SLUDGE!

Sorry folks, I'm working on attention-getting titles for my blog posts ;)  


But it worked, didn't it?


Just a quick status update on this New Year's Eve...still hanging out in my cozy little antepartum room at Baylor, daydreaming about being released from prego prison.  Test results confirm that gallbladder issues are the culprit in my latest bout of pre-term labor scariness...my gallbladder is apparently full of sludge. Yes, you heard me, sludge. I was not aware that this was even a medical term, but apparently it is!  My doctor informed me that gallbladder issues are actually quite common in pregnant women, especially those who carry multiple babies.  He also explained that sludge is a lot like mud, and it essentially "clogs things up" and makes it hard for your body to digest food, causing lots of pain and other unattractive symptoms I will not mention here :)  He added that it may resolve on its own after pregnancy, or I may have to have the offending organ surgically removed, but right now we will just try to control it with a low-fat diet.  "Low-fat diet" is my least favorite term after "sludge." No more cheeseburgers? No more enchiladas? DON'T YOU KNOW I'M PREGNANT????


Sorry about that :) On a more positive note, our babies are still doing great, I am feeling perfectly fine with the exception of having a 50-pound beach ball strapped to my midsection, and my fFN test came back NEGATIVE this morning! They will do a repeat test Monday, and if it comes back negative as well, I'm outta here!  After that, only one more week of bed rest!  


I hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year, especially those of you who are venturing to Pasadena for some Horned Frog football.  Brady and I are going to have our own watching party in my hospital room...no jello allowed!

Back at Baylor...

Well friends, it seems like my days of home bed rest have come to an end.  It seems that the pesky "stomach flu" that I came down with on Thursday night may actually be something else entirely...maybe gallstones? We don't know yet, but after two days of feeling fine and eating normally after the first episode, my symptoms returned with a vengeance yesterday afternoon and triggered a nice bout of painful contractions as well. By the time we got to Labor and Delivery last night, my contractions were 1.5-2 minutes apart, and boy were they painful!  Luckily, the staff here wasted no time hooking me up to an IV and getting some fluids and anti-nausea meds into my system, so I began feeling better almost immediately.  Tomorrow morning I will be taken down for a gallbladder sonogram to check for any potential problems, so until then I'm just holding tight, enjoying my clear liquid diet. Jello for breakfast (and lunch, and dinner)? You betcha!

Unfortunately, the results from other testing done last night are not quite so promising.  My doctor ordered a fetal fibronectin (fFN) test, which for those of you not well-versed in complicated pregnancy lingo, is a test that can predict the likelihood of a woman to give birth prematurely.  A negative result means that a woman is highly unlikely to give birth within the next two weeks, while a positive result means that a woman is at high risk for giving birth prematurely. Until now, my fFN tests have all been negative, but last night's test came back positive.  Translation: I will be here until I either have the babies, I get a negative result on a repeat fFN test, or until I reach the 34-week mark, after which they will not try to stop my labor.  However, I will be 32 weeks along tomorrow, so that is just two weeks away. After all we have been through with this pregnancy, two more weeks still seems manageable!

Well folks, that's all for now.  If you need me, you kind find me at Baylor Grapevine, where I will be engaging in one of the following activities:

a)  eating orange jello
b)  eating green jello
c)  shuddering at the thought of jello
d)  taking a nap in order to avoid the food people

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas filled with real food!

Merry Christmas from Team Haass!

Merry Christmas, everyone! Forgive my late update this week, things have been a bit rough around here! To make a long story short, I'll share an important lesson I learned this week:

8 months pregnant with twins + stomach flu = Bah Humbug

I had planned on including some pictures with this post, since many people have been asking for a look at "twin mountain," but will have to wait until next week, because I can assure you that in my current state I am far from photogenic :)

But enough complaining, we still have much to be thankful for this Christmas season!  I had my 31-week doctor appointment on Thursday morning, and am happy to report that the twins are still growing strong.  Both are estimated to weigh a little over 4 pounds now, and both have hair on their heads that could be seen on the ultrasound!  I got a big kick out of that for some reason :)

Also, my doctor said that as long as things continue to look good in uterus land, he will remove my restrictions around the 34 week mark, and I will be allowed more time on my feet and out of the house. I am not expecting to be able to run a marathon, but I would love to be able to work on the nursery a bit and get a badly needed haircut before the babies are born, so this is very exciting to me! 2 weeks and 3 days left of bed rest- I can do that!

That's all for now, but I will post some pictures next week, I promise!  Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday!

30 Weeks and Still Going...

Yesterday was our official 30-week milestone, and we had another growth sonogram today.  Both babies are still growing right on track...baby Sydney measured 3 pounds, 1 oz and baby Will 3 pounds, 6 oz.  Our doctor mentioned that the average singleton baby weighs around 2.5 pounds at this point, and twins often weigh a bit less than that, so we are very happy with their growth so far.  Everything else is still looking good, I am still on "house arrest" for the time being, but he did give me permission to ride in the car to my parents' house for Christmas (just a 40-minute ride) as long as things continue to go well, which is nice...I may get to see a Christmas tree this year after all!


Things at home are about the same, but it does seem like time has slowed down to a crawl!  I try to pass the time reading, watching movies, surfing on the Internet, and taking naps, but I miss PEOPLE!  Luckily, I have already had lots of visitors, which has been wonderful.  My brother's girlfriend even gave me a crochet lesson, so now I have a new hobby!  I miss being able to go to work, run errands, or even just walk around the block, but I am so jammed full of baby at the moment that I probably wouldn't be able to do much even if I had permission to.  Baby Sydney's legs are smushed up under my diaphragm, and when she gets to kicking and squirming I have trouble breathing, and it feels like she gets her feet caught in my ribs.  Baby Will's feet are also tangled up in my ribs on my right side, so when they are both feeling feisty, it's a double whammy for Mommy!  But, however much I complain about being uncomfortable, we are still grateful for each day our little ones keep on "baking"... our goal is for them to spend as little time as possible in the hospital after birth. If we get super lucky, maybe they will be able to come home with us!  Each positive doctor visit makes us a little more optimistic that the kiddos will stay put for awhile...


Stay tuned for updates, and happy holidays to everyone!

29 Weeks Today!

More good news! Today I am officially 29 weeks along, and bed rest (along with all of your thoughts and prayers) seems to be working! I visited my OBGYN yesterday, and got another look at our babies.  They are doing fine and growing bigger and more feisty by the day- I have to admit that feeling two sets of feet in my ribs can be a bit uncomfortable at times, but it also weirdly makes me happy!  Also, it appears that all of this time off my feet has improved my chances of carrying these guys awhile longer- my cervix has actually more than doubled in length since my last measurement in the hospital, which puts me back in less frightening territory! However, this doesn't mean I am off bed rest- my doc said that if I were to resume normal activity, I would probably go right back to where I was before. So I am hunkering down here at home for what will hopefully turn out to be several more uneventful weeks. Luckily I have my awesome husband to take care of me...he has been spoiling me rotten, serving me all my meals on a tray, doing all the cooking, shopping, cleaning, taking care of the dogs, etc. while I am out of commission.  On top of that, my mom has been driving over from Burleson to hang out with me during the day, take me to doctor appointments so Brady can actually work once in awhile, and bring over homemade chicken and dumplings for us to eat.  Thanks, Mom!


Well, that's all for now...T-Vo and Thank You notes are calling my name!  Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season- will update again soon!

Home At Last!

Great news! After a week in the hospital,  my doctor cleared me to go home this morning! Brady and I are so excited- we had been gearing up for a long stay, since most of the doctors and nurses I came in contact with assumed I would be on hospital bed rest for the duration of my pregnancy. However, my OBGYN was willing to release me with strict instructions- I am only to get up to use the bathroom and take quick showers, and I get two weekly excursions to his office for monitoring. Any change at all to my cervix and I am back at Baylor to stay, since I am still about 80% effaced and 1.4 cm dilated.  It's strange to think that I won't be able to visit our babies' room again until after they are here, even though it's right upstairs!  But I am thankful to be home sleeping in my own bed, using my own bathroom and shower, and eating my own food, even if it turns out to be a few days or weeks of reprieve.  Now I just need to come up with some projects to keep me occupied for the next several weeks so I don't go completely stir-crazy! If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to let me know!


As far as my little stinkers go, we had a biophysical profile yesterday with a maternal-fetal medicine specialist to check on their progress.  Both had strong heartbeats and were "practice-breathing"- we could see their little diaphragms moving up and down!  We got some great profile shots of each baby- we got to see our little boy yawn and rub his face with his hand, and our little girl get a case of the hiccups.  After all of this worry and stress, it was a good reminder that everything just might turn out
ok :)  Didn't get their weights this time, but since it has been 5 days since their last measurement, I wouldn't be surprised if they were close to 3 lbs each by now.  Grow, babies, grow!


Thank you all again for your calls, emails, texts, cards, flowers, thoughts, and prayers.  I have not been able to respond to everyone yet, but don't think for a minute that we are not grateful for the support of all of our family and friends through this difficult time.  Although we aren't out of the woods yet, I am doing so much better and I have faith that our little ones will be just fine- I can't wait until the day I meet them and am able to introduce them to all of the wonderful people that we have in our lives.  Keep on checking the blog for updates- I am about to have tons of time on my hands, so watch out, blogland!

A Bumpy Road...

Dear Friends and Family,

Brady and I have decided to start this blog in order to keep all of our loved ones informed of the status of our growing family.  As you all know, we found out this summer that we are expecting our first babies, boy/girl twins, sometime in late January/early February.  Until recently, we have enjoyed a fairly uneventful pregnancy and have had a great time sharing our excitement with everyone, especially the proud grandparents-to-be!

However, this past week we have had a pretty bumpy road on the way to parenthood.  On Thanksgiving night we went to Labor and Delivery at Baylor Grapevine and I was admitted for pre-term labor. Needless to say, we were extremely scared because at that point our babies were only 27 weeks along.  In an attempt to stop the progression of labor, I was put on magnesium sulfate, a nasty drug with potentially serious side-effects.  While I received the "mag," I was also given prophylactic steroid injections to help our babies' lungs develop more quickly in case they were to deliver early.  Unfortunately, although my labor slowed, I began to experience extreme respiratory distress and it was determined that the prolonged exposure to the magnesium had caused fluid to collect in my lungs, making it very difficult to breathe and resulting in the development of pneumonia.  In addition, my blood count became dangerously low due to the excess fluids in my body. So, Sunday I was put on oxygen, given massive doses of antibiotics, and treated to some yummy blood transfusions :)  Luckily, I have responded well to all of the treatments and am starting to feel tons better. And just as important, our babies have not been affected by all of this turmoil and are still snuggling (although not always quietly...) in my tummy.  As of this evening, I am off of oxygen and most of my IV medicines and am resting in my hospital room continuing to recover from pneumonia. The maternal fetal medicine specialists here at the hospital are monitoring Will and Sydney closely to be sure that they are continuing to thrive. As of Sunday morning, both babies are large for their gestational age (28 weeks today), with Sydney weighing in at 2 pounds, 8 oz. and Will measuring a whopping 2 pounds, 13 oz.  I am still at risk for delivering early, so I am on strict bed rest until the babies are born.  After a few more days here, my doctors will decide if I will be allowed to go home and continue bed rest there, or if I will be monitored here at the hospital for the rest of my pregnancy. Of course, our first priority is to do what is best for our little ones, but I have to admit that I miss sleeping in my own bed!

Brady and I are taking things a day at a time and are thankful for every additional day that our babies are able to stay in their current "home."  We appreciate all of the kind words, well wishes, and prayers that we have received so far, and we will keep everyone updated via our new blog as often as we can.  Let's hope that the blog contains only boring entries for at least a few more weeks!  

Thanks again for all your support,

Stephanie and Brady