Two By Two

We took Journey to the GI doctor today.

He's been having these weird bouts of throwing up for no apparent reason.

The first episode was in June. He woke up at 2:30am and proceeded to throw up for 7 hours basically every 15 minutes until there was nothing left to throw up at which point he dry heaved a bit and then was FINE. No other symptoms. Figured it was a bug. Doctor said probably a bug.

2nd episode was the first week of July. Same thing. He woke up at about 2:30am and threw up for 5 hours until he was just dry heaving and then he fell asleep and woke up and was fine. No other symptoms. Took him back to the pedi and again we were told it was a bug.. ummm I don't think so. no one else gets it and it's gone in a matter of hours.

3rd episode was about 2 weeks ago. He woke up at 4:30am, threw up a dozen times and then was fine. No other symptoms. Took him back to the pediatrician and demanded a referral back to GI for evaluation.

So he went to GI today and I told the GI doctor what was happening and he asked if either of us have migraines. I do. He said he's nearly positive that it's something called Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome. Basically an abnormal type of migraine. Adults get awful headaches.. Kids get this weird nausea/vomiting. Because he isn't throwing up often (about one day out of every 3-4 weeks) he doesn't want to give him any medication for it. If it becomes more frequent or starts to really cause issues, such as dehydration, we can look at doing something about it. He said he's pretty confident that this is what we're looking at but if want to rule out anything more serious we can take him for a sonogram, blood work, urinalysis, and stool culture.. ummm yeah right on that. So yet another diagnosis to add to his growing repertoire of crap.

His stats today..
13.4kg (29 1/2 lbs)-- 45th percentile
84.5 cm (33.75 inches)-- at the 4th percentile or right at the 50th percentile for NS kids.

I am 31 weeks 4 days now! Less than 7 weeks until the girls arrive at most.


I had an OB appointment on Monday. I'm measuring 40 weeks now. Which basically means I'm as big as someone who is pregnant with one baby would be on the day the deliver! CRAZY I lost weight this time around which was nice. I'm still up 29 lbs but that's okay. I don't go back to see the OB until the 16th of the August because I'm being followed so closely by the perinatologist that there really is no reason for me to be seen any more frequently than that for now. Once I go back though I start going weekly.

I had a peri appointment today. It was a growth scan for the girls.

Kaeda is measuring 3 lbs 2 oz and Ember is measuring 4 lbs 3 oz. They means that the discordance between them is 25% (the doctors like it under 20%) but they are going to just keep watching for now and see how Kaeda does at the next growth scan (scheduled for August 20th) and we'll go from there.

I am 29 weeks 4 days today.

OB appt-- He's bumped me to weeklies now which I figured was coming. We talked about my blood sugars and he is going to start me on Diabeta to try and help the sugars that are crazy while avoiding insulin. If I decide I'd rather just forget the pill and do the insulin he'll do that too. I'm measuring 35/36 weeks currently. He was a little surprised at how swollen my feet are and told me to keep them up as much as possible but my BP is good so we'll just keep watching. I go back on the 26th.

Peri Appt-- Again they commented on the swollen feet and legs. As far as the girls.. there is something weird going on with Kaeda's doppler flow. Where the umbilical cord inserts into her belly the flow is elevated meaning that it's meeting resistance. They said that's not a common finding and especially not coupled with the rest of her cord looking good. They've actually never seen it before. LOL They said her fluid levels are also a little elevated but not excessively so but enough to notate. Other than that she said Kaeda apparently hasn't gotten the memo that something is up with her cord because she active, growing, and looks great. In fact she was practice breathing A TON on screen However because of the increased risk of IUGR and the risks of oxygen issues they want to monitor us even more closely. So I will see them next Tuesday and again next Friday and we'll re-evaluate then. We're basically trying to buy time to get them further along but it's looking more and more like delivery day is going to be in August.

I am 28 weeks 4 days today.

We had a growth scan today for the girls.

Kaeda is 2 lbs 5 oz (she gained 15 oz in 3 weeks) and Ember is 2 lbs 11 oz (she gained exactly a lb). Their discordance in size is shrinking. It's down to 12% now. Kaeda is having an issue with her doppler flow, the flow from the placenta to her, so we are watching closely as that's a major sign of TTTS but it doesn't appear to be effecting her fluid levels or growth which is great. They said after about another 5 or 6 weeks they'll be more picky about doppler levels and things like that. They also said that they deliver at 37 weeks for Mono/Di twins. Which for me September 13th or before. Which means 66 days to go.

Kaeda was so impressed with the ultrasound that she treated us to a yawn LOL


Ember's profile. She refused to cooperate for most of the ultrasound.

Remember when I used to have all this time to update my blog about every little thing going on in my life?? Yeah it's been a while and I don't forsee that changing any time soon. It's been another 2 weeks since I last updated. I keep saying to myself, I'll update this after tomorrow's appointment or after the appointment on Friday or.. and I never do. So here we go..

Pregnancy/me stuff

I am 27 weeks pregnant today! WOOO HOOO. I'm starting to get to the point in this pregnancy where I'm just never comfortable. My sciatic nerve has been awful this go round and by evening I can't lay down, can't sit, can't move with out searing pain in my back, hips, and legs. Ember is so high in my abdomen that she's making it difficult for me to breathe. Everyone comments on how high I'm carrying these girls... see for yourself....

My appointment with the perinatologist last week told us that my cervix is shortening but it's not dilating which is good. They don't start worrying about the shortening until the measurement is 2.5. Mine is 3.8 So we have a ways to go before it becomes an issue. Other than that, the girls look great, fluid levels look great, placenta looks great, doppler flow looks great. They are still seeing me weekly and I go back this week on Friday. My next OB appointment is Thursday, I should be getting the results of my GTT *Glucose Tolerance Test* then. I'm fully expecting to fail.

In non pregnancy, me news. I signed up to take classes through the University of Phoenix online for my Bachelor's of Science in Nursing degree. My first class starts tomorrow. I completely the orientation last week. If all goes according to plan I'll graduate from the program in February 2012. But we all know how well plans go.

River Related Stuff

We have been working hard to get River evaluated by whomever he needs to be evaluated by in order to figure out his behavior issues. The pediatrician months ago was prepared to diagnose him with ADHD but wanted a 2nd opinion because of his age. We started seeing a therapist at Clay Behavioral (local mental health place) and when she left the business we started seeing a 2nd therapist (his current) who referred him to a psychiatrist for evaluation. We had the evaluation last week and she 100% agrees he is ADHD. Strongly enough so that she was willing to put him on a medication to see if we could help him out. After trying to figure out a medication that is safe for a child his age to take he started it on Friday. Thus far we see little change. Maybe 30 minutes to an hour after the pill kicks in where he is calmer and more able to focus but it doesn't last long. Hopefully that's just a need to increase his dosage as we have started him on the lowest dose. He'll go back to Dr. I in about 3 weeks.

As part of this treatment plan we also signed up for a group called "Family Conservation" run through the same facility. They send someone out to the house once a week for 10-12 weeks to give us ideas on ways we might be able to improve things at home. She looks for ways to help us, referrals we may need, connections she might be able to make, things she think may help. Her first visit was last week and 2nd was today. She said that she, his therapist, and the psychiatrist strongly believe that he may have more going on than just the ADHD and SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder) that he's already been diagnosed with. They have referred him to a neuro-developmental specialist who does a comprehensive evaluation of all sorts of different things in order to see what might be going on with him. Unfortunately, this particular group of specialist has up to a 2 year waiting list. They won't even put him on the waiting list until we fill out a packet of paperwork they are going to send us and then turn it back in to them. However through all of this we have received an IEP for River to help with school as well as a recommendation (or 2) that he be placed in an ESE VPK program next year where they will be more equipped to handle him and help him. The last part of his treatment plan involves us getting him a case manager who can help us get him in to all of these things he needs and help us advocate for him. Finally I feel like we're moving in the right direction

100 Days until my due date!

I'm awful at updating.. sorry. (If anyone actually reads this)

I am 25 weeks 3 days now.
I had an OB appointment on Monday. I've gained 31 lbs this pregnancy. They gave me the paper work to go get my GTT (Glucose Tolerance Test) done. I also signed the paperwork for my tubal ligation procedure to be done when the twins are delivered. He wants to see me back on July 1st ( 2 weeks) for my next appointment so hopefully I can remember to go do my glucose test before then.

Then today I had my perinatologist appointment. They do a growth scan every 3 weeks and this was the week. The girls look great. Kaeda is 1 lb 6 oz (she gained 11 oz in 3 weeks) and is in the 44th percentile for her gestational age. Ember is 1 lb 11 oz (she gained 13 oz in 3 weeks) and is in the 61st percentile for her gestational age. There is a 17% discordance between the two of them which is 6% less than it was at the last scan! So Kaeda is catching up a little bit, hopefully she continues to catch up. Everything else (fluid levels, doppler levels) looked great. They want to continue to see me once a week so I go back next Friday for fluid, doppler, and cervix check and of course will have another growth scan the first week in July.