The Matthews Family

Birthing Center visit.....

2009-08-29T05:16:00.002-04:00

.....we ended up in the Birthing Center yesterday early morning. During the night Thursday, I was getting the worst abdominal pain (although I knew it was not labor). I called the midwife at midnight as I could not sit, stand, walk or lie down. She suggested that it sounded like round ligament pain from the growing babies and I should try a hot bath. I tried hot towels instead and this calmed it down a little. I got back to sleep at about 5am and then woke up at 6am with a start. My whole belly was really painful and rock hard and the pain was enough to take my breath away. I once again called the midwife and she asked me again if I was in labor, and I told her that I really did not think I was!

My midwife met me at the Birthing Center at 7am yesterday to make sure everything was OK. They hooked me up to the baby monitors and belly monitors, but the boys were not co-operating and were moving around! They ended up doing a quick u/sound to make sure that boys were doing OK. They were wiggly, but fine!

After tests to rule out appendicitis, UTI and other abdominal problems (all negative), the midwife ran a bath in the Jacuzzi tub - wow that was nice!! We have a tub at home, but not one I could float in and lay down in!! I want one!! She also did an exam and found I am starting to dilate a little and that Sam is very head down and wiggling around lots. A combination of Sam wiggling and the round ligament stretching is causing all this pain and guess what..... just one of the many happy times in pregnancy! The midwife gave me some painkillers to take for when I go to sleep amd she also prescribed a recliner! Not literally, but she suggested we buy/borrow one.

I think I am in for lots of long nights and the need to put my feet up!! I am not sure how much longer we have before the boys are born, but it is not going to be that comfortable.

Last night I slept from 10-2 in the bed and them from 2-4 in the recliner (yes we bought one!) and I got up at 4.30! I can nap later, it is Saturday. Gonna have a warm bath in a bit and see if that helps.

I was never this sore with Grace!

Another hospital appointment...

2009-08-25T15:01:00.002-04:00

We went to the hospital again yesterday for an ultrasound of the boys. We are now 32 weeks and it is becoming more difficult for the hospital to measure everything for the twins as they are getting so big. Everything looked fine though, Luke's estimated weight at the moment is 3lb 14oz and Sam is growing at a similar rate, but without the head circumference in the equation, they find it harder to guess the weight. The amniotic fluid in both sacs is similar too which means that the chances of developing excess fluid in Sam's sac is minimal. We did not get any pics of Sam yesterday, but we did a couple of Luke and I guess I should post them up on here at some point. I just have to get around to scanning them in!

We had a meeting with the doctor after the ultrasound and she said that there may be a possibility that we will have to have a c-section. Luke is horizontal across the top of my uterus with his head by Sam's butt who is diagonally head down. The chances of Luke shifting to head down are minimal and that would mean a breech delivery for Luke. Which, under normal circumstances would be fine, but the largest part to come out for both boys will be Luke's head and there is concern that he may get stuck.

We have another ultrasound in 3 weeks where we will see what is happening with Luke then.

Neglecting the blog once again!!

2009-08-04T14:45:00.002-04:00

I fear there is a severe lack of blog entries on our blog! Let me bring you up to date!

Lets start with the summer antics.....my goodness where did this weather come from? Almost as bad as England. Rain, rain and more rain, our back garden is like a mud swamp! It is August and we are just beginning to get some nicer weather, more sunshine and less rain.

My sister and nephew came from the UK to stay for a couple of weeks and we had such a fun time. We went camping in a log cabin in the White Mountains for a week. We did some fun stuff including swimming in the pool, playing crazy golf and the very cool tourist activities that you find everywhere! We went to Squam Lakes nature center. Fantastic place, lots of animals and a lovely walk too. We also went swimming in the lake near us here, we went to Boston for the day and relaxed and had a good time!

This week Barney's Dad and his wife are coming from the UK for a week, so I am sure more fun stuff is in store for us. After that, Barney's Mum arrives for the duration to help with the kiddos, until after Christmas I think. Then my Dad arrives in the middle of September to visit for 2 weeks too! Then it will be about time for these little guys to be born. Which brings me to that story.....

Well, all is as well as can be expected. Both boys are growing nicely and are the same size (about 3lb each). Needless to say, I am almost the size of a full term singleton Mummy! The amniotic fluid for both boys is fine, so we are hoping that it all stays that way! I am feeling OK, just less able to do the things I used to be able to. All my bloodwork and levels are good, but it is time to take it easy :-)

I do have more pictures of the boys, but I have yet to scan them in to post them, I will make an effort to do that in the next few days. Ha ha, heard that before right?

A Day ay DHMC.....

2009-07-01T20:09:00.002-04:00

...and what a long day it was!

First was the ultrasound, the part I was most anxious about. It took a little while for them to do it as there was a resident Dr on rotation learning how to do ultrasounds. But it showed that Luke was 1lb 11oz (ish - give or take they said) with a HB of 149 and Sam was 1lb 10oz with a HB of 140. Both looked great, there was no change at least. PHEW - another 4 weeks until the next one on July 27th.

I do have more pics, but have not scanned them in yet, but I will over the next couple of days and post them. Both babies were hiding behind their arms this time!

I will post more another time, am quite tired tonight :-)

Pericarditus update...

2009-06-30T20:34:00.002-04:00

Barney went to see the Cardiologist today and he would like to get to the bottom of why it keeps happening and returning so quickly. So Barney had to have lots of blood tests and he goes for an ECG tomorrow afternoon. He will see the Cardiologist again in 6 weeks time.

The Cardiologist wants Barney to go and see the Auto-Immune Dr again to see if his dry mouth is an auto-immune disease, which can cause Viral Pericarditus. It can also be triggered by a cold too, but they still need to know why!

I guess once they can get to the cause they can try to cure the Pericarditus. So something else to add to our list right now! YAY

Back to DHMC tomorrow for the twins too - U/S, Maternal Fetal Medicine Appointment, Pallaitaive Care Appointment and hopefully a tour of the Birthing Facility too. I will post again with more news in the next couple of days.

Oh yes,

2009-06-23T14:21:00.003-04:00

and this is by no means secondary to the babies, but I forgot to add this bit, sorry Barns!!

Barney has spent some time earlier this year in the ER and outpatients due to Pericarditus (inflammation around the heart). This caused him chest and upper back pain. Since then he has had an MRI which has revealed no continual problems, but we did have a repeat of this episode today. He has viral Pericarditus and will be seeing the specialist again next week to see why it keeps coming back.

Will keep this updated as we have news!!

Today....

2009-06-23T13:49:00.005-04:00

....I am sitting in my car outside my house while Grace sleeps in her car seat! I cannot carry her up the stairs in the house to bed anymore due to my enormous belly growing incredibly quickly! So when she falls asleep in the car I hang out with her and surf the net. I came across the link for our blog and will start to update this on a more regular basis now.

There is something important I need to share here and that is about our babies. On May 26th, 2009 we went for our ultrasound to find out that we have two wonderful boys. One of our boys, whom we have named Luke Alexander, is very happy and healthy and our other little boy, Samuel (Sam) Oliver, is probably very happy, but not so healthy.

Sam has a congenital birth defect called Anencephaly which is not compatible with life. This essentially means that his skull has not formed and therefore has not created the ideal environment for a brain to form either. An Anencephalic baby can grow and develop pretty normally in utero, but will not survive very long after he is born. We have been told that he will probably leave us before he is 48 hours old.

Here is the definition of bitter-sweet right here and how do you deal with that? How can you plan a nursery and a funeral at the same time? So what happens now? These are the millions of questions we asked ourselves a month ago when we found out about our little boy.

Since then I have been on many websites and have found wonderful support in the local area and on the web. We are firstly fortunate to know so many wonderful people who are there for us and will be there for us in the next few months. I have found a couple of groups/resources on facebook that have been very welcoming and supportive. There is a great deal of imformation out there, it is just a case of knowing where to look.

Our Midwife was there for Grace's pre-natal care and birth and she was at the ultrasound when we were told the news and has been, and still is, a fantastic support to us. I am going to continue under her care for as long as possible and she even said it may be possible for her to be at the birth, I hope so.

Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) has also been fantastic. A couple of days after we found out about Sam I dropped in to see my IVF nurse to tell her the news and she immediately called people in the Maternal Fetal Department to see if my appointments had been taken care of for follow up. On Friday May 29th we were in for another ultrasound and to see the Genetic Counsellor and the Maternal Fetal Doctor. Sam's condition was re-confirmed and they took some wonderful pictures (see above).

Since then we have seen the Palliative Care team at DHMC and they will be helping us to come to terms with what is happening in our world right now and what will be happening after the birth.

Our next appointment to see everyone is on July 1st.

one...two....

2009-03-05T14:42:00.006-05:00

Well we were discharged from the IVF clinic today to go to regular OB land!! Our due date is October 21, but it is very likely they will come in the few weeks before! Here is a stunning (not) pic of me with belly already. OK some of it was there before and some of it is swollen ovaries from all our treatment, but some of it has to baby pouch too as I cannot wear pants that I could wear a couple of weeks ago. If this is a sign of things to come then I will be pretty big pretty quickly as I have only put on 1lb so far and about 4 inches!! (only 7 weeks! yikes)

I have also posted our new ultra-sound pictures. Teeny & Tiny have doubled in size and have very strong heartbeats. It is going to be strange not having any more appointments at Dartmouth Hospital, but it is great that they have discharged us!

Well, back to normal life for a while and watch this space for growing babies! We go to see the midwife on March 24th, so more baby news then, we will be 10 weeks at that point.

So here we are...

2009-02-28T20:55:00.003-05:00

....nearly 7 weeks pregnant with TWINS!!

So our IVF was again successful first time, we are so fortunate and so excited to be pregnant. I went for my 6week U/S last week to discover two little heartbeats, one 123 and the other 121 (I think) it is all a bit of a blur really!!

I was really excited at the ultrasound and Barney was a little shell shocked!! We are both excited now and we have called them Teeny & Tiny!! We get to go back to the IVF clinic for another U/S on Thursday (3/5) to make sure all is well and then I think that the clinic will release us to OB land :-)

Still do not know an exact due date, but it will be the middle to end of September I would think.

Feeling very nauseous and tired, but otherwise OK and ready to meet them already!! I know I have a little while to wait, but not long!!! We have been through a whirlwind of emotions this week and I am sure there will be more to come when they get here! Grace is going to be a great big sister. We are going to put off telling her until it is really obvious that I am not just putting on weight in my belly!! She does keep asking if I am going to have a real baby one day!! (as opposed to her baby doll I suppose!) I will post more u/s pics next week.

Upsy Daisy...

2009-01-13T16:07:00.003-05:00

OK I am going "In The Night Garden..." crazy! We bought Grace the In The Night Garden dvd for Christmas and we have watched at least one episode every day ever since!! I know all the songs and all the words which is even worse! And Grace sings it all the time!!

For those of you who do not know what In The Night Garden is - check it out on youtube - especially if you have little ones - they will LOVE it!

Anyway, I have not posted for ages and I intend to do a big update soon with pics - check back soon!!

Snow, Snow and More Snow

2008-12-21T13:17:00.004-05:00

It started to snow on Friday afternoon and has not stopped!! Here is the view out of our back door this morning!

Yesterday I spent 2 hours while Grace was asleep digging out our driveway and a path round to the back of the house for the oil deliveries!! Last night we had our snow blower fixed by a friendly neighbour, so today will be much easier.

This morning we took Grace out in the snow, we had to build the snowman 2 feet higher as he was nearly gone. It was amusing watching Grace try to walk as the snow was above her waist!! Grace insisted that she wanted the snow on top of her so we buried her up to her neck for a few moments! She then decided she wanted to get out and was not so impressed when it all went in her face!! We came inside at that point!

The snow is still falling rapidly and will be for another 24 hours or so!! I will post more photos when the storm is over!

And to end, Grace came up with a classic comment this morning - "Look at Daddy's Tail"!! Don't you love it when they are this small??

Snowy Day

2008-12-19T09:29:00.003-05:00

Wednesday was a very snowy day and Grace & I tried to go to music class, but it just did not happen! My windshield wipers did not clear the part right in front of my nose, I think I need new ones. I did not want to drive not being able to see so we came home. Grace was very disappointed, so we decided to play in the snow instead!

We built Grace's first snowman ever and she LOVED it! Crawling around in the snow, dumping it in a great big pile and then putting a hat on top with a scarf. Grape tomatoes for eyes and a carrot for a nose!! She was so excited :0)

We have had to check every day that the snowman is still there. We are due some more snow today and Sunday, so maybe we will make a whole family of snowmen.

Well Christmas is 5 days away and I think we are all ready, a few last minute groceries to buy and then we are all ready. Barney has 24, 25 & 26 off this year which is really nice. He will be able to teach skiing on the 26 (he needs his skiing fix each week!).

Right now I have to take the cats to the vet for their annual check-up. You've heard the expression "herding cats" - wish me luck!!

Today was the start....

2008-12-16T19:51:00.004-05:00

Today, Barney and I arrived at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center to see Dr. PM. He is our IVF doctor. Today was the start of the journey for baby #2 (known as Tiny). We signed the contracts for everything that could go wrong so that we cannot sue the hospital if things do not go to plan and we were also trained on administering shots. We start our medication on December 26 and will hopefully be transfering 2 embryo's back by the end of January. We are quietly excited as there are many hurdles to jump until we know what will be the outcome of this effort. Please do keep us in your thoughts that this will be as easy as it was last time and that implantation is successful. Watch this space for updates....

It is Sunday!

2008-12-07T12:22:00.003-05:00

Today is Sunday! What a great day to start a blog :-) Grace is sleeping and we have been grocery shopping this morning. We have a beautiful Christmas Tree in our front room and there is snow on the ground outside. Barney is skiing at Okemo!

December is always busy, but I feel even more so this year. Grace knows that Santa Claus (or Father Christmas) is coming, but is not quite sure, who or what he is. She knows that the tree is pretty and she knows that there is a little picture behind a little door on her advent calendar every morning. I wonder what being 22 months feels like? Everything is so new and you want to learn more and more every day. Then Christmas happens - YIKES - what is all this music, glitter, lights and busy-ness?? She will find out soon enough.

This afternoon Aunt Jane is performing in the Bel Canto concert at the West Lebanon Congregational Church. We are excited to be going with Grace!

Yesterday, Grace's friend Emilia came over and they decorated cookies for Christmas. Was it messy? Not as bad as I thought, but I think the two of them ate more than they decorated! Toddlers on a sugar rush - it was fun :-)