Last Tuesday we went in for an appointment with our NP which had been scheduled long before I learned I was pregnant with twins. We went in hoping to get a lot of questions answered but in the end we learned that the appointment was just a necessary formality to get us referred into the neonatalogy department. I had requested that they do an ultrasound so that we could confirm that the twins were still ok and so that Hubby could see them too :) They gladly obliged. Twins look great, still no sign of a membrane between them but it is still early. The NP told us that the neonatology department would be calling to schedule us for our first appointment. We left that appointment with more questions than we started with but we were reassured knowing that our next appointment would allow us to ask all our questions and actually get some answers.
The next afternoon I received a call from the neonatology department to get our next appointment scheduled. When we first started looking into delivering twins we knew that we would need to deliver them at a hospital with a NICU. Unfortunately, the hospital that we delivered my daughter at does not have a NICU. The only Kaiser NICU is at the hospital in Clackamas (just over an hour away from our house). Two hours to get to and from the doctor every other week is a bit intimidating. Making the appointment, the woman I talked to let me know that although I would need to deliver the twins at Clackamas, the same perinatologists worked at Westside Medical (where I delivered my daughter) & Sunnyside Clackamas! YAY! Huge win!
Our next appointment is on December 15th. We have a 45 minute ultrasound where they will look for a membrane as well as many other things. After the ultrasound we have an appointment with our new doctor, the perinatologist who will take care of all our care from now on. The lady on the phone reassured me that we should leave that appointment with all our questions answered as well as a really clear breakdown of what the next 7 months look like.
Learning all of this has done wonders for my nerves and sleep! I still worry but the appointment is scheduled and I know that I will be getting all our questions answered. Peace of mind is a luxury.
On Monday I went in for blood work, a 1 hour glucose test and genetic screening. I failed my 1 hour glucose test when I was pregnant with my daughter. I ended up having to do the 3 hour, which I passed, and the 2 hour a couple months later, passed that one too. I knew that it was a long shot that I would pass this time around but I was blown away by the results. My glucose test with my daughter came back as 168 (< 130 is considered acceptable). My result from this most recent glucose test was 196!!!! YIKES! I know that gestational diabetes is higher with a twin pregnancy but wow! That's nuts! After reading through some twin mom blogs, it looks like gestational diabetes can actually be a small blessing in disguise when you are pregnant with twins. It leads to slightly heaver babies which could mean the difference between weeks and months in the NICU! The would be a small price to pay and absolutely worth it in the end. Whatever will be will be, it's in God's hands.
So now we wait for 2 weeks and put together our list of questions.
With patience and love,
Whitney