Thursday, December 11, 2008

Yet Another Update

Omg, like I am getting sick of talking about this pregnancy right now, but I should update on our appointment at St. Mark's. I was a little nervous about it, because the surgeons are kind of my be all end all opinion on whether or not we do the surgery and I just have no loved the idea of doing some big experimental surgery on the boys. So anyways, I managed to con Justin into taking the morning off work (I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but Justin doesn't take time off work. Ever. He is the Old Faithful of the architectural world.) and we took Addison too, since she apparently was in the mood to see more pictures of "Baby Brother". So we headed up and saw them right away. It went pretty well. First of all, we ad a new ultrasound tech and she was a peach. After she took the regular measurements and looked at the heart and all that business, she pulled out the 3D camera and took some pictures of the healthy twin. I was SO EXCITED. I am not even joking, I've probably looked at the pictures roughly a billion times. It probably sounds weird, but after Monday I was not feeling so great about this whole ordeal and feeling awfully sorry for myself. After seeing the baby I feel like I've got that last little pus to get us through the next nine weeks. Can you believe it? Somewhere between now and nine weeks the babies will be born. So. Weird.

ANYHOW (can we say tangent?) Dr. Ball came in and he looked for a good long time. I didn't even faint! I told him that I'm a fainter, so he let me do some of the ultrasound tipped up a little bit. He was concerned about the amount of fluid around the babies, and explained that the way a baby regulates the fluid around them is through swallowing, and since I only had one baby pulling his load, the acardiac twin wasn't swallowing and therefore, the excess fluid. It's not at a concerning level yet, but it's creeping up and we may have to consider action if it's deepest pocket hit 10 cm. It's at about 7.5 right now. So we'll see. The healthy twin still looks good, Dr. Ball noticed that his heart was working hard, but it was to be expected given the circumstances. After the ultrasound we went back to his office and discussed everything. He basically said he doesn't see a reason to do the surgery when the healthy twin looks so good (YES! YES!) and that we would just keep an eye on it. He mentioned the possibility of a surgery at 28 weeks (I'm 25 right now, for those who are keeping track) just as a "see what happens" type surgery, where we could deliver the babies if it didn't go well. But it's still up in the air. I would still prefer to just leave them and deliver at the first sign of distress when I'm in the hospital, but we'll see. Dr. Ball said several times that the fact that we were even sitting in his office, calmly discussing this, and not totally wheeling me off to surgery right then was a great, great sign. So I feel good.

I have another appointment tomorrow (of course) for monitoring and ultrasounds and to discuss Dr. Ball's findings with my main doctors down here. As for the threat of heart failure due to the acardiac twin, we are slowly coming out of the woods as far as danger goes. If we had to deliver now, the baby would have about a 60-70% chance of survival. The thing we're watching out for now is any kind of cord entanglement due to the twins being in the same sac together. The farther along we get, the less of a threat that is. So we're just sitting tight here. Keep the prayers coming!
Finally, here's the pictures of our little boy, who is not named *cough*Andrew*cough*. I'm sure everyone has already seen them because quite frankly, I have literally shown EVERYONE in the last 24 hours... but just in case.



Can I also point out that my mother thought that there was a second hand HOLDING the baby from the inside in that second picture? While I admit it slightly resembles some person's hand, I'll assure you that no, some random person is not in my uterus holding my baby. Sorry to disappoint.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aren't you having 2 babies? why only one name? Although the other twin has no heart there is stem cell options available, transplants and artificial hearts. Why give up and not let this baby have a fighting chance? And although the other twin may pass away, don't you think you should acknoweledge it's presence as a human being not a parasite? This baby deserves a name and the dignity of a human life. P.S I'm an identical twin and if in your situation which is not easy (I do feel for you) I would have taken the time to at least name that poor soul. The baby is no longer a fetus but a living human being and deserves to be treated as so.

kemery755 said...

Wow, previous poster obviously doesn't know your situation! And doesn't know how difficult my brother can be with decisions..
I LOVE YOUR PICTURES!! I swear, it looks exactly like Justin. SO adorable. I'm still so jealous of your 3-D pics. I can't believe that this baby will be here in 9 weeks! I can't wait to meet him!

Nathaly said...

What the crap Anonymous? You obviously don't know their situation. But way to jump to conclusions. Maybe they do plan on naming the other twin. Maybe they don't feel like that kind of intimate information needs to be discussed on a public blog. And I'm pretty sure that Jae and Justin, more than ANYONE are well aware that the baby is a living human being. I'm pretty sure they are well aware of how valuable his life is. A life that will be taken away from them far too soon. And I'm pretty sure they don't need people like you....even geniuses like you who are obviously so much smarter than the dozens of doctors working on this case...making the kinds of comments you made. Way to be sensitive.

Kate @ Our Best Bites said...

Wow, Anonymous, there are seriously no words. None.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jae -

You don't know me...I mostly lurk on the LDS babycenter site, and then came here after L-O-V-I-N-G your fashion blog...

Anyhoo...I've been following your family's blog because I love your writing style and your personality totally shines through your words. If I knew you IRL I would totally want to be your friend! I dig ya!

Anyway...I just want you to know that I, an anonymous soul, have been praying for you and your family. I'm so sorry that someone was so insensitive and made such cruel comments to you. Please don't let those comments get to you...that person obviously has issues (wasn't hugged enough by their mother?). Maybe I should add "anonymous" to my nightly prayers - as they are apparently hurting about something in their own life.

Take heart that there are strangers sending good thoughts and wishes your way - and this outweighs (I hope) thoughtless commenters.

 
designed by suckmylolly.com