Friday, October 10, 2008

I am slow (and update and non-pg question)

No really, I am.  I've been having mid and upper back pain for over a week now that, at times, is horrible.  I blamed it on everything from not moving enough to heartburn.  I finally figured out what was causing it.  Both boys have turned transverse.  They both have their heads on my left side and their feet on my right side (duh...if their heads are on one side and they're transverse...).  Baby A is sitting as low as he can go; my bladder and cervix don't love him.  Baby B on the other hand is as high as he can go, i.e. he is attempting to relocate my lungs and ribcage.  It just hit me today that when my breathing is most difficult and my ribs are hurting the worst, my back begins to hurt.  It really took me this long to figure out that when Baby B is pushing out on my ribs, my back (you know...the part connected to these same ribs) hurts.  I'm now reduced to laying propped up with pillows for many hours, breathing as deeply as possible (to push him) and physically pushing down on his little bottom as it pokes at my ribcage.  I love these little boys but would be much happier with them if they would turn a little.  Or at least use their available uterus space (what's up with my damn near empty middle ute?).  Crazy kids.

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Thank you all so much for your support on my last post.  It meant a lot to me to know that you were all thinking of me. 

I had an appointment with my midwife (love her, BTW) yesterday.  She spoke with the MFM and he is pretty convinced that the only reason the boys have extra fluid is because "they're big babies and big babies make more fluid".  And apparently it's not a phenomenal amount of extra fluid anyway.  The chance of fraternal twins both having a genetic or structural defect is so slim that it's been ruled out.  The chance of infection is less than 5% so he allowed me to have some blood-work done to rule it out and ease my mind (thank you doc!).  Mr. W's take on the situation is that everyone in his family is on the small side and everyone in my family is very average so our boys want to prove them all wrong and be big.  Of course, as he says, no one will believe they're his kids if they break 5'10" (he's 5'5").  Haha!

There had been a decrease in movement from both boys over the days preceding my appointment so I mentioned it to them.  Apparently this is something that I was supposed to call about immediately.  I wasn't that concerned, though. 

I was almost positive that the boys had turned (and were transverse).  Baby A was head down at the previous appointment and Baby B was breech.  I knew that Baby A had turned breech a few days later because I could feel his super kicks in my cervix (ooouuuuccchhh!!!!).  A couple of days later everything felt different and I no longer felt strong kicks anywhere, nor was I feeling any movement the same...but I could tell they were still in there.

Anyway, they did a quick scan and revealed that they boys had indeed turned sideways so their kicks were flying into Baby B's placenta instead of into my soft spots.  Just to err on the  of caution they hooked me up to the monitors to make sure they were behaving as they should at this time.  I was a little miffed about their turning until they hooked me up because I didn't know which baby was which anymore.  When they tried hooking the lower baby up, he showed that he was Baby A just by how uncooperative he was.  It took the nurse a total of 15 minutes to get him hooked up.  (she tried for 10 minutes the first time, gave up, hooked up Baby B, tried for 5 more minutes, then finally got him.)  Baby B was as cooperative as ever.  He stayed in place and had the proper accelerations just like the good boy he is.  Baby A, little devil he can be, didn't have an acceleration for almost 20 minutes.  Of course, to show up his brother I'm sure, he threw a little party at that time.

So my discomfort aside, everything is going very well!  The boys are doing wonderfully.  I went to visit my parents and friends in Asheville and had a good time (and relaxed) last week.  Then I drove to Charlotte and visited my Grandma who wasn't doing well; it was a wonderful visit.  My Grandma smiled so big and was so happy to see me.  She also enjoyed seeing the boys ultrasound pictures (now up on her picture board).  I even managed to convince my brother to drive to Charlotte and see her so we now have a picture of the three of us (haven't had us all in front of a camera together since my wedding).  Mr. W will be home either late tonight or early tomorrow morning.  Life is pretty damn good!

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OMG!  Anyone have experience with a dog with allergies?  I'm pretty sure my Australian Shepherd mix has allergies and don't know what to do.  I've switched her food to a grain-free fish based food and it seems to have helped a tiny bit, but not completely.  She got fleas at my Aunt's house (grrrrr) so I've given her medicine, but she won't quit scratching.  She has pulled out so much of her hair from the base of her tail...it's so sad.  My poor little girl is miserable!  She will run from spot to spot in the house trying to find a spot where she can get away from the itch.  It's like something is constantly biting her and she can't get away from it.  I've heard that her breed is sensitive, but this is getting out of hand.  My poor poor little girl.  :-(

8 comments:

Tracy said...

Sorry about your pooch...I don't have any advice.

Hang in there. My ribs hurt quite a bit during my pregnancy. The good news is once they are born, ALL discomforts just disappeared! It's really quite amazing. :)

Glad I could help on the sleepsack issue.

sara said...

Poor doggie! I'll have my husband look today to see what our little one takes. Our dog's finally got bad enough last spring our vet put her on something. We had tried the Benadryl dose the vet suggested and it just wasn't cutting it. The med we get is like $40 for like 90 pills and we give her one on days she is really bad. So the 90 pills usually expire before we use them all. Even through we have to buy them at CVS or Walgreens and the vet just calls them in they're not really expensive. I think last year the 40 dollar supply lasted us all year. Cheaper than a lot of vet visits, LOL! I'm sure there are other things as well, and we do the whole not putting any scented things on her and all the obvious - but this really helps when she's in her bad seasons (spring and fall). So I'll check for you today on the name. I'm so glad that the little ones are looking good, and I hope that they turn to a more comfy position soon! ((hugs))

sara said...

I think it's something like Hydroyxine, but I'll write back later today when I know. It's like doggie atarax (the older human allergy medicine not used much for humans anymore) - and they adjust the dose based on your doggies weight.

Sugar & Ice said...

I'm so happy to hear that things are sounding more positive and that you are feeling better about everything!

Farah said...

this is great news about the boys!!!! I am so glad read this.

My friend has to bath her dog with some kind of oatmeal bath stuff and give her tylenol. i will ask her what the oatmeal/flea soap is.

Jen said...

I get kicked in the same spot in my ribs all the time. It is quite sore.

My father-in-law's dog gets allergies. He switched her food around a lot before he found one that worked. (She licked her paws and herself when she itched from her food.) And a blogger friend has a dog with allergies. She's feeding a raw diet. Here's a post: http://www.emilypie.blogspot.com/2008/08/high-hopes.html

and another one: http://emilypie.blogspot.com/2008/08/spoiled-rotten-i-know.html

geohde said...

One of my twins spent most of the pregnancy transverse. Yep, uncomfortable...

J

Nicole said...

I am so glad to hear the babies are good.

For the dog, we had an akita that was on prednisone since 11 weeks old. He had some type of allergy that he scratched all the time until his belly had no hair on it at all. We tried shots, pinto beans and rice (to remove any food allergy) and oatmeal baths. Good luck with it!