Preschool evaluation was today. It was chaotic but went well. They can start school on their 3rd birthday. I still have to go to another meeting. The EIP I think plus tour the classroom. I need to find a ride to the school. Their preschool will be about 10 miles away and we have no car. They will go there for the 2+ years and then go to kindergarten here in town. Our elementary school doesn't have a preK program. So down the road they will have to go. On a bus. Four days a week from 8 to 3. I wonder if they need little back packs. They will get their speech therapy and all the other therapies they need. Early intervention and all that. I am so happy they will be getting the help they need. I wish I could do it myself but I don't know how.
Tomorrow, off to the dentist.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
Feb 6, 2012
Preschool evaluation is tomorrow morning. The babies woke up bright and early this morning (7:30ish) after falling asleep around 2 or 3 am. Jake had a tummy ache and threw up just before he fell asleep.
Everyone was sick last week. Patrick got it first. He threw up on Wednesday the25th, the day after their doctor visit. Just the one time, then he had a low fever (never went over 100) for 24 hours and was very sleepy. Jake threw up the following Saturday, four times over the whole day, had the low fever for a day and was sleepy. I got it that Monday (a week ago today), no vomiting but plenty of the other. Lots of body aches and a headache that would not go away. No appetite. Smells were overwhelming. I just wanted to sleep. Then Trey got it, then Kennedy.. They missed 2 days of school. It was a horrible, smelly, achy mess. I'm glad it's over.
But back to last night, Jake was fine after he threw up. I'm not sure what made him sick. He was laughing one minute, then he ran to me crying and threw up. After I cleaned him up, he cuddled for a few minutes, then went to sleep. I think he would have slept later than 8am this morning but Patrick was bright eyed and bushy tailed and making a lot of noise.
So we went downstairs and I fed them cheerios and bananas with milk. Then we colored pictures and read stories. I called the doctor's office and had them fax their shot records to the elementary school where the testing is. They ran around like little lunatics and had a fun morning.
All they had for lunch was potato chips. At one point I thought that Jake was going to throw up again but he didn't. Jake went to sleep aroung 2pm and Patrick passed out around 3. I started doing google searches for autism and found 2 articles about ultrasounds and autism. Scary stuff. I was getting like 1 or 2 ultrasounds a week at the end of the pregnancy.
This stands out in my mind:
"ultrasound is a form of energy, and even at low levels, laboratory studies have shown it can produce physical effect in tissue, such as jarring vibrations and a rise in temperature."(9) This is consistent with research conducted in 2001 in which an ultrasound transducer aimed directly at a miniature hydrophone placed in a woman's uterus recorded sound "as loud as a subway train coming into the station."(10)
WTF? A subway train? That is LOUD! I keep picturing them as tiny little fetuses with their little hands over their ears.
I think I was 14 or 15 weeks along before I got the first ultrasound and found out for sure it was twins. I had a feeling and Mom was absolutely certain it was twins. But that first ultrasound lasted for over an hour. They measured femurs and amniotic fluid and listened to heartbeats and examined genitals. They tried to get a picture of Patrick's (Baby A) face but he kept turning away. We did get a picture of Jake's (Baby B) face and I swear it looks like he is flipping the bird. I'll have to figure out how to add pictures to this thing.
The pregnancy was considered high-risk because of my age (38), gestational diabetes (diet controlled), and anemia. I also had an abnormal pap.They wanted to biopsy my cervix but I decided to wait until after delivery. I never did get that done. Too busy.
I took my prenatal vitamins with iron and I stuck to my diabetic diet. No one would let me do anything even remotely strenuous at work. I was put on bed rest in December of 2008. I only got out of bed to eat and shower. And to keep doctor appointments, which went from once a month, to twice a month, to once a week, to twice and sometimes three times a week.
They were always the same size, always had enough amniotic fluid. My blood pressure was always low, my blood sugar was kept within an acceptable range. I was gaining the right amount of weight. Everyone was kicking and moving around in there. Patrick was always in the same position: on my left side, upside down, ready to cut in front of the line to the birth canal. Jake was doing flip flops all over the place. He was never in the same position twice.During one ultrasound, he flipped from head down to head up and back to head down again in 15 minutes.
Then I noticed that I was not peeing as much as I was drinking. I'd have a big glass of water and later on just pee a little bit. My legs and feet were swelling so big. I only had one pair of shoes that I could wear and if I took them off for too long, I couldn't get them on again. I reported this to my doctor on a routine visit at 36 weeks and they scheduled the c-section for right away. I didn't even have my purse, forget about the over night bag.
The c-section was horrible. Everything was rushed. I realized there was an urgency but I still felt disconnected somehow. It was all very surreal, like a dream or something. It was wait, wait, hurry, wait, hurry. I started having contractions while they were giving me an epidural. I couldn't relax and arch my back at the same time. I started crying. It was just awful. Then everything was numb. I could feel tugging. Couldn't see a damn thing. Then I felt an emptiness on my left side and I knew that Patrick was out. Less than a minute later, I felt the emptiness on my right side and knew that Jake was out as well. I kept listening for crying. I was worried about their little lungs being under developed. I heard them both cry and and just started bawling like a baby myself. They were both okay. Everything was going to be fine.
I told their dad to go with the babies while they did the tubal ligation. I would be fine. Go with them. Stay with them. By that time the morphine or whatever they gave me was in high gear and I was feeling no pain. I noticed that doctors were tossing around a long polka dotted pillow which confused me for a minute. Then I realized that was my freckled left thigh they were moving around and I probably started laughing. It makes me laugh now. But that morphine kicked my ass in the recovery room because I am allergic to morphine apparently. Yuck, pain, yuck, pain. Vomit seems to be the theme for today.
I have had three types of deliveries now. Natural with no drugs (9 lbs 14 oz girl at age 24), induced with epidural that only worked on one half of my body. They had to suck the baby out with a tube because I couldn't feel if I was pushing or not (7 lbs. 3 oz boy at age 31) and this c-section (6 lbs 14 oz boy, 5 lbs 13 oz boy at age 39) And out of all those methods, I recommend natural with no drugs. Yes it hurt during but I recovered much more quickly with minimal pain. Induced and c-section hurt way worse and it took weeks to feel like myself again.
They gave Patrick some formula to bring up his blood sugar and a little bit of oxygen. Jake was a little jaundiced but otherwise fine. They stayed in my room with me most of the time. They never needed incubators or anything like that. No NICU. Regular nursery for whatever testing the nurses did. They kept taking them away and bringing them back.
I was breast feeding or trying to breast feed but I could not make enough milk for two babies. I would nurse one baby, burp him and change him. Then it was time to nurse, burp and change the other one. Then a short short nap if I was lucky. Then it was time to nurse, burp and change the first one again. And the whole time, I was still strapped down to the bed with those massaging things on my legs. I had a huge painful gash across my gut and tube up my hoo-hoo to catch my pee. I still felt sick from the morphine reaction. And it seemed like every time I fell asleep, a nurse or doctor walked in to take vitals or whatever. We finally decided to do both breast and formula. They would nurse, one on each boob until I felt dry, then we gave them formula. I tried to pump but never got more than an ounce or two out. I had milk to spare when I was 24 but at 39, not so much.
I think they got some vaccinations before we left the hospital. I will have to check their records.
I have to go fix dinner now. The babies are awake and demanding food.
Source of article about ultrasounds: http://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/ultrasoundrodgers.asp
Everyone was sick last week. Patrick got it first. He threw up on Wednesday the25th, the day after their doctor visit. Just the one time, then he had a low fever (never went over 100) for 24 hours and was very sleepy. Jake threw up the following Saturday, four times over the whole day, had the low fever for a day and was sleepy. I got it that Monday (a week ago today), no vomiting but plenty of the other. Lots of body aches and a headache that would not go away. No appetite. Smells were overwhelming. I just wanted to sleep. Then Trey got it, then Kennedy.. They missed 2 days of school. It was a horrible, smelly, achy mess. I'm glad it's over.
But back to last night, Jake was fine after he threw up. I'm not sure what made him sick. He was laughing one minute, then he ran to me crying and threw up. After I cleaned him up, he cuddled for a few minutes, then went to sleep. I think he would have slept later than 8am this morning but Patrick was bright eyed and bushy tailed and making a lot of noise.
So we went downstairs and I fed them cheerios and bananas with milk. Then we colored pictures and read stories. I called the doctor's office and had them fax their shot records to the elementary school where the testing is. They ran around like little lunatics and had a fun morning.
All they had for lunch was potato chips. At one point I thought that Jake was going to throw up again but he didn't. Jake went to sleep aroung 2pm and Patrick passed out around 3. I started doing google searches for autism and found 2 articles about ultrasounds and autism. Scary stuff. I was getting like 1 or 2 ultrasounds a week at the end of the pregnancy.
This stands out in my mind:
"ultrasound is a form of energy, and even at low levels, laboratory studies have shown it can produce physical effect in tissue, such as jarring vibrations and a rise in temperature."(9) This is consistent with research conducted in 2001 in which an ultrasound transducer aimed directly at a miniature hydrophone placed in a woman's uterus recorded sound "as loud as a subway train coming into the station."(10)
WTF? A subway train? That is LOUD! I keep picturing them as tiny little fetuses with their little hands over their ears.
I think I was 14 or 15 weeks along before I got the first ultrasound and found out for sure it was twins. I had a feeling and Mom was absolutely certain it was twins. But that first ultrasound lasted for over an hour. They measured femurs and amniotic fluid and listened to heartbeats and examined genitals. They tried to get a picture of Patrick's (Baby A) face but he kept turning away. We did get a picture of Jake's (Baby B) face and I swear it looks like he is flipping the bird. I'll have to figure out how to add pictures to this thing.
The pregnancy was considered high-risk because of my age (38), gestational diabetes (diet controlled), and anemia. I also had an abnormal pap.They wanted to biopsy my cervix but I decided to wait until after delivery. I never did get that done. Too busy.
I took my prenatal vitamins with iron and I stuck to my diabetic diet. No one would let me do anything even remotely strenuous at work. I was put on bed rest in December of 2008. I only got out of bed to eat and shower. And to keep doctor appointments, which went from once a month, to twice a month, to once a week, to twice and sometimes three times a week.
They were always the same size, always had enough amniotic fluid. My blood pressure was always low, my blood sugar was kept within an acceptable range. I was gaining the right amount of weight. Everyone was kicking and moving around in there. Patrick was always in the same position: on my left side, upside down, ready to cut in front of the line to the birth canal. Jake was doing flip flops all over the place. He was never in the same position twice.During one ultrasound, he flipped from head down to head up and back to head down again in 15 minutes.
Then I noticed that I was not peeing as much as I was drinking. I'd have a big glass of water and later on just pee a little bit. My legs and feet were swelling so big. I only had one pair of shoes that I could wear and if I took them off for too long, I couldn't get them on again. I reported this to my doctor on a routine visit at 36 weeks and they scheduled the c-section for right away. I didn't even have my purse, forget about the over night bag.
The c-section was horrible. Everything was rushed. I realized there was an urgency but I still felt disconnected somehow. It was all very surreal, like a dream or something. It was wait, wait, hurry, wait, hurry. I started having contractions while they were giving me an epidural. I couldn't relax and arch my back at the same time. I started crying. It was just awful. Then everything was numb. I could feel tugging. Couldn't see a damn thing. Then I felt an emptiness on my left side and I knew that Patrick was out. Less than a minute later, I felt the emptiness on my right side and knew that Jake was out as well. I kept listening for crying. I was worried about their little lungs being under developed. I heard them both cry and and just started bawling like a baby myself. They were both okay. Everything was going to be fine.
I told their dad to go with the babies while they did the tubal ligation. I would be fine. Go with them. Stay with them. By that time the morphine or whatever they gave me was in high gear and I was feeling no pain. I noticed that doctors were tossing around a long polka dotted pillow which confused me for a minute. Then I realized that was my freckled left thigh they were moving around and I probably started laughing. It makes me laugh now. But that morphine kicked my ass in the recovery room because I am allergic to morphine apparently. Yuck, pain, yuck, pain. Vomit seems to be the theme for today.
I have had three types of deliveries now. Natural with no drugs (9 lbs 14 oz girl at age 24), induced with epidural that only worked on one half of my body. They had to suck the baby out with a tube because I couldn't feel if I was pushing or not (7 lbs. 3 oz boy at age 31) and this c-section (6 lbs 14 oz boy, 5 lbs 13 oz boy at age 39) And out of all those methods, I recommend natural with no drugs. Yes it hurt during but I recovered much more quickly with minimal pain. Induced and c-section hurt way worse and it took weeks to feel like myself again.
They gave Patrick some formula to bring up his blood sugar and a little bit of oxygen. Jake was a little jaundiced but otherwise fine. They stayed in my room with me most of the time. They never needed incubators or anything like that. No NICU. Regular nursery for whatever testing the nurses did. They kept taking them away and bringing them back.
I was breast feeding or trying to breast feed but I could not make enough milk for two babies. I would nurse one baby, burp him and change him. Then it was time to nurse, burp and change the other one. Then a short short nap if I was lucky. Then it was time to nurse, burp and change the first one again. And the whole time, I was still strapped down to the bed with those massaging things on my legs. I had a huge painful gash across my gut and tube up my hoo-hoo to catch my pee. I still felt sick from the morphine reaction. And it seemed like every time I fell asleep, a nurse or doctor walked in to take vitals or whatever. We finally decided to do both breast and formula. They would nurse, one on each boob until I felt dry, then we gave them formula. I tried to pump but never got more than an ounce or two out. I had milk to spare when I was 24 but at 39, not so much.
I think they got some vaccinations before we left the hospital. I will have to check their records.
I have to go fix dinner now. The babies are awake and demanding food.
Source of article about ultrasounds: http://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/ultrasoundrodgers.asp
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