One year on

| workingwomensivf

Firstly apologies I have been a bad bad blogger but life as a mum of twins is super hectic!!  

One year ago today I would be just in having my egg collection for round 7 of IVF.  Little did we know that 2 of those little eggs would go on to be our gorgeous girls.  It was a long hard road to get here, IVF then a very difficult and stressful pregnancy followed by the girls arrivsl 6 weeks early.  They are now happy healthy 4.5 month olds and worth every second of heartache and pain.  

We recieved our storage fees this week two for our remaining 7 embabies which sparked some conversation. We said since getting pregnant with the girls we are done 2 is enough but when it came down to it we couldn’t actually say that was true so we have paid the storage for another year and will see how we feel then 😀

Here are a few pics of the girls as it has been ages since I posted.  They are 5kg each which is still small for their age (even adjusted) but they are going from strength to strength

Rooming in!

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The girls are progressing amazingly and are now feeding well, so well in fact that today we get to start rooming in!! Rooming in is basically the last step before going home where I check back into the hospital for 2 nights and have the girls in the room with me to make sure we can cope without all the extra support in the special care nursery.  So we may be going home by Friday!  Our paediatrician is really pleased she said for twins to go home pre 37 weeks is amazing!  The girls have their Naso gastric tubes out so we can look at their beautiful faces!!! So excited to be going home but also a little terrified, I am so used to having someone here to ask if I have any questions!  

In other amazing news my best friend who was also doing IVF has just found out she is pregnant!  So excited for her after 5 rounds and 2 chemicals it is finally her turn!! 

I will leave you with a pic of my gorgeous girls! 

Photo update 

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The girls are doing well.  Faith is now 2.13kgs and Alia 2.0kgs.  Both are starting to breastfeed a little bit which is great as the last step before we can go home is to be completely breast or bottle fed.

My clot is still hanging about but not causing severe pain so OB wants to wait and see if it passes naturally for a few more days.  

Anyway here is some pictures of the girls.  Faith wears the plain hats Alia stripy hats.  Faith is the naked baby and Alia the other hatless shots.

Mummy and daddy go home and an er visit.

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After 9 night in total and 7 post birth it came time for mum and dad to go home.  I knew this would be tough but I had no idea how tough.  The staff started talking to us about going home the day before but my milk had just overtaken the girls demand and I wanted to store some in the fridge to ensure we had enough for overnight so the either didn’t need formula or only a minimal amount.  Check out day was Sunday and we stayed till after the girls 8pm feed.  I felt together and ready as we left the hospital but as soon as we got in the car and started driving away I lost it.  I cried the entire drive home and throughout the rest of the evening. I had their little hats to sniff beside my bed  and photos to look at while I expressed. 

We are in our new routine now though I come to the hospital at 7.30am and leave about 8.30pm go home sleep and express overnight.  

Night 2 at home and I expressed at 4am now it isn’t unusual for me to get cramps when expressing (normal as the uterus contracts apparently) but they kicked up to a whole new level.  I was in tears, breathless and in agony.  I ramg the maternity ward and they said to go straight to the ER.  Once in the ER I was given fentynl which bought some relief.  I had an ultrasound which showed I have a large clot in my uterus. My OB came to see me and said we would give it a chance to pass on its own but if it doesn’t I will need to go on and bud ruin meds to soften my cervix and allow it to pass.  It has been another 24hrs and still no sign of it passing so will wait and see what the OB has to say today.  

The gastro epidemic!!

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So last time I updated you on the birth and then the subsequent day when the girls were transferred to the private hospitals scu.  That night I awoke at about 11.30pm to the sound of hubby vomitting this continued for the next hour or so.  Now hubby is a bit known for reheating things past their date so I assumed he had food poisoning.  The midwife came in to check me and asked if he had diarrhoea which at that stage he did not, but by 3am though that had started.  At this point the nurse said he would have to leave and I was to be confined to my room till they had consulted with infection control in the morning.  I completely lost it thinking I would not be able to see my babies cue floods of tears!  Poor hubby couldn’t even console me at the risk of infecting me!  Hubbies parents came and collected him and he was barred from the hospital till he was 48hr symptom free.  So there I was alone with day 3 baby blues kicking in thinking I was going to be shut in my room unable to see my babies.  

Luckily infection control advised to move me to a new room, disinfect everything and they would setup a corner of the special care nursery for me with my own breast pump etc. it was then I discovered that 2 dads, one mum and 6 staff had been infected!!! Luckily the hospital got it under control quickly and no one else was impacted.  

During this time I also was struggling to express and was lucky to get even a ml of colostrum and the girls were on 28ml and 30ml respectively so were being supplemented with formula.  I felt like I was letting them down.  I started on lactation herbs and domperidone and thankfully by Friday my milk production caught up to the girls consumption and I am now producing 200mls per express and the girls only need 100mls .  

The girls stats

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I just realised I forgot to include the girls stats in my last post.

Twin 1 formally known as twin b born 15/05/16 12.44pm, Faith Cherie, 47.5cms long,  2.070kgs , head circumference 32cms

Twin 2 formally known as twin A, born 12.45pm 15/05/16, Alia Grace, 44cms long, 1.940 kgs, head circumference 32cms 

The girls arrival

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Sorry ladies I know it has been over a week since the announcement of the girls arrival but it has been a huge week.  

Essentially last Friday I rang the GD clinic with my blood sugars and they advised me to ring my OB as my levels were dropping.  I left a message at his office thinking he would just ring me after my Doppler scan.  About 2pm I got a call from him to say to still go to the scan but it would not change “the plan” which was to go to the hospital straight after the scan and start steroids for a Sunday C-section.  

The steroid shots were find but did make me a bit more anxious so not much sleep was had on Friday or Saturday night.  Sunday morning we were booked in for 10am but got pushed back due to emergency surgeries.  We are in the private hospital but due to the girls being only 34 weeks and twins we had to deliver at the conjoined public hospital as they have a nicu where the private only have a scu.  We were wheeled across about 11am and it was around 12.15 by the time we got into the theatre.  Theatre was a little overwhelming with all the people counting things and moving equipment.  The anethesetist got the spinal in without much more than a pinch of pain although hubby was quite disturbed watching it go in!  I was suprised by how high and how close to my face the draping was.  I felt no pain but some pushing and pressure and in just minutes Faith came out and was crying (such a relief) she was whisked straight across  to the paediatrician next Alia was born but this time no cries.  There were a few long minutes before we heard her cry.  Alia required some CPAP to get her breathing.  Both girls were the bought over and I got a quick couple of minutes with them before they were taken to nicu, we had the option for hubby to go with them or stay with me but we opted for him to go with them.  After hubby and the babies left I felt a little list.  I have to admit I found the whole c-section experience quite disconnecting,  I didn’t have that overwhelming connection women talk about to there babies straight away.  This was then further compounded by the fact that despite assurances I could see the babies in nicu in the bed after being through recovery this was not possible due to crowding so I was returned to the private to wait for my spinal to wear off so I could transfer to a wheelchair to visit the girls.  This took till about 9pm that night.  In the meantime I was able to express some milk for the girls.  Alia was in the nicu but faith was transferred to the public scu both girls were breathing on their own but Alia had low blood sugars And required a drip.  The first visit helped but it was still trick to connect to babies in humidy cribs you can’t hold in your arms.  The next day they were transferred to the private special care unit so were just across the hall and by that afternoon were out of the cribs.  Finally I could hold and change my girls and started to feel I was really connecting.  When I say I struggled to connect it was not that I didn’t love them just that I didn’t instantly get that overwhelming connection that other women talk about.  For me it came later but it did come.  I will leave it there for now but there is more to fill you in on and I will write again soon.  

The girls have arriv d

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We are pleased to announce the safe arrival of Alia Grace and Faith Cherie at 12.42 and 12.44 today by c-section.  Both girls are in the NICU but are doing well and will hopefully move to special care shortly. I will add more details soon. 

We are go for launch

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I am writing this from my hospital bed.  I have had my first steroid shot this afternoon and my next is at 6am.  Babies are scheduled to arrive by Caesarian at 10am Sunday.  

The last couple off days my blood sugars have been falling and while you would think with GD this would be a good thing it is another sign my placentas are failing so here we are!

We will be exactly 34 weeks on Sunday so with steroids on board hopefully the bubs will do well and be in special care rather than the nicu.  

It is suddenly feeling very real, in a couple of days I will be a mum……