The ultrasound went long this morning, but thankfully the tech let me empty my bladder after she was done checking Baby A. The babies are transverse (picture them in bunk beds) and while they started the session with Baby A's head to my right and Baby B's to the left, at some point Baby B flipped to the other side and I was surprised that I didn't feel it. These anterior placentas are doing a superior job of buffering all the movement happening in there! Both are growing well with Baby A measuring 8 days ahead and weighing 299g, and Baby B measuring a day ahead and weighing 254g. Neither had any soft markers to indicate potential trouble. Healthy babies, growing well is a huge relief!

The really exciting part was finding out the babies' genders. I've had a feeling all along that I'm carrying two girls. When people have asked, I've added that if I'm wrong, it'll be a boy and a girl. I was absolutely confident that it's not two boys. Baby A was scanned first, and I started second-guessing my intuition when we saw clearly that he's a boy. A close look at Baby B, however, thrilled us with my ideal scenario -- a girl to go with her brother!

I have spent the morning beaming with happiness and relief, and doing little flips inside (yup, I'm pretty sure that's just me doing the flips) feeling lucky beyond imagination!

Labels: Pregnancy 5

My heart just melted into a big puddle on the kitchen floor.

I heard little R open the fridge door and went to see what he was up to; I thought perhaps he would like something to drink. As he stared into the fridge, I squatted and turned him to face me and asked whether he would like some juice or some milk. "Juice or milk" he parrotted. I asked again. Then he got a very sly, mischievous look in his eye, walked around beside me, kissed my cheek and said "I love you, Mama." This from the anti-kissing kid.

I have to add, I think he learned 'I love you' from this toy

a present from his Gramma over a year ago. See that kiss mark on its cheek? Little R loves to push buttons after all. The cheekiness? I think that's just in his nature.

Oh, and can you believe I've got another cold? I've never had two this close together. A pregnant woman's immunity goes down to help prevent her body from attacking the baby, but this is ridiculous!

Labels: Little R

So in the newspaper this week was a story about choosing a name for your baby based upon its Googleability. Some parents want a name that will really stand out and be at the top of the list with the search engines; others would rather have a less stand-out name in order to blend in, presumably for greater privacy. The parents for the unusual names argue that it may be critical once future teachers and employers start running background checks (which supposedly lots of executive recruiters already do).

I think that it's fine to choose an unusual name for your child, but for these people, I'm not too sure that the reason they're doing it is a good one. Certainly they're assuming that there will only be wonderful things published in the internet about their children.

Me, I'd like my kids to have less-than-usual names, but I would never have thought that to be any kind of tremendous advantage as far as the internet (and its potential uses) are concerned. When we named our son, the criteria were something like this:

• a relatively simple name (that was my husband's main criterion)
  
• a name that wouldn't be shared with many (if any) classmates (my primary criterion)
  
• something that would work with my husband's monosyllabic last name, and preferably a name that didn't end with the same consonant that starts his last name
  
• something pronounceable in both English and German, ideally without a direct translation (my mother got some grief for naming my brother Mark because that's also what the German currency at the time was called)

The name we gave our son is a very common (Afrikaans) boys name in South Africa which works for us (ethnically) because the Afrikaaners were immigrants from the Netherlands. We only first heard it because it was the name of one of the guides we met while on safari during the pregnancy. It wasn't a total hit from the start, but we put it on our list and it eventually stuck. Our son's second name is a classic old name that has many variations just in case he really doesn't like his first name he can make what he likes out of his second.

For these kids, we haven't yet chosen a firm name possibility for a boy, but for a girl there's one name upon which my husband and I have already agreed. I have a few options for a boy and many more for a girl, but my husband doesn't really want to talk more about it until we know the genders -- hopefully only two weeks from today.

Labels: In the News, Little R

Reading all the pregnancy blogs today, I felt inspired to write something thoughtful and deep. Now that I'm typing I realize that's not going to happen --I don't know why. I guess that sentiment just isn't finding its way to my fingers. Regardless...

I had my first OB visit today; well, the first one in about two years. He's the same intelligent Brit with the somewhat stodgy manner only barely hiding the fact that he's probably got a great and twisted sense of humour. I saw his engagement announcement in the newspaper last month, and he's no spring chicken so I've been speculating (to myself of course) about the howmanyeth marriage this might be. My first thought was actually about how an OB meets a woman followed quickly by how intimidating it would be for many women to date an OB.

So the appointment was really quite brief. He mentioned that they (I suppose that means all the obstetricians in this city) see lots of twin pregnancies (the most in the entire country), in no small part due to my RE across the street. Okay, I guess that's reassuring. He asked if I'd like to try a trial by labour (VBAC) and I said yes. Then he threw the statistics at me: 1 in 1000 risk of complete rupture; 3 to 5 in 1000 of the muscle separating but the skin on the muscle remaining intact; oh, and double those numbers for twins. I should make a decision based upon how risk averse I am. I asked his thoughts on a scheduled c-section at 37 or 38 weeks and his body language indicated that he's not keen on the idea. He would do it, but not until 38 and a half weeks. He's in no rush to get firm decisions from me, as I'm still only 15w5d, but my answers seem to have congealed in the back of my head through the afternoon. Yes, I'd like to book that section at 38.5 weeks so that if I do get that far, I know that there will be a definite end to the pregnancy. I can imagine being very ready for the pregnancy to end at that point. If I go into labour before then, I'd like to try a VBAC but I reserve the right to change my mind depending upon: how I feel; who is on call that day (ie. who might be doing the cutting for a c-section); how my contractions look on the monitor; and how the babies are responding to the labour. That's a lot to decide (or at least to decide to decide later) after a 15 minute visit.

Oh, we did hear the babies very quickly and easily with the doppler, so I know that they're both still there. My next ultrasound is the anatomy scan on May 30th. I've had that appointment booked since the nuchal translucency scan and the radiology clinic called this afternoon to try to push my appointment back two weeks. No way! I told the girl on the phone that it couldn't be moved because I'm still hoping to check for soft markers at that scan and that pushing it back would preclude any possibility of an amnio (trying to leave my options open you see). She put me on hold a while and came back to say that my appointment would stay as it is. When I asked why the bump, she said that they were trying to squeeze in an emergency. That's a particularly interesting emergency if it can wait almost three weeks to be scheduled!

My OB isn't planning any additional ultrasounds until I reach 24 weeks. From that time, we'll be seeing the kids monthly to check their growth. I was disappointed to hear that there would be another six weeks between ultrasounds, but it makes sense as there isn't much anyone can do for a slow-growing baby up until that point. I guess I'm just happy that they're both still here and growing at all!

Labels: Pregnancy 5, Twins

I'm sick. Yuck. Since Thursday my sinuses hurt, my nose is runny, and I have a dry cough. We have cold medications here at home, but before taking any I went online to see what was truly safe in pregnancy and discovered that even Tylenol/Paracetamol isn't necessarily considered as safe as we're led to believe.

The information is somewhat conflicting.

The Healthy Ontario website says that acetaminophen (pain reliever), pseudoephedrine (decongestant), dextromethorphan (cough suppressant), and guaifenesin (expectorant), all common ingredients in over-the-counter cold medications, are safe to take throughout pregnancy.

If you check the FDA's website, however, you get a different picture. The FDA gives medications a category for pregnancy use. Category A is the safest, running through to Category D (where there is positive evidence of fetal risk but benefits of taking the drug could still outweigh the risks), and a Category X (where there are demonstrated fetal abnormalities and benefits of taking the drug do not outweigh the risks).

Acetaminophen is Category B
Pseudoephedrine is Category C
Dextromethorphan is Category C
Guaifenesin is Category C

Category C says that "either studies in animals have revealed adverse effects on the fetus (teratogenic or embryocidal or other) and there are no controlled studies in women, or studies in women and animals are not available. Drugs should be given only if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to the fetus".

That wasn't reassuring.

I found the most inclusive information at MedLine, with the most sensible guidelines:

• Avoid medications during the first trimester when the fetus is at greatest risk from teratogens.
  
• Do not use combinations of drugs. Use one agent at a time.
  
• Use the lowest dose possible for the shortest amount of time.
  
• Use topical treatments when available as you get less systemic absorption.
  
• Use the medication only if the benefits outweigh the risks.

Most of my reading indicated that first-trimester use of any medications should be avoided if at all possible, and that the teratogenic effects of Category C drugs were most often 'minor', meaning things like club foot and syndactyly. I was surprised that some of the websites I visited said that these drugs could be taken in pregnancy without issue -- that seemed far too casual after reading about some of the possible effects.

So what have I done? Well, Friday I took a Tylenol in the morning and another in late afternoon. Once the sinus pressure is gone, the other symptoms seem far more manageable. Yesterday afternoon we went to a friend's house for a BBQ and I did take one cold caplet containing all the above drugs except for guaifenesin. I can't say that it made me feel so much better than the Tylenol alone that I would be willing to risk it again. And risk for me is probably relatively low anyhow given that I'm out of the first trimester and have seen that the little ones have beautifully articulated digits and cute little feet.

Labels: In the News, Pregnancy 5