sweetly offered her advice about any twin-specific issues I might be facing.  I asked her about what other products I should buy and she gave some recommendations.  Later I found something else on craigslist I wanted, and it turned out to be the same seller. So I arranged to go to her house to just see what twin stuff she was willing to sell.  Turns out she is one of Hannah's good friends! Small world.  I was stoked, not only because I felt like I could trust the stuff I was buying from her, but also because she seemed really sweet and now I had another real resource for twin info.

Hannah did warn me that the twin mom world was small... she was right! Can't wait to join the club :)

New House!

When we found out we were having twins, Boris and I went through various stages of "holy shit this is a big deal."  We were SO prepared for one child. We owned our home, had two safe cars, had good jobs, plenty of savings, and generally had a plan of how to raise the kid.  We even had a 5 year plan -- we said that when we had kid number two (hopefully within 5 years of the first), we'd move to the East Bay to be closer to our families.

Our first "holy shit" thought was, "we'll have to buy two of everything!" Then we thought, "do we need to buy a bigger car?" Eventually we came to the inevitable... "do we need to move?" We thought it over and eventually (reluctantly) answered yes.  Not only is our 2.5 bedroom condo not ideal for two kids (plenty of room for us and the kids, but not much room for visitors and helpers), but we are a full hour away from our families. The more we learned about raising twins, the more we realized we are going to need all the help we can get. That meant moving to the East Bay and commuting to Palo Alto and Mountain View (45 minutes for Boris, about an hour for me with no traffic).

Deciding to move was hard, especially since we just bought our current home LESS THAN A YEAR AGO.  Luckily it has already appreciated in value, so at least we wouldn't lose money.  Plus, Boris found an IRS exemption for the standard rule that you have to pay taxes on the full gain if you live there for less than 2 years. Apparently there is an exception for "multiple births from the same pregnancy."  Hurray!

We started looking around online for homes in the Pleasanton/Dublin/Danville area, and pretty quickly decided to focus on Pleasanton -- it has a slightly better commute, has great schools, and isn't too far from our parents (in Danville and Walnut Creek).  We thought about buying a cheap little condo to live in for a few years until we were ready to move to Danville, but I just couldn't picture raising my kids there, even for a few years.  So we looked at real houses and quickly found one online that we liked.  Boris emailed to get more info, and pretty soon we were viewing the property.  We loved it, but it was the first house we looked at, so we weren't too attached.  The agent that showed us the place called us the next day and told us that the seller had received two offers for well above asking price.  We decided we weren't ready to get in a bidding war, so we let it go.  Over the next week I started feeling pretty sad about that, because it really was the best place around, and I didn't like anything else on the market.

A week later, the agent called us and told us that BOTH offers had fallen through.  So we called our parents and asked them to go look at it. They did, and they both liked it, so we put in an offer for below asking price.  24 hours later, we were pre-approved for a mortgage and the seller had accepted our offer.  It happened much faster than we had anticipated and we don't plan to move quite yet, but we love the house so I think it was worth it!

Here are some photos of the new place (5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 2,900 square feet):